carpet in a low tech?

[Jnam]

I was thinking Riccia? or maybe dwarf hair grass or clover? I am redoing the 10 gallon so i just wanted some help. No co2 and low light 2 screw in cfs in an incadecent hood.

[runninwoof]

i like ur avatar!

[JustOneMore20]

Marsilea minuta should grow ok if you have atleast 20 watts over the tank. Its a very slow grower though (all low light plants are) so I would buy alot of it to get it started.

Dwarf hairgrass wouldn't thrive in low light IME. Riccia may or may not.

Another option is a java moss.

[Jnam]

Yeah i was thinking the same thing on the java moss or Marsilea minuta what if i grow the hairgrass in the 55 and then move it to the 10? or the same with the riccia? would 30watts with two CF daylight bulbs in an incandecant hood at least keep it alive?

[JustOneMore20]

I would try it under 30 or 40 watts instead of 20. It should atleast grow then....maybe slow, but it should grow.

Starting it in the 55g, if you have alot of light there would work. If you moved it to the 10g with only 20w, it would probably start to brown....but I'm just guessing.

Try upping the light and give it a try in the 10g.

[mgamer20o0]

i wouldnt do riccia since you would have to always retie it. why not get one of the higher watt bulbs? if you already have them might as well try it and see what happens.

[korith]

I have riccia in my 10g, I replaced the stock bulbs that I got with hood with 2 10watt fluorescent bulbs. Riccia growing well. I used flat pebbles, put the riccia on it, then covered it with a nylon mesh. and tied the bottom side of the mesh with fishing line, then just spread the riccia rocks in the tank, been about 2 weeks now and only a little bit of the mesh is still visible. The mesh by the way I bought for a dollar at dollar store, was part of a laundry bag.

[Johnny Tuttle]

I have a low tech set up (30 W for 21 g), and I have anubias and java fern for a carpet like effect--well, like area rugs, I guess. Either or both are decent options.

[Fishfan]

Have you considered Sagitaire terres, its a grass plant which will spread quickly even in low lighted aquariums, looks like mini vallis, gets to about 10 cm tall?

[travis simonson]

Fissidens moss would also be an interesting foreground in a tank like yours. It doesn't need much light, grows slowly, and can easily be sandwiched between two pieces of plastic mesh for use in a foreground. You can see some pictures here.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

You won't be able to grow dwarf hair grass or ricca i think with a low-tech, I know you won't be able to grow dwarf hair grass but I dont know much about ricca. Try using some java moss for a carpet.