How long will plants be okay in a bucket?

rebe · Jan 2, 2024

I'm waiting for the rest of my plants to arrive. The first amount that arrived today, is now in a clear plastic tub of clean dechlorinated water. I removed all the packaging, rock wool, ceramic rings etc from these plants, removed dead lives and then used some plant weights to keep them submerged in the water. There is no direct light on them or heater in the tub with them.

I do have a small heater, that came as a set with a 105L tank but I've been worried that a heater in such a small space among the plants would damage them ( or melt the plastic maybe). It's not one of the heaters that can keep the water a certain temperature. (I mean one that would turn itself off when it is too hot, and when the temperature drops it would start heating.)

There is about 7.5L of water in the tub, and it's currently 19.3 degrees Celsius.
I expect them to be planted in the tank before Sunday, if there are no delays for the other plants in customs.

How long will they be okay, do I need to heat the tub to avoid any negative effects?

connorlindeman · Jan 2, 2024

rebe said:
I'm waiting for the rest of my plants to arrive. The first amount that arrived today, is now in a clear plastic tub of clean dechlorinated water. I removed all the packaging, rock wool, ceramic rings etc from these plants, removed dead lives and then used some plant weights to keep them submerged in the water. There is no direct light on them or heater in the tub with them.

I do have a small heater, that came as a set with a 105L tank but I've been worried that a heater in such a small space among the plants would damage them ( or melt the plastic maybe). It's not one of the heaters that can keep the water a certain temperature. (I mean one that would turn itself off when it is too hot, and when the temperature drops it would start heating.)

There is about 7.5L of water in the tub, and it's currently 19.3 degrees Celsius.
I expect them to be planted in the tank before Sunday, if there are no delays for the other plants in customs.

How long will they be okay, do I need to heat the tub to avoid any negative effects?

They will be fine till Sunday.
They are less demanding than you would expect.
How is the quality of the plants right now?

rebe · Jan 2, 2024

connorlindeman said:
They will be fine till Sunday.
They are less demanding than you would expect.
How is the quality of the plants right now?

Brilliant, that's great to hear. Thanks!

I ordered the plants from a german place (I'm in Ireland) and there were delays. The plants were in transit for 12 days, and I actually ordered some more plants from a place in the UK because I was sure that they would be delayed so long that they would all be dead or very damaged. I wasn't expecting them to arrive this week due to the delays, and more of the plants made it then I thought they would. I had to throw a few bunches/plants away, as well as the damaged parts of others.
So what's left of them looks good to me, especially the ones by tropica. Those seemed to be in the best shape after transit. I've only had live plants since June-ish 2023, so my experience is pretty limited.
They're at the stage where I'd be happy to buy them if I saw them in a shop, looks and health wise.

connorlindeman · Jan 2, 2024

rebe said:
Brilliant, that's great to hear. Thanks!

I ordered the plants from a german place (I'm in Ireland) and there were delays. The plants were in transit for 12 days, and I actually ordered some more plants from a place in the UK because I was sure that they would be delayed so long that they would all be dead or very damaged. I wasn't expecting them to arrive this week due to the delays, and more of the plants made it then I thought they would. I had to throw a few bunches/plants away, as well as the damaged parts of others.
So what's left of them looks good to me, especially the ones by tropica. Those seemed to be in the best shape after transit. I've only had live plants since June-ish 2023, so my experience is pretty limited.
They're at the stage where I'd be happy to buy them if I saw them in a shop, looks and health wise.

I'm sure they will be fine. I keep my stock in 20g tanks with no filter, no heater, just a light. They would be fine without the light for shorter periods of time. (Less than a week)
You might start to see some melt after that.

Were your plants grown emersed?

rebe · Jan 2, 2024

connorlindeman said:
Were your plants grown emersed?

I'm not sure, a couple were tissue cultured for sure, in the little tropica pots. I'll have a quick look at the website and see if I can find out how they were grown

connorlindeman · Jan 2, 2024

rebe said:
I'm not sure, a couple were tissue cultured for sure, in the little tropica pots. I'll have a quick look at the website and see if I can find out how they were grown

If the plants grew emersed, expect to see some melt as they transition. Don't be alarmed.

rebe · Jan 2, 2024

connorlindeman said:
Were your plants grown emersed?

Some plants were from Tropica and their website says this: "At Tropica we simulate the conditions prevailing in the tropical dry season throughout the growth of the plant. Only the roots are under water - planted in mineral wool in pots."

The other plants were by Dennerle, and in this section of their website the pictures and information make me think that they are also grown emersed, but I don't see anywhere that out right says "Our plants are grown emersed!"

The plants that I currently have healthy parts of are:

Tropica	Dennerle
Cryptocoryne Crispatula	Bolbitis heudelotii
Rotala rotundifolia
Taxiphyllum 'spikey'
Hygrophila corymbosa
Cryptocoryne Usteriana
Hydrocotyle tripartita
Sagittaria Subulata

connorlindeman · Jan 2, 2024

Most of those will be melting if they were emersed. The crypts especially. You might lose all the leaves, but they will grow back.

MattW · Jan 2, 2024

I've had java fern in a bucket outside for more than 3 months now. Over winter I'd thought they might not make it but still going strong even the bladder snails that hitchhiked are alive

rebe · Jan 2, 2024

connorlindeman said:
Most of those will be melting if they were emersed. The crypts especially. You might lose all the leaves, but they will grow back.

Good to know, thank you

rebe · Jan 2, 2024

@connorlindeman
I was just thinking, and in your experience would the taxiphyllum/ java moss melt in the way you describe?

A year ago when I tried to keep an aquarium (and quit after the first attempt failed) I tried keeping java moss and it turned quite brown and dissolved/broke down a lot. Something I've been meaning to research, but I wonder if it had melted in a way similar to you described and maybe I didn't give it a chance to succeed

connorlindeman · Jan 2, 2024

rebe said:
@connorlindeman
I was just thinking, and in your experience would the taxiphyllum/ java moss melt in the way you describe?

A year ago when I tried to keep an aquarium (and quit after the first attempt failed) I tried keeping java moss and it turned quite brown and dissolved/broke down a lot. Something I've been meaning to research, but I wonder if it had melted in a way similar to you described and maybe I didn't give it a chance to succeed

In my experience, Java moss will melt or die off it there is insufficient water movement and the plants get loaded up with silt.

How long did you keep it in the tank?
If it was going to grow, you should have seen the beginnings of that within a week.

rebe · Jan 2, 2024

connorlindeman said:
How long did you keep it in the tank?

It look ages of scrolling back through my google photos to find the dates and time lines. Time wise It wasn't that long ago, but it feels like ages.

I know I planted that first tank on 15/08/22
I have a picture where the moss is starting to look bad from 20/08/22
and then a picture from after I took the tank apart (quit) on 04/09/22

That's 20 days altogether

I still feel sad and ashamed about the fish I killed back then due to lack of understanding and education. I try to create the best environments and lives I can for my fish now :fish:

connorlindeman · Jan 3, 2024

rebe said:
It look ages of scrolling back through my google photos to find the dates and time lines. Time wise It wasn't that long ago, but it feels like ages.

I know I planted that first tank on 15/08/22
I have a picture where the moss is starting to look bad from 20/08/22
and then a picture from after I took the tank apart (quit) on 04/09/22

That's 20 days altogether
I still feel sad and ashamed about the fish I killed back then due to lack of understanding and education. I try to create the best environments and lives I can for my fish now

They look to be pretty covered in mulm in the pictures you attached. That is likely the cause of death.

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