Stem plants keep uprooting...

[jcarlilesiu]

I recently re-scaped my tank and have a few different stem plants. Two of the stem plants are giving me problems with up rooting. When the metal halide lights come on, the plants are pearling pretty heavily which then makes the plants very boyant due to the bubbles that form under the leaves.

One by one they come floating up to the surface.

How do I get these boogers to stay down? Every time I try and plant them, the stems get weaker and weaker from being pushed into gravel causing the stem to eventualy break before the roots can form.

The plants are whorly wellichi and water sprite

 

[newfound77951]

try those bendy metal strip plant weights. The trick is putting them on tight enough that the stem can't slip out but not so tight that you crush the stem. Probably will be easier on the water sprite than the wallichii.

 

[timwag2001]

you could use a fishing weight and fishing line to holdem down.

 

[fort384]

With gravel i wouldn't think you would need a weight... how deep is the substrate? If the plants are growing well, and you get them deep enough in they should take root and be fine.

The metal bendy things work for awhile, but like Newf said, you gotta be careful not to crush the stems or you wind up with a rotten mess.