Plant And Substrate Questions

[fish.com1]

Hi,

I am soon going to be redoing my tank and i will be changing the gravel over to eco-complete. Can i gravel vac eco-complete without it being sucked up into the gravel vac?

I will also be adding more plants. Will the following plants grow in 0.8 wpg light with eco-complete as the substrate and easylife easycarbo added daily:

vallisneria nana
bolbitis heudelotti

And finally does redmoor wood need soaking before putting it in the aquarium?

Thanks.

 

[frozenbarb]

Those plants should do fine.
Soaking the wood is recommended.
Gravel Vacing a planted tank is not nescesary.
Those fish poop and stuff are good for plant fertilizers.

 

[Nick16]

gravel vacing is still necessay!!!!!!!!!!!! what will happen to the poo otherwise?

if it is a hightech planted tank where you canot get to the floor then fair enough but i dont think this will be, just hover over the eco complete and it will still suck up the poo as it is lighter, yu dont have to poke around to much.

 

[SuperColey1]

Redmoor will need soaking for between 2 weeks and 2 months dependent on it's density. Otherwise oyu will need some heavy weights to keep it down in the tank until it has soaked. It is incredibly bouyant.

AC

 

[fish.com1]

Thanks for the replys. What about the plants?

 

[Nick16]

the plants should be fine, the vallis will be ok.

supercoley1, how do you keep your redmoor down? do you tie it to slate or just soak it? also can you use zip ties in the aquarium as i have seen someone on UKAPS doing this.

 

[fish.com1]

Would sagittaria subulata be ok for the tank?

 

[Nick16]

maybe, have you got T8's or T5's? i would say you need more than 0.8wpg really. best option for you is things like anubias.

 

[fish.com1]

maybe, have you got T8's or T5's? i would say you need more than 0.8wpg really. best option for you is things like anubias.

The light is an 18 watt t8.

 

[SuperColey1]

supercoley1, how do you keep your redmoor down? do you tie it to slate or just soak it? also can you use zip ties in the aquarium as i have seen someone on UKAPS doing this.

This is Redmoor wood from Day 1 for approx 5 weeks:

This week 6:

Can you spot the method?

6 big lumps of rock wedged in/placed on etc. Maybe 5kg in total!!!!

If you look closely even though it had been in the water for 6 weeks the left piece still has rocks in it. It was still a little bouyant!!! These came out 2 weeks later!!!

If I didn't have a young family that permanently need use of the bath or a container large enough I would've presoaked it from the day it arrived for a couple of months!!!!

AC

 

[fish.com1]

supercoley1, how do you keep your redmoor down? do you tie it to slate or just soak it? also can you use zip ties in the aquarium as i have seen someone on UKAPS doing this.

This is Redmoor wood from Day 1 for approx 5 weeks:

This week 6:

Can you spot the method?

6 big lumps of rock wedged in/placed on etc. Maybe 5kg in total!!!!

If you look closely even though it had been in the water for 6 weeks the left piece still has rocks in it. It was still a little bouyant!!! These came out 2 weeks later!!!

If I didn't have a young family that permanently need use of the bath or a container large enough I would've presoaked it from the day it arrived for a couple of months!!!!

AC

So is presoaking the wood mainly just to get it to sink? And partly to get the tannins out of the wood but that isn't harmful to the fish is it? Should the sagittaria subulata be ok in the tank?

 

[Nick16]

loks like my 19 inch and 21 inch bit are going to be soaking then!!!!! i havent got a massive container though. (might let them float in a tank!!!!

 

[SuperColey1]

Redmoor won't leach many tannins.

The main reason IMO for presoaking the wood is you want to put it in where it is going to stay. Then you want to plant around it.

If you let it float as I have seen many do while it is soaking then it can be quite hard to get it back in without burying plants etc. Also think about the visualisation of the end effect.

First you put the substrate in and slope it to your preference, then you position the hardscape and then reposition it and so on and so on.

Then you start attaching your wood mounted plants.

Then you take another look etc.

The stage before getting to the actual planting of the substrate can take several attempts because if like me it is going to remain where it is for a long long time.

So at this stage when I was happy I weighed it down. If I had presoaked it then I could've just put it where I wanted without the rocks.

Then I planted the substrate.

When I removed the rocks the Anubias had bent their rhizomes to move around the rock as they couldn't push through it etc. Saying that it all turned out OK.

So if possible fins a large container the day you buy the wood and get it in there and put away safe while you spend a couple of months 'visualising' and planning the rest of the scape. If it is a long term thing like mine (I will leave this for a few years as it is with basic pruning etc, hence the low light and 'slow' plants) then you need to have something you are happy with so it is worth a couple of months preparing for the setup to have something good for the following 4 years

AC