potted plants

[Phoenixphire55]

Can someone give me some info on potted aquarium plants? Do you have to buy them in their pots or do you have to set up the plant in the pot on your own? What kind of soil do you use? How do you keep it from getting out of the pot and drifting all over your aquarium? I really want plants but I'm not ready for a soil substrate or whatever. It seems so complicated and the idea of dosing chemicals really doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Purrbox]

You can use pots if you want to, but there's no need. The pots that they sometimes come in should be removed since they restrict growth and aren't meant to house the plants long term.

There's also no need to use soil if you don't want to mess with it. Plain old gravel is a perfectly fine substrate as long as it isn't overly large. Ideally you want something 2-3mm in diameter.

As long as you keep to a fairly low light aquarium, you're unlikely to have to dose much in the way of ferts unless it's very lightly stocked and/or very heavily planted. The most you might need is a good trace supplement and some Potassium after water changes.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

Thanks for the info. I've always thought it would look cool to have two rows of potted plants (like 3 or four in each row) in my future goldfish tank. I like the idea of pots because the goldfish wouldn't dig them up, plus I plan to have sand in that tank so idk how well the roots would anchor in the sand. I would want to use nice looking pots, fairly large. Do people do that?

 

[Purrbox]

You could do that. Just pick up some of those inexpensive plastic pots from a gardening center. Fill with a fine gravel or a coarser sand and you'll be set.

 

[happygirl65]

and is a fine substrate btw.....I use it in my planted tanks with great success. A 50 lb bag of pool filter sand costs about $10 add some root tabs every three months and you are set......but with goldies you probably are wise to use pots.