im new to planted tanks and I want to know a ground cover plant that grows fast and is easy to keep alive. I have silver dollars, tetras, groumies, a royal pleco, and discus in it. I have some floramax as my substrate and a coralife quad compact flouresant with 2 10,000k bulbs and 2 atinic bulbs. and I use plant food 2 times a week
this is what im working with
what a fast and easy to grow ground covering plant
10 posts
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Alasse - Posts: 993
- Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
- Location: QLD Australia
Silver dollars are plant eaters, but ya might be lucky, though i doubt it as the mature. They really arent suited in planted tanks :)
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natalie265 - Site Admin
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm
Alasse is right. You have a beautiful tank and your silver dollars are probably going to destroy it. They can mow down an entire plant overnight. I know because it happened to me, ha ha. Also, i have yet to find an easy to grow groundcover.
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pro68camaro - Posts: 14
- Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:22 am
yea i took the silver dollars out now and put them in my spare 15 gallon. they started munching on my java ferns real bad. I thinking i might go with some micro sword or mabye some baby tears. do you know of a plant that can grow tall and cover the back of my tank. right now i have a fake plant in it just to make it look not so bare
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natalie265 - Site Admin
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm
Amazon sword is a nice, big plant that is pretty easy to grow. There are some types of crypt wendtii that grow pretty tall, and those are SUPER easy to grow. Good luck with the micro sword and baby tears. I haven't had luck with those in low tech tanks, but maybe you will. And, you probably already know this, but 15 gallons will soon be much too small for your silver dollars.
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Alasse - Posts: 993
- Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
- Location: QLD Australia
The dwarf swords do ok in low light, but if you want a carpet it will take ages and ages! Be warned *LOL*
Hair grass sometimes will grow in low light, and you just trim it like you are cutting your lawn *L*
Hair grass sometimes will grow in low light, and you just trim it like you are cutting your lawn *L*
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natalie265 - Site Admin
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm
But actually, it looks like your lights might be pretty decent. Coralife is a good brand. Do you know how many watts per gallon you have?
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Okiimiru - Posts: 275
- Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm
I'll just list ground cover plants and let you google them. Glossostigma elatinoides, Hemianthus callitrichoides, Eleocharis parvula, Elatrine triandra, Riccia fluitans (put it between two mesh squares), Vesicularia dubyana (again, between two sheets of mesh), Fissidens fontanus, Marsilea hirsuta, Marsilea quadrifolia, Lilaeopsis mauritania, Hydrocotyle verticillata.
There are a lot of different plants you can use as a foreground plant. Measure your pH and DH and see which ones would like your water.
Personally, I have Heminathus callitrichoides. I love its tiny little leaves. My fish are really shy and stick to the bottom, so having a ground cover plant helps them feel more secure and emerge out into the open more often.
I also really like the Hydrocotyle genus that I mentioned above. Its leaves look neat. I had Brazilian pennywort a while ago before I moved. It didn't like 17 DH, 7.5 pH water at all, but now I have 0 DH, 6.5 water, so it might be time to try it again.
There are a lot of different plants you can use as a foreground plant. Measure your pH and DH and see which ones would like your water.
Personally, I have Heminathus callitrichoides. I love its tiny little leaves. My fish are really shy and stick to the bottom, so having a ground cover plant helps them feel more secure and emerge out into the open more often.
I also really like the Hydrocotyle genus that I mentioned above. Its leaves look neat. I had Brazilian pennywort a while ago before I moved. It didn't like 17 DH, 7.5 pH water at all, but now I have 0 DH, 6.5 water, so it might be time to try it again.
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pro68camaro - Posts: 14
- Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:22 am
its powered by two 65 watt 10,000k bulbs and two 65watt atinic bulbs so I think it would be like 4.75 watts per gallon. and yea im probably going to give the silver dollars to a pet store I go to alot. the have some already so im sure theyll take them. but there ok right now theyre only the size of a golf ball right now. ive thought about getting some amazon sword through dr.fosters website. you can buy in when its alot taller. the only place near me that sells live plants is a petsmart. they dont really have much of a selection.
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natalie265 - Site Admin
- Posts: 746
- Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm
With that much lighting you can grow just about anything, but faster growing plants will deplete the fertilzers in your tank faster, requiring the addition of fertilizers.