# Best carpet plant for long term setup?



## newday3000 (Nov 4, 2009)

I will suggest some others

Marsilea minuta (hursta is ok but bigger leaves) - very easy to grow, spreads slowly but stays low and no trimming
Staurogyne sp - very slow growing, doesn't spread but easily planted to look like a carpet and does need to be trimmed that often.


I had HC for 8 months, it drove me crazy but looked the best.


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

Can't exactly help on the original question as I've only used Dwarf Hairgrass for a carpet which worked just fine for me. 

Staurogyne grows very slowly and doesn't spread into a carpet though? I was planning on using it in my next set-up after having someone recommend it to me. But if it's like that then that'd be a problem for me.


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## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

I've had Lilaeopsis brasiliensisn in a fairly low light set up. It took a long time to carpet, but when it did it was a thick mat. To be honest, I don't think I'll use it again, without figuring out how to thin it out. It got a little ridiculous, I was able to pull my entire aquarium up by just pulling up a spot of microsword. I'm looking for something that I can trim this time around.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Staurogyne will carpet but not in the traditional sense. It doesn't send out runners since it's a stem plant, but if you trim it, side stems will shoot out and this is what forms the carpet.

This is the carpet I had of it









and this is what I started with


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## sampster5000 (Oct 30, 2010)

Marsilea is my favorite so far. Not demanding at all. Grow rate is based on how much light and CO2 you inject. Even with no CO2 this grew at a decent speed.


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## Golightly (Jan 14, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Staurogyne will carpet but not in the traditional sense. It doesn't send out runners since it's a stem plant, but if you trim it, side stems will shoot out and this is what forms the carpet.
> 
> This is the carpet I had of it


Wow, that's very nice. I didn't ever think using Staurogyne, that might just work. I've always liked the plant and had it before.. just not thought about it as a carpet.

What are those other larger tufts of grass, Blyxa and Cyperus or? It's a similar structure/layout to what I would like to build.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Marislea is the easiest for low light. Dwarf hairgrass is good too but takes second place to MM in my opinion.


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## Golightly (Jan 14, 2011)

sampster5000 said:


> Marsilea is my favorite so far. Not demanding at all. Grow rate is based on how much light and CO2 you inject. Even with no CO2 this grew at a decent speed.


I like the look of Marsilea, never tried it myself, but I would be worried it would have the same problems as Hemianthus. Getting very messy when you grow it for a longer period, trying to trim it, growing on top of itself and eventually just floating up when the old growth below dies.


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## Golightly (Jan 14, 2011)

Reginald2 said:


> I've had Lilaeopsis brasiliensisn in a fairly low light set up. It took a long time to carpet, but when it did it was a thick mat. To be honest, I don't think I'll use it again, without figuring out how to thin it out. It got a little ridiculous, I was able to pull my entire aquarium up by just pulling up a spot of microsword. I'm looking for something that I can trim this time around.


Difficult to thinning out is exactly the problem I want to avoid. But in way of looks Lilaeopsis is my favourite. I want it to look like real grass preferably.


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Staurogyne will carpet but not in the traditional sense. It doesn't send out runners since it's a stem plant, but if you trim it, side stems will shoot out and this is what forms the carpet.
> 
> This is the carpet I had of it
> ]


That looks perfect for what I'd be trying to achieve with Staurogyne. Can you give us more details on that? Like how long and how much trimming it took to achieve that, whether that was grown under high light, and how tall it would get? I'd be using it in a large and relatively deep tank, which would make it rather a pain to trim very often, until someone invents a remote control underwater lawnmower. Challenge anyone? I'd heard others report that it would grow a bit tall and leggy under low or medium light.


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