# Best carpet plant for hard water



## ChalupaBatman (Feb 12, 2015)

I'm working on my 125G and am trying to figure out which ground covers would be best for a carpet in my tank. All of the varieties I have been looking at seem to favor soft water (DHG, HC, Lilaeopsis, glosso) though I've read at various places that all or some of these can survive in hard water. I would appreciate any advice the PT members could offer. 

Co2
50-60 PAR at substrate
PH: 7
GH: 14-15 (around 280 ppm)
PPS dosing (haven't started this yet but I should have ferts by next week)


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## fish878 (Oct 20, 2009)

I have the same GH and I use crypto parva. It's a slow grower but if you're patient it is pretty nice. I've had pearlweed (Hemianthus micranthemoides) work well in the past but you have to have high light to get it to carpet.


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## anastasisariel (Oct 4, 2009)

Try pearlweed as it is cheap, fast growing, and adapts really well. You will need medium lighting to get it to carpet.


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## ChalupaBatman (Feb 12, 2015)

fish878 said:


> I have the same GH and I use crypto parva. It's a slow grower but if you're patient it is pretty nice. I've had pearlweed (Hemianthus micranthemoides) work well in the past but you have to have high light to get it to carpet.



I bought 6 parva plants a few weeks ago but it was about 5" tall when I got it from a vendor on the evil bay so I didn't see how that one would "carpet". I also have a potted pearlweed that I was testing out to see how it goes. It was tall when I got it but it has since started to spread out a bit. The problem is that I just don't like the look of it as much as some of the other options.


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## Dead2fall (Jun 4, 2014)

My GH is 33 KH 16

I've grown dhg in it. If you have the light, Co2 and some root tabs. I've found my dhg didn't like glut very much at all. It died back some and didn't thrive. However this is in a 5.5g tank so dosing the proper amount was tough. When I went back to diy co2 on this tank, it started making a comeback. 

I'm also currently growing monte carlo in the same parameter water in another tank. This tank is on the bottle.


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## anastasisariel (Oct 4, 2009)

That was not parva. The first time I tried pearlweed I did not really care for it but it turns out my light sucked. Growing it now and its super green. Love it. Get Monte Carlo then.


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## ChalupaBatman (Feb 12, 2015)

The pearl weed idea is growing on me. I had been set on either glosso or HC but the more I look at carpets of pearl weed, the more I like it. I currently have a pot each of DHG, micro-sword, pearl weed, and HC in the tank so I can see which one works best. Monte carlo looks awesome but not sure how well it would do with my chemistry.

Bump:


anastasisariel said:


> That was not parva. The first time I tried pearlweed I did not really care for it but it turns out my light sucked. Growing it now and its super green. Love it. Get Monte Carlo then.


The parva I got looks like all of the pictures, just very tall like it was reaching for light. Waiting and hoping it starts to grow a little more compact now that it has high light + Co2.


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