Hey everyone. I just had a question about the substrate for plants. I'm a big noob when it comes to plants. I've never owned or done much research on them. I just wanted to know if plants have to have some kind of bottom soil or if I could just plant them in sand. I just got my tank all set up and cycled so if I do need soil under my sand for the plants it probably won't happen any time soon. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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Substrate
- Thread starter pvtHouse
- Start date
There are various options for substrate. You can put some plant friendly substrate underneath and have a gravel or sand substrate on top or just use a plant substrate like this https
/fishkeeper.co.uk/product/colombo-flora-grow-base-10-litres
/fishkeeper.co.uk/product/colombo-flora-grow-base-10-litres
There are many options for substrate, but to answer your question, plants do not need any soil nor any other special substrate; they will grow just fine in sand or fine gravel. I have had planted tanks for 20 years using play sand, fine gravel, pea gravel and an experiment with so-called enriched substrates for plants. The latter made no difference, but did cause other problems. Your sand will be fine.
Plants do need nutrients, and these can be added to the water (liquid fertilizer), or directly to the substrate (fertilizer tabs), depending upon the plant species and your fish load. Lighting is very important.
Byron.
Plants do need nutrients, and these can be added to the water (liquid fertilizer), or directly to the substrate (fertilizer tabs), depending upon the plant species and your fish load. Lighting is very important.
Byron.
pvtHouse said:
As you mentioned being what you term a plant noob in post #1, I will just say that I might be able to offer suggestions to avoid any issues, if you can let me know the plants/intended plants, your lighting, and the sort of planted tank you envisage. Each plant species has specific requirements when it comes to light and nutrients, and staying with plants suited to what you want to provide will guarantee success. And this will be more rewarding for you.
Edit: I have to leave the house and will get back to this tomorrow, if you respond. B.
Wow thanks! That would be great. The only think I know I want right now is some Java moss to put on my driftwood. Haven't done much looking besides that but when I find some that I would like to get I will let you know.
I just did some looking and found some that look nice and sound like easy beginer plants. I was thinking Java moss, Amazon sword and some dwarf sag. I'll get some pics and information on my lighting asap.
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http/s1075.photobucket.com/user/seanhuisman1998/embed/slideshow/Mobile%20Uploads"></iframe>
It's a 45" led. A lot of bulbs. Has a sunlight and a moonlight setting. It's on a timer. The moonlight runs for an hour Before the sunlight turnes on and an hour after it turnes off and the sunlight runs for 7 hours a day. It's a $250 light so I hope plants will be happy under it.
/s1075.photobucket.com/user/seanhuisman1998/embed/slideshow/Mobile%20Uploads"></iframe>It's a 45" led. A lot of bulbs. Has a sunlight and a moonlight setting. It's on a timer. The moonlight runs for an hour Before the sunlight turnes on and an hour after it turnes off and the sunlight runs for 7 hours a day. It's a $250 light so I hope plants will be happy under it.
For plant lights you want to pay attention to how bright the light is (lumen, lux, par rattings). It you don't pay attention to this your plants may not grow well and or your light could cause algae issues. Plants are classified by how much light they need (low, medium, bright). If you but plants that need a bright light source and you have a low light your going to have problems getting the plants to grow. However if you put in a very bright light algae might be more difficult to control. Having a lamp of adjustable brightness, with low light plants would probably work better for a starter. The links below might be helpful in selecting a lamp. A high cost light is no guaranty of success with plants.
http
/fotohobbist.com/blog/aquarium-lighting-for-planted-aquariums/#more-136http
/www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/300490-how-calculate-your-tank-lighting-lsi.html
Far_King said:
I'll respond to this question before turning to the OP. The main issue was the sharpness and the substrate fish. I used Seachem's black Flourite; I went with this because I had been warned off the near-identical Eco-Complete due to sharpness with corys and similar fish, and in my hand I thought the Flurite was OK compared to the EC. Wrong. Within a few weeks, the corys in this tank lost barbels, had bloody mouths, and one even lost a part of it mouth. I had had these corys for some time over fine gravel, so it seemed pretty obvious the issue was the Flourite. I removed the seven corys to a tank with play sand, and they all survived, and I still have them, now some four years later--though the one missing part of its mouth still is and looks rather comical, but it obviously manages fine--and all of them healed nicely, a couple even regrowing barbels.
The other issue is that this substrate made no noticeable difference to the plants. This was my 70g tank, which had been running for a couple years with the fine gravel. I tore it down and used Flourite, and I had assumed that I would no longer require substrate fertilizer tabs, but I had to use both these and the liquid fertilizer just the same as in plain gravel or sand tanks (and many of the same plant species in these tanks, under the same lighting). It was running for just over two years before I decided it was not benefiting the plants, plus I couldn't keep substrate fish in this tank, and the black was more grey under the lighting and every speck of detritus stood out, so I tore it down and replaced the Flourite with play sand. Now almost three years after that, it is still thriving and the plants are just as good as they were during the two years with Flourite.
Given the expense of these special substrates--the Flourite set me back $180 compared to $12 for the replacement play sand--and the lack of any benefit, I would not waste my money on them.
Byron.
Now to the OP.
Moss is relatively-speaking a slow-growing plant, and such plants have a lower light requirement and lower nutrient requirement (light and nutrients go together and need to be in balance for the specific plant species). So mosses tend to do fine in most situations, though I have had issues with them under bright light but this is easily solved with floating plants.
The Amazon sword (provided it is the green leaf more common species, as opposed to the red leaf variants) is moderate light, and the dwarf Sagittaria the same. I have both. I have found the Sag to be very slow growing, and a better alternative may be the dwarf chain sword, which looks near-identical. This plant I find grows like a weed in almost any situation.
Here we come to the all-important lighting. I have near-zero experience with LED, so I am not going to say much but leave this for those members who have the experience. StevenF has started you off on this aspect. I will only second that the intensity is important and also the spectrum (the colours emitted by the light) because these both are what drive photosynthesis, which is how plants grow. I would want to see the technical data on the light before I even venture to suggest yay or nay...but one thing to keep in mind is that with LED I have found that manufacturers sometimes say "bright" when it is anything but bright.
I am still using regular T8 fluorescent lighting over my tanks (two of the smaller have screw-in CFL bulbs) simply because I understand this and have used it for over 20 years. But LED can work just fine, provided it is good plant lighting.
Byron.
Moss is relatively-speaking a slow-growing plant, and such plants have a lower light requirement and lower nutrient requirement (light and nutrients go together and need to be in balance for the specific plant species). So mosses tend to do fine in most situations, though I have had issues with them under bright light but this is easily solved with floating plants.
The Amazon sword (provided it is the green leaf more common species, as opposed to the red leaf variants) is moderate light, and the dwarf Sagittaria the same. I have both. I have found the Sag to be very slow growing, and a better alternative may be the dwarf chain sword, which looks near-identical. This plant I find grows like a weed in almost any situation.
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http
It's a 45" led. A lot of bulbs. Has a sunlight and a moonlight setting. It's on a timer. The moonlight runs for an hour Before the sunlight turnes on and an hour after it turnes off and the sunlight runs for 7 hours a day. It's a $250 light so I hope plants will be happy under it.
Here we come to the all-important lighting. I have near-zero experience with LED, so I am not going to say much but leave this for those members who have the experience. StevenF has started you off on this aspect. I will only second that the intensity is important and also the spectrum (the colours emitted by the light) because these both are what drive photosynthesis, which is how plants grow. I would want to see the technical data on the light before I even venture to suggest yay or nay...but one thing to keep in mind is that with LED I have found that manufacturers sometimes say "bright" when it is anything but bright.
I am still using regular T8 fluorescent lighting over my tanks (two of the smaller have screw-in CFL bulbs) simply because I understand this and have used it for over 20 years. But LED can work just fine, provided it is good plant lighting.
Byron.
Thanks for those. They were very helpfully. I'll get started trying to figure all this out now.StevenF said:
For plant lights you want to pay attention to how bright the light is (lumen, lux, par rattings). It you don't pay attention to this your plants may not grow well and or your light could cause algae issues. Plants are classified by how much light they need (low, medium, bright). If you but plants that need a bright light source and you have a low light your going to have problems getting the plants to grow. However if you put in a very bright light algae might be more difficult to control. Having a lamp of adjustable brightness, with low light plants would probably work better for a starter. The links below might be helpful in selecting a lamp. A high cost light is no guaranty of success with plants.
http
http
http/www.fluvalaquatics.com/us/product/A3992-fresh-plant-20-full-spectrum-performance-led/
So I believe this is my light. Being at 4,250 lumins and my tank an area of about 700" so that's about 6 LSI. So very very low. So I'll probably need a new light. Any suggestions? Lol
My tank is 4 Feet long
/www.fluvalaquatics.com/us/product/A3992-fresh-plant-20-full-spectrum-performance-led/So I believe this is my light. Being at 4,250 lumins and my tank an area of about 700" so that's about 6 LSI. So very very low. So I'll probably need a new light. Any suggestions? Lol
My tank is 4 Feet long
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