[ferris89]

i'm trying to find some sort of "ground cover" for my 10 gal tank, and wondered what ya'll suggest. I would be up for donations or some cheapish stuff broke college student haha!
let me know what works well for you or what is easy to grow! thank you very much in advance!

 

[trenac]

The ground cover you can use depends on how much light/wattage you have over the tank. If you have low light then "Four Leaf clover" will do well. If your looking to use moss, then you will need to tie it to rocks. Most moss grow wildly, so you would have to keep it trimmed quiet often.

 

[Tsi_User]

As trena said it really depends on your tank parameters. If you're looking for moss then you can't go wrong with Java Moss, it grows well in lower lighting conditions. However, making a full carpet of the stuff can be a pain. Here's a pic of my old Java Moss carpet before I got tired of trimming it every week:

 

[hoppycalif]

I played a bit with Java moss in my 45 gallon tank, with high light intensity. It grew well on the substrate, but the mass of moss just kept on getting thicker and thicker, until I removed it at about 3 inches thickness. It definitely needs pruning. But, when you prune it, the bits and pieces tend to go everywhere in the tank, each piece another potential growth of moss.

 

[ferris89]

okay, cool, so my tank is a ten gallon, with two 13 w compact fluorescent bulbs, I don't quite know what the wpg is, so if anyone could tell me, that would be great!

 

[hoppycalif]

I have a 10 gallon tank with two 20 watt CFL bulbs on it, and the light intensity is low light, at best. I think you will need to upgrade the lighting to be able to grow much of anything. Even with the 40 watts total lighting I have trouble getting plants to grow. Crypts are slowly growing, but narrow leaf Java Fern is just staying alive.

 

[ferris89]

hmmm dang, okay. I just don't want to blind my fish lol!

 

[Tsi_User]

WPG= watts / # of US gallons

When I was growing that Java Moss carpet I had 2 20 watt lights, so as an example 40 / 29 = 1.4WPG. And this amount of lighting was plenty to grow my Java moss like weeds.

So ferris89 you have 2.6 WPG which in theory should be enough for growing Java Moss. Do you have any pics ot the lighting/tank?

 

[MasterMerlin]

Warning slight thread hijack

Hoppy I've read several comments about the CF lights and this got me started wondering. This would also apply to Ferris since we both share the same tank size and I recently added two 20 CF lamps to my hood. In another thread you were talking about the reflectors. In my hood the reflectors (bought the set-up used) is pretty corroded and dingy. I was thinking instead of trying to replace the reflectors I might try and find some thin mirrors and glue them to the old reflectors. The mirrors would have to be thin due to limited clearance between the spiraled CF's and the current reflectors.

Thoughts???

We will now return to the previously scheduled thread/discussion. [smilie=u:

 

[hoppycalif]

Re: Warning slight thread hijack

Hoppy I've read several comments about the CF lights and this got me started wondering. This would also apply to Ferris since we both share the same tank size and I recently added two 20 CF lamps to my hood. In another thread you were talking about the reflectors. In my hood the reflectors (bought the set-up used) is pretty corroded and dingy. I was thinking instead of trying to replace the reflectors I might try and find some thin mirrors and glue them to the old reflectors. The mirrors would have to be thin due to limited clearance between the spiraled CF's and the current reflectors.

Thoughts???

We will now return to the previously scheduled thread/discussion. [smilie=u:[/QUOTE]

Thoughts? Mirrors are lousy reflectors unless you want to shave or comb your hair. The best easy way to refurbish the reflectors is to find some super white flat paint, or ultra white, a white that hurts your eyes to stare at it, and paint the whole inside, reflector and all with it. Good white paint is a much more effective reflector than you would ever think it would be.

 

[ferris89]

good point with the paint! I also heard that the actual wattage and advertised wattage are different, is this true?

and yes I do have a couple of pics

full tank view
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p410/ferris89/fulltank.jpg

left side
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p410/ferris89/leftside.jpg

right side
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p410/ferris89/rightside.jpg

 

[ferris89]

oops forgot to add, that I am expecting some taiwan moss, will the lighting work for that?

 

[Tex Gal]

oops forgot to add, that I am expecting some taiwan moss, will the lighting work for that?

Your lighting will work for the mosses. If you are growing Cabomba (as you are) you needn't worry about mosses.

P.S. Why not fill up your tank?

 

[ferris89]

I want ground cover for the shrimp that are coming soon.
I have a filter that is attached to the back of the aquarium and didn't know how it would affect it... I'll fill it up in the morning and see how it does.. (nervous at trying too many new things at once) lol