Dwarf Clover - Need some advice

DGalt

DGalt

AC Members
Jun 1, 2008
703
0
0
Connecticut
So I finally have my pressurized system up and running (several issues along the way, but everything is working now). I still have to play around with the bubble rate to get the right amount of CO2 in there (by the way, how often should you replace the liquid the drop checker?), but otherwise it's all set.

So now I'm turning my attention to my dwarf clover ground cover. I planted the stuff about 1.5 months ago and it hasn't done much of anything. A lot of it seems to have died. There are some new sprouts here and there, but for the most part it hasn't done much of anything.

So I need some advice on what to do to get it to start filling in. I know it's a very slow growing plant, especially under lower light, but I want to at least stop it from dieing :headshake2:

This tank is a low light tank, mostly just mosses, some petite nana, and the dwarf clover. I'm not dosing ferts. When I planted the clover I put in root tabs, but I haven't done much of anything since then (also, I should mention that hasn't been much of anything in the form of CO2 in there since I planted the stuff).

Tank Conditions:
15 gallon
26W CFL lights, on 8 hours a day
Substrate: 1.5"-2" of Schultz Aquatic Soil under 1"-1.5" of Walmart natural colored gravel
Nitrates are around 10ppm. I do two 20% water changes a week.

As I said, not dosing ferts as of right now. I've had bad algae issues in the past (and I'm still getting a little BBA here and there, but I'm hoping that will go away now that a constant CO2 source is available instead of the 2 weeks of DIY followed by 2 weeks of no CO2 cycle that I, out of laziness, was allowing to occur), so I'm wary of putting anything in there.

That being said, if I should increase light levels or start dosing specific ferts then that's fine. Again, hoping pressurized CO2 will help with several of the issues I've had in the past

thanks :)
 
Well you are not giving it much light, less than 2 watts per gallon, and what little you have you are running only 8 hours a day instead of 10 or 12. There are at least 3 different "dwarf clover" species being sold out there, and only one or two that will do Ok under low light, but even then it grows SLOW. Your c02 should help, but I would bump your light cycle to 10 hours a day
 
it's marsilea minuta if that makes any difference. and I was actually planning on extending the light cycle to 10 hours now that the CO2 is up, so thank you for confirming that that's a good idea :)

I'm not sure what wattage CFL bulbs there are, but should I look to increase the lighting up to 30-ish watts to get to 2WPG?
 
I have marsilea minuta, am using the same Schultz substrate, have less than 2 watts per gallon, and have had stuff in my tank for over a year with little growth. Never died but never took off. I'm hoping to hear some good advice and wish you good luck with yours. I also heard it does well in a low tech, low light setup but I'm thinking that may not be the case.
 
Well, I have seen growth with the stuff before. When I first started a planted tank I had 40 WPG over this same tank and I was seeing a decent amount of growth with this same plant. But then it got covered with BBA, which is an issue I'm trying to avoid by keeping in the lower-light range
 
40wpg or full sunlight! No wonder mine doesn't grow. If that's the case, I don't think increasing to 2wpg is gonna make much of a difference for the OP. Can't understand why people are selling this as a low light plant.
 
will it just survive or will it spread, albeit slowly?

would going up to 2WPG help it a bit?

and again, i could dose ferts. i just don't know how fert heavy it is and I don't think mosses or anubias petite are all that fert heavy so I don't want to overload my tank with nutrients and then get algae issues
 
MM does just fine in 1.5 - 2.0wpg when provided with sufficient amounts of C02 and ferts. It can be hard to get established in a new tank, providing the above mentioned will help a great deal.

IME-Your DC fluid will last about a month or so if it is lab certified. Non-certified or homemade should be changed once a week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom