Low Light Foreground/ Carpeting Plants?

Hey everyone, I'm working on setting up a 30 gallon community tank, and I was thinking of having it as a low light setup. (By the way, don't worry I haven't stocked it yet, I'll add the fish after the plants lol .) So far for the hardscape I think I'll do Anubias and Java fern, for the background I'll do dwarf saggitara (I hope I'm spelling that right, I think that's the plant unless I got the name wrong,) and I want some Amazon frogbit for the floaters, because I heard it sends down nice long roots, which I'm hoping will give the tank a jungle-y feel. I do like cryptocorynes, but I wasn’t sure if they’d make a good foreground/ carpeting plant. Any suggestions?

 

I think the dwarf sag is going to be your best choice for a foreground carpeting plant. Crypts grow too tall to be considered a carpeting plant.

 

Hey everyone, I'm working on setting up a 30 gallon community tank, and I was thinking of having it as a low light setup. (By the way, don't worry I haven't stocked it yet, I'll add the fish after the plants lol .) So far for the hardscape I think I'll do Anubias and Java fern, for the background I'll do dwarf saggitara (I hope I'm spelling that right, I think that's the plant unless I got the name wrong,) and I want some Amazon frogbit for the floaters, because I heard it sends down nice long roots, which I'm hoping will give the tank a jungle-y feel. I do like cryptocorynes, but I wasn’t sure if they’d make a good foreground/ carpeting plant. Any suggestions?

What dimensions are the tank? Crypts might work, but they get about 6" high, so they might not be good if the tank is only 13" high or something.

It's less a plant, than a weed, but java or Christmas moss might be an option. You can plant each stem (or whatever a piece of moss is called lol) in the substrate and then trim at whatever level you like... I've never seen it done, but that doesn't mean it CAN'T be.

 

What dimensions are the tank? Crypts might work, but they get about 6" high, so they might not be good if the tank is only 13" high or something.

It's less a plant, than a weed, but java or Christmas moss might be an option. You can plant each stem (or whatever a piece of moss is called lol) in the substrate and then trim at whatever level you like... I've never seen it done, but that doesn't mean it CAN'T be.

I have some insight on the moss carpet. I have seen people thread java moss onto stainless steel mesh and lay the mesh on top of the substrate. The moss will take over and it will be seamless. I recommend looking this up on YouTube for a more detailed tutorial. Something I want to try myself eventually, seems pretty cool.

 

The dimensions of the tank are 3ft long, 1 ft wide, and 1 ft 3 in tall. The moss carpet sounds kind of cool! I might have to look into that
What would be a good background plant then? I remember seeing a video talking about good beginner plants and dwarf sag was mentioned... Or at least I think it was lol. Would vallisnera work, or does it grow too tall?

 

The dimensions of the tank are 3ft long, 1 ft wide, and 1 ft 3 in tall. The moss carpet sounds kind of cool! I might have to look into that
What would be a good background plant then? I remember seeing a video talking about good beginner plants and dwarf sag was mentioned... Or at least I think it was lol. Would vallisnera work, or does it grow too tall?

Val is definitely a good option because it’s fast growing, and pretty easy. You can trim the leaves to a height you want once they’ve established, but I almost like the look of them growing so tall they start to curl over the surface, but that’s just preference. Other background plants I like are rotala rotundifolia and cabomba.

 

Would Val go ok with amazon frogbit?

 

Would Val go ok with amazon frogbit?

I dont think that there is any issue putting plant A with plant B unless you get SUPER scientific and look at each plant's nutrient uptake, and have a limited supply of some nutrient that you dont want to dose more of (in other words, you'd be doing a doctoral thesis on plant A and B and their nutrient uptake!)

Val would be a good option. Just stay away from jungle val. I heard it gets 36"+ and the leaves are 1" across, so it would take over your tank. There are other varieties of val that would work, I just know that particular one would probably not be a good one (though you might like the look)

 

Ok thank you! I decided a long time ago that I want corydoras in there, and they probably wouldn’t do good with carpeting plants whoops my bad. Would crypts be good midground plants though?

 

Ok thank you! I decided a long time ago that I want corydoras in there, and they probably wouldn’t do good with carpeting plants whoops my bad. Would crypts be good midground plants though?

For sure. Wouldn’t do crypt parva, but crypt wendtii or lutea would look nice.

 

S.repens is a good one

 

Cool, thanks! So I’ll do amazon frogbit, crypt lutea and wendtii, val, and on the hardscape java fern and Anubias (maybe I’ll try to sneak Christmas moss in there, I looked it up and it’s really nice looking!)
Ooh, I just saw the s. repens recommendation and it looks really nice as well. Sorry for all the questions lol, would that make a good foreground plant?

 

You can stunt your wendtii with root binding, I use cups just shallower than the substrate (or a touch taller in the tanks that I built then into) drill a couple 1/4" holes into the sides near the bottom to prevent ammonia pits and plant the wendtii in them, then bury the cups in the substrate. I don't have exact measurements but I believe most of mine are 2-3" diameter, I just cut the tops off some cheap children's drinking cups to make the bottom part the right depth. Root binding doesn't work on all plants, it's an awful idea on Amazon sword (it worked but the overall health suffered). But with crypt melting and regrowing to ideally match less than ideal parameters it works great. My root bound crypt stays less than 6" horizontal diameter and 3-4" tall. Normally planted crypt from the same mother plant with the same nutrients and lighting grows to about 10" diameter and up to 6" tall. You may notice be a really long leaf every now and then, it just means one of your roots found the hole in the cup, you can replant it and it will be back to normal in a couple weeks.

 

Cool, thanks! So I’ll do amazon frogbit, crypt lutea and wendtii, val, and on the hardscape java fern and Anubias (maybe I’ll try to sneak Christmas moss in there, I looked it up and it’s really nice looking!)
Ooh, I just saw the s. repens recommendation and it looks really nice as well. Sorry for all the questions lol, would that make a good foreground plant?

Yep! Doesnt get tall and its a stem plant so u can just keep snipping and replanting until u cover the whole floor

 

I‘be heard that you need two pounds of substrate for every gallon in planted tanks- is that true?

 

I‘be heard that you need two pounds of substrate for every gallon in planted tanks- is that true?

It can't be weight since all the substrates have varying densities, an inch of course sand or soiled substrate probably weighs 2-5 times more than an inch of stratum or one of the other clay based super substrates. The volume (often expressed as cubic foot) is a good measurement. You will need 2-6 inches of substrate depending on what you grow, I usually use 3-5" across a tank, rarely level. That gives some room for various root depths. You can use volume calculator to figure these details out after you figure out your ideal depth.

There are others that will know specifics for dirted or active substrate, my depth works well for course to medium grit sand.

 

I‘be heard that you need two pounds of substrate for every gallon in planted tanks- is that true?

That is not true. That is a general recommendation for if you are using a planted tank substrate (like stratum, or eco complete). It breaks down after you get into odd sized aquariums like 40 breeders (you'd need MORE) or tall tanks (you'd want less).

My plants do fine in about 2 inches of fine sand (i dont recommend fine sand because it kills filter impellers and probably isn't good for plant roots, though I don't know).

If you do a planted (aka active) substrate, then I'd go with that rule, but more active substrate generally means longer before the plants use it all up, and it needs to be redone.

 

So if I start with 40 pounds of sand for a 30 gallon how many inches should that be?
Sorry- I’m terrible at math lol

 

1.333333... That would work fine.

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to stomp all over the pounds per gallon rule, just wanted to say that it isnt a hard and fast rule that can't be broken. The biggest issue is getting enough to make the scape LOOK good, or if you are using active substrate, to get the plants to have lots of nutrients for as long as possible. The main thing is if YOU like the look of the tank, then whether the plants and fish are doing ok.

 

Oh ok. I started with 40 pounds of sand (just got back a couple minutes ago.) We'll see how it is from there, I have a particular scape in mind that shouldn’t use too much sand so I think this will be good. Thanks for all your help!

 

Oh ok. I started with 40 pounds of sand (just got back a couple minutes ago.) We'll see how it is from there, I have a particular scape in mind that shouldn’t use too much sand so I think this will be good. Thanks for all your help!

You can try crypt parva. It is a lower growing crypt, but it does like a decent amount of light. It has smaller leaves too and I have seen tanks with corys going in and out of the plants. They are really cool with it all in my experience. I have some plants if when you're ready, I can tell you what I have. No pressure to buy or anything, just trying to offer a helping hand.

 

Ooh, it looks really nice! Would I not be able to do floating plants with it though, since it likes a bit more light?