Moderate Light Carpeting Plants

[ddereckl]

Hello! I have a 29G tank with 28w light fixture and running a 6500k bulb with a colormax bulb. Are there any good carpeting plants besides dwarf hairgrass and moss? Also, what plants do you recommend for my moderate lighting?

EDIT:
No C02
Sand Substrate

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Do you run C02? Substrate? Less than 1wpg not a ton of lighting...may need to bump it up a bit if you want a nice carpet plant to grow...I may be wrong however. Anyone else got any ideas?

You can have some anubias which will attach to driftwood, here is an excellent link to a long list of cool plants for low light tanks

Well I forgot to put the link. Lol here it is Low Light Plant List | AquaScaping World Forum

 

[aqua_chem]

Without CO2 or fertilization, the real question is "What can I keep alive?" There are a number of foreground plants that can tolerate medium light well enough, such as Staurogyne repens or Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (microsword), but they wont flourish and grow to cover space like they would in a CO2 injected tank, which is what people think of when they say 'carpeting plant'.

 

[ddereckl]

Thanks for the link! Would Seachem Flourish do any help?

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

What type of Flourish are you talking about? If I am correct there are different types- Excel (C02 supplement) and the different liquid ferts and whatnot.

 

[ddereckl]

I'm using Seachem Flourish Excel. So i would have to get a c02 system to grow dwarf hairgrass. Or, would I be able to grow dwarf hairgrass under my current light conditions + excel? or should i just go moss?

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

There are some other less demanding plants that will carpet...howabout some dwarf sag? I have it in a corner of my tank, if you want to check it out the link is in my sig. Also Fluval makes these little C02 injection systems you may want to look in to. I think they go up to 40 gallons so you should be covered. You can also go for a paintball C02 system

 

[Rivercats]

Moss does not make a very nice looking carpet IMO. I suggest going with the recommendations given by AquaChem. I have Microsword in a tank that uses only Glutaraldehyde (same as Excel) and it does fine. Alittle slow to take off. Planting it in small clumps in a checkerboard pattern is the best way for it to eventually grow into a carpet. CO2 isn't necessary but will make the carpet grow better. Also are you dosing any fertilizers? And what is your substrate?

 

[ddereckl]

I have a sand substrate. And im dosing with Flourish excel. I thought microsword was a high light plant? i have a dual t5 fixture thats 28w. if i replace one of my bulbs with another 6500k, would i have enough light for medium light plants?

 

[Rivercats]

The higher the light along with good ferts and liquid carbon or CO2 the better/faster it will grow. I would add another 6500K bulb and the micro sword will grow but remember it is a slow grower. I have some in a 55g with medium light and it slowly grows and spreads. You are still going to be limited to the type of plants you can grow. Now if you upgraded your lights to a 2 bulb T5HO fixture you could grow alot more plants.