Beginner carpet (and substrate )

[FKIDN]

Hi, I am a beginner who is wanting to start a tank soon, this is a two part question, firstly, for a beginner who is going to be having NO CO2, what is going to be the best for a carpet ( “best” most hardy). Dwarf baby tears or Montye carlo ?
Also if anybody could give me some substrates to use that would be best ? I have seen some people put soil into tanks but would I need that ? Or is there a single substrate that does the job?

 

[fishorama]

Ugh, carpet plants are very difficult without co2. I know, I've tried! I would say you best bets might be HM (same genus as dwarf baby tears, HC; sometimes called MM or just baby tears, be careful! They're hard to tell apart!) but it can want to grow tall rather than a carpet. It'll need trimming & replanting to encourage it. Monty Carlo is similar to HC but a bit easier to grow...for some...

Dwarf hair grass is hard! It doesn't spread densely & is prone to a few algae. Skip it. Difficult, but pretty to me is cryptocoryne parva. It's slow growing & slow spreading but I love crypts & may try it a few more times

Glossostigma or staurogyne might be worth a try. I've grown them well...for a while.

If you just want some low growing plants without an actual carpet effect I'd suggest dwarf chain swords (Lilaeopsis). I have New Zealand (but in latin, it's novae zealandiea (?). It spreads but in a long chain, hence the common name. You can encourage it by pinching or snipping the plantlets & replanting.

After 40+ years, I've never tried a dirt tank, they come with issues of their own, think hard before that's your 1st tank. You need to get a grip on the basics & try easier plants first.

I do have to say I'm not the most consistent fertilizer & prefer root tabs that last for 3-4 months rather than dosing every week. It can be hard to find a good balanced fertilizer, liquid or dry. To me it's kind of a math test but with your water parameters too.

So, what size will your first tank be? I will suggest a 20g long tank. It's shallow enough to help with lighting but big enough for some fish & plant choices

 

[FKIDN]

Ugh, carpet plants are very difficult without co2. I know, I've tried! I would say you best bets might be HM (same genus as dwarf baby tears, HC; sometimes called MM or just baby tears, be careful! They're hard to tell apart!) but it can want to grow tall rather than a carpet. It'll need trimming & replanting to encourage it. Monty Carlo is similar to HC but a bit easier to grow...for some...

Dwarf hair grass is hard! It doesn't spread densely & is prone to a few algae. Skip it. Difficult, but pretty to me is cryptocoryne parva. It's slow growing & slow spreading but I love crypts & may try it a few more times

Glossostigma or staurogyne might be worth a try. I've grown them well...for a while.

If you just want some low growing plants without an actual carpet effect I'd suggest dwarf chain swords (Lilaeopsis). I have New Zealand (but in latin, it's novae zealandiea (?). It spreads but in a long chain, hence the common name. You can encourage it by pinching or snipping the plantlets & replanting.

After 40+ years, I've never tried a dirt tank, they come with issues of their own, think hard before that's your 1st tank. You need to get a grip on the basics & try easier plants first.

I do have to say I'm not the most consistent fertilizer & prefer root tabs that last for 3-4 months rather than dosing every week. It can be hard to find a good balanced fertilizer, liquid or dry. To me it's kind of a math test but with your water parameters too.

So, what size will your first tank be? I will suggest a 20g long tank. It's shallow enough to help with lighting but big enough for some fish & plant choices

Thank you so much.
This may seem stupid, but what is the difference between CO2 and just putting an airstone and pump in ?

 

[MattW]

Sagittaria subulata or pearl weed is another option.

The pearl weed would need to be trimmed regularly as its name suggests.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There is a natural level of both CO2 and Oxygen dissolved in water. However, the dynamics of these change when we got from nature to a glass box. The reason for this is that a lot of the CO2 and Ixygen dissolved in water depend ot it coming from the air. When the surface is still it has a natural tension which works to block the ready exchange of gases into and out of the water. The way we insure that gas exchange at the surface occurs freely is that we agitate the surface. Normally this is done by filter returns, air stones and powerheads.

Many things in a tank use oxygen, Fish and inverts for one need it. But so do a lot of the bacteria which we wwant in our tanks to keep them healthy. However, live plants use CO2 and release oxygen. When you become involved with the types of plants who need a lot of nutrients, oxygen and light, this can turn into a problem. If the amount of CO2 used by some plants is high enough they can use more co2 that can be replaced by surface agitation. In such a case, the only way to provide enough CO2 is by adding more than the surface exchange alone can provide.

It is also important to understand that not all plants are equal in terms of the specific types and amount of nutrients they need.

Given your level of knowledge on the subject, you have a great deal to learn. fisgoraa gave you my favorite advice to beginning plant keepers, start with the easier stuff so you can wok you way up the planted tank learning curve. The way I normally explain is the way we learn to drive, We do not just jump into and Indy 500 race care and drive off. We start with an easier to drive car and a learners permit.

Well, this also applies to planted tanks and mastering what we need to know. So I will also send you to the same site ai Hvae sent new plant keepers to for the last 20 or so years, http://tropica.com/en/

Read, read and read some more. The two most important sections are the Guide and Plant Care. As for who Tropica is:

Tropica Aquarium Plants is a privately owned Danish company, based in Egå near Aarhus. The company was founded by Holger Windeløv in 1970. In 2004, the company was sold to JPS Clemens, due to a generational change and the new owners established a new nursery garden in 2007 as the base of a long-term strategy.

I have been using their fertilizer now for about 22 years.

Alos, their section on plants provides good information on the needs if plants species and divides them into 3 groups of the level of care then need. They rate the plants as Easy, Medium and Advanced. You need to foocus on the Easy group to start and then work your way up the ladder. I ran a pressurized CO2 tank for years and I had some great teachers along the way. I gave up that tank because of the amount of work it took compared to the rest of my tanks. Today all my plants are mostly the Eeasy ones.