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Hi everybody,

I want to add some live plants to my aquarium and I want some suggestions. My aquarium has sand on the bottom (no substrate) and low light. I don't want to create a super planted aquarium, but I'd like a few live plants that don't need to have their roots buried (they can't be buried in the sand as far as I know) and don't require much light. The size of the aquarium is 100cm lenght x30cm width x45cm height (135 litres capacity).Do you have any suggestions please?

Thanks in advance,

Nikos

how deep is the sand on the bottom? got any rocks or driftwood ? will your fish eat live plants? how much lighting do you have?

Some plants can live in sand. might need some malaysian trumpet snails to keep the sand from compacting or you yourself will have to sift the sand once in a while. the problem with sand is it compacts and crushes the roots so prevent that and some will be fine in sand.

there are also plants that can be rooted to objects like driftwood or other decor and perfer not being buried at all. Javafern is a good example of this. very hardy, needs little light, and can tie it to anything to attach itself to.

Anyway your selection of plants is a little more limited and takes more thought because of the sand. but by no means are you cursed never to have plants in that tank because of it.

Supply that info above and more plants can be suggested to fit your needs

Sin in Style

Last edited by Sin in Style at 04-Jan-2005 09:52

You could also go out and buy some cheapy terracotta flower pots, fill them with gravel, and plant in those. Settle them into your sand substrate and voila! Plants in sand.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

completly possible but alot of people dont like the looks of pots in the tanks and hard to hide them when you cant plant infront of them hehe. i have black moon sand in my 75g tank and currently in the works of planting it. its all natural setup, no pots lol.

Sin in Style

Never said it was a natural look.

I've also seen some nifty looking ornaments sold at like, petco and petsmart that are meant to hold the plants sold in pots. They look like tree stumps and are actually quite nice looking... you could fill those with gravel and plant in those. Again, not terribly natural looking, but... *shrugs* [link=Petco product info]http://www.petco.com/product_info.asp?familyid=13312&sku=4258389186&tab=3&dept_id=1047&c1=1038&c2=1047&c3=&ct1=D%E9cor&ct2=Ornaments+%2D+Plastic%2FPolyresin&ct3=" style="COLOR: #000040[/link]

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Thanks a lot for the replies!

The sand is about 5 cm deep in the bottom. There are 2 rock caves and there will soon be one or two pieces of driftwood. I don't have any fish with the habbit of eating plants. The lighting in the tank is about 0,75 watt per galon.

The idea with the pots is not bad, but do they have to be deep pots? Maybe I could look for pots with less depth and more length and width. Maybe something like that could be hidden under the sand.

Pots will work but they will need to be deep. Just like with terrestrial plants aquatic plants need a place for their roots to go down in order for the plant to grow up. The plants will also become rootbound evenutally. What you can do is plant in a large pot then build terraces around the pots with rocks.

Having a sand substrate tank I find that java fern on driftwood and java moss really work the best. Some plants like crypts will do alright in the sand given that there are some MTS in the tank to keep the sand stirred, however since the tank is low light I'd stick with the javas.

^_^
Current [link=Contest Rules]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Aquascaping/44382.html?200412022138" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link][/font]

I have sand, MTS and have never had any problems with the sand compacting around roots. All the plants i have planted, apart from a few that were obviously never going to work (i didnt have enough light) have thrived.

I bought a "onion plant" a while ago, stuck it in and that was it... coulple weeks later, maybe four, the roots were all over the place! I know cos i wanted to move it to another tank.

I also grew vals in the sand, although i think i had more light than .75 think it was poss 1.25 / 1.5

I would get some mts, and look at plants that you can attach to drift wood, anubias nana (sp) is a good one, as is java moss, altho i found this collected debris and sand if it ever got stirred up too much. check out plantgeek.net's plant guide, and don't be put off just cos you have sand

Anubias are great on the wood and rocks, though they're slightly more expenisve than the average plant (Yes I am a penny-pincher).

I heard glosso spreads quickly on sand with good light and co2... somewhere. (doesn't remember)

I think just about any plant that isnt incredibly difficult can do just fine in sand with some MTS or regular hand-sifting.

Thanks a lot everyone!!!!

I think you 've all given me enough info to start with real plants. I think I'll begin with plants I can attach to my driftwood or rocks and then move on to plants that have to be planted in the sand. Sounds easier this way for a beginner