Plants in sand!

[Erolson]

Hi all! It seems I can't keep keep plants alive in sand to save my life. I'm having particular trouble with stem plants and crypts. Honestly, the only stem plants I've had any success with are bacopa and moneywort-- both grown in gravel. In this particular tank where I'm having trouble I use a course-ish sand (the kind from petco) and root tabs. I also dose easy green. I plant the stems a few inches in the substrate. So far they have all rotted in the sand and up the stem. My crypts have also died off, first getting holes and then kind of withering. I have medium light on for about 6-8 hours a day. The tank parameters are PH 6.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate ~5. Temp between 76-78. Heavily stocked 20 long with very clean water. Any advice? I grow vallisneria great in there but that's about it. 

[Fish Folk]

25 minutes ago, Erolson said:

Hi all! It seems I can't keep keep plants alive in sand to save my life. I'm having particular trouble with stem plants and crypts. Honestly, the only stem plants I've had any success with are bacopa and moneywort-- both grown in gravel. In this particular tank where I'm having trouble I use a course-ish sand (the kind from petco) and root tabs. I also dose easy green. I plant the stems a few inches in the substrate. So far they have all rotted in the sand and up the stem. My crypts have also died off, first getting holes and then kind of withering. I have medium light on for about 6-8 hours a day. The tank parameters are PH 6.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate ~5. Temp between 76-78. Heavily stocked 20 long with very clean water. Any advice? I grow vallisneria great in there but that's about it. 

Most sand is a pretty tough to be successful with. It doesn't absorb nutrients -- like Eco Complete, for example -- and it tends to pack down pretty tightly, restricting root growth and development. If you just like the light color, consider trying Activ-Flora "Floralite" substrate (see photo below). If you really like the texture of sand . . . consider trying another type . . . but better yet, keep the sand you like, and select plants that can be affixed to wood. I enjoyed watching Gabe Posada give a short talk about how to attach Anubias to driftwood: 

 

 

[Isaac M]

@Erolson Hi, what stem plants did you try? What kind of root tabs did you use and how did you use them? What is the stocking for this aquarium? If you have a picture, that will help greatly. 

I saw that you have your light on for 6-8 hours a day. I would recommend a consistent schedule if you are able to, it will help keep your aquarium balanced to minimize algae growth as well. This can be achieved with a timer. 

Looking at your tank parameters, your nitrates are very low. Using Easy Green, the co-op recommends you keep your nitrate level around 20ppm. This will allow Easy Green to provide enough nitrogen and other nutrients for plant growth. This alone should be able to grow your stem plants. I would recommend increasing your Easy Green dose to reach 20ppm nitrates and see if that helps. You will have to experiment with the dose for this. Co-op recommends 1 pump per 10 gallons, once a week but can be increased to twice or even three times a week depending on how much nutrients your plants are using to grow. More plants and faster growing plants will require more “food” to grow. For the crypts and even the val you have, I would recommend using root tabs around the base of the plant as they are heavy root feeders. 

I hope this helps! 
 

[Mmiller2001]

I use this pool filter sand.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JJ5GXSK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_SZK80BSGF8Z51RSTW8BY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

No root tabs. Just have to make sure your column dosing is spot on. If your sand is very fine, you might want to swap it out.

Low tech.

 

High tech.

[Mmiller2001]

17 minutes ago, Mmiller2001 said:

I use this pool filter sand.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JJ5GXSK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_SZK80BSGF8Z51RSTW8BY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

No root tabs. Just have to make sure your column dosing is spot on. If your sand is very fine, you might want to swap it out.

Low tech.

 

High tech.

You will just have to experiment with plants, as some just don't like sand.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Mmiller2001