do plants need real dirt?

[dragon14]

silly question... do real plants in a tank need real dirt?

what plants are best for low maintenance and don't need much care? our tank is having some major algea problems ( I think it is brown algea) we thought this might help, plus we want some real plants anyway.

It's a 10g tank. 8 Pygmy catfish, 1 male guppy, and 4 Amano shrimp.

thanks in advance

 

[FWFishTanks]

Plants don't need dirt, they benefit from the nutrients in the dirt. However, you can use root tabs with the same effect. Some easy plants are hornwort, anarcharis, and java moss.

 

[Rpeinhardt]

Short answer: No, but they will absolutely do better if you DO use those substrates because they are nutrient rich.

But (longer answer):

Some plants (eg anubias) like to cling to rocks rather than be planted in the substrate (if you tie them to a rock and then bury that rock you can have it both ways).

If you fertilize, you can grow plants just fine in sand. However, some sand can leech silicate into the water column which will cause diatoms to overrun your tank.

The key to growing plants is balancing nutrients and lighting. Soil just makes supplying the former a lot easier.

 

[ImACoolguy]

When I have brown algae problems I found it was because I had the LED on too long and a little over feeding. How long do you keep the light on for each day?


Caleb

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[smilemadeofsun]

Yup, coolguy beat me to it. Usually brown algea means that the tank is getting too much light. Make sure to limit the amount of time you have the LED on for, and also make sure to limit the amount of secondary light hitting your tank if it's by a window or a sliding glass door or something. That should help!

 

[Coursair]

My lights are on timers for 6-8 hours a day.

I use sand and root tabs.

Liquid ferts 1x weekly






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[dragon14]

Thanks guys!


We have black sand. It is Super Naturals brand I believe. We did a good scrub with a sponge on a stick, and a 6.5 g water change and a good vac (tank needed it bad anyway). Water is super oxygenated now.


We def want some plants at some point. Also a moss ball or two for our cute shrimps!


We have the light on anywhere from 2-6 hrs a day. It does get some natural light, sometimes direct, sometimes indirect. We probably feed them too much at once too... the food gets a little fuzzy after a day. Hard to tell when they are gonna eat up with bottom feeders.


Our female bettas tank is getting algea too though, and she doesn't even have a light at the moment. Just indirect light. ::sigh::

 

[dragon14]

Are root tabs shrimp safe?

 

[ImACoolguy]

Are root tabs shrimp safe?

Just make sure to bury them deep.


Caleb

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[dragon14]

Thanks

 

[ImACoolguy]

Thanks

If not buried deep enough, they might leach ammonia a little. DIY root tabs especially. Just make sure they are deep in there and ur good ?


Caleb

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[Toad]

Yeah if you still have left over after a day then your feeding way too much. With my bottom feeders I throw enough wafers in that I know between the whole tank eating them (guppies, khuli's, plecos and snails) will be gone within an hour tops.


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