plant question

[crittergal]

could someone suggest a few plants that I can use for the bottom of my tank .I want it to look almost like grass , I have med -to low lighting . I seen something called stargrass,but my LPS never heard of it. so, not sure where to go from here. I have 4 tanks up and two I would like to do this too,for my guppies and my tetra tank. One has gravel and the other has pool sand . thank you

 

[flitabout]

Stargrass is medium to highlight, as are most if not all of the carpeting plants. What lighting do you have so maybe we can recommend something for your tank.

 

[fissyfriend]

You could do dwarf subulata, Chilensis and mondo grass, if you are looking specifically for grass like plants. You can go to: Live Aquarium Plants | thatpetplace.com for other plants I hope this helps you.
http://www.thatpetplace.com/Sagittaria-subulata-dwarf-208939

 

[flitabout]

The subulata has upright growth and is not a carpeting plant. Mondo grass is not a true aquatic so that won't work and the Chilensis is not going to carpet it also has the capabilities of getting to a foot tall.
The real issue is the lower the light the taller the plant. Plants that will carpet in high or very highlight will struggle and go straight up to get to the light. Their really aren't any carpeting plants for that light range.

 

[glenCOCO]

It's possible to have a "carpet" with crypt parva. Unless you're able to buy a lot at one time to make a dense "carpet", it'll probably take a while to fill in because of the slow growth.

 

[mrvincent]

Carpeting plants need CO2 and high light to thrive. Easy plants in low tech setups are fern and anubias.

I had lot of success with java fern in a 10g low tech without any ferts.
Now I have more success in my 29g high tech w/ CO2. But my dwarf hairgrass and HC carpet have some difficult to spread sucessfully... Imagine in a low tech setup...

 

[crittergal]

thank you everyone! You have given me something to think about. I will check out the plant place and maybe do some more research before getting into carpet plants.and reading up on CO2 my other question beside typw of plants was the substance can it be gravel or sand or do I need to do dirt first (underneath) thanks again

 

[Rivercats]

Crypt parva will slowly spread and carpet. I put 3 plants in my 220g and in about a year I had a carpeted area of about a 6" square. One option in low light tanks is Four Leaf Clover, Marsilea quadrifolia which will slowly carpet. Another option is using Micro Chain Swords for a grass like effect.