handling plants

[limyw]

Hi, I'm a newbie and hope to find wisdom here. I have searched the forum but could not find the answers and so write this

I am putting together the necessary stuff to start a 2 ft planted low tech tank. so far for the past 2 weeks, I have bought most of the hardware, and now left the stones and plants. for the latter, have gone around the LFS and have some questions

- for those plants attached to bog wood and sold in plastic bags, how long can these last in these bags? as I can only start the tank over the weekend, if I buy earlier in the week, it will be a few days before I can start on this

- many of these plants are attached o small pieces of wood (not the large DW). are these meant to be separated from the wood, or planted together with the wood into the substrate?

- I see some shops sell sheets of (christmas?) moss as a "sheet" - can these be cut into smaller pieces and put directly onto the substrate? or do I need to tie them to a mesh? I presume I can use these moss to tie to the DW or stones too?

- is it advisable to buy the DW which already has plants or moss growing on them? I am hoping to speed up this process instead of doing it myself - of course need to search for the right combination of DW and plant too

- while I intend to have a low teach tank, I am thinking of starting off with some CO2 injections to speed things up initially. is this advisable?

thanks so much!

[Urban Aquaria]

For those plants (like anubias or ferns) attached to drift/bog wood, you can probably keep them in the bags for 1-2 days, maybe mist them a few times a day to keep the leaves moist.... but what i usually do is just directly transfer them into a large bucket or container of water. You'll need to clean and quarantine them for a few days anyways, make sure there are no unwanted hitchhikers (ie. snails, worms, bugs or algae) before you introduce them to your tank.

Usually if the plants are attached to wood pieces, they are meant to be attached that way, not planted into the substrate.

The moss sheets sold at LFS are basically cultivated in tubs so they come in flat dense pieces, you'll have to separate them and then tie to wood pieces, mesh or stones. Don't just lay them directly on the substrate 'cos once you fill the tank with water they will start floating around and create a big mess.

Getting drift wood with plants or moss already growing on them can be a good idea (if its done in a layout that you like). Alternatively you could also do it yourself, it'll just take some time for the plants (especially moss) to attach themselves to the wood.

If you are planning to use Co2 to speed up plant growth, then you'll also need to have high lighting and additional fertilization to balance the tank parameters... once you start in that sort of setup, then it'll not be low tech anymore, it'll be best to just go high tech all the way.

[ciaossu]

[QUOTE=limyw;712363]Hi, I'm a newbie and hope to find wisdom here. I have searched the forum but could not find the answers and so write this

I am putting together the necessary stuff to start a 2 ft planted low tech tank. so far for the past 2 weeks, I have bought most of the hardware, and now left the stones and plants. for the latter, have gone around the LFS and have some questions

- for those plants attached to bog wood and sold in plastic bags, how long can these last in these bags? as I can only start the tank over the weekend, if I buy earlier in the week, it will be a few days before I can start on this

you can buy and then put it in a bucket with water and light, shouldn't be a problem at the same time you're also quarantining the plant. 1 stone kill 2 bird.

- many of these plants are attached o small pieces of wood (not the large DW). are these meant to be separated from the wood, or planted together with the wood into the substrate?

they're not meant to be planted in substrate, read more about aquatic plants. those attached to bogwood are usually java fern and nana.

- I see some shops sell sheets of (christmas?) moss as a "sheet" - can these be cut into smaller pieces and put directly onto the substrate? or do I need to tie them to a mesh? I presume I can use these moss to tie to the DW or stones too?

for moss you don't have to plant them into substrate, just attached them onto a piece of rock/mesh/wood and tie with string they will grow from there.

- is it advisable to buy the DW which already has plants or moss growing on them? I am hoping to speed up this process instead of doing it myself - of course need to search for the right combination of DW and plant too

shouldn't be a problem.

- while I intend to have a low teach tank, I am thinking of starting off with some CO2 injections to speed things up initially. is this advisable?

hmm, this is quite complicated, i suggest you start with non co2 first after you know the lights, nutrient, co2 then start with CO2. if you start CO2 injection and then cut the CO2 suddenly the plant will die. you have to cut down the BPS slowly so the plant will get use to it. this is just a simple summary. so read up more on plants, light, co2 and nutrient. different plant require different requirement.

[limyw]

thanks all for the pointers! will get the plants first and put them into water to soak and quarantine

[limyw]

thanks to all the experts for the tips. have some more and hope to get more advice

- I read in some places that plants can be "shocked" when suddenly immersed in water after having spent some time exposed to air. if so, how can I minimise this when I buy plants packed in plastic bags with little or no water?

- I am looking to tie moss to rocks and then partially bury these into the aquasoil or maybe even sand. I believe the moss will not grow on sand and hence will not spread there, but what about those rocks placed on aquasoil? will the moss spread away from the rocks?

- I am not too keen on plants with large leafs (will have only a few of these for contrast), and more keen on plants with smaller leafs. is this advisable for a low tech tank?

- for lighting, as I plan to place the tank in a corner and not in direct light, I am looking to switch on the lights only at night so that I can enjoy the tank when I am home. is this OK? or is this cycle too different from the normal day/night hours and can stress out the plants?

- I really like the lights which are placed on thin metal stands, allowing the lights to be hung higher over the tank, instead of placing the lights on the rims of the tank. where can I find these metal stands? I cant seem to find these in seaview and the pasir ris farms last weekend, nor at clementi shops.

[Shadow]

thanks to all the experts for the tips. have some more and hope to get more advice

- I read in some places that plants can be "shocked" when suddenly immersed in water after having spent some time exposed to air. if so, how can I minimise this when I buy plants packed in plastic bags with little or no water?

You can't minimize it, all plant have different emerge and submerge leaf. Just wait until the submerge leaf grow and trim those rotting emerge leaf

- I am looking to tie moss to rocks and then partially bury these into the aquasoil or maybe even sand. I believe the moss will not grow on sand and hence will not spread there, but what about those rocks placed on aquasoil? will the moss spread away from the rocks?

Depending on the moss, some moss species does not stick, thus does not spread side way.

- I am not too keen on plants with large leafs (will have only a few of these for contrast), and more keen on plants with smaller leafs. is this advisable for a low tech tank?

Sure, as long as you get the right species that able to survive low light

- for lighting, as I plan to place the tank in a corner and not in direct light, I am looking to switch on the lights only at night so that I can enjoy the tank when I am home. is this OK? or is this cycle too different from the normal day/night hours and can stress out the plants?

Nope, the light cycle will not affect the plants. However, non direct sunlight can be strong enough and plant start photosynthesis. Problem is when you have fast growing plants (high tech tank), plant start photosynthesis but your CO2 have not ON yet.

- I really like the lights which are placed on thin metal stands, allowing the lights to be hung higher over the tank, instead of placing the lights on the rims of the tank. where can I find these metal stands? I cant seem to find these in seaview and the pasir ris farms last weekend, nor at clementi shops.

you probably need to customize it

[limyw]

tks Robert!