# Low tech nano foreground plant...



## MaryD (Jan 6, 2009)

i have been asked to come up with a demo nano tank using the low-tech approach. While I tend to the high light/high chem/C02 approach, I do have plants I know can do well in this kind of setup. However, I am really not sure about foreground plants. I do know I could go with a sandy front, but I'd prefer to have a lush and green foreground. Has anyone had luck growing HC without CO2? Any other ideas...would love suggestions!

Thanks!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi MaryD,

Marselia minuta seems to do well for me with or without CO2.


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## Jark (Feb 6, 2010)

I second the Marselia minuta suggestion. I is one of my favorite plants. It starts slowly, but once it gets several runners going, it really takes off though. 

Unfortunately I may have to remove all of my Marselia minuta in May due to new Texas aquatic plant regulations.


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## MaryD (Jan 6, 2009)

Cool idea! I have some regular marcelea floating which I might try right away!


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## MaryD (Jan 6, 2009)

BTW, Jark--

If you want to liberate any my way, I'll give them a nice halfway home until TX laws change! Who knows--maybe I have a plant to trade that actually will be allowed! 

Thanks for the advice!

Mary


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## Jark (Feb 6, 2010)

I could do that. The marselia is spidered through my entire tank. I am sure I could find some I can spare. I'll PM you.


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## jules2k (Jan 8, 2011)

How you considered using moss for a foreground? I've used Taiwan moss tied to thin slate and it completely carpeted in about a month.


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## Tuiflies (Jan 21, 2010)

I tried Dwarf Hair Grass in a nano NPT and found it grew in so thick that it started choking out my other plants.


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## Jark (Feb 6, 2010)

I dry started dwarf hair grass in my 55g along with HC, narrow chain swords, and the marselia. The HC did the best in dry start but after flooding the tank it steadily disappeared. The dwarf hairgrass is still around but barely. It puts up a leaf every so often but is more of a memory than a real presence. I think that it got suffocated for co2 after I added other plants. (Walstad warned of this in her dry start article). The chain swords poke around the tank but the marselia is the winning in the growth race. 

I wish I had your luck with the hairgrass. What other plants do you have in with it? Any co2 or excell?

I have had the moss carpet by accident before. Chunks of java moss get caught in the marselia and form a web just under the marselia carpet. I have pulled the moss web out though. It was choking out new marselia growth.

Please excuse any spelling errors or miss types. I am attempting to write/edit on a phone.


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## Tuiflies (Jan 21, 2010)

It was actually a 1G olive jar NPT with an anubias nana petite and a windelov java fern both on a small piece of dw, a few stalks of rotala rotundifolia and two crypt willisii 'lucens'. The rotala did fine, the java fern died, and the anubias and crypts just managed to hold on without growing much at all for almost a year.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

I understand that those proposed regulations in Texas have been put on hold because of the questions that many people raised.

I'd think that if any plant were already sufficiently established as to be a danger, there would be no sense in banning it from aquariums. Consider hydrilla in Florida.

I have a plant that our Federal government says can't be transported over state lines and it has disappeared from the market. The fact that it can't survive cold Pennsylvania winters is irrelevant to the policy makers. One size must fit all.

BTW, that plant gets excellent care! 

Bill



Jark said:


> I second the Marselia minuta suggestion. I is one of my favorite plants. It starts slowly, but once it gets several runners going, it really takes off though.
> 
> Unfortunately I may have to remove all of my Marselia minuta in May due to new Texas aquatic plant regulations.


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## MaryD (Jan 6, 2009)

Ok, Bill--I'll bite: what is the mystery plant?

I think these are awesome ideas. In the duration, I also read the article by Diana Walstad on using carpeting plants in low tech setups (she uses garden soil, extra light, floaters and shrimp--and a bit of vigilance). I may try her technique as well.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

MaryD said:


> Ok, Bill--I'll bite: what is the mystery plant?


LOL. OK, the plant is Hygrophila polysperma. It is on the Federal noxious weeds list, which means that it cannot be imported or transported over state lines.

Several states have outlawed the plant in various ways. Pennsylvania is not one of them, but if I give cutting to a friend across the state line in Delaware, I would be in violation of the Federal rule.

As a result of this, H. polysperma is very hard or impossible to purchase on the market. Those of us who already have it should protect our stashes.

(If anyone has better information about the Federal and state regulations of "noxious weeds", I hope that he or she will update what I have written above. It might be a good idea to start a new thread.)

Bill


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## potatoes (Jun 25, 2010)

aquabillpers said:


> if I give cutting to a friend across the state line in Delaware, I would be in violation of the Federal rule.


oops :spy:


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## Dr.Awkward (Jun 6, 2010)

I few weeks ago I set up a new el natural tank and used glosso in the foreground. So far it's doing great, starting to spread out but not getting leggy, at least not yet.


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## MaryD (Jan 6, 2009)

aquabillpers said:


> LOL. OK, the plant is Hygrophila polysperma. It is on the Federal noxious weeds list, which means that it cannot be imported or transported over state lines.
> 
> Several states have outlawed the plant in various ways. Pennsylvania is not one of them, but if I give cutting to a friend across the state line in Delaware, I would be in violation of the Federal rule.
> 
> ...


I've had that plant and successfully killed it! I do like it--very pretty with the veining!


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