I got PLANTS! Now what?

[Fishyfanatic]

I'll try to look for a piece of glass that would fit it, but I'll probably have to have it cut down to fit the hex. Then try to figure out how to keep it from falling in the tank. 8O Not trying to sound difficult, it's just a weird kind of tank.

 

[hashbaz]

Crypts are heavy root feeders. You might want root fertilizer tabs. What substrates do you have?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The 10 gal has a sand substrate, pool filter sand to be exact. The 5 gal has a very lightweight gravel.

 

[hashbaz]

I would definitely get root ferts for the crypts. The anubias wont need them at all.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

You say root ferts, would that be one of these?

Seachem Flourish Tabs, Seachem Flourish Nitrogen, Seachem Flourish Excel, or Seachem Plant Fundamentals-3 Pac

 

[Toirtis]

They will help with the crypts, but are not a necessity for most people (my crypts grow fine and propogate without them).....the Flourish tabs.

 

[greenmaji]

Fishyfanatic...There should be a lip around the edge of the hex to except a piece of
glass.. If I could tell you you could grind the edges of the glass without much problem,
I would say cutting the glass isnt that hard..LOL.

 

[FMJnaX]

Alternative to glass would be some plexy/acrylic/lexan. You can get an ultra thin piece for a pretty cheap price. If it's small enough, some places will even give you their scraps for free/dirt cheap. You can cut this stuff to any shape without much effort. A nice scorer and a break down the middle is all it takes.

If you don't have a lip on your tank/hood, then you can secure it by attaching two (or more, your call) small strips of scrap acrylic so that it hangs over the tank. There are plenty of products that will join the stuff forever. Small screws would even work.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I talked to James last night and he said that he would find me something. HA. I don't know what, but he said he would take care of it for me.

Regarding the other products that I have, will I ever even need those?

 

[hashbaz]

With the plants you have, the only that might help is some sort of tab that you put under the substrate, any other fertilizers would be useless. But, apparently, these root tabs are not even necessary. (thanks for the heads up, Toirtis)

 

[Fishyfanatic]

That sucks. So basically I have all these chemicals that are useless? I take it though that they are used with some plants? Any low lights?

 

[Guest]

I just wanted to say, that i only add the liquid "Plant Gro" from nutrafin and they do really well, i have had live plants for 3 months in my 55 gallon with noticable growth. I just added a small DIY CO2 reactor that has helped a little, but i really don't want my plants to grow out of control, i just want htem to stay healthy you know. I don't want to have to constantly trim them, i like the slow even growth.

 

[czcz]

The beauty of low light is its not hard to starve algae. Using excel will likely make you very successful. If any plants show nutrient deficiency you'll be prepared, but likely you wont need to add anything.

 

[hashbaz]

They will be very useful WHEN you upgrade to more lights, better substrate etc. Now that you have started down the planted path, it is only a matter of time before your want more!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Later on when I'm adding plants to the 55 gal, I will be using better lights. But I just bought a new light strip for my 150 gal last week so it's not really the time to upgrade the 55 also.

So I should or shouldn't add the tab to the crypts? And how do you do that?

*I'm sorry for all the idiotic questions, it's just that this is all so new to me. The plants have been in bags of water for 2 days, and they still look great*

 

[malkore]

I like root tabs under my crypts, especially when transplanting, it helps decrease crypt melt.

All plants can take in ferts from the water column.

Don't get too thin of plexiglass for a cover...plexi will warp easily under normal fluorescent lighting from the heat...so the thicker the plexi the better.

 

[czcz]

Even comic book protector lexan did better for me than 1/4" plexi as a hood, fwiw. HD now sells nice, thick pieces of lexan in the window department -- at least, the two local to me do.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

So for the compact flourescent, I'll probably need a pretty thick piece of plexi?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The plants are FINALLY planted. There are 3 in the 10 gal and 1 in the 5 gal. They are pretty small in size.

I don't know if I did a bad thing or the right thing. So please, help. The plants were potted and had a cottony type thing covreing the roots. I was told to take them out of the pots before planting. I remember seeing some un-planted plants at the lfs and they didnt have that cottony stuff on the roots. So I gently pulled off the cotton stuff. I didn't lose any of the roots, just the cotton. Then I put a tab under each Crypt root and buried the roots with sand.

Now that they are planted, what do I need to watch for? Meaning, do I need to be putting something in the tank every day or once a week? Or just let them grow and not touch them with anything else unless something goes wrong?

 

[Toirtis]

I don't know if I did a bad thing or the right thing. So I gently pulled off the cotton stuff. I didn't lose any of the roots, just the cotton. Then I put a tab under each Crypt root and buried the roots with sand.

Right thing.

Now that they are planted, what do I need to watch for? Meaning, do I need to be putting something in the tank every day or once a week? Or just let them grow and not touch them with anything else unless something goes wrong?

Just let them be unless something appears seriously wrong.