Growing stem plants in pot with rockwool??

[vipered]

Hi there,

I am wondering if is it good to leave stem plants in the pots without removing rockwool and the pot for it to grow? Does it affect the growth rate or anything? Or tying to rock or driftwood would be better?

I am using SUDO river sand of 1cm max height as substrate so it is impossible to plant the stem plants in desired areas. The stem plants have low to medium light requirements.

So what do you guys think?

[Urban Aquaria]

The pot and rockwool are meant to be temporary holders, so although the plants could grow while still in the pots, the growth will be better if you remove the plants and tie them to rocks or driftwood or even mesh instead.

In addition, the rockwool usually houses alot of pests and critters so its better to just remove them and wash the plants and their roots thoroughly before introduction into your tank.

[vipered]

Thanks UA for the reply, anyway it is true that rockwool do hold lots of nutrients from LFS tank? Which may alter water chemistry when directly introduced into tank? It seems like one of my amano shrimps is affected from the new plants introduced with the rockwool in pot intact. It has turned milky inside and has swimming problems already, I believe it is muscle necrosis as described from online sources.

[Urban Aquaria]

Thanks UA for the reply, anyway it is true that rockwool do hold lots of nutrients from LFS tank? Which may alter water chemistry when directly introduced into tank? It seems like one of my amano shrimps is affected from the new plants introduced with the rockwool in pot intact. It has turned milky inside and has swimming problems already, I believe it is muscle necrosis as described from online sources.

You brought up a good point, the rockwool does absorb residual chemicals that are used at local plant farms... and chances are, it could be pesticides. The pesticides will be harmful to aquatic inverts like shrimps, so that's another reason to remove the rockwool and wash the plant thoroughly, especially if you are using them in a tank with shrimps.

Remove the plant and rockwool from the tank and do a series of water changes to flush out the released toxic chemicals and pesticides, hopefully the shrimp may still have a chance to recover.

[ckaidi]

Woah.. Seemed like I might just found the reason for my Wipeout shrimps. Happened after I added some plants that not properly cleaned with bits of wools.

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