Will Cheap Ebay Aquarium Carpet Seeds Really Grow?

I have been thinking of growing carpet seeds for having a beautiful carpet in my fish tank. You can find cheap aquarium carpet seeds on Ebay. I read on the internet that hobbyists have grown aquarium carpet seeds & within 2 weeks the seeds have grown to form a beautiful grass carpet. I want to check whether they grow in aquariums or not.

I have set up a new tank. I have purchased good quality seeds from Ebay & I have followed complete instructions offered by the seed supplier. The seeds have high quality. I have added 2 bags of seeds for this experiment & a single bag has 200 seeds. For moistening soil & seed I have sprayed fresh water. For lightning, I have also purchased aquarium lights.

Steps: Will cheap Ebay Aquarium Carpet Seeds Grow:


Step 1: Buy Amazonia soil & spray the bottom of aquarium:


Buy amazonia soil & spray the bottom of aquarium
Buy amazonia soil & spray the bottom of aquarium


For this project, I have purchased a nano aquarium that has a capacity of storing 20 liters of water. I am using good quality soil. The soil is named Amazonia. Before adding soil to the aquarium, I sprayed the bottom of the fish tank so that after adding soil, the bottom layer of the soil can absorb moisture.

Step 2: Open Amazonia soil bag:


Add amazonia soil to the aquarium base
Add amazonia soil to the aquarium base


It is very simple to add soil to the aquarium. Just make a hole in the bag & add soil evenly in the aquarium. The soil looks round or oval shaped, with round & soft edges so it will not hurt the plant roots.

Step 3: Add soil to the aquarium:


Spread soil in aquarium
Spread soil in aquarium


It is your choice to decorate the soil. I choose to keep them very simple. I have spread soil evenly in the fish tank & have raised one corner. The initial setup is finished & now I am going to add seeds to the aquarium. I have purchased six unique kinds of aquarium carpet seeds from Ebay.

Step 4: Add seeds to the aquarium:


Step 4: Add seeds to the aquarium
Step 4: Add seeds to the aquarium


I have opened the package & there are six small plastic bags. Each bag has two hundred seeds. They are not labeled so I don’t know which seed I am going to add to my fish tank. I have cut the corner of one plastic bag & I am trying my best to add seeds to the tank as evenly as I can. I have added 400 seeds from 2 bags.

Step 5: Add water for moistening & seal the aquarium:


Step 5: Spray water, seal aquarium & add light
Step 5: Spray water, seal aquarium & add light


After adding all the seeds, I have added water to moist the substrate & seeds. I have sealed the aquarium top with cling wrap so it can hold the moisture. I have covered the top of the aquarium by placing a lid. I have bought tank lights which need to be turned on for six to eight hours a day that will help in growing the seeds & plants.

Step 6: After 2 weeks of nurturing seeds:


Step 6: After 2 weeks of nurturing seeds
Step 6: After 2 weeks of nurturing seeds


Now according to instructions, it is time to wait for a couple of weeks to see the results. After 2 weeks just 18 plants have grown out of 400 seeds. In those 2 weeks I have been spraying water twice a day. I have been sealing the tank with wrap. Also I have been leaving it open so that fresh air can enter the tank. The results are not satisfactory even after following the instructions correctly.

2 Comments

  1. Thanks for this, I was looking at those seeds and wondering what they actually were, with most of them coming from outside of the country (China) I expected it was a scam, but your result was not actually conclusive. I'm wondering if the problem was the substrate that you used, maybe to heavy for tiny seeds to push through. Even regular sprouting seeds of all kinds of plants have a better germination rate than that, even if they are not water plants, and the way you germinate and grow regular seeds to make sprouts and micro greens is very similar, they just need to be kept moist. I regularly sprout seed for myself and for my chickens - broccoli, clover, mustard, radish, mung beans, rice, wheat, they all have a high germination and sprout rate with no soil at all. I'm wondering if you would consider doing the experiment again with a lighter soil, maybe sand would work. My main question with this is what exactly are the seeds, are they genuine water plants, will they stay alive once you fill the tank. I was thinking of trying this experiment with some brown rice, cress and possibly even clover. Rice and cress naturally grow in water and there's some discussion about clover. Some people say it will all grow under water and other's say that only one kind does.
    But anyway, thank you for doing this and documenting the process.

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  2. can you grow water cress in a aquarium filter to remove bad things , like a normal filter

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