Ground cover

[cJw]

LoL aquazen; no, I'd rather not swim in my own poop.

Of course, I don't generally live in a room with my (and my neighbor's!) poo floating past me, as most fish would in a natural situation.

 

[Feynman]

What I want to know is where do you guys get all this riccia? aquariumplants.com and aquariumgarden.com are always "out of stock" plus when you do a google search it seems like everyone is talking about how to use it in your aquascape instead of selling it to me. What's your source?

 

[aquazen]

I got a tuft or two from a friend of mine who was breaking down his tank. I believe he got his on AQUABID. When I did my re-scaping, I chunked about a handfull of it away. Didn't realize it was so rare. Maybe I'll sell some to my LFS?

 

[TankGirl]

I have seen it at Aquariumplants.com - I was going to say I got some there but I have glosso, not riccia.

Also try "Froogle," which is the engine you need when you are shopping for something, so you don't get articles or message board topics.

 

[dr_girlfriend]

flordiadriftwood.com has some. pretty cheap too.
http://www.floridadriftwood.com/search.asp?7=riccia
I've gotten plants from them before and have had no problems and the plant quality was excellent.

Also PC cooling fan covers make good weights for groundcover plants also. and theyre only about 2 bucks each. No fuss, no muss

 

[Feynman]

Thanks for the tips. I ended up getting it on the florida driftwood site. It was pretty cheap, $4.00 for the small amount but it ended up being about 15 with shipping and handling. Oh well... hopefully it'll be worth it! Thanks again.

 

[pitt420dude]

Is a flourite substrate necessary? If I get plenty of light, (but less than 2.5wpg) is a CO2 system and special substrate necessary if i just want to have a few live plants in my 55 gal with uncoated gravel?

 

[Steve Hampton]

Is a flourite substrate necessary? If I get plenty of light, (but less than 2.5wpg) is a CO2 system and special substrate necessary if i just want to have a few live plants in my 55 gal with uncoated gravel?

You can grow many plant species in a barebottom tank. Some heavily rooted plants will only grow well with a firm hold in a substrate material. There are many many choices of substrate materials you can be successful with, to name a few;

Sand, plain gravel, kitty litter, Fullers Earth, Turface, Potting soil, garden loam, and the commercial products Flourite, Onyx Sand, Eco-Complete, Flora Base, Aqua Soil, Power Sand, Volcanit, etc. and any of these can be combined together and with additives such as Laterite, peat, and mulm. I have a recipe I use for low light non CO2 injected tanks. IME it's low light tanks that benefit more and have fewer problems when using a "richer" substrate. "Richer" meaning higher amounts of iron and organic material. But I will stress that it's possible to have a successful planted tank using any substrate with any combination of lighting and CO2. I'm just relaying that in my experiences the odds of success improve with a richer substrate in lower light conditions.

 

[pitt420dude]

THanks Steve, that is encouraging for we few who dont want to plunge into CO2 yet woudl like a few plants.

 

[frog girl]

cJw,
I have a deep tank (75 gallon hex but only filled to 60 gallons) & have planted a lileopsis carpet. It isn't bolting out of the gates but its starting to cover & I really like the look. Travis said it would do fine in low light. Mine is borderline 1.3 wpg & the lileopsis is at the bottom of the tank so the light has to go through a lot of water to get there.

You could give it a try.

 

[pitt420dude]

Thanks, i just ordered some java moss, fern, and anubias, i will see how those do with my current substrate and lights. I wonder what wpg i have. I have two 65 watt bulbs in my 55 gallon. Each bulb has two parts, one shines bluer and one is bright white. Do you think I have 65 watts of regular light since maybe only half of each is actinius?