i wanted to start a topic to see what everyone prefers to use to carpet their tanks. i am considering doing this with some Riccia Fluitans. i would like to see pics if possible to give me some ideas. let me know if any of you have found something better to use. :drunk:

Dwarf Hairgrass.


It's pretty annoying to care for though. I still haven't perfected it yet.

I liked my javafern before my mother destroyed it. I am rather sad I never got a picture I had a small 4 inch forest all over my lava rock. It was the only thing to survive the cichlids.

yeah i have dwarf hairgrass but it isn't exactly taking off if you know what i mean. thanks Alex, yeah i was thinking of changing the 20 up abit getting some of the clutter out of there you know. i want to make it a more simplistic tank, with more open area.

It may just be me, but I really dug your planted tank.

thanks bud, i think i am just in a phase where i want something different out of it. i still like the tank but i want to try the minimalist approach. you should see that powerhead now, almost completely covered.:)

well, you can try using some thing like jave fern (if you have a slim, long peice of drift wood, or peice of rock.)

glostigma (i think it's spelled correctly) is pretty cool if you can find it.....(no one in town sells it....)

also, sagatreia (if thats spelled correctly) is also a cool carpeting plant so I'm told.....

Also, narrow Leaf Chain Sword is an awesome plant, it grows like mad, but, you have to keep it trimmed if you want it to look like a capet, but, here is how mine looks after about 2 weeks in my aquarium, and only starting with 3 plants no CO2, and 1.6 WPG......

not the best pic to show off ther best side, but, i have it so it is fore ground cover.....

thanks bud.:) i have alot of dwarf sagg in the tank it sort of looks like very long blade grass in the tank. i was thinking of doing the riccia wrapped around a rock and maybe some driftwood to add another dimension to the tank.

Ricca makes a nice plant in the tank, but you must have decent light over it or it won't do real well. Here is a pic of one of my tanks that have Ricca, also some dwarf chain swords and some baby tears for different effects. Ricca will also break loose and float at the top of the tank as you can see in this pic. One of the easiest ways to tie it to something is to use a new hairnet to hold it in place, the ricca will grow through the net hiding it.

I have some java moss growing on some of my driftwood, not as nicely as Susan's riccia, but it's coming along nicely.


I didn't tie it in place, just tucked it into the nooks and crannies and let it grow from there.

cool, nice job dorothy.:tup:

Susan, thanks for the info.:)
i am actually trying it right now, i found some screen material(you know for screen doors) and i made a mat out of it and tied it closed with some fishing line. i have decent lighting on the tank 1 65 watt power compact flourescent hood and the stock hood that came with the tank.

your tank looks awesome, love the riccia nice work.:tup:

That should work, but watch out for the screen that it won't rust. Another thing that can be used for a mat is the plastic needle point squares you can get at craft shops. The lighting should work as long it adds up to at least 2 watts per gal. Mine has about 4.5 watts per gal over it, but the duck weed keeps it subdued.

Good luck with it. lots of fun with this stuff huh.

Here is a couple of recent pics of that tank, needs some trimming done badly. I have ended up moving the rams into a 29 gal and making this into a shrimp tank, since the growth is so heavy.








Need to take some new shots as it is actually a lot fuller than that.

wow, cool tank susan. yeah get some updated pics and post them for sure. i used the fiberglass screen material. and the tank is 20 gallons with about 85 total watts over it. yes it is very fun, getting everything dialed in the way you want it is a challenge but still fun. :drunk:

Ok, just took these pics a few minutes ago. Needs trimmed badly but the cherries are having babies which hide in the plants and afraid I might loose some, can't even see the ricca hardly.

Susan,

Very nice tank! How easy are cherries to keep?

impressive Susan. i would love to get some cherrie shrimp but i haven't seen any around here for awhile. hey are those ramshorn snails you have there?

glaive
They have been pretty easy to me. I give the shrimp a couple of algae tabs and shrimp pellets every couple of days to supplement there feeding, this tank doesn't get to much for water changes, just top off with a gal of water every three days, with all the plants the ammonia and nitrite levels stay at zero, I don't have much for nitrates either because of the plants. They do prefer a mature tank though, that is why I put the rams in the 29 and added the cherries to this tank.


cich1
I got my cherries off of aquabid, managed to get them 20 for $20 plus shipping. They were all pretty young and a few more than 20. Now getting a second hatch from them.
And yes lots of ramshorns in the tank. I take a couple of dozen out a week. They help keep the tanks clean, but man they do multiply fast.

There is also an amano shrimp in there that is very heavy with eggs. The next step is to set up a brackish tank to try and raise those. That means another tank soon :) Only have 8 now.

cool very cool. i had some ramshorns that hitched a ride in on some plants i bought but i have not seen them for some time now. i do have alot of MTS though.

Susan, the clear shrimp in your first picture, what is it? (I think I saw amano shrimp somewhere, but not sure) I have one exactly like that in with my cherries, but I didn't buy him...when they are young, is it easy for them to be mistaken for cherry shrimp?

:whistle: :bump: :laugh: