# want to add plants to gravel tank



## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

hi all i have a gravel community tank that i want to add planted plants to. I currently just use aquarium gravel. Is there something i can add to the gravel to help the planted plants without haveing to restart the whole tank. mabey some *Seachem Flourite* or someother items that will nourish plants. I have used liquid fertalizers in the past but have not added anything to the gravel before. This is s 26gallon tank that is 2 feet tall 3 feet wide and 7 inches thick.

thanks
alan


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## Rainer (Jan 30, 2011)

Root tabs, for example? Sure, they'd work well. Simply dosing the water column would be enough for many plants.

When you say gravel, do you mean standard pet store size or something large?


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

i have pet store gravel. with some large chunks of lava rock for the fishes.


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## Rainer (Jan 30, 2011)

You should be fine with stem plants with good root systems (ludwigia, hygro, etc.), as well as the various mosses, floating plants, and plants like Pellia, etc.

You'll probably have difficulties with smaller plants with delicate root systems like belem hairgrass.


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## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

Swords do well in gravel.


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

what kind of root tabs do i want just ones for dry land plants or specif ones for water?


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## Rainer (Jan 30, 2011)

Check out Root Medic's website for one good option. He's also here on the board.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

Not saying you *should* change the gravel, but if you wanted to, you could - and without completely restarting the cycle.

First, I'd vacuum thoroughly. Then I'd move all decorations to one side of the tank and remove one side of the substrate. I'd either leave a gap, or put in some type of plastic divider to separate substrates. I'd fill the open area with half of the new substrate, and put a bunch of the old substrate in a mesh bag and leave it in the tank. In a couple weeks I'd replace the rest.

This method would likely cause one or two mini-cycles, so I'd keep a close eye on ammonia levels. During the process I might move fish to a bucket for safekeeping (not for the whole two weeks, just for an hour or two during the work).


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

What Kevmo said with a piece of thick foam for the divider this will keep all the sediment on one side and don't remove it until it settles. I started my tank like this many years ago but only mixed Red Flourite with the brown river stone already in the tank, I wish I had of just removed it and used a darker substrate like AP.com's dark substrate. This way you don't have to move the fish just keep them on the clean undisturbed side.

A 26 gallon is nothing, just do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

what substate would you swap in just straight flouright? red or black?


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

i can get a bag of red seachem flourite for pretty cheap. our plant and fertalizer selection in town is pitiful. now that 2 of the 4 pet stores closed up here.


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## iskandarreza (Jul 4, 2011)

Root tabs + flourish excell + marselia quadrifolia + crypts in a gravel tank works pretty good. Check it out:


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

I have had plants grow well in gravel, especially gravel that has a good established amount of mulm in it.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

Here is a picture of my 66 gallon tank that was planted in aquarium gravel. I apologize for the poor quality picture but it was taken with an older point and shoot digital camera.


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

ok i got i added in the flouright red. to the planted end of the tank added in about 2-3 inches in it. I put in some seachem flourish tabs. Do i need to worry about adding iron? now that i have red flourite i believe that it is fairly high in iron so i shouldnt have to right? Are all you guys adding is the carbon now? I have started up my pop bottle with the co2 ladder and added 2 small buches or swords. and 2 other plants though i have no idea what they are although i think one may be a java fern possibly but the fish store has no idea what the stuff is they get in is called. 

So how much flourish excell do you guys add? do you add any other trace elements or anything like that? I thinking that just root tabs and carbon is not going to cover the whole spectrum of fertalizers.

ill post a pic of the other 2 plants as well.


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

2 unknown plants


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

by the way both of those tanks look really nice! I would like to get some small plants to cover the ground and rocks but they dont usually get in grasses or moss around here.


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## iskandarreza (Jul 4, 2011)

The tank with those marselia in the pic i posted is an 8g tank and I used to add a capfull of excel every other day until it started growing everywhere. Now I just add it whenever I remember. No CO2. 

Try marselia quadrifolia. It's really hardy and seems to grow quite easily to cover the ground.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

I think your two plants are an Amazon sword and bacopa.

I have used smaller crypts in the front of low light tanks.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

beagord said:


> what substate would you swap in just straight flouright? red or black?


Any Flourite or AquariumPlants.com substrate will work unless you want to go high nutrient and high dollar then it would be ADA Aqua Soil.

I got the sponge idea from Angels Plus, google there site and you can see what I mean but it should make a good seal and it you wait a day or two and remove it very slowly it should be very little mess in the tank.

+1 on the Sword and Bacopa


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

i recently bought some plants and my wife noticed that there were 2 seeds about the size of pumkin seeds in there. they are sprouting now. any ideas what they may be?


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## beagord (Nov 6, 2011)

seed


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## iskandarreza (Jul 4, 2011)

Edit: nevermind. Short term memory loss, I'm repeating myself.


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