Ground cover plants.

[Eaglemccloud]

I want to put some nice ground cover in my 54 corner, but I'm not sure what to put in. I've looked at several types and have narrowed it down to glosso, crystalwort, Xmas moss and willow moss. Would like some opinions.

 

[Basefrog]

Have you looked at HC (Baby dwarf tears)? Other than that the mosses would be good because they are fairly low maintenance and great host hiding places!

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

Micro swords could work. I also agree with HC if you can get it to root.

 

[ilostnemo]

We should state that any sort of baby tears are extremely high light.

 

[Basefrog]

We should state that any sort of baby tears are extremely high light.

This is true.

 

[Eaglemccloud]

I have a t5ho two light system. Plus a led double bright system on the tank.

 

[Basefrog]

Should be good enough really. What's the K rating on your LEDs?

 

[fort384]

The PAR ratings at depth in a 54 gal tank on the Marineland double bright are pretty low... and a dual T5HO fixture on a 54 would not be very high light. No doubt it would keep HC alive, but I doubt you would see compact growth from it like you are wanting for a ground cover.

With that light, I would recommend lilaeopsis if you really want something that will stay somewhat compact. Glosso or baby tears will grow vertically instead of horizontally under that lighting, imo.

 

[Atxpunx]

I got a dying piece of glossostigma from my live fish store and put it in my five gallon. It runs two 15 watt daylight cfls, DIY co2, and flourish comprehensive plus osmocote for ferts. After a week the glosso has produced new leaves coming from under the substrate. Time will tell if it survives, but it's looking pretty good so far.

 

[fort384]

Glosso is a great plant. I had it in one of my 5.5's for awhile...

Keep in mind though that 30W of CFL over a 5 gal tank is going to provide a heck of a lot more par than a tank that is 24" deep. PAR drops considerably as depth increases, especially with 1W LEDs. T5HOs are great for deeper tanks, but a 2 bulb setup on 54 gals is more like medium light, not high light.

 

[Atxpunx]

Above statement is true. What about dwarf sag? I've seen a good lawn effect with chain sword also.

 

[fort384]

lilaeopsis is microsword. It works well. Dwarf sag would work fine as well... my experience with it though is it does not grow as compact or as thick as lilaeopsis.

 

[Eaglemccloud]

Should be good enough really. What's the K rating on your LEDs?

I'll have to check.

My local fish stores don't have much in the way of foreground or ground cover plants. Any good online sites that I can get any of these plants you are all suggesting?

Should I maybe add another light to my tank? Or are is there anything that will do really well in what I got?

 

[Joe5688]

I"m going to attempt mirco swords cover. I'll let u know how it goes lol. I just put it in saturday but my BA tetras gave my lawn a trim. I moved them to my other tank now so lets see how fast it grows lol

 

[aqua_chem]

I think people tend to overvalue light at the cost of a more holistic approach to plant keeping. Methods like EI are actually based around medium light, and many of the big names in planted tanks (ADA, Tom Barr, etc) are now advocating medium light + strong co2 rather than just blasting the lights. Rather than drop a bunch of money on another light, get pressurized co2, and then you can pretty much grow anything you like. You already have all the light you need now.

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

If we're talking "a bunch of money", every packaged strong co2 system ive ran into at LFS (non yeast based) cost as much as high end lighting for smaller aquariums. If theres a DIY or a modest priced system out there for heavier planted tanks, i'd love to know what how or where.

 

[aqua_chem]

If it's a small tank, ~$60 will get you a decent paintball CO2 system. $150 is what it will take to get a pressurized system. Might seem like a lot, but they really are worth it. When you consider that a quality 4' T5HO system will set you back $100-$200 easily, and the Doublebright LEDs that people keep getting are more than that, suddenly it doesn't seem so bad. But because people overvalue light, they see a $150 lighting system as a worthy investment, and a good CO2 system as needlessly expensive. Not only that, but in a 50g tank, a CO2 system will break even with Excel dosing in two years, less for larger tanks (and really, once you break out of low light, you should be dosing some form of carbon).

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

heh just googled some fluval and hydor make. Prices arent bad. What pressurized system would you recommend for say a 30 to 40 gallon med-high light heavily planted?

 

[aqua_chem]

Anything that's not a paintball system or an honest to god pressurized system isn't worth buying, IMO. Most of the products can be put into one of two categories: premade DIY CO2 setups that could have been made with $5 worth of materials and some elbow grease, or small pressurized systems than need frequent and expensive refills.

 

[Basefrog]

To be honest if you ask your LFS if they can get plants in that would be your best bet.. Saves money on postage that way =) I did it and they managed to get 3/4 of the plants I wanted in!