Why can't I grow ground cover?

[lectraplayer]

Why am I having such an issue growing those short plants that spread and cover the ground? I have multiple other plants that are going strong with the occasional minor blip, but am down to one sprig of ludwiga (I think that's what it is.) I keep either having them either get dug up or I see the whole batch die. Aside from my goldfish digging some of them up, what am I doing wrong? Also, what is the proper way to plant ground cover in sand? I have been using PetSmart's Top Fin plants in the gel packs, and everything else from the same stock (IE most of my plant stock) is doing great.

 

[Brookster123]

Lighting? Tank hieght? Substrate? Ferts? Co2? Glut???

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[Gillie]

You'll never have a nice planted tank with plant devouring and digging fish like goldfish.

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[lectraplayer]

My goldfish is not the whole problem Gillie. I couldn't grow ground cover when all I had was neons and otocinclous cats.
View attachment 250012

Here's my current 29g with sand, lit by a M57 halide 8" above the water. Temp is 82 deg. Also tried with dual 40w LTT @ 6500k.

Same result with my 10g with both sand and gravel (again, only neons and otos.) And everything lighting it from a pair of 10w CFLs, 18w, 25w, and a 70w halide. 2900k, 6500k, actinic, and 10,000k. Same story.

I now think what I'm trying is Cardinal, but I have tried it, Ludwiga, Hairgrass, and Helferi in both of the tanks.

 

[lectraplayer]

Try again...

 

[Brookster123]

What about ferts and stuff? Root tabs? How long you stick with any one light?

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[lectraplayer]

Oh yeah, again, a lot of experimenting, but I've settled for now on 15mL of a 50/50 mix of API Leaf Zone and Seachem Flourish micros at each water change. 6-12-6 root tabs are in the sand, as with soil underneath. Also 15mL glut every other morning. I am still new to plants. I've had this MH light for about three months. The dual 40's were used for a year prior.

Meanwhile, I started with gravel with soil under in my 10g. Dual 15w CFLs in 2700k, which I hated. I eventually got some 25 watt 6500K CFLs and started doing some good for about 4 months. Same ferts as 29g. I would switch to 10w actinics for about a month total to combat cyanobacteria, and eventually won. I then got my 70w MH built so I put an 8000K bulb in it (though it looks just like 10,000K to me) and ran it like that about 3 months until BBA killed me 2 months ago. Great growth until then. Since I lost everything, I rebuilt it and now have sand and only a few plants here which come out of my 29g.

 

[Brookster123]

I don't know.. it's seems as though you've got a routine..with carpeting plants it's usually lighting, co2 and ferts. You say the goldfish is digging them up? Do they ever get a chance to root?

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[lectraplayer]

The goldfish were just getting my latest batch. The rest I just couldn't get going. Period.

I also lost the cardinal plants in my 10g, where there are no fish right now.