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Are there any plants that can survive in a marble substrate? I was thinking about hornwort or some other floating plant.

You are arware that most marble will have some limestone deposits in it right? Do you have a hard time with high PH, or was this intentional?

Yes hornwort and pretty much most floating plants should be ok. They don't root so they are indiferent about the substrate.

Sorry about that, I meant glass marbles.

Problem with that is you'll be limited to strictly leaf feeding plants, which really isnt many. The marbles will not be able to hold the same ammount of waste material as other substrates, nor will plants really be able to root into it (too big of gaps ). What I'd do is go for plants that could be rooted onto driftwood or rock. It doensn't need to be that large of a piece of wood or rock but enough for the plant to dig its roots in.

As was mentioned floating plants could care less about the substrate. Hornwort will do fine, in face you could likely get some of it under a marbel or two and have it "planted" and growing up to the surface.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

Hi,
Actually, I would really like to discourage you from using
glass marbles or anything of that size as a substrate.

Glass marbles leave such large gaps between them that fish
poop, excess foods, and other waste products will get
between them and work their way to the glass bottom.
On the way the stuff rots and can create all kinds of
real problems. A scattering of a few, here and there
on top of regular sand or gravel is fine, but not a whole
"field" of them.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

The only reason I am asking about using marbles, is that anything smaller or ligher will get picked up by my siphon.

If I don't use the marbles, my other options would be to buy an actual gravel vac or use no substrate and no rooted plants.

I'm actaully only planning this for a divided 10 gallon for 2 Bettas. So I don't want to go overboard. The driftwood idea sounds good. Java Moss attaches to wood, correct?

Edit: Since I mentioned it, will plants actually have enough nutrients to live in a 10 gallon with just 2 Bettas?

Last edited by T/A at 07-Feb-2005 16:18

Hi,
With a 10G tank it is kinda hard to control a garden hose
syphon and not slurp up the sand or gravel as well.

I would recommend that you visit your LFS. Just about
every one I have ever visited has a variety of hoses
for various purposes in aquariums. Don't choose the
tiny airline hose, but choose something larger, yet smaller
than a garden hose and use a 6-8 foot piece of that and
a couple of gallon bucket. By pinching the hose with
your hand, you can control the rate of flow quite easily,
and with experiance even clean sand.

With the betta tank, I would just swirl my hand above the
substrate to bring the gunk into suspension, and then
syphon off a couple of gallons.

The plants should be fine with the couple of fish. If
they really start growing, or when they reach a certain
size, then they will need to be dosed with something
like Flourish liquid plant food.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Actually I have a kerosene syphon. It's squeeze pump activated and has a half inch opening.http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/productaddonsdetails.asp?source=aceoutlet&amp;id=45345

Getting the dirt to float around out of the substrate sounds like a good idea. I'll be sure to give that a go.
And thanks for the product suggestion. Because I have no real experience with plants.