# safe plastic plant anchors



## WheeledGoat (Mar 17, 2013)

nice! thx for the report on calling them - i wouldn't have tried that.


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## Neptoon'd (Apr 21, 2013)

I saw those in a lfs yesterday. I meant to buy a package to try out. But then I got distracted and forgot. I'd be interested to hear how they work for you after you get them.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Some people like them. They never worked for me and I gave mine away.

They are buoyant and tend to float up regardless of how much fluorite I piled on top.

They are not small and if you need denser planting you have to stagger them on top of each other. That makes them float up even more.

They are light ivory color and I always saw an edge here and there.

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## Mark Allred (May 3, 2013)

I'm with OVT, I didn't like them either. 
If you want to try them, you can make your own from the bottoms of small drinking water bottles. A judiciously placed rock can be a big help, until roots take hold. I went with EcoComplete substrate, and the plants stay anchored very well with it. :smile:


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## Big Dog (Nov 4, 2009)

I use this all the time. Well worth the money. Just cut the middle as big as you need it to be. The plants will slowly push them off. Once this happens. You just wash them off and reuse them again. You will save money in the long run.


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## Dolfan (Apr 8, 2005)

Ok, so I received the anchors in the mail today, and just got done using them to plant a few things. First off they are NOT buoyant as OVT stated. Alone they sink right to the bottom of my tanks. They are flexible and rubbery perhaps made from a silicone like material. I used them to plant 2 things, some anacharis and bacopa. The anacharis they pulled right to the bottom and didn't require any gravel to be placed on top of the disc. The bacopa must be more buoyant as it would float up a bit. I moved a small bit of gravel onto the disc and problem solved. They seem easy to use and so far I'm happy with them. You can easily cover the disc up so you don't see anything exposed. On the package it specifically says "non toxic" and "FDA food contact safe material". I used to run restaurants and this means the FDA has approved this stuff for any food use, i.e. you could make drinking cups or plates out of them if you wanted and would not leach any chemicals or bad stuff into food. That's good enough for me and IMO, much better than the lead weight strips sold commonly for plant anchors. 

BigDog, How do your plants push them off? It seems like the roots would grow underneath and then the plant would be on the top side so seems like it wouldn't be able to free it self. Maybe I'm just confused. If they are reusable even better.


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## Big Dog (Nov 4, 2009)

It works like our body does. When we get object that does not belong in the body. The body wants to push it out. The plants will push it down and away from it self over time.


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## WheeledGoat (Mar 17, 2013)

Neptoon'd said:


> I saw those in a lfs yesterday. I meant to buy a package to try out. But then I got distracted and forgot.


i'm so glad to hear this happens to others and not just me! :biggrin: there's so much to distract you at a lfs, isn't there?!!?


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