# Advice about dwarf baby tears in new tank...



## 10galfornow (May 13, 2011)

you need a rich substrate, like shrimp stratum or aquasoil. fine enough for it to plant in. It needs medium to high light. Grows slowly at first, but picks up once it roots itself.


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## majordude (Jun 26, 2011)

Hmmm. So sand is out?


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## Higher Thinking (Mar 16, 2011)

The problem with sand is that is doesn't have any nutrient value and it is harder to get fresh nutrient water through the sand as it is with gravel. You can use sand if you iuse root tabs or even top gravel with some sand. As for light, you will need to get higher light or else they will tend to grow tall and slowly wither away.


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## majordude (Jun 26, 2011)

Hmmm. Other forums and my pocketbook tried to stere me away from things like Eco-Complete.


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## Higher Thinking (Mar 16, 2011)

I use play sand atop bagged gravel. Both bought from home depot for 3.50 per 50 pound bag. Simple, effective, and cheap. My plants grow perfectly well. I think more than your substrate it will come down to ferts, CO2, and light. I grow regular baby tears and they grow like crazy!


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## majordude (Jun 26, 2011)

I have 100 pounds of Leslie silica pool sand ready to be cleaned and dropped into the tank. It was $20 total.


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## Higher Thinking (Mar 16, 2011)

I am not 100 percent sure, but I don't think you have to clean pool sand. The fact that it is being put into swimming pools means that it can't be dirty and doesn't need to be rinsed.


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## Rockhoe14er (Jan 19, 2011)

I have grown HC in inert gravel with and without root tabs, and under low light and high light and it grew pretty well in all scenarios. In lower light it will take much longer to carpet but it can eventually. Also if you do use root tabs then it will carpet faster. The higher the light also increases the speed. The biggest key is to have good co2. If you can't provide a ton of co2 then i would stick with low light and root tabs. If you have pressurized co2 with a good way to dissolve the co2 into the water then higher lighting will make the carpeting process much faster. 

The one thing that i didn't know in the beginning is how much of a pain it is once it carpets. You have to trim it once every couple weeks or else the bottom layer will start to die and if left too long the carpet can float to the top of the tank and kill your fish.


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