Planting tips?

Whee, so my plants have arrived. Now what do I do? LOL

They're all labelled with what they are and whether they're
foreground etc. Do I just take each bunch apart and shove the roots
under the gravel? Do I need to use weights (some lead weights came
with the plants)? Any other tips?

--
FishNoob

FishNoob wrote:
Whee, so my plants have arrived. Now what do I do? LOL

They're all labelled with what they are and whether they're
foreground etc. Do I just take each bunch apart and shove the roots
under the gravel? Do I need to use weights (some lead weights came
with the plants)? Any other tips?


Well having very soggy arms myself right now from planting I can tell
you how I do it if it helps...It's going to depend on the plants of course.

As a general rule if they come with lead weights I leave them on and
bury the roots under the gravel...that being said I just made the
mistake of taking a weight off some hair grass and now have strands of
it all over the place - the weights stayed on the rest of them. If the
plants are potted I take them out of the pots and remove as much of the
"flossy" stuff as I can and then bury the roots.

If the plants are anubias or Java fern (and there may be others that
this applies to as well) do not bury the root in the gravel. I've
recently tied some to driftwood but in the past I've anchored them with
a stone or driftwood....

Enjoy your planting and I hope you stay drier than I did...off to change
my top but couldn't get past the putta - lol

Gill

FishNoob wrote in news:MPG.1e724b14994fa862989819
@nntp.dsl.pipex.com:

Whee, so my plants have arrived. Now what do I do? LOL

I take all the weights off to allow to roots to spread, but you may be
causing yourself a headache depending on the grade of your substrate. Some
stem and grassy plants love to float away (bacopa for example) at the
slightest disturbance until they are rooted.

Most dealers ship stem and grassy plants in large bunches bundled together.
It would be wise to separate these out and plant them in groups of two or
three to ensure the entire plant receives the light it needs. These plants
will naturally branch and fill out as your lighting allows and when you
prune them. Leaving most of these plants in these tight bunches will
starve much of the bottom part of the plant of light leading to the death
of much of the stem.

Epiphytes like java fern and anubias should be planted with the rhizome
(the horizontal stem) party exposed--completely covering it can kill or
stunt the plant. These plants don't need to be planted in the substrate,
you can tie/staple them to logs or rocks and they will eventually grab hold
themselves.

A good tip is to look down from above at your plants while you are planting
as well as from the front. When you look down on your plants you get a
better idea of how well they are spaced and how much light they will
receive. Your plants should not be overlapping or shading each other. Try
to keep in mind how much room the plants will need to grow-in instead of
trying to densely arrange everything from the start.

"dc" wrote in message
...
FishNoob wrote in
news:MPG.1e724b14994fa862989819
@nntp.dsl.pipex.com:

Whee, so my plants have arrived. Now what do I do? LOL

I take all the weights off to allow to roots to spread, but you may be
causing yourself a headache depending on the grade of your substrate.
Some
stem and grassy plants love to float away (bacopa for example) at the
slightest disturbance until they are rooted.

Most dealers ship stem and grassy plants in large bunches bundled
together.
It would be wise to separate these out and plant them in groups of two or
three to ensure the entire plant receives the light it needs. These
plants
will naturally branch and fill out as your lighting allows and when you
prune them. Leaving most of these plants in these tight bunches will
starve much of the bottom part of the plant of light leading to the death
of much of the stem.

Epiphytes like java fern and anubias should be planted with the rhizome
(the horizontal stem) party exposed--completely covering it can kill or
stunt the plant. These plants don't need to be planted in the substrate,
you can tie/staple them to logs or rocks and they will eventually grab
hold
themselves.

A good tip is to look down from above at your plants while you are
planting
as well as from the front. When you look down on your plants you get a
better idea of how well they are spaced and how much light they will
receive. Your plants should not be overlapping or shading each other.
Try
to keep in mind how much room the plants will need to grow-in instead of
trying to densely arrange everything from the start.


Another good thing to do would be to purchase some thin peat blocks. Make
sure you leave the water down very low, just enough to keep the plants wet.
Put down a block, place the plant roots on top and cover with some good
plant substrate. Keep working along plant after plant until you have it
completed. It is really easy to do with the water do real low, that's the
key. The peat not only provides a permanent, strong root anchor but it also
prevents you from scratching or damaging the bottom of the tank during
gravel cleaning.



Sean

"Sean" wrote in
:

Another good thing to do would be to purchase some thin peat blocks.
...

That's a neat idea, and it sounds like it would work very well, but keep in
mind that peat will leach humic acids and tannins into your water which can
lower the pH and stain the water a tea colour. Personally I love black
water, but some people can't see the beauty in it.

I like using a thick substrate base made up of a mix of fairly fine grade
nutrient rich material. I've used a mix of fluorite red and eco-complete
substrate in a few of my tanks to amazing success. The roots of healthy
plants will literally explode through this stuff.

Probably the best setup is a think 1/2" or so layer of very fine base sand
covering plant root heating cables, which is then covered by a thick 2 -
3" layer of fine grade nutrient rich material, which is then mixed with a
thin layer of coarser top material for aesthetics and to aid in holding
everything in place. I set-up my girlfriend's 29 gallon community tank
this way... six months later she has more plant material in her tank now
than water.

In article ,
says...
That's a neat idea, and it sounds like it would work very well, but keep in
mind that peat will leach humic acids and tannins into your water which can
lower the pH and stain the water a tea colour. Personally I love black
water, but some people can't see the beauty in it.

I thought I remembered reading something about peat lowering the ph,
so I wouldn't have gone for this - my ph is naturally low to start
with. In fact when I sent hubby (who is home from work because I'm
sick and not capable of caring for five kids right now) to the
aquarium shop today, he was instructed to ask about this. He's come
home with something that looks like "LITH" on the receipt - looks
like crushed porous stone - and instructions to put it in the tank
inside a stocking - which, since it fits with what I've been told
here in the past, and with what I've read, I'll do. Tomorrow, when (I
hope) I'm able to sit up for more than two minutes.

--
FishNoob hides under the covers again

FishNoob wrote in
:

so I wouldn't have gone for this - my ph is naturally low to start
with. In fact when I sent hubby (who is home from work because I'm
....
home with something that looks like "LITH" on the receipt - looks
like crushed porous stone - and instructions to put it in the tank

It's for raising the pH? It sounds like crushed limestone or something
similar. It will certainly raise your pH by buffering up your carbonate
hardness.

You should get yourself a KH test kit so you can monitor how much this
"LITH" is buffering up your water. For a planted tank you probably don't
want your KH to get much higher than 4 degrees or so. If you don't monitor
it the limestone will continue to leech into your water regardless of how
hard you want your water to be.

In my own planted tanks I try to maintain my KH around 1 - 2 degrees, but
results will vary depending on your water source. I use Kent cichlid
buffer keep my KH around 12 - 14 to maintain a high pH in my African rift
lake tanks, but most plants won't thrive under those conditions.

That's a neat idea, and it sounds like it would work very well, but keep
in
mind that peat will leach humic acids and tannins into your water which
can
lower the pH and stain the water a tea colour. Personally I love black
water, but some people can't see the beauty in it.


The type of peat I am talking about won't leech anything or color the water
at all. It is filtered and cleaned and is mostly used as an anchor for the
plants. The nutrients from the plant gravel gets trapped within it and the
roots grow at a maddening rate. Peet also has that great way of filtering
and processing toxins from the water which cuts down on the water changes
and adds some diversity to a tank that most lack. A decent anchor for
plants




Sean

Sean wrote:

The type of peat I am talking about won't leech anything or color the water
at all. It is filtered and cleaned and is mostly used as an anchor for the
plants. The nutrients from the plant gravel gets trapped within it and the
roots grow at a maddening rate. Peet also has that great way of filtering
and processing toxins from the water which cuts down on the water changes
and adds some diversity to a tank that most lack. A decent anchor for
plants

Where do you get it? I've often used AP Plant Plugs - they're
fertilized rockwool. Non-leaching peat sounds even better.

--
Put the word aquaria in the subject to reply.
Did you read the FAQ? http://faq.thekrib.com

In article ,
says...
Most dealers ship stem and grassy plants in large bunches bundled together.

Yep, they did :-)

It would be wise to separate these out and plant them in groups of two or
three to ensure the entire plant receives the light it needs.

Yep, that's what I did :-)

Epiphytes like java fern and anubias should be planted with the rhizome
(the horizontal stem) party exposed--completely covering it can kill or
stunt the plant. These plants don't need to be planted in the substrate,
you can tie/staple them to logs or rocks and they will eventually grab hold
themselves.

TBH I'm not even sure if the package I got has any of those in it.
I'm in flu-mode and it was about all I could do to get the plants in
before I collapsed back into bed.

A good tip is to look down from above at your plants while you are planting
as well as from the front. When you look down on your plants you get a
better idea of how well they are spaced and how much light they will
receive.

Heh... there was extra gravel added at the same time - it had been
rinsed and rinsed and rinsed again, but you know how it is - much of
the placement was guesswork 'cause I couldn't see *anything* LOL

Didn't seem too bad once the light was back on though.

Your plants should not be overlapping or shading each other. Try
to keep in mind how much room the plants will need to grow-in instead of
trying to densely arrange everything from the start.

Thanks for the advice :-)

--
FishNoob