# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Pot with soil and gravel



## Shariukas (Nov 29, 2005)

Hello all.

Plants are not doing well in my 20g, 10 month old planted tank. The substrate is pure gravel, plants are vallisneria (don't know exact species), crypt. wendtii brown, crypt. wendtii, ech. red flame, some kind of anubia (i suppose). Lighting is 1 cool white and 1 osram fluora, 18W each. Fish: 10 swordtails, 7 neon tetras, 1 molly and 2 ancistrus dolichop.. (sorry, forgot the name). BGA is also getting bad. Temp. is 23-24 degrees C, internal mechanical filter, no aeration or any additives for plants.

After readind D. Walstad's "Ecology of a planted aquarium", i went crazy about low-tech (awesome book BTW). I'm really not willing to have a laboratory beside the tank, and i don't want it to look like spaceship. And as i unterstood, there's no chance to have nice plant growth with just pure gravel. I don't have time right now to restart the tank, so i planted a few crypts wendtii brown in pots with ~1 inch of garden soil, and the same of gravel above.
Questions are:
Is this a good idea (planting in pots)?
What time should it take a crypt. wendtii brown to start growing after planting it?

Thank you for any answers and suggestions in advance.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

That sounds perfect.









Here's a search with several good threads on potting plants.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

I agree w/ Betty, sounds like a good idea. Also, let me say this... I had my 30G set up with only gravel before and had excellent plant growth, even my swords grew well considering they are heavy root feeders. I think my success was due to several factors. One is that I fertilized the gravel w/ tablets fairly regularly and fairly heavily, especially around the roots of the swords. Also, I used Kent's Backwater Expert in the tank which seems to have helped the plants (see the prior thread on Kent's Backwater Expert.) In this tank I had a floating water sprite that spread across the entire length of the tank: 3 feet!! Hmm, I seem to remember also dosing the water column w/ excel but I did that sporadically at best and I'll readily admit that I'm no expert at dosing so I generally don't.

As to the BGA, well that's another problem all together. Generally speaking BGA (and most other algae) are a result of an imbalance in the tank's nutrients. I had a really bad case of it in my 30G when I was using it as a rift lake setup for N. brichardis. Nothing got rid of it. Not phosphate removers, not extra filtration, not plants, nothing. The tank was definetly overstocked and I think this was part of the problem. With 10 swordtails plus your other fish you have a pretty heavy bioload and that could be partially contributing to the problem. I finally got rid of my blue green algae by dosing the tank w/ an antibiotic which is not recommended since it can lead to antibiotic-resistant pathogens. It was however, my last resort and I only dosed at half the dosage for about half the recommended time. It worked quite well. The stuff never came back. I would re-read the chapter on algae in EotPA to try to get some more insight into your problem. I think that adding floating plants like salivinia, duckweed and water lettuce might be a good way to try to start to get rid of the BGA.

Hope this helps!

-ricardo

EDIT: There's a thread somewhere in here where someone, don't remember who, talks about adding frozen soil cubes to their gravel only tank. I'll try finding the thread and posting the link. This might be an idea you want to consider.


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## Dave P (Dec 13, 2005)

> EDIT: There's a thread somewhere in here where someone, don't remember who, talks about adding frozen soil cubes to their gravel only tank. I'll try finding the thread and posting the link. This might be an idea you want to consider.


Ricardo, I believe this was Javalee's innovative idea. Below are some links I could find, along with the dates that these threads were started:

'Refurbishing tank: keep mulm in gravel or clean?' - 11/08/05
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/...771063371#8771063371

'My newly replanted 10g' - 11/26/05
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/...211065971#7211065971

'Adding soil to plain gravel substrate' - 3/05/05
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/...001050431#7001050431


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## Jane of Upton (Jul 28, 2005)

Wow, a member from Vilnius! Welcome! (my college boyfriend's family had emigrated from Vilnius when he was a toddler).

Anyhow, I'd second Ricardo's vote for floating plants. I think some of them put out allopathic chemicals that inhibit algae, in addition to removing nutrients from the water column. 

Putting pots with soil is certainly a good idea. Crypts will "pout" after being disturbed, so be patient with them as they settle back in - they hate to be disturbed, it really sets them back.

Keep us updated on how the plants do in the pots with soil!
-Jane


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## Shariukas (Nov 29, 2005)

Thank you all for suggestions and links. I'll try to read all that and make up some strategy. I'll report the results when there is any


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## Shariukas (Nov 29, 2005)

Ok, first tactical manoeuvres are in action. I added 3 handfuls of riccia, 3 water lettuce plants, and planted 2 vals into pots. Hope for an improvement.

And yes, almost forgot, i dressed up a Christmas tree right beside the tank


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## Shariukas (Nov 29, 2005)

Hi again. My crypts and vals are not recovering in their pots. Although those, which are in gravel grow quite well. What could be the problem?

Thanks.


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## Jane of Upton (Jul 28, 2005)

How tight are the roots in these pots? If the soil is compacted (really packed tightly in there) this might be a problem. 

Also, two issues: 
Vals like a less organic-rich soil (not so much compost, more coarse sand perhaps). 

Crypts "sulk" when disturbed. Whenever transplanted, a crypt will stop growing for awhile - they go into shock. I'd leave the crypts alone, and give them more time. 

I *might* replant the Vals, using more inert material (coarse sand, gravel crumbles, etc.) and less rich organic soil components. 

Are they all getting enough light? The floating plants may decrease the light that is getting to the planted plants. Are they growing well alongside plants that are planted INTO the substrate?

Maybe give them all a bit more time, as any plant will get "shocked" when transplanted. 

-Jane


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## Shariukas (Nov 29, 2005)

Hi Jane.

Soil is not packed. The problem seems to be my patience







Crypts took off real nice, vals are not so well, but it seems they're also recovering, though the soil is quite organic-rich, i'll think about replanting.

I followed your advice and moved the pots to brighter location of the tank (only part of the surface is covered with floating plants).

Now the good news. Watter lettuce is growing crazy. Reproduction rate is one "youngster" every 3-4 days from each plant. BGA is suffering heavy losses. The tank is clearer every day.

Thank you all for advice.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Shariukas: I too had a problem w/ my vals when I first got 'em... It took a while for them to get established. I think they don't take well to being transplanted, much like crypts. After a couple of months they've really taken off...

-ricardo


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

I'm currious, Shariukas, after three weeks, how are the plants doing?

-ricardo


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## Shariukas (Nov 29, 2005)

Hi Ricardo V. Crypts and vals are already growing new leaves. IMO they got used to their new soil. BTW, crypt's (wendtii brown) leaves have some bluish colour, none of those planted in pure gravel have.


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## Shariukas (Nov 29, 2005)

Hello all again. I hope i'm not flooding the forum. It's been 4 weeks after putting some plants in pots with soil and adding floating plants. Plants are doing well, every crypt in pot have 2-4 new leaves, water lettuce is as crazy as before. There is no more BGA on gravel or plants, but there appeared some at the surface of water and it is very nasty wrapped with riccia, i can't remove it without removing riccia. Anyway there's much much less BGA than it was before, and it is not spreading so fast. I'd like some suggestions. Should i try to remove BGA manually, or should i wait more and let the plants do their job? Thank you in advance.


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