Easiest Carpeting Plant?

Any ideas for carpeting plants that will grow in my tank?

Substrate - Eco Complete Planted Black about 2 inches thick
Light- Aquael Leddy Smart 2 Planted 6W 8000K

 

I bought some aquarium grass seeds off of amazon and they started growing in 4 days and look nice. Nice looking carpet plant. Will post picture.

 

I’ve heard that Monte Carlo is pretty easy.

Also, java moss on metal mats will work.

 

Sorry about the Blur. Some water spots on the glass and it was at an angle.

 

What size of tank do you have? The lighting doesn't look too intense, depending on how deep your tank is, there might not be enough PAR to grow traditional carpeting plants like baby tears. A lot of them need pressurized co2 to flourish as well.

If the tank is small, a small scale plant like micro sword or tenellus might work. Dwarf hair grass really needs co2 to do well. In my large scale tanks, I use plants like dwarf sag and stargrass kept trimmed low. The latter is a stem plant and not normally used as a carpet plant, but it grows well without injected co2 and crawls along nicely. It's my favorite plant to use as a carpet. You could also mix two styles and do a section or sections of two carpets.

 

What size of tank do you have? The lighting doesn't look too intense, depending on how deep your tank is, there might not be enough PAR to grow traditional carpeting plants like monte carlo or baby tears. A lot of them need pressurized co2 to flourish as well.

If the tank is small, a small scale plant like micro sword or tenellus might work. Dwarf hair grass really needs co2 to do well. In my large scale tanks, I use plants like dwarf sag and stargrass kept trimmed low. The latter is a stem plant and not normally used as a carpet plant, but it grows well without injected co2 and crawls along nicely. It's my favorite plant to use as a carpet. You could also mix them and do a section of two carpets

The reason I wanted a carpet plant was to provide some hiding places for shrimp. Do you think I could plant some hyrdocortyle around the base of my rocks and have it sprawl out? My tank is a 15 gallon so its lit but the lighting isn't very intense.

 

Anubias nana will grow, almost guaranteed, I have a nana carpet in my 5.5g. But it took 4 years to grow lol. Just saying, unless you are trying to stick to a particular biotope, you could tuck anubias in spots, or at the base of DW.

There's a lot of possibilities! What size is your tank and what style of scape do you like the best? Natural, simple, jungle, iwagumi, biotope?

Ok shrimp. Got it.
15 gallon. Got it.

Is it a 15 gallon high?
Or 2ft x 1ft x 1ft?
Tx!

 

Ok shrimp. Got it.
15 gallon. Got it.

Is it a 15 gallon high?
Or 2ft x 1ft x 1ft?
Tx!

I'm actually in the UK so it's a 55L which is about the same
Its 46cm long by 34cm high so I think that would be a 15 gallon high?

Anubias nana will grow, almost guaranteed, I have a nana carpet in my 5.5g. But it took 4 years to grow lol. Just saying, unless you are trying to stick to a particular biotope, you could tuck anubias in spots, or at the base of DW.

There's a lot of possibilities! What size is your tank and what style of scape do you like the best? Natural, simple, jungle, iwagumi, biotope?

Here is the beginnings of my tank

 

For fun I took pics of my 15 gallon and 5.5g tanks for ideas. Lol, the 15 gallon doesn't have a carpet, it's Blackwater style, and my skittish gold tetras hide in java fern all the time if I don't sneak up. It doesn't even look like there's fish in the tank in the pic lol. These two are low light tanks.


15g long


5.5g
I used to have shrimp in the 5.5g

I'm actually in the UK so it's a 55L which is about the same
Its 46cm long by 34cm high so I think that would be a 15 gallon high?

~18" x 13"

13" is the same depth as my 15g. I have crypt wendtiI red in the right front and needleleaf java fern. If I was to add a carpet, I might try tenellus. Or stargrass because I'm bias. Haha

This is a portion of my 120 gallon with stargrass as a carpet (when my angelfish didn't start nibbling on the leaves and ripping it out for fun)

Just for ideas

I had to switch to a dwarf sag carpet still in progress.

 

For fun I took pics of my 15 gallon and 5.5g tanks for ideas. Lol, the 15 gallon doesn't have a carpet, it's Blackwater style, and my skittish gold tetras hide in java fern all the time if I don't sneak up. It doesn't even look like there's fish in the tank in the pic lol. These two are low light tanks.
View attachment 449578
15g long
View attachment 449579
5.5g
I used to have shrimp in the 5.5g

Which plant species have you had that have done well in low light?

 

Low light plants that do well for me in smaller tanks are: (and I think would work in your 55L):
Anubias (different varieties available)
Java fern (different varieties available)
Bolbitis (African water fern)*
Rosette sword plants (red or green osolet, rubin, oriental)
Ludwigia repens
Rotala rotundifolia
Hygro rosenervig
Hygro angustifolia
Crypts (shorter varieties are wendtii, willisii, lutea)
Crypts (taller varieties are balancea, undulata, lutea)

There's so many types of crypts that would do well imo in your tank, but those are some I've grown in tanks 18" deep. Crypts in general will stay shorter in higher light and grow taller when crowded or reaching for light.

*can get very branchy and fill large areas

Carpeting:
Stargrass+
Dwarf sagittaria
Echinodorus tenellus
Microsword
Staurogyne repens*
Baby tears (HC)*
Crypt parva*

*maybe, may not be enough light
+I used stargrass as a carpet for my shrimp in a 46g and the shrimp population was able to stay alive housed with a pair of electric blue rams.

I'm probably forgetting plants, but those are some of the easiest to grow that stay a relatively small size. I omitted plants that grow wild, too tall or take up too much space.

 

What is a easy to grow lush green carpet plant that does not need co2?

 

dwarf subulata

 

dwarf sagittaria. subulata is a species of sagittaria (dwarf sag).

 

anything shorter?

 

No, there aren't any easier true carpeting plants. Stargrass and S. Repens grow fast, but you have to cut the tops off and replant them as they only grow up, not out.

 

Pearlweed AKA Hemianthus Glomeratus. Thing grows like crazy in good lighting. Doesn't need CO2 but definitely needs a decent light source. I've grown it in extremely low light but it takes a long time to spread.

 

I have pearlweed and definitely behaves more like a minI stem plant, though it does also have a tendency to branch out. You can find videos of pearlweed carpets online but they are taller than a true carpeting plant. Since pearlweed is so small it prefers aquasoil, which is more ideal for root growth.

 

Hairgrass can be grown in walstad aquariums Marc Davis has (I think) hairgrass growing in one of his walstad aquariums, and it grows really well

 

Hairgrass can be grown in walstad aquariums Marc Davis has (I think) hairgrass growing in one of his walstad aquariums, and it grows really well

Yep. there is nothing in the vase but aquasoil. The light is a clip on desklamp with a 6500k LED 4 watt bulb

 

Yep. there is nothing in the vase but aquasoil. The light is a clip on desklamp with a 6500k LED 4 watt bulb

I love that tank so much

 

Dwarf hairgrass isn't as hard as its made out to be. I haven't tried it, but a lot of people say it needs nutrient rich substrate (dirt) and good lighting. Not that difficult.

 

can it grow in shrimp king soil?

 

There is a tiny crypt but I do not rember it’s name. I am trying to see if it will grow for me.

 

is it crypt parva?

 

blue velvet keeper I don't know, I have heard it grows well in dirt

 

is it crypt parva?

Not sure. I got it at Petsmart two weeks ago.

 

can anyone please awnser my question about if hairgrass grows in shrimp king substrate? sorry if I sound demanding but I an eager to find out

 

can anyone please awnser my question about if hairgrass grows in shrimp king substrate? sorry if I sound demanding but I an eager to find out

Can’t help on that score. I use Black Diamond Blasting Sand and Pool Filter Sand with root tabs.

 

can anyone please awnser my question about if hairgrass grows in shrimp king substrate? sorry if I sound demanding but I an eager to find out

Shrimp king is a soil based aquasoil, right? If so yes, an aquasoil will drastically improve your chances

 

Shrimp king is a so based aquasoil, right? If so yes, an aquasoil will drastically improve your chances

YES!!! thank you I needed to know that thank you