Substrate / Plant Roots

[sparkypenguin]

Hi all,

Looking for some thoughts about an idea I had to help my plants root securely into the substrate.
I have a sand substrate and have read about using nylon mesh etc to help the roots take hold, however I was wondering if anyone has ever used pond filter sponge?
You can buy it in very larger sheets with various mesh size and it's approx. 1" in depth.
I would put a layer on the bottom of the tank and then place the sand on top which would then fill the sponge.
I would keep on adding until I had increased the depth so that the fish would still have a layer that they could burry into.
This would create a complete 3D framework acrosee the bottom of the aquarium into which the roots could grow.
The only downside I can think of would be if I wanted to clean the substrate but my belief is that sand only needs a surface clean anyway, happy to be contradicted on this point

Mark.

 

[StripySnailGirl04]

You may be able to hold plants down with pebbles and string but I've never tried that.

 

[Uberhoust]

Mesh, net like material, in general is a bad idea in an aquarium, eventually some gets exposed and fish could be caught in it. I would recommend rocks, or even the weight strips before I would put any mesh material in the aquarium. The closest to mesh I would use is the filter bag sized material (50 to 100 mesh) but those openings are too small, anything with a larger opening might cause issues later on, and once the plant grows into it you really cannot get rid of it easily.

 

[sparkypenguin]

Thanks for replies.
I'd never thought about the fish getting trapped in nets but once pointed out it's fairly obvious this could happen.
I've uploaded a couple of photos of the type of foam I would be using to see if anyone can think of any negatives....

Mark.

 

[Uberhoust]

That foam would not cause any issues with the fish but not entirely clear on how you would use it.

 

[Back in the fold]

Your sand substrate should be perfectly fine. Sometimes it's tricky getting new plants to stay rooted at first. If it's a plant like a Swordplant or Cryptocoryne with lots of spreading roots you could sprinkle a little aquarium gravel around the base of the plant. If it's a bunch plant like Water Sprite that hasn't rooted yet you could pinch the stem between a couple small rocks and then take them away in a month or so.