Can I put plants in gravel?

[Caden Fisher]

Hi all. I’m new to the hobby and I was wondering. I have a gravel substrate but I want some plants. Is this okay? If so what plants? I’ll leave a pic below. Thx

 

[FFGuest6357]

I would recommend some easy beginner plants.

something like vals, water wisteria or ludwigia repens.

you will probably need to add some root tabs to get the fertilizer to the roots, but you can definitely add some to that substrate.

edit: I’m not an expert on plants so there are other members here that can be more specific.

what size is your tank(dimensions) and what sort of lighting are you using? Knowing you ph and and gh will also be helpful

 

[Caden Fisher]

Ok. Thanks. I’ll definitely consider all of those plants. My tank is 2ft long 16in high and 1ft deep. I don’t know ph yet but I have well water. I also have 5 zebra danios and a pearl danio. Will this affect my decisions? As for a light, it’s the topfin 20 gallon starter kit light(and so is everything else. I bought the kit.) I‘ll leave a pic. Thanks for you’re help. I really appreciate it.
P.s. sorry meant this as a reply

 

[mrsjoannh13]

The light is pretty basic so make sure you are getting low light, easy beginner plants. Some of them don't need to be rooted in the soil like Java Fern - you attach to wood or rocks. So the lack of nutrients in the gravel isn't an issue (you'd use a liquid fertilizer if needed). Several anubias plants are also low light and should not be planted (attach to wood or rocks). So there are lots of options out there. I heard a tip somewhere that you should start with buying only one of a certain type of plant and then go for a lot of variety to see what works in your tank since everyone's setup and water vary greatly. So for instance, get one java fern, one anubias nana, some java moss, 1 hornwort, etc etc. One you see what works best for you then get more of that plant.

Also remember to either put your light on a timer or manually turn it on and off each day. I think 6 hours of light a day might be a good place to start. If the lights are on too long you might run into issues with algae.

 

[FFGuest6357]

I have wisteria and ludwigia growing in my 10 gallon. I’m not sure the exact specs of your leds vs my leds, but I can tell you that I have about 1/4 of the diodes you have. My plants are growing, albeit very slow, but they are still growing.

If you really want some easy plants, get familiar with different lighting terminology such as lumens, kelvins, wattage, etc.

also get into researching different type of plants, not all plants in the aquarium are planted into the substrate.

in your research you will likely come across terms like high tech and low tech planted aquariums.

Stay towards the low tech side as they’re often beginner friendly and can tolerate low light conditions, as well as not needing to use things like CO2 injections.

you will definitely want to research fertilizer either in root tabs, or liquid form depending on the plants you choose.

there are tons of discussions on this forum about growing plants in the aquarium, as well as countless other resources on the internet, so you need to do your homework

 

[Caden Fisher]

The light is pretty basic so make sure you are getting low light, easy beginner plants. Some of them don't need to be rooted in the soil like Java Fern - you attach to wood or rocks. So the lack of nutrients in the gravel isn't an issue (you'd use a liquid fertilizer if needed). Several anubias plants are also low light and should not be planted (attach to wood or rocks). So there are lots of options out there. I heard a tip somewhere that you should start with buying only one of a certain type of plant and then go for a lot of variety to see what works in your tank since everyone's setup and water vary greatly. So for instance, get one java fern, one anubias nana, some java moss, 1 hornwort, etc etc. One you see what works best for you then get more of that plant.

Also remember to either put your light on a timer or manually turn it on and off each day. I think 6 hours of light a day might be a good place to start. If the lights are on too long you might run into issues with algae.

I have wisteria and ludwigia growing in my 10 gallon. I’m not sure the exact specs of your leds vs my leds, but I can tell you that I have about 1/4 of the diodes you have. My plants are growing, albeit very slow, but they are still growing.

If you really want some easy plants, get familiar with different lighting terminology such as lumens, kelvins, wattage, etc.

also get into researching different type of plants, not all plants in the aquarium are planted into the substrate.

in your research you will likely come across terms like high tech and low tech planted aquariums.

Stay towards the low tech side as they’re often beginner friendly and can tolerate low light conditions, as well as not needing to use things like CO2 injections.

you will definitely want to research fertilizer either in root tabs, or liquid form depending on the plants you choose.

there are tons of discussions on this forum about growing plants in the aquarium, as well as countless other resources on the internet, so you need to do your homework

Thank you, I will continue to research different plants. I’ve learned a lot already and can’t wait to learn more. I’ll stick to low tech plants. I think I want some kind of anubias or vallisneria. Would bacopa work. Thx

 

[Utar]

If you need liquid fertilizers them please don't waste your money on API Leaf Zone because it does not have the abundant nutrients and trace elements as a more complete liquid fertilizer. There are several really good ones out there, I use Thrive. I use to use Leaf Zone and it wasn't until after I started using Thrive that I saw the difference in my plants.

 

[FFGuest6357]

Bacopa I believe is a broad family of plants. Carolinia is one of the more beginner varieties if I’m not mistaken.

although I have not kept this plant I think it is one that you can “float” until it develops roots, then plant it into the substrate.

 

[FFGuest6357]

If you need liquid fertilizers them please don't waste your money on API Leaf Zone because it does not have the abundant nutrients and trace elements as a more complete liquid fertilizer. There are several really good ones out there, I use Thrive. I use to use Leaf Zone and it wasn't until after I started using Thrive that I saw the difference in my plants.

I am having good success with easy green, or easy grow, whatever it’s called from aquarium co-op. For my particular water parameters, this one is working well.

for my stem plants I’m using seachem root tabs.

 

[Caden Fisher]

If you need liquid fertilizers them please don't waste your money on API Leaf Zone because it does not have the abundant nutrients and trace elements as a more complete liquid fertilizer. There are several really good ones out there, I use Thrive. I use to use Leaf Zone and it wasn't until after I started using Thrive that I saw the difference in my plants.

Thank you

 

[Caden Fisher]

Bacopa I believe is a broad family of plants. Carolinia is one of the more beginner varieties if I’m not mistaken.

although I have not kept this plant I think it is one that you can “float” until it develops roots, then plant it into the substrate.

I am having good success with easy green, or easy grow, whatever it’s called from aquarium co-op. For my particular water parameters, this one is working well.

for my stem plants I’m using seachem root tabs.

I was thinking of Carolinia. I like it’s look and it’s beginner friendly.
I’ll keep all of this in mind. Thx

 

[mcordelia]

I have an unknown type of bacopa in my tank that got sold as "bush plant" lol. it is a low tech tank with no bioload to speak of, and it's finally doing fine. I think my water parameters were very different compared to where it was originally grown, since when I first planted it all the leaves fell off, and it took about two weeks for it to form new leaves. The new leaves are smaller and more bunched together, but the plant now seems to be doing pretty well.

Other things to be prepared for with plants: cryptocoryne plants (multiple varieties) are often also recommended for low tech plants, but they exhibit a phenomenon called "crypt melt" where one or more leaves will simply disintegrate within a few days of planting it. This is normal and the plant will replace the dead leaves with new ones after a week or two. For some reason, my vals also completely melted when I planted them (it was an online order, so I suspect that they got too cold in shipping), but after they lost all their leaves they recovered and now each of them has three new tiny leaves. They are growing veeeeerrrryyyyyy sllooooooowwwwwlllyyyyy.

I am learning that low tech aquarium plants can take a lot of patience if you are anxious for them to "do something" (like grow lol), but they also seem to be hardy because I literally walked away from an uncycled tank (planted in tap water because I hadn't even bothered to buy conditioner!) and apart from the issues described above they're all alive and chugging along. So in my (very limited) experience, low tech plants tend to be "set it and forget it", and I'm totally cool with that! I do use root tabs (seachem flourish tabs) and liquid fertilizer (I use Seachem flourish complete - don't buy flourish excel because it has liquid carbon which can be dangerous to fish).

good luck on your plant journey!!

 

[Caden Fisher]

I have an unknown type of bacopa in my tank that got sold as "bush plant" lol. it is a low tech tank with no bioload to speak of, and it's finally doing fine. I think my water parameters were very different compared to where it was originally grown, since when I first planted it all the leaves fell off, and it took about two weeks for it to form new leaves. The new leaves are smaller and more bunched together, but the plant now seems to be doing pretty well.

Other things to be prepared for with plants: cryptocoryne plants (multiple varieties) are often also recommended for low tech plants, but they exhibit a phenomenon called "crypt melt" where one or more leaves will simply disintegrate within a few days of planting it. This is normal and the plant will replace the dead leaves with new ones after a week or two. For some reason, my vals also completely melted when I planted them (it was an online order, so I suspect that they got too cold in shipping), but after they lost all their leaves they recovered and now each of them has three new tiny leaves. They are growing veeeeerrrryyyyyy sllooooooowwwwwlllyyyyy.

I am learning that low tech aquarium plants can take a lot of patience if you are anxious for them to "do something" (like grow lol), but they also seem to be hardy because I literally walked away from an uncycled tank (planted in tap water because I hadn't even bothered to buy conditioner!) and apart from the issues described above they're all alive and chugging along. So in my (very limited) experience, low tech plants tend to be "set it and forget it", and I'm totally cool with that! I do use root tabs (seachem flourish tabs) and liquid fertilizer (I use Seachem flourish complete - don't buy flourish excel because it has liquid carbon which can be dangerous to fish).

good luck on your plant journey!!

Thank you so much. This is a huge help!!!

 

[eatyourpeas]

If you need liquid fertilizers them please don't waste your money on API Leaf Zone because it does not have the abundant nutrients and trace elements as a more complete liquid fertilizer. There are several really good ones out there, I use Thrive. I use to use Leaf Zone and it wasn't until after I started using Thrive that I saw the difference in my plants.

Agree. API Leaf Zone is very specific for iron deficiencies and as such it works well. It does not have any of the other macro or micro nutrients that plants need.