new plant establishment

[charlie_fish]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how long new bunched and rooted plants take to get fully established? I have CO2 injection and plenty of light, the substrate is silver sand, any ideas?

Thanks

Charlie

 

[GraemeK]

Hey,

Once you start to see new growth then you can assume the plants are throwing out roots. I guess a couple of weeks and they'll be on their way to rooting well. obviuosly it depends on the speed of growth which varies from plant to plant.

 

[Kryten]

It can sometimes take a bit longer for roots to form in sand substrate, firstly because compacted sand is much harder, and it will take longer for fish waste, bacterian and iron to firmly set up home in the roots of the plants.

The best way to minimise the risk of stunting plant growth is to clean the leaves with a paper towel and water from the tank before planting, also soak the roots ijn a small bowl of tank water. Plunging plants into water of a different chemical composition and temperature can stunt the growth and establishment of the plant greatly. Cleaning the plants before adding them to the tank also eliminates problems with snails (wish I didn't have a problem). Anyone got a clown loach I can loan?

 

[cichlid_freak]

Try a few Botia striata. They munch down on my snails. I think they are better for population control, but I guess you can take out the larger ones by hand.

 

[mrV]

Kryten:

Cleaning the plants before adding them to the tank also eliminates problems with snails

Alum ( [AlK(SO4)2 x 12H2O] , don't even want to try to write it in english )

1 teaspoon / 1 liter water, put plants in that solution for a 30 min. After "bath", wash plants well, because alum is poisonous.

Edit. Ah, I forgot... Botia striata is quite wicked fish and like G. Ott (German) has said, they should be kept in their own aquarium. They tend to eat other fish eyes, like corydoras' - like B. macracanthus tends too.