# Choosing foreground plants for a Walstad tank



## evilgenius (Nov 15, 2017)

I'm interested in what kind of low tech carpet plants people suggest. I recently got some narrow leaf chain sword I'm hoping will eventually fill in my foreground. I'm have sand substrate and dose nilocg micros & macros.

Edit - I'm a total noob at plants. It's a new learning curve for me.


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## Quagulator (May 4, 2015)

Hexagonalbolts said:


> Which foreground plants will thrive in a tank in soil but no co2?
> 
> I recognise that a carpet can be difficult/very slow/impossible without CO2, but I would still like my tank to be as lush and green as possible.
> 
> ...



Crypt parva should be fine, in my experience it doesn't need "a lot of CO2 and a lot of light". cryptocoryne lutea hobbit is another small crypt. For a "carpet" effect, buy as many of these dwarf crypts as you possibly can and plant them fairly close. S. repens can also be used this way, but usually without higher light it's not going to stay compact enough for this purpose. 

sagittaria subulata will grow fine in a lower tech tank, and should form a "carpet" style growth pattern, but it will not stay short and could possibly take over the tank. Same as pygmy chain sword. I'm not saying it cant be done, they both will grow too tall for a proper "carpet" effect. That said, if the tank is 24" tall it could work, but even under higher light my dwarf sag. would easily grow 10-12" tall. 

Other than that you are spot on with what you have researched, goodluck.


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## ILikeRice (Jul 9, 2017)

I can attest that MC does grow slow with CO2. Cuba on the other hand grows thick and quick for me..


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## FuryMonkey (Nov 5, 2017)

I've used pygmy chain sword (e. Tenellus) in a walstad tank. It grows very well, BUT I had 2 minor issues.
1) old established nodes would grow taller and bushier than young nodes, especially if slightly shaded, and would ruin the nice even carpet look. Plucking the leaves helpes tidy it up, but my tank is 30" high and it was a long wet reach.
2) I had somewhat frequent and seemingly random periods were some older leaves would melt simultaneously. It would make sense if it was WC schedule related, but it wasn't. Every few months there'd be a melt that would need cleaning up and made the carpet less healthy looking.

I am trying Parva right now. After a month the growth has been minimal. I know that it's going to take a few months before the roots get established and it starts looking like a carpet. I am keeping some pygmy chain sword as a backup, but I don't expect to need it.

In my soon to be setup 40 gallon breeder I'll be trying S.repens since the shallow depth of the tank will make trimming easy.


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## Hexagonalbolts (Aug 21, 2016)

Really? The Cuba is 'HC', right? What substrate are you using?


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Foreground plants for low tech aren’t hard to find or grow. The difficulty seems to come when folks expect a low, dense “carpet” like they see in a high tech iwagumi. Many foreground plants that will thrive in low tech tanks are not going to be tiny like HC, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a nice lush foreground carpet that’s no more than a few inches tall. 

Marsilea minuta is super easy, actually most of the Marsilea species would be good. I’ve had great success with MM in a number of different tank/substrates. MM is one of my favorite low tech carpet plants, as is can grow super dense & doesn’t get more than an inch tall. 

Cryptocoryne parva grows fine in low light, but you gotta realize it grows slow AF no matter how much light you throw at it.(Emersed growth is still slow too compared to other Crypts) I’ve had C. parva carpets in a few tanks & they just take time. Both tanks I’ve currently got C. parva growing as a carpet plant I started with a lot of the plant. Most parva available is emersed, so try not to break up the clumps too much. I’ve found this makes the melting worse, seriously, I melted 12 pots of it once to the point I only had a couple plants come back from it. 

Cryptocoryne x willisii ‘lucens’ is a much easier Crypt to grow. I’ve not seen it grow taller than about 3-4” max but it will spread easily. It is also widely available for cheap, so throw in as much as possible to start. 

Dwarf Sag is a great plant, super easy too. As mentioned, many plants sold as Dwarf sag will get much taller, some will stay ~3”. Unfortunately, many of the sag that will get ~10” will stay small dependent on the amount of light. 

One plant I’ve tried recently & have it in a couple different tanks now is Echinodorus quadricostatus or Helanthium quadricostatus, I’ve seen it sold both ways & haven’t actually found which is correct(leaning towards Helanthium.) So far it is growing well in both tanks & spreading like crazy. I don’t have any that’s more than a couple inches tall. It seems to really like nutrient rich soils, which means if you’re running a capped soil the plant should take off.

I’ve got E. tenellus ‘red’ growing in a low tech tank right now, but don’t have enough experience with it being grown this way to make many comments.


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Parva takes foreeeever.


MC grows perfect, nice little low growing carpets in dirt. So does glosso, but you have to prune aggressively to keep in growing low by runners. You just need enough light. A lot of new dirted tank folks don't realize that dirt can accommodate a lot more light than inert low tech setups.

Ranunculus inundatus spreads very nicely by runner in dirt, though my high tech friend said he had trouble with it in inert substrate and CO2. Very nice looking plants.

DHG forms a thick carpet quick quickly in dirt, but you need to use under substrate barriers to prevent it from invading the rest of your tank.

Staurogyne repens takes awhile to get established, but once it gets going you'll find very nice, bushy, satisfying growth.


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## Milkman (Dec 26, 2011)

Last year I had this compete carpet of Monte Carlo. It only took 2 months low tech. Easy Carbo and EI dosing.

Now I'm trying Lilaeopsis. We'll see how it goes.
















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