# Carpet plant suggestions wanted.



## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

I am setting up a tank about 9 x 6 x 6 inches.

It will have a very thin Aquaflora base, covered with gravel. I plan to use excel instead of co2. Lighting will be a bulb suspended at the required height, so could be low, medium, or high level light.

What is an easy plant that is very low growing (the shorter the better), and would completely cover one half of the tank? Medium light would be preferable.

Edit: I mistakenly posted this in Classified. Could a Mod please move it?


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## Mykiss (Apr 22, 2010)

Hi Tom, I'd sugest glosso. I had glosso growing in my 22g long tank with no CO2 and no fertilizer dosing, however I was using ADA Amazonia soil and I had one of the T5HO strips with a reflector over it so it was a bit bright. The gloss grew fine but it grew a few centimeters tall so you'd have to trim. Also, I find that the brighter the light, the shorter they grow but then you'd require more CO2 (carbon). Also, quadrifolia (clover) is another note plant that grows sort of low and grows easily. I would not try HC as I have found it will only grow well under high CO2 conditions but then it could have been just me. Good luck


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

I would suggest dwarf hair grass... low maintenance carpeting plant


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

stonedaquarium said:


> I would suggest dwarf hair grass... low maintenance carpeting plant


 Thanks. I am planning to use that as well in the background. The foreground will be glosso, I think. The tank is very tiny.


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## gsneufeld (Jan 28, 2012)

not a traditional use but I use moss, just spread out thinly and weghted with pebbles or gravel in good light spreads and fills out surprisiningly quickly and nicely imo.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Glosso will likely start growing upwards in medium light and Excel, but you can give it a try and trim consistently to keep it down.


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Glosso will likely start growing upwards in medium light and Excel, but you can give it a try and trim consistently to keep it down.


 The tank is tiny, so trimming will be pretty easy.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

TomC said:


> The tank is tiny, so trimming will be pretty easy.


I didn't mean that it would be difficult to trim. I think that at lower light levels the Glosso would grow up instead of spreading across, so you won't get a good carpet effect. But you won't know until you try. I have not grow glosso before, so I don't know how it would react. But with HC, that's what happens. It grows up instead of spreading out, if the lighting level is too low.


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> I didn't mean that it would be difficult to trim. I think that at lower light levels the Glosso would grow up instead of spreading across, so you won't get a good carpet effect. But you won't know until you try. I have not grow glosso before, so I don't know how it would react. But with HC, that's what happens. It grows up instead of spreading out, if the lighting level is too low.


 I have a clip on bulb that is more than enough to achieve high light. My main concern is finding the balance between enough light to keep the plants healthy and low growing without getting a plague of algae. I may put in some plants that will emerge above the surface and grow fast enough to eat up the nutrients.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

I had marsilea quadrifolia in 3 small shrimp tanks, and it was very easy to look after. Looked like tiny clover leafs. There's another plant, related, that is also very pretty but a little bit harder to look after. I found that marsilea quadrifolia was quite easy to place in the tank. I never separated the plants into tiny plants, but would put chunks of it here and there (I don't have a lot of dexterity). I got mine from Aquaflora.

Choose plants that don't have a lot of brown on them. If they're green, they will pretty much survive anything. I had one pack of marsilea that was mostly brown, and that bunch just never grew for me.

This is a good plant for shrimp or small fish, maybe not a good plant for anything that likes to dig, like corydoras or crays. My experience with low to medium light was that the plants never grew tall, never needed any pruning, just stayed put. They also didn't spread very fast. I think I've talked myself into getting some more!

Four Leaf Clover, Water Shamrock (Marsilea quadrifolia)


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Maureen. The tank is full now, but if the glosso or dwarf pennywort don't work out, I will definitely try the clover.

Right now, the tiny tank has dwarf hair grass, glosso, brazilian pennywort, dwarf pennywort, and creeping jenny. A bit crowded, but I am hoping two or three types will do well. I know the creeping jenny will, and hair grass grows fine for me in another nano, but the others I have never tried.


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