Micro sword plant (Lilaeopsis)

[Fish_Boy]

I'm thinking of getting micro sword plant for my aquarium, I was wondering what kind of substrate(as well as depth of it) and also light I should use to get it to carpet my substrate at a fast rate, also do you need a neutral ph for these plants? Because I have 8.0 ph from the tap, should I buy a buffer to keep ph neutral? thanks in advance.

[Mgamer20o0]

root tabs or a rich gravel just like any sword. i would just leave it. i have microswords growing fine in my tap water which is just as hard. the only thing is they are slow growers.

[KarlTh]

Set aside several hours for planting and several days to spend pushing it back down again as it comes up. Needs lots of light as well.

[prolude006]

I bury my micro sword completely so it wont pop up!! It comes up through quickly and then spreads rapidly. You will want high iron substrate for them to grow fast. I get about two new plants a day right now.

[Fish_Boy]

I was looking around and found Eco-Complete gravel, will this gravel hold the micro plants down enough? Or will I have to layer the top with sand? And if so how deep should each bed be?

[prolude006]

It will hold it! I prefer flourite myself. You can find both at www.drsfostersmith.com
They are a little pricey but I find it worth it. I would go with sand next time because I have discus and they like to eat off the bottom of the tank. Ill post a picture of a tank I am talking about in a few minutes.

[Bansart]

I have my eco complete carpeted with micros swords and a plant or two would come up at least once every week so I decided to put 1/2 inch layer of play sand on top.. but it still comes off the gravel. Its slow growing in my setup but it adds a grassy feel to my tank.

[prolude006]

This is what I mean by simple!!
69247

This was my micro sword with flourite after three months.
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[jpappy789]

WOW nice tanks prolude!

[prolude006]

Just showing two completely opposite tanks. The first is not mine!!
But thanks!
I notice slower growth with eco-complete, and flourite now comes in black and black flourite sand too.

[lovemybarbs]

Gorgeous tanks!

[Fish_Boy]

I bury my micro sword completely so it wont pop up!! It comes up through quickly and then spreads rapidly. You will want high iron substrate for them to grow fast. I get about two new plants a day right now.

So you're saying that you bury the plant completely under the gravel or sand? and then it grows out of it? Or am I reading that wrong?

Also how deep should the substrate be, do you have to bury it a certain depth in or do you just get enough substrate to cover the whole plant over?

[prolude006]

Yes i bury the plant completely..might see a small leaf sticking up as it settles. The plant has enough stores to get a leaf out to get light after that. My substrate is not that deep. Id say about 2-3" in the front where they are. roots don't usually go down in an aquarium they spread horizontally. The closer to the water the warmer it is for the roots.
Although if I could go deeper I would.

[Fish_Boy]

So how much lighting do these plants need? I'm thinking an eclipse aquarium wouldn't provide enough light, the 29 gallon gives 36 watts

[California Roll]

I put Microsword in a 3 gallon Eclipse with Florite and it covered the tank so I am pretty sure an Eclipse will work. It still might be slow. I started having an Algae problem so I had to cut back on the number of hours I kept the light on. THis definitely slowed things down. Also after a while the Florite gets exhausted which also slows growth.

[Fish_Boy]

oh ok, well I was actually thinking of getting a 25 gallon tall it's 24X12 by 20 inches high with 2 15 watt lamps that's 30 watts for a 25.