# Looking for a nice carpet plants



## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

Since I had bad experience with tenellus, I want to try other carpet plants.
What kind of carpet plant would fit well for a 10gal with medium lights and DiY co2 powerhead injection??

I'd love to have Hemianthus Callitroides but it seems really hard to get some here in Canada.

I'm thinking of: 
Eleocharis parvula (dwarf hairgrass) coz it's easy with any kind of light

what do u guys think??


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## Lawrence Lee (Jul 17, 2004)

I've grown HC easily when they're exposed to full sun in soil tanks. However, I've never succeeded growing them in an indoor aquarium (even with high tech T5HO lighting, EI dosing, chillers and CO2 controllers) I think there is something in direct sunlight that the full spectrum lamps cannot match.

E. parvula is easy. You need a rich substrate and a decent circulation going through them or soon there's going to be algae tangled with them. Under medium light and little to no CO2, they will not form a dense lawn, but a sparse grassy field.

Good luck.


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

Eleocharis parvula isnt a bad choice other than its a mulm magnet  ....

Dwarf Sag. grows well in a wide range of conditions (much better for me than E. Tenellus) 

Good Luck!
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

It should be easy to find HC in Canada so long as you live near a shop that carries Tropica plants.


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

AaronT: 
I've tried to order last time HC at my LFS but they only got Hemianthus Micranthoides which I only brought at home. I asked them once again to order HC. Hopefully this time I'll get it. If I still can't, I think dwarf hairgrass will be my second choice. I'm just wonderring It's that possible to trim that kind of plant?

On the other hand, does HC would react well for my kinda of light and setup??

btw, my CO2 is usually around 23ppm. Most of my plants pearl really well around this amount of co2. Anubias pearl like crazy though...


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Both HC and hairgrass can be mowed down with scissors and will grow back without having to uproot them and replant them.

The HC should do fine in a medium light setup. I hope your LFS can get some for you.


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

onemyndseye:
What happened with tenellus?
I guess I'm not the only one who actually dislike tenellus. actually what makes me think of this plant is : :axe:


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

AaronT:

ooh sweeEEeTt!! eace: 
I'm wonderring if HC can form a dense lawn for my kind of setup???

What kind of tank do u have? any pics of it?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I have about 10 different tanks. I have a journal going here about a soil tank I setup recently.

I think the HC should form a nice mat for you.


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

10 different tanks? WoW! that's a lot of maintain though
what's url of u journal?

I only have 2 tanks for now on but I might get another one sooner or later.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Look in this same forum "El Natural" and you'll find a thread called El Natural w/ a Twist.


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

Well....My E. tenellus was planted in a Soil/Onyx sand subtrate and did VERY VERY well at first.. but it seemed as the sand got more compacted it started choking out the Tennelus to the point that I just removed it.

Good Luck,
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

onemyndseye:
I just don't like the way they turn to red, mine didn't get well. 
do u get nice dense carpet though?


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

on yeah... it spread very quickly at first producing long "chains" (runners) of plantlets. 1/2 my 30 was carpeted with it...the other dwarf sag.










The tank is only 20 days old in this pic and you can already see how the Tennelus is already spreading quickly over the left side. Starting from about the tallest point on the driftwood going left is all E. Tennelus. I started with about 4-5 plants You can even kind of make out the bronzing leafs although I didnt remember mine doing that until seeing this pic again 

It still makes me chuckle when I see this pic. There is a reflection on the left side of the tank from my Native Sunfish tank that sits across the room from this one. One of the larger sunfish is keeping is eye on me as usual ...LOL

Take Care,
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

onemyndseye:

There's 2 different Tenellus. Yours looks kinda narrow, I think it's Narrow leaf chain sword. It looks like yours don't turn to red. What kind of light do u have? 
The one that I had, was Pygmy chain sword.


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

Today I've ordered some E. parvula at my LFS. The fish girl didn't seem to know what kind of plant I was talking about. Hopefully I could get some of them soon around 2 or 3 weeks again


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## Lawrence Lee (Jul 17, 2004)

I've grown both kinds of E. tennelus. When exposed to bright light, both will turn red. However, they do get used to high lighting, and eventually will green up (I'm talking greater than 5WPG high lighting). OTOH, If you have a patch of E. tennelus that is long established under old (read dim) bulbs, and you change bulbs, they also will turn bronzy red.

Ranalisma rostrata is very much like ET, propogates by runners, stays short and green. With CO2, heavy fertilisation and bright lights, it forms a dense green carpet. But I've no experience growing it under NPT conditions.


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

That's really weird, those tenellus that were in my 10 gal, I replanted them in my 5.5 gal and this week they started get some runners already. What I did, I just took out some oldies leaves then replant them. It looks like they like my 5.5 gal better instead. :roll: 


I can't wait to get my hands on dwarf hairgrass


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

Today, I called my LFS, they told me they can't get any HC that I've ordered 
I guess I have to wait for dwarf hairgrass. They might get them.
If not I have to think another plant. 

Does anyone have good or bad experiences with glosso in medium light?


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## voytek333 (May 25, 2006)

I got 6 dwarf sag more or less 2 months ago - now I think I will have a number close to ... 150 - 200 dwarf sags :X 

 


ps. I'm willing to trade them for some other plants


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

btw, I ain't looking for dwarf sag but thanks anyway


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

After 2 weeks of waiting for dwarf hairgrass and hemianthus callitroides at my LFS. I came to visit them and unfornately they don't have any of plants I wanted. I then went to another LFS and noticed they actually have Glossostigma as carpet plant. So I wanted to give a try and bought a few of glosso.

Then I came home, separated each stems and planted each stem separately while using a tweezer. I think it's best method to make glosso spread nicely. 

I have read several articles and critics about the right method to proceed glosso. Hopefully I did the right one.  

Let's see how glosso react in my tank within 3 or 4 weeks


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

let us know how the glosso grows for you with no CO2 and lower lighting. Another plant I thought I would suggest for you is ELATINE TRIANDRA. It does well for me in my Non-CO2 tanks.... however this is only plant that doesnt like a lack of nutrients. It wont grow for me in soil based tanks and slowly dies back if I dont dose ferts to the water colum to help it along...... maybe once it gets estalbalished and the roots are thick and deeper in the substrate it wouldnt be needed.... For me though my plants have never done so hot with out water colum doseing.... maybe the soil I used wasnt rich enough i dont know.

anyway its a beautiful little carpet plant to give a shot


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## Lawrence Lee (Jul 17, 2004)

MrSanders said:


> let us know how the glosso grows for you with no CO2 and lower lighting. Another plant I thought I would suggest for you is ELATINE TRIANDRA.
> anyway its a beautiful little carpet plant to give a shot


E.triandra is an excellent recommendation. Under low lighting, non CO2, it can creep to form a carpet, but v-e-r-y slowly. The leaves are many times larger than HC or Glosso though, so if you intend to have it as a foreground carpet in a nano tank, it may be too large. Keep trimming the stems when they grow tall to "train" it to creep. A slow release fert stick in the substrate helps in maintaining health if you don't want to do water column dosing. It is indeed a heavy feeder, but with low light, its demands are tamed.

I'm also very interested to know if Glosso will carpet under NPT conditions.


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## qpixo (Sep 9, 2006)

Actually I have DIY co2 powerhead injection and I dose ferts NPK, fert and flourish 2x every week. My CO2 is around 23ppm


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## Lawrence Lee (Jul 17, 2004)

With CO2, E. trianda need high light intensity for it to stay short.


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