Glosso questions

[PaulS]

A few meetings ago, I picked up a really nice, dense, dark green section of glosso. I was hoping to achieve that same carpet effect in the foreground of my 90 gal but so far I have not had good results. My substrate has a cover layer of coarse pea gravel and I can seem to get the glosso to stay in the substrate. The few pieces that have stayed, are very leggy and wimpy looking. I have ~220 watts of lighting which I thought should be sufficient.

So here are my questions:
Do I need really high light for glosso?
Has anyone grown it in a coarse susbstrate?
Is there another carpet-like foreground plant that's easier?

[Aaron]

It's not easy to keep planted in a coarse substrate as you've found out. I've grown it in medium lighting without any issues.

If you're looking for a similar look to Glosso the Marsilea species are as easy as it gets. You'll likely run into the same issue with planting it though.

Are grassy foregrounds appealing to you? Echinodorus tenellus is a nice one.

[SCMurphy]

Glosso does like a nutrient rich substrate. I can get it to grow horizontally under a desk lamp, so I think you have enough light. You could try hairgrass, sag subulata, that short Echinodorus that Viktor has would work well, um quadricostatus I believe. You can get the microsword species (Lilaeopsis) to grow in that substrate, they can grow into a thick sod. In a 90 some of the easier crypts will grow into a nice carpet, willisii would be great.

[ingg]

I have dwarf sag in a tank I'll be breaking down soon, different color effect than glosso though, much lighter green. I imagine it'd do okay in a coarser substrate, gets at most 3" tall.

Let me know if you'd want to try that instead, it should do better anyhow, but maybe not the right color....

[krisw]

Not to be a pain, but if it only gets 3" tall, it's probably not dwarf sag, but should do fine in coarse substrate regardless... My guess: Ranalisma rostrata which is a great plant!

[ingg]

No, it is a dwarf sag, dangit. Or a pygmy val or something. I'll post some pics later.

Lower light, higher light, co2, no co2, it always grew the same.... blows my mind, but I don't know what else to call it!

[Jeff120]

You call it
Ranalisma rostrata

[ingg]

But but but...

You guys told me it wasn't rostrata! Killin' me.

http://www.gwapa.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... t=rostrata

[PaulS]

Your suggestions all sound pretty good. I'll just have to experiment with whatever is available and see what works. Dave, if you have any Ranalisma rostrata available after you break down your tank, please let me know. Thank you all for your recommendations.
Paul

[ingg]

I will. Should be able to keep it up and going a coupla weeks, can bring to next meeting or meet ya sometime before, lemme know.