Quick Plant Question

[Eleven13]

Alright great that sounds good, I'm sort of using this tank as a learning experience anyways because I know that once I move home I'm going to end up upgrading anyways

And one more thing before I order, I currently have no decorations in the tank because I'd like to use some real stones/driftwood. Should I wait and order the driftwood first (probably Mopani or Malaysian driftwood) so that I can attach some plants to it like the java fern, or will they all do alright if I plant them directly in the substrate? Could I always attach them after the fact if I planted them and then received the driftwood (after boiling/soaking, etc?)

Thanks

 

[FishFanatic04]

Java fern and anubis do better out of the substrate from what I understand...I had my anubis lightly planted in gravel for 3 weeks while I waited for my wood to get here and it was fine...Maybe don't bury it too deeply and try to keep the rhizome free.


Edit:Typos

 

[Eleven13]

Okay that sounds good, thanks FishFanatic, I just ordered the wood which should be here maybe at the end of the week, and I'll probably order the plants tonight or tomorrow so they'll get here around Thursday/Friday which would mean they'd only be planted for a short amount of time

 

[Eleven13]

Hey again guys,

So I just received my 2 small pieces of Mopani and Malaysian driftwood from Drs Foster and Smith online. It says on the tags to boil the pieces of wood, but I remember reading on here a few days ago that boiling makes things worse, so you should just soak the wood instead? Should I boil it like the directions say, or should I just soak it in warm water?

And just a side question, the nitrite in my tank is very high right now (I expect it's just about at the peak of nitrite in terms of the cycle), should I wait on getting the plants until the nitrite levels drop off, or is it fine to add them in soon?

Thanks

 

[FishFanatic04]

Just soak it. boiling could make it rot faster.

If you don't mind the look of tannins then the mopani doesn't have to soak That long. I did mine about a week. My water turns a lovely light tea color, and my weekly water changes clear it up again. I like the look of it over the week. It's not for everyone though.

 

[Eleven13]

Okay thanks FishFanatic, I searched around and a few suggested boiling not for the tannins but to "clean" the wood of potential bacteria and/or things living within it, but I'm guessing the wood I bought is clean and that is only a concern for naturally found wood?

 

[FishFanatic04]

You could always pour boiling water over the wood, if that's your worry, instead of actually boiling it in a pot. Thats what I do when I bring home rocks.

 

[NathanPrince]

As said, pour boiling water over it, scrub it with an old toothbrush or similar then put it in. Should be fine, always done this with Wood and rocks and not had a problem. Could leave it soaking for a day or 2 if you really wanted though, wouldn't do much harm.

 

[Eleven13]

Sorry I forgot to reply guys, I did what you said with the wood and it is now in my tank and it looks great! I actually do like the tint it gives the water, it's a nice natural look. I also bought new 5000K light at my LFS for my tank, it's only 15 watts, so I only have 1.5 watts per gallon, but it's a least a better spectrum than I had previously on the stock light (and now I know for sure how many watts/gallon I have, because I searched everywhere and couldn't find the specs on the standard light).

My plant shipment came today so I'm going to plant everything once I get home from work tonight! I'm still thinking about how I want to arrange the wood and the plants, it seems like there are so many possibilities even though it's only 10 gallons

I'm still deciding whether or not I'm going to tie the java fern and anubias to the driftwood or not, or whether I'm just going to plant them all in the substrate.

And as for rocks, I'd like to get some nice smooth stones for decoration, but should I try to buy them from somewhere, or can I just boil stones I come across hiking and use them? If I go looking for them on hikes and what not, should I look for ones near/submerged in water, or are any fair game?

Thanks!!

 

[FishFanatic04]

No boiling rocks!!! They could have air pockets that can make the rock explode. I boil water and then take if off the burner, and submerge the rocks....then after soaking a few mins and just scrub 'em up. I found my favorite few rocks in a parking lot. Which I don't recommend. The hiking is defiantly the better route lol. There are alot of rocks that are safe to use, and others which leach calcium and other things. You could pour or dip them in vinegar and if they fizz you know not to use them.

Heres a thread about rocks...it was useful for me, but I still had to do some guesswork on the rocks I found.

 

[Eleven13]

Thanks for the tips and the link FishFanatic! That vinegar trick is really cool, I didn't know you could do that.

I finished planting the tank yesterday, it took a few hours and was much more tedious than I thought, but overall I think (hope ) it went well, I'll post pictures later tonight.

The stem bunch plants were tricky (my Anacharis and Hygrophilia), I pulled a few leaves off the nodes like the instructions said near the bottom and planted them 2 to 3-ish nodes deep, but the Hygrophilia was very tall so in order to get them that deep I had to insert the stem into the substrate at an angle at times, I hope that isn't an issue. The Anacharis was much easier because the nodes were less spaced out and so they just went in vertical. I just hope I didn't damage the stems of the Hygrophilia

The java fern I tied to my driftwood using string which was fairly easy, I just used 3 pieces and gently tightened them around the rhizome and it stayed great.

The Anubias was a little more tricky.....it came potted so I managed to get all of the rock wool off of it, and it was heavily rooted (like the amazon sword in the pictures on the first page) so I tied the base of the plant to the side of my driftwood, but the roots were so long that I part buried it in the substrate as well, I hope that is alright. It seemed like I could have just planted the whole thing, but I read that they should be attached so that's why I chose to attach it.

The micro swords were also tricky because the roots were very embedded in the rock wool and I was afraid of damaging the plant, so I got probably 80% of the rock wool off, but the stuff that was very close to the base of the plant I just left because I didn't want to rip the roots off so I just planted it.

It looks pretty nice right now, I just hope it stays that way and everything roots and does well! I think I'm going to invest in some root tabs (because stem plants like those....right?) and I have the Nutra-fin Plant Grow micro nutrient supplement that I'll use weekly as well.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Glad I helped. Good luck with your plants! I bet the anubis will be fine, out of all my plants for far that one is so tough! I just lost most of my anacharis which was too bad...it's a very petty plant, but everything else is growing good so it just didn't like my tank.

Can't wait see!

 

[Eleven13]

Thanks FishFanatic! Sorry to hear about your anacharis, what are the signs of it declining? Does it wilt or turn a different color?

Here are some pictures, they aren't the best quality again because I'm still using my computer camera, I really need to invest in a real one

 

[FishFanatic04]

Awesome! Totally trasnformed from when you started. Basically the anacharis just went transparent and then went brown...I was still figuring things out with ferts since I had new lights. Yours will probably do better. I think lower tech tanks are actually easier...no carbon, or major fertilizer worries.

 

[Eleven13]

Thanks!

It didn't come out exactly how I drew it up because my tank is actually a lot smaller than my mind made it out to be I feel like it went well for my first time though, and I noticed that the plants all perked up a lot since I planted them which means they're at least responding well to the lighting and stuff.

I think that besides weekly supplementation with my Nutrafin Plant Gro, and possibly root tabs, that's as far as I'm going to go in that regard unless problems start to arise and I need something else.

The anacharis is still a little dark though, I'm hoping that it'll get brighter green in color in time but to be honest as long as i lives I'm fine with that!