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what would be a good foreground plant for a low-light tank that would stay small, easy to care for and would be like hairgrass but not since hairgrass needs high light.

just out of curiosity, do you have to have C02 in a high light tank with plants or can you grow the plants without it and add fertilizer etc...

kj fishy-finn <*)))><
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I would suggest Echinodorus tenellus (Pygmy Chain Sword).

It grows nicely in only 1.3 wpg and spreads readily via runners.

You can look at the one in my tank [link=Here]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Aquascaping/61406.html?200508120437" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link].

High-light tank and no CO2:

How high is high?
Basically, yes you can do that, but remember that there are 3 basic needs for a plant to grow, Nutrients, Light, and CO2. If you overdo one without adjusting the others you will end with less growth (at least). If you add too many ferts then you have a good chance to &#8220;catch&#8221; yourself some algae.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

just out of curiosity, do you have to have C02 in a high light tank with plants or can you grow the plants without it and add fertilizer etc...

Something about the way you phrased the question caught my eye.
Never think of fertilizer as something that can be used to replace something else, like light or CO2. In other words it can't be used to force growth when other parts of the equation are missing.

Co2 is the fuel that drives the photosynthesis engine (uses the light) making the plant grow faster and therefore use up the nutrients (ferts) at maximum rate. Take away the fuel, the engine doesn't run and the ferts don't get used. Therefore adding unneeded quantities are futile and dodgy.

To answer the question: basically yes, you can run high light without Co2. The key is no water changes. Fert dosage would be way lower then when injecting Co2 (reduced uptake). I wouldn't go too high with the light though. Maybe 2 - 2.5 wpg. The more light in place the more of a tightrope you're walking.

But high light/no Co2/moreferts won't work.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Hairgrass does fine for me in 1.5-2 wpg. Anything less than that, and you won't have a tank fit for ANY forground plant, save liverworts and mosses, both of which will be a lot of trouble to get a lawn going.

My favorite is dwarf sag. I have it in a number of tanks, none of which have special lighting (read: low light). It grows quite well for me and I often take runners to add to other tanks.

This pic is one of my 10g tanks (before I took out the apon):


Theresa_M attached this image:


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