I'm gonna try to make this short and sweet, I have a 75 gallon tank and I really want to start a carpet plant of some sort. I don't have super strong lights just LEDs from my LFS and a T5 Bulb. But I am going to upgrade my lights since plants near my substrate are barely growing and brown algae is pissing me off lol. Anyways do carpet plants use their roots for nutrients or the water column. I have about 80lbs of Eco complete with black diamond blasting sand capping it. So technically the carpet plant will not be in the Eco complete unless their roots go deep enough. I want a carpet plant that will still thrive in the BDS. And also how to get plants a more light green color, is that from dosing or lights? If you have anymore questions feel free to ask. I dose with diy osmocote root tabs Api root tabs and once and once and a while Api liquid firt . I also inject co2 at about 3 bps
Carpet plants
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Hey @Rickie,
Saggitaria subulata is certainly a good candidate for low light setups. Marsilea is another favourite of mine. Both are able to carpet in low light and low tech situations and have deep roots that can reach nutrients in the substrate.
Most plants will take up nutrients from both the substrate and the water column. In addition, sand can become nutrient enriched after some time if you have lots of fish. The light green color is characteristic of certain plant species (S. repens) and new growth. The green color in the plants can be improved by the addition of iron(new growth only).
Saggitaria subulata is certainly a good candidate for low light setups. Marsilea is another favourite of mine. Both are able to carpet in low light and low tech situations and have deep roots that can reach nutrients in the substrate.
Most plants will take up nutrients from both the substrate and the water column. In addition, sand can become nutrient enriched after some time if you have lots of fish. The light green color is characteristic of certain plant species (S. repens) and new growth. The green color in the plants can be improved by the addition of iron(new growth only).
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With patience you can have success with most carpeting plants such as dwarf hairgrass, Monte Carlo, hc, Sagittaria and others. If it has good co2 and available nutrients the lower to medium light will just make it spread slower. Dwarf sag will probably carpet faster but won't be as thick as DHG. To help carpet faster simply plant more individual stems of whatever you pick
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