Hi all, I would like to ask a question. I'll try to give you some background without writing a book!
I am sort of new to planted tanks, I've had one for about a year but the only thing still growing in it is wenditti. I have 2 other tanks that are fairly new, one about 3 months and one about 3 weeks old. All are 24" long, 9" wide (front to back), 9" deep (more like 8" after substrate) and have various low tech plants.
All the tanks have white sand substrate, HOB filter, 1 Betta, 1 Zebra snail, 1 Ghost Shrimp, and multiple MTS in all three tanks. They are all cycled and are kept between 78-80F using a heater. 2 of the tanks have a few thin pieces of driftwood (this is fairly new, about a month).
The lighting is an Aqueon Floramax Plant Growth 18" long 15w-T8 bulb. The box doesn't state what the kelvin rating is but the guy at the store told me 6700K. The hood where the bulb resides does not have a reflector (although the inside where the bulb sits is white). The tank does have a clear plastic "cover" that the light hood sits on so the light does have to "travel" through this.
I do NOT have c02 and really don't want to get into all of that because I'm still learning everything and it all seems way to complicated at this point for me...maybe someday but from what I've read it's easy to kill your fish and it's hard to regulate when using co2. So, that being said...
My question is....
I really LOVE the look of "carpet" all over the substrate but can't seem to get anything growing. I tried dwarf hairgrass (wouldn't stay planted, probably had something to do with the MTS or the Ghost Shrimp uprooting them). I also tried regular hairgrass which has all died, probably because I just read today that it needs co2. I didn't like the regular hairgrass anyway because it was too tall for my tank, even my wenditti is 2/3rds up the tank. I would like something low, or at least something I could trim to keep low.
So IS there a plant that will cover the substrate like carpet for my setup?
Thanks so much for any help you can give me! Please let me know if I can tell you anything else about my setup that may help.
PS: My Christmas moss is also dying (or dead) maybe because the water is too warm? I've read that the moss would "adjust" to the temp, but I've also read that it won't. The guy that sold it to me said it would be fine in 80F, the web says otherwise but isn't that how it alway goes! lol
I am sort of new to planted tanks, I've had one for about a year but the only thing still growing in it is wenditti. I have 2 other tanks that are fairly new, one about 3 months and one about 3 weeks old. All are 24" long, 9" wide (front to back), 9" deep (more like 8" after substrate) and have various low tech plants.
All the tanks have white sand substrate, HOB filter, 1 Betta, 1 Zebra snail, 1 Ghost Shrimp, and multiple MTS in all three tanks. They are all cycled and are kept between 78-80F using a heater. 2 of the tanks have a few thin pieces of driftwood (this is fairly new, about a month).
The lighting is an Aqueon Floramax Plant Growth 18" long 15w-T8 bulb. The box doesn't state what the kelvin rating is but the guy at the store told me 6700K. The hood where the bulb resides does not have a reflector (although the inside where the bulb sits is white). The tank does have a clear plastic "cover" that the light hood sits on so the light does have to "travel" through this.
I do NOT have c02 and really don't want to get into all of that because I'm still learning everything and it all seems way to complicated at this point for me...maybe someday but from what I've read it's easy to kill your fish and it's hard to regulate when using co2. So, that being said...
My question is....
I really LOVE the look of "carpet" all over the substrate but can't seem to get anything growing. I tried dwarf hairgrass (wouldn't stay planted, probably had something to do with the MTS or the Ghost Shrimp uprooting them). I also tried regular hairgrass which has all died, probably because I just read today that it needs co2. I didn't like the regular hairgrass anyway because it was too tall for my tank, even my wenditti is 2/3rds up the tank. I would like something low, or at least something I could trim to keep low.
So IS there a plant that will cover the substrate like carpet for my setup?
Thanks so much for any help you can give me! Please let me know if I can tell you anything else about my setup that may help.
PS: My Christmas moss is also dying (or dead) maybe because the water is too warm? I've read that the moss would "adjust" to the temp, but I've also read that it won't. The guy that sold it to me said it would be fine in 80F, the web says otherwise but isn't that how it alway goes! lol