"Planting" Plants

[Alaris]

I'm having difficulty "planting" the plants in my tank. I bought some bacopa and anubias nana yesterday. I have 1" or less of sand as my substrate. I have to weigh down the stems with river rocks to keep them from floating. Any little brush of my hand sends them to the top of the tank. How do I keep these guys down? Is my sand too shallow? Will they grow roots and stay? Will the fish be able to knock them around?

My nanas have had no problems staying in the sand and I don't have to weigh them down. But they have far more roots than the stem plants.

Also when I mess around in my tank trying to arrange the plants or keep them down, it stirs up a bunch of sand and I wonder if this is ok for fish? I don't have fish yet, but would it be ok to mess with the plants while fish are in the tank?

Another question, when messing with the plants a lot of plant debris came off of them and is laying on top my sand and floating in the tank. Do I need to remove this or will it break down or will it get sucked into the filter?

 

[jrp1588]

You need more sand. 2 inches works, 3 is better. The free sand shouldn't hurt the fish, but can be hard on a filter. And you can suck up that debris with a gravel vac. Just hover the inlet over the sand.

 

[Purrbox]

More sand would definately be advisable, at least towards the back of the aquarium. It will make it much easier to plant your plants. Something else that helps is to put the stems into the substrate at an angle instead of straight down. The weight of the substrate will do a better job of holding them in place until the roots start taking hold.

Go ahead and remove any dead or dying leaves. You don't want them to pollute the aquarium.