What would be a good ground cover

[mom2reds]

I would love to see a pic of the hygro, I think that would be cool

 

[happygirl65]

Here is a pic of the hygro as a ground cover in the lower left corner. It was between maintenance so it was growing up already, but in this case you can see them trying to grow upwards, so I would just tuck them down and it would keep on growing. It actually looked really neat and was a great place for the shrimp to hide away from the angelfish.

 

[mom2reds]

The tank is really pretty I like that I might have to try it

 

[happygirl65]

almost all of these plants came from other members here. The only exception was the one large crypt wich I bought at petsmart. pittdude is now the proud owner of most of that crypt.

Sadly this tank was retired when I upgraded to the 90. It was acrylic and the kids scratched it up too much. I am working toward that nice lush feel again.

This tank had only 1.7 wpg too, no ferts...I think I may be missing some of the simplicity.

 

[mom2reds]

i AM GLAD TO HEAR THAT IT WAS A LOW LIGHT TANK MAKES ME HOPFULL. i LOVE CRYPTS

 

[Purrbox]

Carpet plants don't "need" soil right? Most of their nutrients they can get from the water right?

This really depends on the plant. Riccia for instance doesn't form roots since it is naturally a floating plant, as a result it doesn't need substrate. Mosses don't form roots, but will attach to surfaces. They are fine with or without substrate. However HC, HM, Glosso, and many other do form roots and need something to root into. Normally this is substrate, but if you get creative there are ways to get it to root into other things.

 

[pitt420dude]

almost all of these plants came from other members here. The only exception was the one large crypt wich I bought at petsmart. pittdude is now the proud owner of most of that crypt. ...

Quite proud, and it is one of my healthier/hardier plants, thank you!

... but if you get creative there are ways to get it to root into other things.

Like a crochet net!!????

I sure hope so. In the week or two I had HM in the net, shoots did start pushing up through, and white strings (roots) pushed downward, but never reached the substrate, or at least never anchored themselves in it. It was still spreading and growing more and more lush each day.

 

[Mopedman]

When you have ground cover do you still vacuum your substrate? If not how would you clean it out? Thanks

 

[Purrbox]

Nope. You would only vac your substrate in the unplanted areas and under decor. Wave the vac above the carpet to get any excess mulm and let the rest settle in and feed your plants.

 

[Mopedman]

What if you only have plants in the back and christmas moss or other ground cover over the majority of your tank?

 

[Purrbox]

If there are no unplanted areas, then you don't gravel vac at all just do the wave the vac above the plants thing.

 

[Mopedman]

Gotcha thanks. So the plants essentially absorb the nutrients from the mulm and it doesn't raise any of your water levels as in nitrates?

 

[Purrbox]

It all depends on how heavily planted the aquarium is, how fast growing the plants are, and how heavily stocked it is with fish. Plants may consume Nitrates faster than the fish produce them, in which case dosing becomes necessary. Plants may consume nutrients at roughly the same speed that fish produce them, in which case the Nitrate levels would remain roughly steady. Or it could be that the fish produce waste more quickly than the plants can consume the nutrients, in which case water changes must be sufficiently frequent and large enough to keep Nitrate levels in check.

 

[fearlessfisch]

That's an absolutely beautiful tank, happygirl. I'm not a plant person, so please forgive the beginner questions. You say this was a low-light tank? What did you use for substrate? Did you do any extra things like fertilizing or CO2, or is it possible to do something like this without the bells and whistles?

Could you list the names of some of the plants you have in your tank...say from left to right, for people who have no clue what works in low light? I'm just amazed at how gorgeous this is.

Thanks in advance.

 

[happygirl65]

That's an absolutely beautiful tank, happygirl. I'm not a plant person, so please forgive the beginner questions. You say this was a low-light tank? What did you use for substrate? Did you do any extra things like fertilizing or CO2, or is it possible to do something like this without the bells and whistles?

Could you list the names of some of the plants you have in your tank...say from left to right, for people who have no clue what works in low light? I'm just amazed at how gorgeous this is.

Thanks in advance.

Absolutely it is possible. This tank did not have many bells and whistles.
I am truly flattered as this was my first planted tank.

I will do my best to fill in the blanks. This was a 55 gallon tank, with 2x65wPC light with 50/50 bulbs (which reduced the usable light...came out around 1.7 wpg)
Substrate was sandy gravel from my local river bed,(free for me...then washed really well...) no special soil, just flourish root tabs under the crypt and sword plants.

The plants from left to right were
far left back and ground cover hygro and sunset hygro
Mid ground left Red Crypt Wendtii
Middle back asian ambulia
Middle front, Christmas moss tied on driftwood
Just next to that and back a little is wisteria and then some more asian ambulia behind that
Right side front and middle ground are very small amazon swords. They stayed small in this set up
Right side back more hygro

Ultimately I didn't like the gravel as it was quite large and didn't hold the stem plants down well. If I did the same tank again I would choose standard gravel or PFS.
I did use ferts once in a while but not regularly. The fish waste and my water changes seemed to provide everything it needed. It looked this way for almost a year. No co2, I even used and airstone because I liked the looks of it.
It is certainly possible to have a lovely tank and keep it low tech, low maintenance.

 

[fearlessfisch]

Thank you! I just keep coming back to look at this tank--you really did a beautiful job. I think I am going to have to do something about mine. I did not realize a look like this was possible at low light. I like the way you used the slate, too, to create the leveled look.

I appreciate the detailed response. I think I have a new summer project coming on.

 

[happygirl65]

I glued the peices of rock together in the back with silicone before I filled the tank. It was kind of a pain to plant behind it but it turned out nice.

 

[Mopedman]

This tank had only 1.7 wpg too, no ferts...I think I may be missing some of the simplicity.

Any CO2?

 

[happygirl65]

Nope, not even DIY. I mean technically the fish do give off CO2 through respiration, I started to add flourish excell in the beginning but had even more algae so I stopped doing even that.
I had to limit my lights to about 8 hrs per day to limit algae but yes it was very low tech and easy to maintain.

 

[pitt420dude]

She just uses the magic green thumb to stir the PWC water and voila! Beautiful plants!