Keeping Leftover Plants

[PADogman]

I ordered some plants online and between liking the overall look of my tank currently (lots of rocks), and reviewing my order, I'm betting I have more than a few plants leftover after planting things.

What do I need to keep them alive until I start on my next tank?
Do I need substrate? Can I just place them in water and treat the water with a plant food/fertilizer and run a light over it? Leave them wrapped up in the wool or take that off? Will a bucket suffice? Air stone?

I didn't notice a dedicated thread to this, but I'm sure it must have happened to some of you.

 

[Byron]

You want to keep them submersed, so in a spare tank or similar container. I would not remove them from the "pots" until ready to plant in the display tank, this avoids excess disturbance of the roots. Overhead light is critical if the time they are in this temporary "tank" is more than a few days. You do not need a substrate, though you may have to weigh them down (stem plants not in pots, etc). A heater depends upon how warm the tank water will be; this will (without a heater) be the air temperature of the room. I would use a comprehensive liquid fertilizer.

I run a permanent quarantine tank for new fish, and it is planted. It can sit for months without fish in it. The plants remain alive because the tank light is on normally (timed with the other tanks), and I have a heater (winter can get cold). I use Flourish Comprehensive Supplement but any equally-complete liquid fertilizer will do, to provide some nutrients. Once fish are in the tank, it is very obvious that the plants improve (the plentiful nitrogen as ammonia/ammonium) but they tend to remain alive during the fishless periods.

 

[PADogman]

Good info, @Byron
So basically it's like setting up another tank minus the substrate, but I can leave the plants bundled as they came.

The local shop should be able to outfit me when I see how many I have left over.

 

[Sgooosh]

I ordered some plants online and between liking the overall look of my tank currently (lots of rocks), and reviewing my order, I'm betting I have more than a few plants leftover after planting things.

What do I need to keep them alive until I start on my next tank?
Do I need substrate? Can I just place them in water and treat the water with a plant food/fertilizer and run a light over it? Leave them wrapped up in the wool or take that off? Will a bucket suffice? Air stone?

I didn't notice a dedicated thread to this, but I'm sure it must have happened to some of you.

Give em to meeeee!!
Just kidding

I kept mine alive over a few months when my first tank crashed.
I just put them in a glass bowl in a sunny location and they kind of stayed there, i water changed 1,2 days

 

[PADogman]

Give em to meeeee!!
Just kidding

I kept mine alive over a few months when my first tank crashed.
I just put them in a glass bowl in a sunny location and they kind of stayed there, i water changed 1,2 days

Thanks for the reply.
I was thinking of setting them in a sunny spot, too. But I also have a light. And a heater if need be.
Complete water change?

 

[Sgooosh]

Thanks for the reply.
I was thinking of setting them in a sunny spot, too. But I also have a light. And a heater if need be.
Complete water change?

That’s what I did. Reverse osmosis water.
But mine were all slow growers. What are your plants?

 

[PADogman]

That’s what I did. Reverse osmosis water.
But mine were all slow growers. What are your plants?

Beats me

I ordered a few I wanted, but the majority all I know is it's supposed to be comprised of foreground, midground and background.

 

[Sgooosh]

Beats me

I ordered a few I wanted, but the majority all I know is it's supposed to be comprised of foreground, midground and background.

View attachment 140820

The pennywort(hydrocoytle) néeds ferts. A lot of those are also grown emerged such as penny wort and hair grass…
Have a shallow hospital tank?
You could put em in there

 

[PADogman]

The pennywort(hydrocoytle) néeds ferts. A lot of those are also grown emerged such as penny wort and hair grass…
Have a shallow hospital tank?
You could put em in there

Just the one tank I am setting up, hence the plant order and not knowing what I am doing, lol.

I don't really want to set up an aquarium just for plants, nor do I have one handy. I've got buckets...
But I wouldn't mind buying a cheap tank if that makes things easier and better to sustain these plants. Down the road it could become a quarantine tank.

If I put too much thought into it I can see me starting over on another aquarium and simply adding the plants to it in an aquascape, but I'm trying my best to avoid that. I'd just as soon keep them alive for a month or two until I get the first tank established. And that will give me direction for the second tank.

 

[Byron]

Two or three thoughts on this...

Monetarily, if the cost to replace the "spare" plants is equal or more than the cost of a basic 5g (or 10g) tank, without any of the equipment (which you said you already had?), it would be worth it to get the tank.

Second thought, you could keep these plants sitting in the present tank until the other is ready. They are not likely to outgrow the space in a couple months. The dwarf hairgrass is not an easy plant, and I would be concerned that it will die without sufficient light/nutrients. Pennywort is a stem plant, and stuck in a corner it can grow to its heat's content in the pot/bunch.

And light...good overhead light is important. Do not rely on sunlight, it is so variable it can cause algae issues, and that alone could destroy the plants. Youi cannot get problem alga off delicate plant leaves.

 

[PADogman]

Thanks, @Byron
If I have less than have left over it would be well worth getting a 10gal framed tank.
And then I'll have another tank when they are all used up

 

[PADogman]

Well... Like I just mentioned in another thread, I went ahead and ordered a different filter for my current tank. Something I can run charcoal in. Maybe it will be my starter filter on all my new tanks if I have a problem getting the water cleared up because of a yellow hue. But I don't intend to make that mistake again.

So tomorrow I am aquarium hunting again locally. It will be to house the plants I know I'll have left over, and for a future build. Something a little smaller than my 27g, but only because it will be going on another cabinet in my living room and I found the 27g was just a bit too heavy. It caused the drawer below it to stick a little.
Something like a 20 high would be great to find.

I appreciate the feedback and bouncing things off y'all.
Not having much of a green thumb, I was thinking I could house them in a bucket with a light over it, but I've seen THE LIGHT!

 

[PADogman]

Going to pick up a 20g high tank here shortly. That should be plenty big for a second tank.
I'll get to play with scaping a different size tank (other than a cube) and my plants should be able to thrive if I do my part. I'll pick up some plant nutrients, too.

 

[PADogman]

The water is getting really cloudy. And its only been 36 hours or so.
Are you'all sure don't need an airstone or filtration?

 

[Byron]

The water is getting really cloudy. And its only been 36 hours or so.
Are you'all sure don't need an airstone or filtration?

I assume this is in the plant-only tank, the one with the extra plants but no fish. A whitish cloudiness is most likely a bacterial bloom. Common in new tank setups. The bacteria that reproduce rapidly in the water thus making it hazy or cloudy are those that eat organics. There are a lot of organics in tap water, microscopic so you don't see it. When you add conditioner to dechlorinate, you open the door for the waste-control bacteria and they multiply.