Planted Tank With No Plant Substrate?

[Dasanii]

hey all..

i want to put a few plants in my tank but i dont have a substrate for them.. im using sand right now.. is there a way were i could use some little pots and stick the plants in it so it floats to the bottom but your plant will have a little pots at the bottom.. i've seen these at a fish store befor and i was thinkin maybe i could just burry the plant pot with sand so you cant tell that theres a pot.. has anyone done this befor? i really dont want to take all that sand out and put some plant substrate at the bottom.. would be to mucch of a hassle and plus im cycling right now.

 

[Sofia]

You'd be better off getting this topic moved into the planted tank section of the forum you'll get more educated replies there.

I have a sand substrate with a 'gravel island' on one side of my tank where most of my plants are planted. But some of my plants are planted in the sand with no fertiliser and they do just fine. They are slower growers than the ones in the gravel/laterite mix though.

Totally depends on the plants you want.

But like I said, you'll get better replies in the planted tanks section

 

[Shrimper]

You don't need fancy gravel for plants. I have some in my big tank and it does make a difference, but my shrimp tank just has gravel and a light with no ferts and the plants are growing well in there.

If you go for plants like Java fern, moss and Anubias these don't need roots in the substrate and grow best when tied to something like wood or a rock. They all grow well in low light too.

 

[muckluck]

hey all..

i want to put a few plants in my tank but i dont have a substrate for them.. im using sand right now.. is there a way were i could use some little pots and stick the plants in it so it floats to the bottom but your plant will have a little pots at the bottom.. i've seen these at a fish store befor and i was thinkin maybe i could just burry the plant pot with sand so you cant tell that theres a pot.. has anyone done this befor? i really dont want to take all that sand out and put some plant substrate at the bottom.. would be to mucch of a hassle and plus im cycling right now.

i don't think you need to worry about having a particualr type of substrate, i think as long as you've got enough light and oxygen, they'd grow. Although if they don't, i'd recommend using little pots - just make sure they don't come loose and the plants end up floating everywhere in your tank.

 

[Sofia]

hey all..

i want to put a few plants in my tank but i dont have a substrate for them.. im using sand right now.. is there a way were i could use some little pots and stick the plants in it so it floats to the bottom but your plant will have a little pots at the bottom.. i've seen these at a fish store befor and i was thinkin maybe i could just burry the plant pot with sand so you cant tell that theres a pot.. has anyone done this befor? i really dont want to take all that sand out and put some plant substrate at the bottom.. would be to mucch of a hassle and plus im cycling right now.

i don't think you need to worry about having a particualr type of substrate, i think as long as you've got enough light and oxygen, they'd grow. Although if they don't, i'd recommend using little pots - just make sure they don't come loose and the plants end up floating everywhere in your tank.

Plants don't need oxygen to grow they need carbon dioxide. The fish will provide this for you if you opt to go for easy plants to grow. Have a look at this post HERE in the planted tank section of this forum to get an idea of easy plants to keep. Or you could do as shrimper suggested and get plants that you attach to bog wood to grow like Mosses and Java Fern.

 

[doresy]

When I moved my fish/filter and plants into a temporary tank while major overhauling my main tank I placed all my plants in pots of gravel (see picture) They seemed to be ok

 

[mark.w.jones]

Plants don't need oxygen to grow they need carbon dioxide.

Actually plants do need oxygen which they use during respiration in order to break down the carbohydrates they've made during photosynthesis. A simple of model of this can be seen here:

<a href="http/ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/botan...tml#respiration" target="_blank">http/ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/botan...tml#respiration</a>

Plants will grow absolutely fine in sand as they would in gravel it makes no difference at all. As long as you poke the sand around during maintainance with a wire coathanger or similar to avoid compacted spots or any trapped gases then it fine. Snails and shrimp also do a good job of turning sand over as do bottom feeders. Go for easy to grown species (see link in sig.) Remove pots, weighting strips (Don't throw away) and any growing media from roots when they arrive. Push roots down into sand. Some species are more floaty than others in which case anchor them with the weighting strips you removed earlier. Without gravel or a fertilised substrate your plants will certainly do much better with rooting tablets or balls pushed in under them once planted. Finally a decent liquid fertilizer like Seachems Flourish is essential for that lush green tank you've always dreamed of. Good luck!

 

[Sofia]

Plants don't need oxygen to grow they need carbon dioxide.

Actually plants do need oxygen which they use during respiration in order to break down the carbohydrates they've made during photosynthesis.

Ok my bad, I was just thinking about basic photsynthesis you know plants use co2 in order to produce o2....