Planted tank with sand

[ImBettaThanCool]

I was thinking about planting some Amazon sword in my 6 gal fluval Chi. The thing is though, I have sand for my substrate. And I was wondering:
1. Would the Amazon sword need fertilizers in the sand or would it be able to get its own nutrients from the fish waste.
2. What kind of maintenance is needed? Do I need to vaccum or do just let the waste become plant food?

 

[goatnad]

I was thinking about planting some Amazon sword in my 6 gal fluval Chi. The thing is though, I have sand for my substrate. And I was wondering:
1. Would the Amazon sword need fertilizers in the sand or would it be able to get its own nutrients from the fish waste.
2. What kind of maintenance is needed? Do I need to vaccum or do just let the waste become plant food?

Put some root tabs under it and it will do just fine but with that said most sword plants will get large. I had an amazon sword that was 20" wide and 24" tall. A better.choice I think would be something like java fern or windelov fern. They grow more vertically and typically stay smaller. If you are using sand then most waste is just going to pile up on top so you would need to vacuum.

 

[ImBettaThanCool]

Put some root tabs under it and it will do just fine but with that said most sword plants will get large. I had an amazon sword that was 20" wide and 24" tall. A better.choice I think would be something like java fern or windelov fern. They grow more vertically and typically stay smaller. If you are using sand then most waste is just going to pile up on top so you would need to vacuum.

Ok but the thing is, the tank is 13 inches tall, and there's so much empty space, and I thought my betta might love to swim through some tall ish plants. It doesn't need to be too big. What kind of plants might you suggest.

 

[Fresh2o]

Bacopa caroliniana is a relatively easy stem plant that will grow tall. You could consider valisneria as well.

 

[ImBettaThanCool]

Bacopa caroliniana is a relatively easy stem plant that will grow tall. You could consider valisneria as well.

Cool. I'll definitely look for those plants the next time I go to petsmart. What kind of valisneria would you reccomend?

 

[ImBettaThanCool]

Cool. I'll definitely look for those plants the next time I go to petsmart. What kind of valisneria would you reccomend?

Also, what brand of root tabs should I get?

 

[goatnad]

Bacopa caroliniana is a relatively easy stem plant that will grow tall. You could consider valisneria as well.

Good choices. You could do bacopa monnieri( it will grow tall over time but has smaller leaves than Caroliniana), guppy grass, myrio filigree but I've never tried that one in just sand tank, java fern and mindelov like I said earlier, water wisteria, rotala rotundifolia. Any of these with root tabs should do well.

 

[ImBettaThanCool]

Good choices. You could do bacopa monnieri( it will grow tall over time but has smaller leaves than Caroliniana), guppy grass, myrio filigree but I've never tried that one in just sand tank, java fern and mindelov like I said earlier, water wisteria, rotala rotundifolia. Any of these with root tabs should do well.

I will definitely take a look at these plants. The thing is though, I completely forgot that Java fern grows to be big and bushy. I forgot this because mine has just slowly been growing and they're really spread out. Any ideas on what's happening to my Java ferns or how to speed up growth?

 

[TMaier]

There are 3 types of Java in this tank. It’s hard to see the windlov in the right rear.

 

[ImBettaThanCool]

Wow. Those are nice. I wish my ferns were that big. I will not give up on them though. I'm thinking of tying them to a piece of chill wood

 

[Coursair]

This is my Amazon Sword in my 55g.

You could always start one and then sell it or give it away later.