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I tried to plant some anubias in sand, but was not too successful. Are there any solid ferts that i could stick in the sand next to my plants to help them grow?

thanks highjinx

You can get little tablets to push into the gravel next to the plant. I found them to be expensive with no appreciable diff but that said I wasn't the most successful of planted tank owners.

You could give em a go by doing a comparison. Similar plants; one with the tab one without and then compare.

What do others think?




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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Anubias doesn't like having its rhizome buried, how far under the sand did you put it?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

highjinx
Callatya is 100% correct they basically will not grow if pruely grown in Substrate. I use 2.5ml weekly of plant fert.

I have just posted a photo of my tank in Photo Booth it is an Anubias tank.
http://fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Photo%20Booth/58271.html?200504200053

Keith

Last edited by keithgh at 20-Apr-2005 01:20

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hi jinx

sorry, I had to say it

I've used a few good fertilizer tabs, but what I'm using now is Seachem's Flourish Tabs. I put them an inch or more under the surface near my root-based plants and it has a great effect. They'll need to be replaced every few months.

I'm not sure you need it though. Anubias use their roots primarily to anchor themselves to things, and like most aquatic plants, can absorp their nutrients directly through their leaves. This is why you'll see many people attach anubias to rocks or wood. If all you need to do is hold it down, try tying it to a small rock with some fishing line, and then burying the rock (keeping the rhizome above the surface).

Then, just use a normal micronutrient liquid fertilizer (anything that does NOT have nitrate or phosphate in it), and follow the directions on the bottle.

Good Luck!

I only have them burried deep enough to keep them from floating away, which is maybe 1/8 inch under the sand. I am using the new red sea liquid ferts. Flora Vit (1 tsp per 60 gal), Flora Fe (1 tsp per 60 gal), and Flora Pure (1 tsp per 12 gal). The flora pure is to nuetralize chlorine and heavy metals, only use it when i change the water. flora vit and flora fe i do every week end.

My anubias doesn't look as if it is dying, but that it is not getting enough nutrients. It sheds a leaf now and then, but 1 of my 4 plants still have a solid green color to it, so I'm not quite sure what I am lacking.

Anubias is a slow growing plant anyway. It prefers being on rocks or driftwood but can possibly grow in the substrate. Some of mine has spread out away from the driftwood. If you want it to grow it's best it would probably be better on something instead. It doesn't sound like a nutrient deficiency unless the the thing lacking is light but anubias also does fine in low light. It will just grow even slower. You can try to identify a deficiency from this site [link=http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm]http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm" style="COLOR: #00C0C0[/link]

Ok I just uncovered all of my anubias plants so that the rizomes were on the surface of the sand. The roots seem to have anchored well, but in the process of uncoving the rizomes, most of my remaining leaves fall off. All of the rizomes still seem to be a lushis green and are still firm.

I assume all is well....?

by the way... i am running a low light, about 1 or 2 wpg. I have two 1 watt 24in blubs side by side covering 48in. So if that is 2 watts per gallon then yippy.

Personally I feel the wpg goes a little more in depth than just total wattage of light. What about direction, depth, clearity of water, or clearity of glass lenses protecting the bulbs??? And how much does natural sun light or any other lights effects it? I'm sure that if you pulling a chemist in on this he would say that the chemicals in that water could also effect the amount of light reaching the plants.

Sorry all I think a bit too much

So back to the anubias...

I know i do not have a nutrient deficiency, I have 2 japanese moss balls int he tank as well, and they are growing out of control. It is said that moss balls are very slow growing, but in about a months time they have turned in to quite the garden and have maybe doubled in over all area.

Last edited by highjinx at 21-Apr-2005 19:28

All those things that interfere with light don't block/absorb enough to really take into consideration. If you haven't cleaned the glass cover in years and it's got algae/hard water deposits all over it then yes it will block some light but otherwise it won't have much affect. Water depth only matters when you go something like 2ft deep then red light begins to dim.
As for lighting on your tank. If you have two 24inch strips each with 1 bulb then you have 15watts per strip 30watts total. If the actual bulbs are 24inch then you have 17watts per bulb 34 watts total. If your 48inch long tank is a 55g you have around .6wpg. You don't need to be adding any fertilizers if you have that low of light and not many plants. If the rizome on the anubias is firm then it is still alive and may recover. If it goes mushy then you'll have to throw it out.

The big anubias that you see in pictures can take as long 8 - 10 YEARS to grow to that size.

My anubias sometimes loose their leaves with changes in the water chemistry. Any major water changes recently? New chemicals? If you have any crypts, did they loose leaves too? IMO, crypts are one of the most sensitive, and I use them as a guide to water quality (instead of tons of expensive tests).

HMMMM... I can't see putting much more light in my tank. 2 15 watt bulbs seem to light the tank pretty well. In checking the profiles on anubias, they reccomend 2 -3 wpg. Meaning, I would need 2 82.5 watt bulbs. Tell me if I'm wrong please, maybe my math went way down hill after I left school, but 82.5 watts x 2 bulbs = 165 watts / 55 gallons to get 3 wpg. Thats seems a bit intense. Even if I were running 4 bulbs they would need to be 41.25 watts. I think at that high of wattage i would start boiling watter. PLEASE... someone reach out and smack me and tell me I'm wrong.

thanks again all