Aquarium Lawns? Plants?

[buzz]

We see big planted discus tanks on line with grass? This appears to be some type of "thick ground cover". How is it achieved? What plants? Our lighting is low to medium. Good ferts. No CO2. Lots of natural indirect light. We have a 100g between a window and a sliding patio door, a 90 directly across from the sliding door, and we are seriously considering a larger tank in a well lighted room. Are there plants that would allow us to do something along these lines? Anyone?

[Toss]

"grassy' looking plant usually require high light and CO2 setup to balance with the light. The taller the tank the higher the light it requires. I hope this help

[Zoe]

How much light do you have, exactly, and how tall is your tank?

As Toss mentioned, most low plants that could be considered ground cover, require hire light and CO2 to grow and look great. Otherwise, they will lose colour, grow upwards and look straggly, or just die off altogether.

Ground cover plants include:

Glossotigma
Dwarf hairgrass
Pellia
Blyxa Japonica
Riccia (tied to flat rocks)

Out of all these, you may have the best luck with Blyxa if you have medium lighting.  Blyxa does not seem to require high lighting or CO2 to survive, but will certainly benefit from it.

[charlie]

This might work for you, worth a try & i think there is a member giving some away in the classifieds.
http://www.tropica.com/go.asp?plant=079

[buzz]

Thanks muchly appreciated. Will give Japonica a try.
Pat and Greg

[fischkopp]

Blyxa japonica will not grow into a lawn naturally; in facts it is just a short stem plant. Stems will split and can then be separated and replanted. In my experience, it will sustain and grow a little under moderate light conditions. But you will have to wait forever if you want to plant a descent lawn with it. Blyxa thrives with high light and CO2 though ...

You may want to try Charlies suggestion: dwarf sags are much more undemanding and will propagate on their own by sending out runners.

[dan2x38]

With your set-up I'd go for Charlie's suggestion. It is easy to take care and grows fairly well under lower light. The common name is dwarf sag...

[Zoe]

Blyxa japonica will not grow into a lawn naturally; in facts it is just a short stem plant. Stems will split and can then be separated and replanted. In my experience, it will sustain and grow a little under moderate light conditions. But you will have to wait forever if you want to plant a descent lawn with it. Blyxa thrives with high light and CO2 though ...

You may want to try Charlies suggestion: dwarf sags are much more undemanding and will propagate on their own by sending out runners.

Although Bylxa isn't the perfect ground cover, it is quite possible to acheive thick, even coverage with moderate light.  To give you an idea, this tank started out with just a few blyxa plants and spread naturally around the driftwood (you'll see some on the side, in the front, and behind the driftwood - the other foreground plants that are just small patches are not blyxa) - this took a few months, lighting was 65W compact fluorescent (a bit over 2 WPG), DIY CO2.  Within a few months of that photo, the blyxa had spread so much that I had to give some away.  Not saying it works for everyone and every tank, but it did work for me

[fischkopp]

Hey Zoe, nice tank

I didn't mean Blyxa won't work, it just doesn't grow too well under moderate light conditions. I think we both have a different understanding of "moderate". I find your setup is closer to high light, and CO2 addition certainly helps a lot. When I say moderate, I am talking about 1W/gal light - although I don't like the WPG rule because it doesn't account for any way the aquarium is set up.

[Zoe]

Hey Zoe, nice tank

I didn't mean Blyxa won't work, it just doesn't grow too well under moderate light conditions. I think we both have a different understanding of "moderate". I find your setup is closer to high light, and CO2 addition certainly helps a lot. When I say moderate, I am talking about 1W/gal light - although I don't like the WPG rule because it doesn't account for any way the aquarium is set up.

Thank you It's not set up anymore, though

I wish I knew the poster's actual lighting situation - unless it was posted and I just missed it. I would "generally" consider .5-1.5 wpg to be "low", 1.5-2.5 to be "moderate" and 2.5-4 to be "high", also factoring in depth if the tank is over 20" or under 12" tall.

[buzz]

Appreciate all of the responses. Our tank arrived, 90gal. 48"base x 18x 22?. Beautiful custom oak cabinet, no lighting in the canopy. On the other 90 we're running just over 2 watts per, greenhouse plant grow flourescents from Lee Valley. I'm thinking that we can probably get up to three watts and a little when I set up lighting. Tank is in our dining room, which has great natural lighting, which should also help.
After talking to Charlie, we have an aqua medic 1000 reactor ordered from Big al's, and tomorrow I'll try to get a regulator ordered from Sumo.
Then we'll be asking for all kinds of advice. We would like a planted discus tank like we see 'on line' in various competitions.
Thanks everyone.
Pat and Greg