no co2 ground cover plant

[jonny5]

so i dont plan to have co2 for my 29 gallon but i have some plants in it now but i just got some eco complete and ada amazonia substrates and gonna try scaping it a bit.

Thing is im not quite sure how stron my lighting is, i bought one of those pre made lighting+hoods for 29/20 long gallon tanks at petco and it is growing dwarf sag, amazon sword and willow hydros well but thats not saying much.


so wondering what ground cover plants or smaller bushy plants would work for this set up. Glosso? maybe baby tears? Marsilea minuta?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Definitely not Glosso. Glosso is a high tech plant.

[Jacko]

Glosso and babytears both need plenty of light... marsilia would work in there given that it's pretty bullet proof but it's going to take FOREVER without good lighting and co2. Hydrocotyle would also work if you keep it trimmed pretty low... have it growing in my 75 with standard lighting, but it's a bit of a pita to keep low.

I'd say up your lighting and even just DIY co2 would save you alot of time and trouble if you absolutely have to have a foreground plant.

[Lady Hobbs]

I've never been able to grow any of the ground covers due to not having high lights or using CO2. Had some just barely start to grow and the corys tore them up so gave up. But I was wondering about some petitie anubius, attaching it to rocks, and just laying them all over at the front of the tank. At least it's green and would give the appearance of ground cover.

[Wild Turkey]

If the sag is growing well already, thats a ground cover plant and its not very demanding as youve probably noticed. If you spread it evenly in plugs it should eventually fill in the gaps and make a nice carpet for you.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Turk, one of the things I've noticed about Dwarf sag. is that it tends to get a little taller under lower lighting conditions and actually makes a better mid-ground plant than a ground cover. when I had it in my 125 high tech planted tank it never got any taller than about 2-3 inches, but I have some in my 2.5gal Natural Planted Tank and it's about 5" tall in places.

[Wild Turkey]

Turk, one of the things I've noticed about Dwarf sag. is that it tends to get a little taller under lower lighting conditions and actually makes a better mid-ground plant than a ground cover. when I had it in my 125 high tech planted tank it never got any taller than about 2-3 inches, but I have some in my 2.5gal Natural Planted Tank and it's about 5" tall in places.

Thats certainly true, sometimes it can shoot up tall and look a lot more like vals than sag. It would depend on how its growing for the OP I guess, just couldnt think of any other carpet plants that will grow in a low light setup.

[jonny5]

ya i think i will try marsilia, now if only i can find it.
but with my lighting and just sand substrate right now my dwarf sag is 3, 3 and 1/2 inches high.