Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Two carpet question/Byron pls help!

2K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  Byron 
#1 ·
Two questions, and Byron please help me!! Your tanks are awesome!!

1. Are there any red carpet plants? That would be so cool if there was.

2. Byron, do you have carpet plants? And if so what is the easiest and fastest growing one? I like pygmy chain sword the best, but if there are easier ones that would be awesome :) Want fast growing plants so I can have other plants in my other tanks :)) I have two watts a gallon in a 20 inch tank (would this be considered tall? So confusing!) and you have 1 watt a gallon, is that correct?

Sorry to pester you, but after seeing plants in the lake while camping I got so paranoided about aquascaping (in a good way). I'm not kidding. I kept thinking that plant looks like so and so, this on elooks just like this, from a distance with my glasses off that look like a sword. <-- That was skunk cabbage, not going in the fish tank.

Thnx!
 
#2 ·
one of the fastest growing carpet plants are mosses. The bonus is they do not need a lot of light. I don't know about red ones. Extreme caution if considering taking plants from the wild. One you risk bringing in diseasesand parasites, and two given your area you are probably looking at a cold water species. Cold water species usually cant live warm water varieties. This is due to the vastly different water temp requirements, unless you get lucky and find ones whose temp ranges overlap.
 
#4 ·
There are three choices Pygmy chain sword, Chain sword, and Dwarf Sagittaria. All three are easy plants and grow very fast once they settle in.

What kind of lights do you have? I know you said you have 2 watts per gallon but you can still have the wrong lighting of you don't have the right Kelvin bulbs. Plants do best in a Kelvin range of 5000 - 7000k. Most ppl use around 6500k.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#5 ·
There are three choices Pygmy chain sword, Chain sword, and Dwarf Sagittaria. All three are easy plants and grow very fast once they settle in.

What kind of lights do you have? I know you said you have 2 watts per gallon but you can still have the wrong lighting of you don't have the right Kelvin bulbs. Plants do best in a Kelvin range of 5000 - 7000k. Most ppl use around 6500k.
Posted via Mobile Device
Dwarf Sag looks neat too, not a big fan of chain sword, though.
I have no idea what the bulbs are, I got everything of Craigslist. There the screw-in type? I dont know if that helps. One is coated in a blue thing that my dad guesses is for plants. I think the tank was used for turtles before me, just guessing with the 3 containers of turtle food.
 
#8 ·
I am not a fan of true "carpet" plants, as I do not like the substrate covered but prefer it somewhat open which is more natural. But by "carpet" I am meaning the true substrate covers. Pygmy chain sword and chain sword I have in most of my tanks as the "foreground" plants, or some of the crypts also work. You can get reddish/brownish crypts.

If your tank is 20 inches in length, it is likely a 10 gallon. And with an incandescant (screw-in bulb type) lighting fixture. I have this over my 10g and 20g, and I use two GE 10w Daylight 6500K CFL bulbs.

Byron.
 
#12 ·
I meant 20 inches in height 24 in lenght and 12 in width. Sorry, should of made that clear.:oops:

So I'll use it as a foreground, and we'll see what else happens.
Now I'm wondering what an all red tank would look like. . .
 
#10 ·
Yes. The true species, Hellanthium tenellum, when grown in brighter light can be reddish. This usually requires more nutrients, including CO2 as well to balance.
 
#11 ·
The ideal bulbs for that fixture will look something like this-


Dwarf sag has worked the best for me, perhaps it's my water supply. Dwarf hairgrass can work in low light if you have a sandy or fine substrate, but it will grow extremely slowly.

On the wpg debate, I believe depth has a lot more importance than gallon.. What are the dimensions of the tank? (Height, width, and depth front to back)
 
#14 ·
I'll find a picture, I looked at the lights at Pet cetera (so expensive!) and they were all way too long. There were like the one you showed, Redchigh.
It looks like this, just not blue (I'll get a picture later)
http://fish-lighting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/aquarium-light-bulbs.jpg
I see you're in Canada like me...avoid Petcetera unless they are going out of business and stuff is on sale.:lol: They are very expensive. At least the one closest to me is. Petsmart is much better for prices. Or Big Al's if you have one near you. Or for even more savings, online; I'm now buying my Seachem plant additives, filter pads, even some fish foods online because Ieven with maybe $9 shipping, I am saving $50-$70 buying these in one go.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top