Planting A Tank

Lord Fishheart · Oct 3, 2008

Anybody got any tips? tried planting it last night and it looks a mess!

I have a planter, but find it hard to use.

Grateful for any advice?!

waterdrop · Oct 3, 2008

I'm no expert but: grab a big kitchen plastic storage lid and put a wet paper towel on it. Have some extra tank water to sprinkle on the new plants while out of the water. If its a rooted plant, lay it out on the towel and spread out the roots. Take scissors and cut a very small bit of the root tips off all around on all of them. Planting is easier if you do it at lower water level in the middle of a water change, but this is not essential of course. Hold the plant by the crown (place between roots and stems) and hold it between the thumb and index finger. At the substrate surface dig a hole with the other 3 fingers of the same hand. Put the roots and crown way down in the hole and spread the roots around if possible. Flick gravel/sand over the roots with the other 3 fingers and keep doing this longer than you think you need! Finally, when you can let go without if floating up, mound up some more gravel/sand around the plant such that the substrate looks like you want. Then, most importanly, gently pull the plant straight upward such that the crown now sits just above the substrate and only roots are in the substrate.

Review the overall rotation of the plant with respect to your aquascape after you've stepped back. Do the whole thing again if it needs a different rotation or different substrate position. These are just my opinions and experts probably have better ways!

~~waterdrop~~

Rooster · Oct 3, 2008

Ive tried forked sticks, plastic planters - the "V" on the end of a razor blade stick... even bought some grabber on sticks things !
Best thing is STILL your fingers... you can feel your way without damaging the roots.
If your tank isnt too deep ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES ! :hyper:

doresy · Oct 3, 2008

Rooster said:
Ive tried forked sticks, plastic planters - the "V" on the end of a razor blade stick... even bought some grabber on sticks things !
Best thing is STILL your fingers... you can feel your way without damaging the roots.
If your tank isnt too deep ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES !

Glad to meet a fellow 'hands on' fishkeeper :good:

I too have tried all the afore mentioned LFS profit making devices along with various algae removing tools but have always found that a well washed hand and arm works best :lol:

waterdrop · Oct 3, 2008

yes, I do everything with my arm and a towel over my shoulder. Hey rooster and dorsey, do you guys have any of those little scissors on the end of long tongs? That's the one tool I've thought about getting because I've found the tough strands inside dying leaves that I want to prune off are too tough for my fingernails to cut through. (of course, now that I think about it I guess I could just get an extra pair of cheap drugstore nail scissors and use my long arm once again :lol:

) I don't know, what are your thoughts? I guess the planted guys have these fancy things because they have so many plants and are fussing with them all the time, right?

~~waterdrop~~

Rooster · Oct 3, 2008

waterdrop said:
yes, I do everything with my arm and a towel over my shoulder. Hey rooster and dorsey, do you guys have any of those little scissors on the end of long tongs? That's the one tool I've thought about getting because I've found the tough strands inside dying leaves that I want to prune off are too tough for my fingernails to cut through. (of course, now that I think about it I guess I could just get an extra pair of cheap drugstore nail scissors and use my long arm once again ) I don't know, what are your thoughts? I guess the planted guys have these fancy things because they have so many plants and are fussing with them all the time, right?

~~waterdrop~~

Yea I HAVE got those (you been through my cupboards ? ) They ARE good for pruning, but they tend to stay dry !!!!

OldMan47 · Oct 4, 2008

I agree with WD o the easiest way to plant. Some plants will not survive if their crown is under the substrate so that last step is definitely essential. I had to prove this to myself with java ferns and the one that I did a lousy job of planting, didn't really get the roots buried well, is the one that survived and filled in the whole tank. For trimming, I find a pair of kitchen shears in my hand works fine and they are designed to be taken apart for washing and drying which helps them survive the frequent dousing.

waterdrop · Oct 4, 2008

Well I did it today. I grabbed one of those tiny little pairs of metal scissors that are in a nail kit and just plunged them down in the tank and snipped off a few leaves that I wanted to and it was great! Sure I still had to dry my arm off but I was doing that over and over anyway with other cleaning things I was doing. My plants have been doing better ever since a post I saw that said Seachem Flourish, dose twice a week.. I thought, "Wait a minute, the instrucs are once a week." But I looked on the bottle and sure enough it said "Once OR twice a week," so I tried doing twice a week and have immediately seen an improvement, so I guess they wanted more trace ferts than I was giving them!

~~waterdrop~~

doresy · Oct 5, 2008

I was looking at the long scirrors for plant trimming but the price put me off :crazy:

£20+ unless you chance Hong Kong on Ebay!

Then again I thought for a minute, guiding that thing about like a missile launcher :crazy:

*visualizes lots of floating leaves and bits of fin*...... no way! The human sized nail scissors and a wet arm for me :lol:

Oh, Waterdrop, I too use Seachem Flourish fertiliser.....greatstuff! If you suffer at all from black, soot like algae growth try the organic carbon in that range (Florourish Excel) My Betta tank was covered in the stuff a week after each clean but since using Excel, I kid you not, INSTANT results. Spankingly clean now always, can't recommend it more strongly :hyper:

Dave Spencer · Oct 5, 2008

A pair of 12 inch tweezers will be the greatest aid to planting you can buy in my opinion.

I`d like to see people trying to plant 200 stems 1cm apart, or planting individual plantlets of HC with their fingers. I have planted over 200 stems in one go and got up the next morning to find not a single one floating.

Dave.