[michaelmj11]

I have been slowly adding plants to my aquarium for a few months now, but absolutely refuse to do much serious upgrading to the lights (although I have added one extra LED strand). I recently added two new plants a
Echinodorus tenellus (I believe called Pigmy Chain sword)
and
Crypt. Wendtii "red"


Already in the tank (and doing very well even if they did come from PetSmart) are:
a few Anubias Nana
a few Crypts of either parva or wendtii (I can not remember which)
1 Echinodorus amazonicus


I am really sort of looking for thoughts and comments about a good foreground/carpet plant, I had thought of the newly introduced Echinodorus tenellus as serving that purpose but it seams the more I read the more people suggest Eleocharis parvula (Dwarf Hair grass).... especially in the low tech tank.

 

[tetra73]

Not dwarf hairgrass. It needs high light with good CO2 supply. I am currently trying to carpet them in my high tech 40g tank. It takes about 2 weeks before you see any new runners. Generally, it takes about 2 to 3 months to see some serious carpeting. Pigmy Chain swords are more suitable in a low tech, low light tank. However, the chainswords would do much better with low medium light and dosing with excel. The crypt and the sword plants you got should do OK in your setup. They are low light plants. Spending times reading up "adding ferts" to your water and substrates. Plants need macro and micro nutrients to survive. If they are getting nothing from the water, the plants would mostly die and melt or/and attracting algae.

 

[michaelmj11]

I might have Medium-Low lighting, like I mentioned I have added an extra strand of the Marineland LEDs, and looking at the amount of light it claims to put-out … well anyways… Every month or so (when I remember :icon_conf ) I throw in some API Leaf Zone plant food.

Oh yah, I do have a good layer of First Layer® Pure Laterite (another API product) underneath my gravel.

So I suppose another question to add to Eleocharis parvula vs. Echinodorus tenellus, is: Is there more low end fertilizing that I can do to help out the new plants?

 

[dprais1]

IMO you want to fertilize the substrate rather than the water column, so root tabs.

I was not a big fan of pygmy chain swords. very slow and got too tall. dwarf sag worked very well for me and stayed short and filled in quickly

 

[Hoppy]

I have dwarf sag in a low light 65 gallon tank, and it is doing very well. It isn't a neat carpet, but it is a good ground cover. It takes a pretty big tank, like my 24 inch high tank, to look like a carpet because it is around 2-3 inches tall. I haven't tried "mowing" it, and may not ever try it, but I wonder if it would react well to it.

 

[michaelmj11]

What do you mean by

It isn't a neat carpet

One of the things I am concerned about, or rather that I have a preference about, is the eventual height of the plant(s) it sounded like the Chain Sword might be a slightly shorter plant? (if not completely comparable)

 

[dprais1]

I can't give anything but my experience with the two.

I have 1001 dwarf sag plants. One is about 2.5" high. The rest stay about 1.5"+/-.

I had about 15 dwarf chain swords the tallest about 4" and a couple about 3", the others were considerable shorter and still 'babies'.

I like the dwarf sag better also because mine is more of a true green color where the swords were more of an olive green (not quite but you get the idea)

 

[fish_22]

Every month or so (when I remember ) I throw in some API Leaf Zone plant food.

just a side question-does this stuff work well? it is like the only ferts i can find without mail ordering

 

[michaelmj11]

just a side question-does this stuff work well? it is like the only ferts i can find without mail ordering

Honestly I do not know. I picked "easy to grow plants" that don't "need" fertalizer. Now all the plants I have are doing well and are happy. I also should point out that I do NOT have a set schedule for throwing the Leaf Zone in, it truly is whenever I remember to do so.... so MAYBE something like once a month.

 

[fish_22]

ok, that's the kind of plants i thought i bought, but they are still showing major deficiencies so i guess i'm going to have to use ferts

oh and for a foreground/carpet plant you could try moss (i like the look) but it can be verrry messy from what i have heard. like it can grow on anything and is hard to get rid of if you change your mind. but it is easy to grow from what i understand

 

[Hoppy]

What do you mean by {quote}

One of the things I am concerned about, or rather that I have a preference about, is the eventual height of the plant(s) it sounded like the Chain Sword might be a slightly shorter plant? (if not completely comparable)

What I meant by "not a neat carpet" is that the plants are not nearly uniform in size, some have 4 inch leaves, others have 2 inch leaves. And, it is a higher "carpet" than I think of when I think "carpet". Hair grass can be mowed (sheared down to a uniform height), but I don't think dwarf sags can be. However, I knew that when I planted it, and I like it very well. It grows slowly with low light, and requires no maintenance, at least for the 5 months it has been growing.

 

[Django]

I've had a really hard time with Pygmy Chain Swords - I'm on my third try, and I can't quite tell if they're going to come back or not. The oldest leaves always turn tan, then brown, then translucent. I put a Root Tab under the biggest one (the momma plant?) and I use Flourish Comp twice a week, although that probably doesn't affect them.

pH is 7.6 or so, GH is 5, KH is 3, Nitrates are probably very low as I have gone through a BGA infestation of 2-3 months and there's still a little bit left.

The Pygmy Chain Swords were very likely snipped from a chain as I got them at a meeting the 3rd week of July.

Any comments, ideas woould be helpful. Thanks.

 

[bluestems]

What about Marsilea hirsuta? There's an even smaller, dwarf variety too and it does well in low-light tanks.