Low light carpet plant???

[jlcarr88]

I was just wondering what a good plant would be to cover the bottom of an aquarium that does not require a lot of light. I have a basic 30 gallon tank with a 17 watt bulb(around 17 watts not sure exactly), so it is only getting about a .5 wpg. I've looked at java moss, but haven't seen much of that as a foreground. It's more of something to plant on driftwood, which is what i plan on doing as soon as the ice melts and i can find a piece. I would love to buy a new t5 setup, but paying for school puts a stop to major purchases. So any advice or experience on something i could do for planting the bottom of my tank would be greatly appreciated.

Also it will either be planted in sand or the small natural gravel, which would be better.
Thanks

 

[MDK500]

Echinodorus tenellus or Eleocharis acicularis

 

[BMueller777]

Echinodorus tenellus or Eleocharis acicularis

Those are both medium/high light plants... I'm growing the Echinodorus tenellus right now with over 3 WPG and dosing Excel and it seems to be struggling some what... The Dwarf hair grass might be tough at less then 1 WPG IME (tried it with a 10g tank and a 15 watt bulb and it didn't make it) Don't base this off of just my statement but it's what happened with me...

A good carpet plant would be Sagittaria subulata and a nice list of low light plants can be found here: http://www.aquariumplants.com/Low_Light_Plants_s/25.htm In the event you want to get more plants lol

Good luck