Micro sword plants?
 

Hey :smile: i am planning on planting some micro sword plants in my aquarium the aquarium has 2 tubes 20 watt each of 6500k lighting it is a 30 gallon aquarium so i have roughly 1.4 watts per gallon would this be ok to grow them i wanted a carpet plant and i love this one..... my tank is heavily planted and its an amazon biotope with a Ph of around 7.2... will this plant do well in my aquarium also i am going to get some root tabs in a week or 2 along with liquid fertilizer. thanks for the help :smile: also any information or advice on keeping this plant is welcome.

I like the microsword, but have never had any luck with it. It grows really, really s-l-o-w-l-y and needs pretty good light. Most I know who successfully grow a "carpet" of microsword use pressurized CO2. Since giving up on microsword, I'm using dwarf sagittaria and it grows really well (fast), although it does tend to be a little taller and broader-leafed than the microsword.

Agree. Another good "carpet" type plant is the pygmy chain sword that should stay fairly compact under your light. It does in my 70g. I also happen to have microsword in this same tank, and it is struggling at best. Here's a photo taken last week.

Byron.

I have microsword in a 10g with two 10W bulbs, it hasn't done much in the two weeks I've had it other than to grow algae on the leaves.

This is my experience too. I can't even see the microsword in that 70g, and the plant in my 29g is no better. The pygmy chain sword is thriving though, as the photo shows.

thanks all of you :-) in my area one cannot find the pygmy chain sword so i just got this. im not sure it is the micro sword anymore because as it was growing runners even in my lfs and they did not have any light in that aquarium..... ill post a pis soon because my aquarium is currently cloudy since i put in some sand it'd be great if you could hep me identify it. thanks for the pic byron beautiful aquarium u have there:-)

here are the pics id be really grateful if someone could identify which plant it is and tell me its needs too :-) all the info on my tank has already been mentioned...Attachment 50107

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Pygmy chain sword, Helanthium tenellum. Info in the profile, click the shaded name.

I might have to try that one, looks nice!

I was being clever. When I planted the foreground on my 20 long I put the Pygmy chain sword next to some microsword. As the micro sword gets consumed by algae (or if it does) the pygmy chain sword will take over! I had some in my 55g with low light and no ferts and while it stayed tiny, it still grew like wildfire. The army should make tanks out of this stuff.

At any rate, its one heck of a plant. It grows like crazy, and looks great. I think you will be pleased :)