# What is the best carpet plant?



## patrick76

I was wanting to know what carpet plant everyone liked? Also how well it grows for them.


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## dukydaf

I like Marsilea because it grows very quick, if good light is provided and it deals very well in natural aquarium ( being related to ferns).

Second is Saggitaria, lots of trimming and somewhat to tall.


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## Fortuna Wolf

I have both Marsilea minuta and Eleocharis sp (dwarf hairgrass). 
They both grow very well under high light, and they both will grow slowly under medium low light. I often plant them together for a varied effect and have yet to see one of them grow in a condition the other won't. I also recommend planting both in a layer of pure sand over some sort of growth medium since they're both rooted obviously. 

Both are very nice, but I prefer the grassy look of Eleocharis, and under very high light it'll grow faster and thicker than Marsilea.

I believe I have Eleocharis parvula btw. I once collected some vivipara from the wild... ugh, that was a mess with the babies getting everywhere. 

Also, I've tried Lilaeopsis. I think the Eleocharis grows better and looks nicer though.


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## patrick76

I have dwarf but can't get it to grow. Saggitaria sounds good.


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## Fortuna Wolf

Weird, I do nothing for my dwarf hairgrass and it grows rather well. Might be a different species? I'm surprised that I can even get it to grow in a 5 gallon hex explorer tank with a screw in 10W CF, but it does. Slowly, but it does.


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## Chuppy

I am having Elatine. they're great carpet plants.. very fresh colour.. HC is nice too.. but they grow rather slowly and likes bright lightning..


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## reizao

I like Glossos and HC.


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## jazzlvr123

best short carpet plants= HC, Marsilea, Glosso (if trimmed correctly), dwarf lobelia cardinalis, needle leaf micro sword (quite hard to come by), Riccia tied to Stainless stell mesh
BEst Medium size carpet plants= Glossostigma, Dwarf hairgrass, normal micro sword, Dwarf Sag, Dwarf four leaf clover
Best tall carpet plants= Crypt wendtii, Normal baby tears (HM), pygmy chain sword, lobelia cardinalis (normal size)

keep in mind when i say Best I mean Best IMO : )


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## mrkookm

Nice list


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## AaronT

Glossostigma has always been an easy one for me to grow. It's a pain to plant it though.


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## A_Shea

My favorite is glosso. The leaves are a nice bright green when they grow, compared to the darker green of marsilea, they also arent as large either, which i like more. But they are not to small as compared to HC. So glosso gets my vote for #1 carpet plant


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## mrkookm

HC gives me the most trouble


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## spypet

Elatine triandra & Eleocharis parvula 
gets my vote as best carpet plants.
both require great light and nitrates.

Glosso requires too much trimming,
and HC is just a pain in the ass if
you have any bottom feeding fish.


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## jazzlvr123

Elatine triandra is just too tall and messy to work with and once it is established it requires more trimming than riccia

http://guitarfish.org/images/posts/elatine_triandra_overgrown.jpg


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## Chuppy

Hmm that is so true.. but elatine.. has this color to it though... and it isn't hard for it to establish.. quite instant.. within 1 week.. poof a nice little carpet...HC is especially nice when established.. But once again.. a pain to plant


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## Robert Hudson

> needle leaf micro sword (quite hard to come by),


You mean Narrow leaf Micro Sword? Lilaeopsis maurituis? Its not hard to come by if you know where to get it!  Spreads fairly quckly and grows into a nice neat lawn. It can also grow under lower light than most other carpet plants. I think its the best new "low tech" carpet plant.


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## Aen

Glosso is my speciality  So it's my fave too.


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## ruki

Here's an odd-ball plant for low-tech tanks...

Pygmy Vallisneria is great for small container tanks that lack a filter and fancy CO2 systems.


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## jazzlvr123

Robert Hudson said:


> You mean Narrow leaf Micro Sword? Lilaeopsis maurituis? Its not hard to come by if you know where to get it!  Spreads fairly quckly and grows into a nice neat lawn. It can also grow under lower light than most other carpet plants. I think its the best new "low tech" carpet plant.


actually florida aquatic just started carrying it so It is easy to come by for me now, I like it becuase it is a perfect carpet plant for discus tanks (not too demanding of light and can be kept at warmer temps) But I remeber about a year ago I seached everywhere for this stuff, all over the net and in sf bay and after months of looking I gave up and was left high and dry, Before florida aquatic carried it I think the only place i knew of that had it was Oriental aquarium, and they never respond to my E-mails 
: p I still dont get how come cats like Ian are able get plants from them....


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## Tom Higgs

Can anyone recommend a reliable mail order source for Glosso. I'm already to give it a shot... just need some plants. An east coast supplier is preferred


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## patrick76

I would like to know a good supplier for glosso also. Also can i use echo complete alone in my tank for a carpet plant? or do i need sand?


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## Bill Weber

I have had the BEST results with Glosso. It is a bit messy because of the trimming but once established it looks great. I am trying HC right now but I am finding out that my Malaysian Snails love this stuff. Has anyone else had this problem?


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## patrick76

Lilaeopsis maurituis anyone had any experence with this. I bought some about two weeks ago and its growing so slow. It has sent out a few runners.


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## Brilliant

HC is godly...dwarf hairgrass is great. I am somewhat frustrated with UG...but it has its place on my list tho.

I disliked lilaeopsis...


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## patrick76

But how about Lilaeopsis maurituis ?


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## patrick76

Anyone?


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## jazzlvr123

Lilaeopsis is a very slow grower thats why you should plant it in high density. 
Glosso if my favorite for a low tech setup becuase it is a fast grower and is not too demanding.
Hc looks the best IMO you just need high CO2 and High light to have it thrive. Thants my 2 cents


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## patrick76

Other people say this plant grows fairly fast. Like look on page 2.


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## patrick76

How fast does Hairgrass grow?


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## jazzlvr123

hairgrass spreads runners pretty quickly IME it grows just as fast as glosso if it is under favorable conditions (high light and Co2) it is also a favorite for low light setups becuase of its a ability to survive in a wide range of conditions however growth is slower and is a bit more yellowish when you have it under low light


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## lauraleellbp

patrick76 said:


> But how about Lilaeopsis maurituis ?


Patrick, I don't know yet but I plan to try it out in my low light 90gal setup and see.


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## kakkoii

Glosso!!!


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## patrick76

How does everyone plant their hairgrass?


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## newguy

Take it from someone who tried to plant the dwarf hairgrass for 3 hours straight. YOU NEED A GOOD TWEEZER! First time i didnt know better and tried to do it by hand, what a disaster! I almost broke the tank in frustration, luckly it was acrylic..

Also drain the water till only a few inches above the soil, makes things much easier.


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## johnmiii

my (limited) experience with Dwarf Hairgrass and how I found to best plant it-

I had some in my 55g growing in fl-red substrate (over a layer of common crushed lava rock). I had just under 2wpg lighting and CO2. The effect was supposed to be a 1-4" (max) carpet on a heavy slope at one end of my tank. What I got was an 8-10" shag of very deep green DHG. The fish and shrimp loved it even if I didn't like the way it looked. Trimming it down to about 4-6" just induced thicker, faster growth.

I found the best planting method for it (after a few failed attempts) that I could find was the following:

#1 Remove the plug and plant from the pot, (I cut the pot up into many pieces ON the plug to not damage the roots prematurely by ripping, but cutting later)

#2 Pull apart the plug and separate the plants into smaller 'hair plugs' on a wet paper towel mat in a broad, shallow glass container with about 1/4" of water in it. (the whole process takes some time, this keeps the plants wet and organized.) The plugs should each be about 1/8" in diameter or maybe a little larger like 1/4 of a plain M&M in diameter.

#3 With a pair of forceps, grasp the 'hair plugs' by right above the root. Clip off about 1/8 - 1/4 (not inches, but ratio) of the root tips. Push the 'hair plug' into the soil at about a 45 degree insertion angle (the plug should be vertical, kind of a plowing motion. If the roots or blades are bent they will grow back to a straight up and down as they establish.) This is kind of hard to explain, but if you stick it straight in (at least with Fl substrate) it pulls back out when you release the forceps. You don't want it laying flat, and be careful not to bury it too deep. Work from one end to the other, spacing the plugs about 1" or so between them.

This is tedious work, but in the end each individial piece will be well planted. (and you dont have that strange cotton-y plant plug stuff wandering about the tank providing a place for algae to take hold) After a few weeks, mine had grown together into a very solid mass and actually grew way taller than I wanted. My tetras eventually stopped schooling and just kind of hung out in the carpet, it was bizarre.

I thought I may have accidentally recieved the wrong species, but I had several specimens from 3 different suppliers all grow out the same way. (my guess is, it was the lighting) :mrgreen:


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## patrick76

Cool thanks for the info.


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## Brewfish

I started some Lilaeopsis 'Mauritius' about a month ago. It survived a bad outbreak of BBA and I have since mowed it down to about 1.5 inch. It is just starting to set runners well and new growth is seen each day but I would not call it a real fast grower.


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## lauraleellbp

Brewfish said:


> I started some Lilaeopsis 'Mauritius' about a month ago. It survived a bad outbreak of BBA and I have since mowed it down to about 1.5 inch. It is just starting to set runners well and new growth is seen each day but I would not call it a real fast grower.


(Hope I'm not hijacking your thread Patrick?) Is this in a high light/tech setup or low?


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## jeremy1

I like glosso, but you have to tame it sometimes


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## patrick76

No your not hijacking it . I myself can't get Lilaeopis Maurtius to grow any its been in my tank for like 3 weeks.


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## lauraleellbp

patrick76 said:


> No your not hijacking it . I myself can't get Lilaeopis Maurtius to grow any its been in my tank for like 3 weeks.


HMM in a 29gal under 130watts that's not looking good for my tank. I wanted to try it, but I may just go with E. tellenus after all?


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## DarrylR

I like HC... just won't grow as fast.. I am guessing due to no CO2 but I am using flourish and have dual 25 watt on my 10 gallon.


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## Tex Gal

patrick76 said:


> No your not hijacking it . I myself can't get Lilaeopis Maurtius to grow any its been in my tank for like 3 weeks.


I have some of this plant. It took longer than 3 weeks. I don't know what your substrate is, but it needs to be something small enough for it to take root. I think it took over a month and root tabs for me to get mine to send out runners. I did finally get it going in pea gravel that was a little too big. I think it grows a little slow.


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## lauraleellbp

Is this a low-light no CO2 tank? Is it forming a carpet or looking like it's headed that direction?


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## patrick76

Who are you asking?


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## Squawkbert

My only exp. to date is w/ some HM I got from Yoink. It is doing very well in my 46g though it is growing up pretty quickly. I think it'll be OK though as it is keeping its leaves right down to the sand, so I'm getting ready to trim the heck out of it & start a 20L NPT to see if it will grow there too.


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## lauraleellbp

patrick76 said:


> Who are you asking?


Sorry- I was asking Tex Gal. She has a low-light tank going...

I'm doing a low-light/no CO2 tank and trying to see if anyone else has had good experience with lilaeopsis maurtuis forming a carpet in those conditions as is advertised on AquaBotanic.


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## patrick76

Thats were i got mine from.


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## jazzlvr123

lauraleellbp said:


> Sorry- I was asking Tex Gal. She has a low-light tank going...
> 
> I'm doing a low-light/no CO2 tank and trying to see if anyone else has had good experience with lilaeopsis maurtuis forming a carpet in those conditions as is advertised on AquaBotanic.


lilaeopsis are suitable for low light conditions however they do not forum nice thick carpets unless they are given 3 or more watts per gallon, they ARE slow growers so if you want a nice carpet you must plant this in very high density, Amano says the same thing in book 2.

Heres a tank that is torn down now however it got 4 watts per gallon of light to make sure the lilaeopsis grew in nice and thick


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## patrick76

Kinda sucks i don't want to increase my lighting right now. I am probely going to just change to Dwarf Hairgrass and see how that does in my tank.


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## rick4him

I just planted some glosso on saturday. I'm hoping it fills in nicley. Everyone keeps saying you have to trim it allot...What do you mean? When do you trim it? I want it to grown thick. Can someone that grows it give me some more advice on how to maintain it?


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## NatalieT

rick4him said:


> I just planted some glosso on saturday. I'm hoping it fills in nicley. Everyone keeps saying you have to trim it allot...What do you mean? When do you trim it? I want it to grown thick. Can someone that grows it give me some more advice on how to maintain it?


You trim it when it looks like it needs it: either runners going into parts of the tank where you don't want them, or bits that stick up too high above the rest.

Natalie


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## dirrtybirdy

i have a carpet of glosso in my 10g. i love it.

dont really have experience with any other carpet like plants


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## hoppycalif

dirrtybirdy said:


> i have a carpet of glosso in my 10g. i love it.
> 
> dont really have experience with any other carpet like plants


What lighting do you use and do you use CO2 or Excel? I'm thinking about doing this too.


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## patrick76

Bump hoppys question i would like to know as well.


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