carpet type plants?

[SherriX2]

I cant think of their right now,its a very short tight growing plant that looks like thick carpet on the tank floor.Has anyone every had any? How do you do you particals w/o messing it up? what type of lght do you use?

[ekanS]

Chain Sword and Dwarf Hair grass ?

[BlackLava]

yea i was gonna say chain sword also....for our plants, we use the hagen double light strip, with a powerglo and lifeglo light bulbs, the lifeglo being for the plants mainly. pretty much you can go to the store and pick out a light bulb that says "for plants" on its packaging. there is also aquarium plant fertilizer that you can use, that is safe for fish

[ekanS]

6500K-6700K, 2 watts per gallon. I use eco-complete substrate.

[jeosbo01]

I use eco-complete also, with a 4 X 65 watt power compact from CoralLife...my chain sword does VERY well, too well in fact.
When I partial my plant tank I leave the substrate alone for the most part, I have numerous Malaysian Trumpet snails that keep it turned over pretty well and the vigorous plant growth takes care or what does settle...

[jeosbo01]

Oh yeah...my plant tank is a 75...so I am at about 3.5 watts per gallon, half @ 6500K and the rest at 7000K. I also inject CO2 @ 2 bubbles per second directly into the canister filter intake.

[BlackLava]

hey jeosbo01, can you please tell me more about your CO2 hookup? im thinking about adding one of those to my planted tank as well, but i dont know nothing at all about those things LOL

[jeosbo01]

Originally Posted by SSA

hey jeosbo01, can you please tell me more about your CO2 hookup? im thinking about adding one of those to my planted tank as well, but i dont know nothing at all about those things LOL

There is really only two major components to it, a tank and a regulator. The tank is a 2.5 pound aluminum cylinder, the regulator I use is a Milwaukee MA957 and I LOVE it! I would recommend a pH controller to anyone setting up this kind of tank (CO2 causes pH swings in most water, sometimes extreme ones) but you can get by without one if you are careful.
As for the set up, it is really as simple as getting the CO2 tank filled, attaching the regulator to the CO2 tank and hooking CO2 line (don't use regular airline tubing)to it to run where you want the CO2 to go (you could use a diffuser but I run mine straight into the intake of my canister filter and it works quite well).
A set up like this will run about $100 or so to set up but it is well worth it in the long run. I have had mine going for almost 4 years now and still get GREAT plant growth in the tank. A 2.5 pound tank of CO2 will last me about 7-8 months and runs about $15 to fill when empty.

James

[Lucille]

Riccia fluitans and glossostigma are both popular carpet type plants. The riccia need to be secured as they ordinarily are floating plants.

[ekanS]

[quote=SSA;572508... but i dont know nothing at all about those things LOL[/QUOTE]

Ditto! That's why I just use Florish Excel - the best alternative.