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I want to start using live plants in my tank. I don't have a clue what to do. Do you plant them in the little containers they are sold in? (i.e. bury the containers in the substrate) or plant them into the substrate?

Does Val grow easily? I love the way it looks with Angelfish and I have a 72g bowfront tank with Angels and would like to experiment with plants.

My tank can offer bright light for the plants.

Thanks!

rasboramary,

One thing is for sure, you take them out of the container and plant them directly in the substrate. If they are in this type of filter wool then remove as much of it as you can without harming the roots too much.

How much is light is your "bright light"?

And what kind of substrate do you have? Is there any fertilizer in it?

Should be enough for the start,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi Mary,
Jungle Val is incredibly easy to grow.
Mine does very well in a normal gravel substrate
with medium light at 1.5 wpg.
It grows about 6-8 inches a week.
It looks fabulous with angels, and they enjoy
swimming through it.


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Indeed, Jungle Val grows very easily. Howver, keep in mind that the ends of the leaves will float, and that after a couple of weeks/months they will cover most of the surface of your tank, blocking light from any other plants you may have. So keep that in mind with your choise of plants.

And if that turns into a problem, Crypt ballansae is a good substitute.

Remove containers and as much rockwool as you can, then plant.

The Amazon Nut...

Do you have to fertilize or "feed" jungle val??

How 'bout CORKSCREW VAL ? Is it as easy as jungle val?

Do you trim the plants when they get too tall?

I forgot to answer: my substrate is small smooth stones (about 1 inch diam.). Would that work with several types of plants including Val?

I have talked to LFS about proper lighting. While I have a standard flourescent bulb now, I plan on purchasing a bulb for high lighting purposes for plants.

You may find that you need to add some ferts to your tank, it depends on how your plants are doing if they are bright green and seem happy then you wont need to do anything. However if they start getting holes and are yellowing then you may need to fert them. The other thing you may want to look into is a co2 system if the tank is small then you can get one of the hagen generators that cost about 30 dollars they work fairly well.

As for your substraight I have grown many plants in small grain gravel, there are really several options but latterite added to you substraight may help the plants grow as it is rich in iron. I have heard of people segragating there planted areas off so that they can keep a differnt type of substraight just for the plants.