Potting Soil

[JMcQueen]

Having given it a little thought, I'd like to pot the plants I introduce into the tank to make it easier on cleaning time without risking damaging the plants. Im going to look for some really small ceramic pots (if anyone knows where you can get them I'd be grateful to know, ideally about 5cm), but failing that, I might use egg cups or something similar.

The guides I've read suggest using pre-soaked potting soil to house the plant and then place a small amount of gravel on the top. Can it be any potting soil or is there a specific type/make that works best?

 

[RadaR]

Having given it a little thought, I'd like to pot the plants I introduce into the tank to make it easier on cleaning time without risking damaging the plants.

I understand if it's only a hanful of plants, but if it were a morderate/heavily planted up tank then....Generally we don't gravel vaccum in planted tanks due to not enough space or to not disturb the roots. Thanks to the large circulation/flow reccomended for planted tanks (10x the volume of the tank turned over every hour) this makes sure that most of the physical debris gets sucked into the filter and gets caught in mechanical media. It's just a case then of changing the filter floss every week or two weeks to prevent clogging. Any debris left over in the tank can be simply siphoned off the top of the gravel with some flexible tubing. In high-tech tanks espeically, we are advised to "swoosh" the plants every few water changes to remove any trapped debris that might be there. This reduces the risk of the debris leaching ammonia that in combination with light causes algae.

The guides I've read suggest using pre-soaked potting soil to house the plant and then place a small amount of gravel on the top. Can it be any potting soil or is there a specific type/make that works best?

John innes no 3 is supposed to be popular with the EI natural folk.

 

[JMcQueen]

Yes, its only a few plants to help with the nitrates. Definately not heavy planted.

 

[RadaR]

What's wrong with your nitrates? Hope you're not trusting those god awful nitrate test kits

 

[JMcQueen]

What's wrong with your nitrates? Hope you're not trusting those god awful nitrate test kits

er...maybe.

I checked with my water authority and my local water has 30ppm nitrate. It doesnt take long for my fish to start to shift this quickly upwards/

 

[RadaR]

What's wrong with your nitrates? Hope you're not trusting those god awful nitrate test kits

er...maybe.

I checked with my water authority and my local water has 30ppm nitrate. It doesnt take long for my fish to start to shift this quickly upwards/

They said it was 30ppm. Ok. That's fine, it wont be harming your fish at all. Hell, some high tech planted tanks dose that everyother day to ensure the plants have enough nitrate. We've never known anyone losing a fish from overdosing. I'd only be curious if your nitrates were reaching the 100ppm mark because I'd wonder how much you were feeding in order for the bacteria to produce so much nitrate.