# Alternanthera reineckii



## Crystalview (Aug 10, 2007)

I have a piece of _Alternanthera reineckii_ that is floating It is very red. I wonder if I could put some dirt in one of the upper wholes in my rock and try to grow this closer to the light for the one in the substrate is not as colorful. I would keep it trimmed. Or is there a better colored plant that would work better under my conditions (see sig)


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Your light and size of tank is not on the bottom of your post.

Dirt floats in the tank so you can't just put it in a hole. You could put it in a small pot with dirt and some small gravel 2-4mm or sand on top of it. Red plants need high light so it may not make a difference for it to be planted in dirt. 

I have seen some tanks that have lusious growth with low light when they have diy co2. Tis 1 my projects to do.


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## Crystalview (Aug 10, 2007)

I thought if I would plant it high in the tank it would be closer to the light and maybe stay red. My rock has hole in it and I can make more that do not go all the way through. Thus leaving me a planter.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

If you have something high hat you can put some substrate in, the possibilities are endless. You'll seen the extreme in some of these DIY backgrounds that mimic a natural wall, with areas to house plants up high like they do with arboreals in vivariums.

I have a very high piece of driftwood, coincidentally I've been growing some Alternanthera from it, closer to the light. All I did was thread the stems through a slot in the branches, nothing rooted.


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## Crystalview (Aug 10, 2007)

Did it color up?

You also gave me idea's to think on. I wonder if there is a way to mount something on the back wall to grow out of?




jaidexl said:


> I have a very high piece of driftwood, coincidentally I've been growing some Alternanthera from it, closer to the light. All I did was thread the stems through a slot in the branches, nothing rooted.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Yes, it's growing better, but mainly because there are no more decent places left to grow it from the substrate, out of shadows. Once it bulks up I'll move it back to the bottom for awhile.

Check out DIY background threads, there are a lot of ways to do it, anything from carving foam to forming plastic. Then they're usually coated with coconut fiber, dead leaves etc to make it look real.

Or you can just use suction cups and tubing clips to hold stems or java fern, anubias etc. Many stem plants don't need to be rooted and are typically floating in the wild.


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## Crystalview (Aug 10, 2007)

Thanks for idea's Jaidexl


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