Changing Initial Planting

[melh1979]

Hi - we've had our first planted tank set up since August with lots of fast growing plants (H polysperma, R rotaundifolia, Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Limnophila sessiliflora, Ceratopteris thalictroides, some Bacopa and Cabomba, along with Crypts, Amazon swords and Java moss). This has mainly worked to prevent the algae - just had some BGA and brown algae. We want to start swapping these with some different plants (not sure which ones yet though!) now the tank has been going for a few months.

I was just wondering how best to go about it. We have Tropica substrate with gravel and sand on top - in the instructions it says to cut the plant at the base rather than pull it out to prevent the substrate coming to the surface and that the roots will rot and provide nutrients for the new plants. Does this sound right as I've heard conflicting advice saying to take the whole plant out as the rotting roots is a bad thing? Also if they are just cut down will they not grow again?

Is it best to do it in stages or all in one go? We aren't going to replace the whole lot - we'll keep one of the Swords, the Crypts, Hydrocotyle, and probably the Rotala and Limnophila.

Thanks!

 

[SuperColey1]

Rotting roots are no problem as the plant you put in above it will use the nutrient from it.

My only concern is that when you trim a stem at the base you tend to spot the plant you thought you had got rid of a few weeks later when is magically regrows from a tiny piece that was left!!!

If it were me I would spend the next week or so planning your tank out how you wnt it to finally look and then little by little do the swaps.

i.e. buy a couple of plants at a time and remove the unwanted from the area you are putting the new. Over the space of a few weeks you can replace the whole setup and it will let you gradually take in what is happening r.e. algae problems rather than swap the lot then have to bin all the new due to algae!!!

Also as the plants grow you may want to alter your final plants slightly due to plant 'not behaving' and growing a different way which can put your initial plan up the swanny.

Andy

 

[lljdma06]

Rotting roots are no problem as the plant you put in above it will use the nutrient from it.

My only concern is that when you trim a stem at the base you tend to spot the plant you thought you had got rid of a few weeks later when is magically regrows from a tiny piece that was left!!!

My sentiments exactly. I've grown entire crops of R. rotundifolia from one silly floating leaf. Some stemplants are tenacious. To add to SuperColey's good information about rotting roots, it can cause problems if there isn't a sufficient plantload to absorb the nutrients caused by the rotting roots. When you swap out, I'd replace the heavily rooted areas that you are leaving with a plant that is a heavy root feeder as it will draw its nutrients primarily from the substrate rather than from the water column. I'd also watch your water parameters and be prepared to perform extra water changes to compensate for any ammonia build up.

llj

 

[melh1979]

Thanks for the advice! How is the best way to remove an Amazon Sword which is likely to have big roots - can you cut it in the same way? We will try and do it stages so hopefully it will be okay. Now we just have to decide which plants we want - not very easy as I'm not very good at design and imagining what it will look like when the plants have grown is tricky!

Just one more question - we were thinking of buying some plants online, how long can they be kept before planting in the tank? Can you keep them in a bucket of water or floating in the tank for a period of time before planting. Just thinking as if we had some delivered during the week we might want to wait till the weekend to plant them?

 

[SuperColey1]

In answer to your question on Amazon Swords.

With any plant that has huge root mass, just pulling it out will mean releasing a huge amount of ammonia into the water (probably not enough to affect the fish but more than enough to give algae a huge boost.) It also will mix any substrate up

Therefore what I do with large roots is pull them gently upward half an inch at a time and then let the roots go slack letting the substrate fill back in and then pull another half an inch etc until you have the whole root system out. If the plant has been there along time you will be amazed to see 1ft+ of roots there!!!!

I wouldn't leave this mount of root in the substrate as it is easy enough to remove it. Do a 30-60% water change straight after to limit the amount of ammonia in the water.

As for plants, the best idea is either to let them float, or sink dependent on what they are as it will only be a few days. If they go into a bucket then consider this:

First they were in perfect plant only conditions at a nursery, then they were packed and out of water (although in moist conditions) during posting, then they were in water in a bucket with only a little light, suddenly they are in your tank with high light and ferts etc.

Just putting them in your tank rather than a bucket will mean that at least you cut one of the steps of them having to adapt to different conditions out and also give them a couple of extra days adapting to your tank conditions.

With a planted tank I always make sure that everything else is in place first i.e. the substrate and any other items are in my house and then order the plants so that the day the plants arrive I can do the whole change in one.

It takes me 4-6 hours to take out the old plants, take out the fish, take out the substrate, clean the tank, add the new substrate, add the plants and decos replace the fish etc.

Maybe time consuming but in the long run it is worth it.

Andy

 

[melh1979]

Thanks for the reply Andy.

We're not planning a total change just to swap out some of the fast growing plants. Now comes the hard bit - deciding which plants we want!!