[xxbenjamminxx]

I have a 75g tank with two 54 watt t5ho bulbs (coralife 48"), using black sand as a sub with root tabs, paintball co2, and will dosing as soon as I get some dry ferts.

I'm looking for a good carpeting plant, and some good background/foreground plants suggestions. Open to about anything, just nothing messy or will take over the tank on a weekly basis.

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[xxbenjamminxx]

Also, if I have my CO2 running will my plants suffer if I can dose ferts right now? Would be a week or so before I would be able to order any ferts. So I guess what I am asking is will the plants still grow healthy until I can get some ferts or will the die without them with the co2 running?

Sorry for the beginner questions, but I have searched without any results.
Thanks in advance

 

[Cboss]

The CO2 won't hurt anything, but I would only have the lights on for 4-6 hours a day until you get the ferts. I've got a similar light over my 80g and without ferts you could end up with tons of algae.

I've had 2 different backgrounds in my 80g. First I used star grass (heteranthera zosterifilia), it looked great until my angelfish found out it was tasty and ate it all. Now I've got Italian leopard val as a background. It looks good, but I'm thinking of switching to a different vallisneria with wider leaves. That's just my personal opinion though.

I've tried a few foregrounds, but none have been able to stay in the substrate long enough to root down.

 

[xxbenjamminxx]

Thanks for the reply. I set up my timer to be on for 4 hours then off 2 then back on for 4 more. That seemed to be a popular setting on here so that is what I went with. I do have a few Jungle Vals and some Argentine Swords in there right now, but would like to add some more species of plants in there to help "fill it out".

 

[jmrmotorhead]

Rotala grows fast, but not too fast and can often be found at your LFS and even chains like petco. Its often labeled as "rotala indica" but is usually rotala rotundifolia. It may have round leaves at your LFS but once in an environment with adequate light and nutrients it will grow longer slender leaves that ofter turn red, really a good looking plant. Also H. Difformis, or water wisteria, is a very easy plant to grow. I found some at petco in one of those plastic cylinder packages, grown out of the water. They will usually have wide flatter leaves because they were grown immersed not submerged. They will soon fill in to look like the images we are all used to. Beware that many of those cylinders have plants labeled as aquatic, however they are actually bog plants, not true aquatic plants (dracena's and others).

Good luck, and lets see some pics!

Matt

 

[Kathyy]

My substrate is half 11 year old Schultz Aquatic Soil and half too large gravel. Hairgrass, Staurogyne repens and Marsilea are all doing fine. Even Marsilea is staying put very nicely. Staurogyne has a seriously long and strong root system once it gets going. Its stems are brittle and there was a lot of replanting before they all rooted enough to stay down though, I just pull them down so the lowest couple sets of leaves is just under the gravel's surface and they STAY. It is readily available here on the Swap & Shop forum.

+1 on wisteria and Rotala rotundifolia. Very pretty and easy to grow. Since the top is the pretty part wisteria is best used as a mid ground plant. I have been loving my Bacopa monnieri lately. It doesn't grow as fast as some of the other stems, doesn't drop bottom leaves and resprouts well when pruned.

Even though you have a bright, CO2 enriched tank don't forget about the tough Java ferns, Anubias and mosses. They grow in low light with no CO2 but they flourish in good light with CO2 and fertz as well. Some crypts are easy and all are beautiful.