Plant Newbie Questions

[RachelElizabeth]

Hi everyone! I have been keeping fish for a while, but I am still quite a newbie when it comes to aquarium plants. I ordered two plants from the Aquarium Co-Op website, Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green and Jungle Vallisneria. (I picked these two because it said on the site they are easy to care for) They both came in pots, which I expected, but now that I have them I am not sure if they are supposed to stay in the pot or if they should be removed and planted directly in the substrate? And if they should be removed, is there a specific process to go though to get them planted?

Also, are you supposed to use both liquid fertilizer (like Easy Green) AND root tabs, or only one or the other?

For reference, my aquarium has plain gravel and low-medium light. 

Any advice is much appreciated!

[FrozenFins]

You picked some great plants! I love crypt wendetiis!

You can either remove them from the pots or keep them in the pots. I personally and would reccemend to take them out of the pots to plant them directly into the substrate.

To do this pull the plant thats wrapped in the rockwool out of the pot (if roots are preventing you from taking it out, cut out the pot). Then carefully unwrap the rockwool from the roots. Try not to break any roots. Heres a tip to remove pecies of the rock wool that maybe hard to get:

To get them into the substrate you can just shove the roots into the substrate. Sometimes plants will have a rhizome, you would want to make sure that the rhizome is above the substrate (none of the plants you bought have  a rhizome. Plants like Anubias, and Java Fern have rhizomes)

 

You can use both the easy green and the root tabs! Different plants will appreciate the root tabs over the liquad fertilizer and vise versa. In all my aquariums I use root tabs AND liquad fertilizer. Crypts and Vallisanaria will enjoy root tabs over the easy green. You could still use both.

Edited June 15, 2021 by James Black

[Patrick_G]

You might have already read this but the the crypt wendtii are grown in air. When you put it in your aquarium the air grown leaves will melt away. New leaves that look different will grow. 

[Cys aquatics]

I use liquid fertilizer and root tabs for all of my tanks and all it does is just support plant growth, although i do have a few questions; 

1. what root tabs would you use?

2. what fish are in the tank and how many?

3. what are your water parameters?

 

[lefty o]

in the pot or out is really a personal choice, go with what works for you.  imo out of the pot they seem to thrive just a little bit better. as mentioned above the crypts might melt back, nothing to get worried about. jungle val also is a slow starter when first planted.

[Jeff]

On 6/15/2021 at 3:30 PM, RachelElizabeth said:

Hi everyone! I have been keeping fish for a while, but I am still quite a newbie when it comes to aquarium plants. I ordered two plants from the Aquarium Co-Op website, Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green and Jungle Vallisneria. (I picked these two because it said on the site they are easy to care for) They both came in pots, which I expected, but now that I have them I am not sure if they are supposed to stay in the pot or if they should be removed and planted directly in the substrate? And if they should be removed, is there a specific process to go though to get them planted?

Also, are you supposed to use both liquid fertilizer (like Easy Green) AND root tabs, or only one or the other?

For reference, my aquarium has plain gravel and low-medium light. 

Any advice is much appreciated!

I use both Easy Green and Root Tabs for my plants. It works well. If you only go with one, I would suggest the root tabs, as Crypts are root feeders.

[danburgess]

Hello, I have similar questions here. I am using both tabs and liquid. I am also a total newb at this. And I apologize for jumping into your forum if this is out of place. My question though is will root tabs and liquid fertilizer cause high nitrates in the tank. I am having somewhat of a nitrate spike and I'm actively doing water changes and vacuumed the gravel. my tests show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 40 -60ppm  nitrate. I do have noticeable plant growth and everyone seems happy. But I'm a little concerned. I have 7 glo-tetras and 3 small snails in a 20 gallon tank. I am hoping the plants will use the nitrate, Should I let it go or continue with water changes? Iv'e been doing 25% water changes every other day and nitrates are not really coming down. ??? I feed sparingly once a day so I'm also trying to minimize fish waist. 

[Guppysnail]

On 6/18/2021 at 10:28 AM, danburgess said:

Hello, I have similar questions here. I am using both tabs and liquid. I am also a total newb at this. And I apologize for jumping into your forum if this is out of place. My question though is will root tabs and liquid fertilizer cause high nitrates in the tank. I am having somewhat of a nitrate spike and I'm actively doing water changes and vacuumed the gravel. my tests show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 40 -60ppm  nitrate. I do have noticeable plant growth and everyone seems happy. But I'm a little concerned. I have 7 glo-tetras and 3 small snails in a 20 gallon tank. I am hoping the plants will use the nitrate, Should I let it go or continue with water changes? Iv'e been doing 25% water changes every other day and nitrates are not really coming down. ??? I feed sparingly once a day so I'm also trying to minimize fish waist. 

I am not a plant expert but have great success with little effort. I feed my snails generously veggies always in tank and repashy or a wafer each daily along with left over fishy food. Snails... I don’t know what type you have this works with mystery and bladder.....have an extremely inefficient digestive system and their waste which can be a lot fertilizes my plants perfectly.  I currently have 3 anubias blooms in my one tank. I don’t use fertz. Try going without fertz at all. If you see your plants may need some start half dose if possible and chart your nitrate to determine the amount if using too much your nitrate will climb. Again I am not a planted tank expert like some of the beautiful aqua gardeners here so they know more. But I have tons of plants in my tanks for the health and comfort of my pets. Being new keep it simple to start less chance of mistakes and getting frustrated.

[danburgess]

I am going to stop adding fertz. I have a mystery snail, a nerite, and not sure what the third one is. I would like to give them a good diet too. I'll add some veggies. 

[Guppysnail]

On 6/18/2021 at 10:50 AM, danburgess said:

I am going to stop adding fertz. I have a mystery snail, a nerite, and not sure what the third one is. I would like to give them a good diet too. I'll add some veggies. 

Most fertz are designed to mimick fish waste....feed those aqua babies and let therm fertilize for you.  More fun for you healthier pets 🙂. 

[KaitieG]

On 6/18/2021 at 9:28 AM, danburgess said:

Hello, I have similar questions here. I am using both tabs and liquid. I am also a total newb at this. And I apologize for jumping into your forum if this is out of place. My question though is will root tabs and liquid fertilizer cause high nitrates in the tank. I am having somewhat of a nitrate spike and I'm actively doing water changes and vacuumed the gravel. my tests show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 40 -60ppm  nitrate. I do have noticeable plant growth and everyone seems happy. But I'm a little concerned. I have 7 glo-tetras and 3 small snails in a 20 gallon tank. I am hoping the plants will use the nitrate, Should I let it go or continue with water changes? Iv'e been doing 25% water changes every other day and nitrates are not really coming down. ??? I feed sparingly once a day so I'm also trying to minimize fish waist. 

I know Easy Green Liquid has Nitrates in it and will increase the nitrates in your tank.  The root tabs seem to mainly keep the nutrients in the substrate for me, though I do generally see nitrates climb a little higher a little faster after I re-dose root tabs.  It sounds like your nitrates are not too crazy high, so I think your plans of not dosing fertilizer for a while and waiting to see what the nitrates do sounds like a good idea.  I'd just stop the fertilizer and the water changes and see where things even out and then you can decide if/how often/how much you need to fertilize.

[Jungle Fan]

Cryptocoryne are heavy root feeders just like sword plants, root tabs will give them the extra iron and potassium they need. You should push root tabs as far down in the substrate as you can, they won't be much of a factor adding to the liquid fert in the water column that way. Yes crypts will change from emersed to submersed leaves, if you want to give the plant some help and keep it from wasting energy on leaves that are in the process of melting anyway you can do what I've been doing for years which is to cut all the leaves off just above the rosette. The plant will then invest all its energy right away into the development of new submersed leaves. It's worked for me for many years now and you don't have to keep fishing out pieces of melting leaves every day. It does however require the ability to be able to live with the sight of heavily pruned plants that are just beginning to grow again. For those who require instant gratification that sight can be too hard to handle.