# Newbie Planting In Submerged Containers?



## grizzly_a (Sep 9, 2014)

You can do whatever you want. The easiest and least expensive might just be pool filter sand and root tabs where needed. Or put some dirt under the sand and plant away.

The ADA amazonia/Aquasoil/controsoil/etc are the dirt balls. There are several products with similar shape and qualities.


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## bacon5 (Jul 25, 2011)

Just to make sure we are talking about emersed growout correct? If so I like using old aquasoil if I have any. Good ol dirt works just fine as well.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

Yes submerged growth/containers. 

Sounds like sand will work better than gravel to hold the soil in? I will just get some organic soil and top it with something heavy, as well as keep the dirt from floating out of the bottom drain holes of the container...or do you not utilize drain holes in a submerged container?? 

Thanks!


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*After some research it appears many people use Osmocote Plus packed into capsules. Well I already have a huge bag of '000' vegetarian capsules so all I need is a bottle of Osmocote and I am good right? I can not overdose the plants with this stuff even in a 000-size capsule? *


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

You can overdose with any method of dosing. Those little fertilizer balls are designed to slowly release the nutrients when they are in damp soil. Putting them in water logged substrate will very likely make them release the nutrients faster. Putting a lot of capsules of them in the substrate will cause you to have a lot of released nutrients in the substrate, and they will probably leach out into the water, too. Doing things in excess is excessive.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

one way to avoid a lot of heartache is to not try any big changes in methods when first starting. While there are lots of ferts which can be used, they all take varied amounts of experience and adjustment to fit the situation in your tank. I'm not against using any of the methods you read about but when I start a new game, I tend to go with the "standard" type items like ferts. I would suggest it might be better to start off with a commercial fert pellet rather than one which is not really designed for our use. Then when you get started and are more able to recognize what the plants are telling you, You can branch out into some of the other methods. A way to get the art down a bit before crashing the whole thing?


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

Using organic stripped soil with plants pulled from lakes receiving nutrients is not a good idea either so I have to do something. I ended up just ordering some 00 size made up on eBay; 50 capsules for $4 with free shipping. I will just use 1 per container they are 15-9-12 and listed as aquarium plant fertilizer (picture of this bottle of Osmocote with a bag of capsules).


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*As far as the containers themselves go, what is the opinion of drainage/flow holes? 

House plants need them for drainage but obviously drainage is not needed here, and my guess is it will send dirt up right through the gravel out of the top when submerging...*


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

Still bumping for opinions here, are clay pots more favored for submerging since they can breath rather than plastic???


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

Teebo said:


> Still bumping for opinions here, are clay pots more favored for submerging since they can breath rather than plastic???


I would favor them only because they are potentially more stable. Less likely to tip over than plastic.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

I went with ceramic, and they released extremely diffused air bubbles for a whole day! Also if your air stone is near it or even against it the ceramic will absorb some of the air and spit it out later in the form of a much more diffused bubble(s) AND I think it is so porous that unintentionally it acts as additional bio-media.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*I am starting to think this may not have been the best idea, it has been about 3 weeks since I introduced the Miracle Grow Organic soil in the pots and have done multiple water changes since as the nutrients leech out into the water. Everything was doing fine for a while and this week things are starting to look down, things stopped stretching and growing and have began to yellow. It is not shock I have already gone through that and than experienced an outburst of growth which has suddenly stopped. *










*I have a few ideas but can not say for sure, possibly the water changes have already stripped the substrate of its nutrients...possibly I am forming gases or methane in the pots since I just learned about the 2-3" rule when dirting tanks and I probably have 5" or more in the pots. See the water lilies started rapidly growing new pads then just began to fade away, same with the watershield the new growth usually has a slimy coating and that has gone away. So in the case it is a nutrient deficiency I stuck a capsule in each pot of "Osmocote Plus" I am not sure how long it will take for it to begin to take effect...also plants outdoors are going into dormancy right now but I am keeping the tank at 74F*


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

*I have been getting a heavy methane smell kind of swampy so I decided to finally repot these in saucers actually with 1" of organic soil with some Osmocote. I also increased the lighting and started using Seachem Excel...see if I get some results!*


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Have grown all manner of plant's in clay pot's with soil and gravel cap in cichlid tank's to keep the fish from uprooting them.
Sword plant's,crypt's,hygro's,etc. 
Trick is to make sure the root's of the plant's are in the dirt, and cap is not too deep lest the root's have nothing to draw from until such time as they finally are able to reach the soil where nutrient's are.
I used terra cotta pot's with no holes in the bottom ,or covered the holes with piece's of plastic from trash bag's cut to fit the bottom of the pot.
less leaching into the water column. 
For the large sword plant's I grew like this,I would have to change out the plant's for larger pot after around six month's to keep the pant's from getting root bound.
Plant's used should have good root system already developing as opposed to some of the plant's I see offered in chain stores that were cut in such a way as to prevent new root development straight away.
Plant's we are going to plant in the dirt or other substrate should be cut below a node for this is where the new root's develop from.
Lot's of plant bundles I see are in poor condition in store tank's from the get go so a discerning eye is needed.


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## Teebo (Jul 15, 2015)

I always root them on the soil before laying any gravel cap so they come in contact with the nutrients off the bat. 

I also took sandwich baggies cut them in a square and placed it over the bottom holes but with so much dirt I think it was forming gases, I know in general the rule of dirting a tanks bottom is 1" but with the 4" or more of soil I had the Water Lilies were rooted right to the bottom! Not so much rooting with the Watershield.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Might note that it is best to place the plant's in a bucket of aquarium water or dechlorinated water for an hour or two,or overnight so that oxygen trapped can burp into the bucket, and not in your/my tank.
Learned this the hard way.(big cloudy mess)
I normally filled the pot's two third's full with dirt,then stuck my finger in the dirt to make a hole for the root's or stem's, and then carefully filled the pot's the rest of the way with fine gravel or sand.


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