Planting For Dummies

[markandhisfish]

ok so now i am replacing the cruddy plastic plants with real ones. the 1st plants arrived yesterday Miriophyllum Scabratum came as 5 lose stems ( assume they are cuttings) i bunched them together with a piece of aquarium lead being carefull not to damage the stems and planted as a bunch. have also ordered 5 cambomba australis and 5 elodea densa . am i planting correctly?

 

[aaronnorth]

i dont get what you mean by planting correctly? Do you mean have you put the lead on properly? Yes you have but why not bury it in the substrate were they can get nutrients from?

 

[markandhisfish]

ooops sorry not to clear was i . i used the lead to weight the plants down and buried them in the substrate. i was just wanting to make sure they would grow peropperly in a bunch

 

[aaronnorth]

yes that is ok, i dont see why you have used lead weights though?

 

[markandhisfish]

its to basicly to hold the plants in place . at the moment its an experemental stage so am not really set up propperly i know my substrate needs to be deeper and not using co2 yet these are things i will be sorting. i am going to be upgrading my tank in the near future but not sure when. can i simply just put more gravel in on top of what i have already or do i need to remove plants re-do substrate and re-plant?

 

[aaronnorth]

you can add more substrate to what you have got, it might be easier to take everything out but it doesnt matter if you dont. How deep is your current substrate?

 

[markandhisfish]

currently only about an inch but i am planning on at least doubling it

 

[aaronnorth]

that is enough without the lead weights. I have HC planted in that depth!

 

[markandhisfish]

do you mean that an inch is enough or it will be enough if i double it? i currently have several straight valis a large green berensis and the Miriophyllum Scabratum. all seem to be doing well the valis have sent ot lots of runners and the green berensis is at least a foot tall and quite wide.Miriophyllum Scabratum has only been in there since yesterday tho so too early to tell as far as that one gos

 

[aaronnorth]

it is enough now to plant without the weights, but i would still addd the extra substrate in to help in the future.

 

[markandhisfish]

ok cheers. i rekon i must just be useless then he he as i just cant get them to stay put without lead they always want to float upwards

 

[aaronnorth]

invest in some tweesers. I dont think i could do it wthout them!

 

[markandhisfish]

ok mate will do cheers for the help will try the next plants without lead