I've been trying to carpet the forground on my display tank with micro swords for about 8 months. Although they are growing and there are always new runners, it's just not carpeting the tank.

The problem Im having is keeping it in the substrate and out of my filter. For substrate I have 100% flourite and am wondering if this is where I went wrong.

The runners tend to grow across the top of the substrate instead of in it. The roots don't grow very long and don't go very deep into the substrate to anchor it. Eventually they come loose and float away. They seem to be growing at about the rate I'm loosing them so I still have about the same amount i started with 8 months ago.

Are there any tricks or suggestions for planting these better?

I have the same plants but my substrate is sand,they seem to do ok in it.I have heard of people using plant weights to hold them down.Hope that helps.

Maybe I test using some sand in a little 2.5 gal tank I just emptied and see if i can get it to grow better in that.

I have about 90% coverage in my 55gallon with microswords. I use 100% fluorite substrate. I started out with just 4 or 5 clumps and stuck them into substrate about 1/3 to 1/2 of length and they have grown in over time. Do you have fish pulling them up? Occasionally I get a runner that floats and I just cut it off so it does not pull on the rest of the plants it is connected to.

How long has everyones fluorite been in the tank? My 100% fluorite tank thats been up for 2 years seems that the fluorite has very inconsistent size and most all the little peices end up at the bottom and the top is all large chunky pieces.