How to set up a carpet plant aquarium

1. Aquarium
A standard 15 USgal with dimension of 2ft x 1ft x 1ft as in length x with x height is a good start for beginners. Also make sure you have a proper place to place your aquarium such as a cabinet or maybe get an aquarium stand for this matter. Always make sure you place you aquarium on a flat surface. You will also need a polystyrene to cushion your aquarium glass to prevent it from cracking.

2. Substrate
Soil is one of the important components to grow aquatic plant successfully. There are many choices out there in the market. For time savers, the aquasoil is the best, as it basically contain the nutrients for aquatic plants and are ready to use straight from the pack. Some of the common brand of aquasoil are ADA, GEX, EcoComplete and etc. Check out your local fish store for the choices you have. However they maybe a little costly. On the other hand, if you do enjoy DIYs, you can start with gardening or potting soil. Lay the first layer of garden soil about an inch thick on the base of you aquarium. Next, you will need to cover the soil so it doesn't float up. You can do this with river sand or fine gravels. Another one inch thick of the sand or gravel will be good enough to hold the soil.

3. Lighting
A good rule of thumb is to stick at 2 - 3 watt per gallon (WPG) for growing most carpet plants such as glossostigma elatinoides or dwarf hairgrass. To the calculate the watt per gallon, you simply divide the total wattage of your lights with the capacity of your aquarium. For the standard tank mentioned, a suitable lighting will be 30 - 45 watt. Also not to forget the light spectrum. It is best to stick within 6500K to 10,000K. As light within this range emits more blue spectrum which is suitable for aquatic plants.

4. Filtration
There are plenty of filtration choices out there in the market. A hang on back or a canister filter is much suitable for a planted tank. However the canister filter is much reccommended as it is able to house more filter media than a hang on back filter. Besides, it doesn't take up space on the aquarium, especially when you have your light holder sitting on your aquarium.

5. Aquatic carpet plants
There is so many choices out there. Some of the common carpet plants is the Glossostigma elatinoides and Eleocharis parvula. Of course there's other's such as Echinodorus tenellus, Hemianthus callitrichoides, Marsilea hirsuta, Lilaeopsis brasiliensisand so much more. Different species varies in their growth pattern and requirement, especially the ammount of lighting.

6. Water
Make sure you local water supply is suitable for growing aquatic plants. In most case, local water supply is treated with chlorine, and this is not suitbale for both aquatic plants and fishes. You can get anti-chlorine from you local fish store to treat the chlorine water. Another alternative is to use rain water.