How wide do roots spread on Lucky Bamboo?

[Odd Duck]

I’m going to be completely redoing a 75 gallon that is currently a hot mess of plastic plants.  It has a pair of rescued adult Jack Dempseys (10” and 8”) and 2 rescued common plecos (I know!) that are subadult at almost 10” each.  All of these fish have been very bad about dislodging everything I’ve planted in the tank, no matter how deep the substrate and despite laying rocks over the roots.  The plecos dislodge plants by just doing pleco stuff, but the Jacks (especially the male) will actively grab the plants and jerk them around.

My idea (inspired by @dasaltemelosguy tank pic posted on another thread) is to use some extra tall lucky bamboo to go all the way to the bottom of the tank and have the spiral, leafy portion above the water line.  I think I have a solid plan for securing the tops of the bamboo.

My plan to secure the bottoms is to plant the bamboos in ceramic pots with screen over the bottom holes, dirt, then sand layers, then stack pebbles/rocks all around the stems inside the pots so they’re as securely held as I can make them.  Then the pots will be braced with some large river rocks (4-6”) to keep them in place.  Large river rocks will be further reinforced with smaller rock, then whatever large “pebbles” I have leftover after packing around the stems of the bamboo.  The “pebbles” are about 1” to 2”.  I would like to keep the tank as bare bottom as possible since this squad of fish are poop monsters.

My real question is, how much room do the roots of lucky bamboo need?  Yes, I know it’s not actually bamboo, it’s Dracaena sanderiana, but I haven’t grown this particular Dracaena before. The pics of the bamboo shows pretty short roots.  I’m assuming these are likely trimmed for shipping?  I have assorted size pots available from 3” to 12” wide.  I’d like to keep the pots as small and low as practical.  I’m also guessing I’ll likely need to go at least to a 4”-6” wide pot?  Should I go bigger?

I also have a rectangular pot that is about 5” wide by 17” long and 5” deep.  The bamboo is going to be in the middle part of the tank (I have big, sponge-filled HOB’s on each end at the back).  This rectangular pot may be just barely long enough to work or I may have to do one additional pot.  Would it be better to use this single, large, rectangular pot?

Should I just go to a full sand bottom and stack rocks around the bamboo without doing pots?  I’m a little worried about the sand triggering breeding in the Jacks and I do NOT want that.  I keep the temp down around 74 F to minimize breeding and never do cooler water during water changes.

I’d also like to plant some jungle Val the same way as the bamboo, but possibly slightly larger pots to get more room for future runners.  I’ll be starting these in a different tank until the Val is established.

Open to ideas and suggestions, but I mostly need to know how much root mass I’ll need to accommodate.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi. Ok, haven't don't this in a tank yet BUT I have lucky bamboo in my bathroom - it has been there for at least 7 years and I only repotted it in the last year because I thought maybe it was time, the original pot was only about 6" tall and maybe 3" wide. It's a very healthy plant- it was getting really tall- I'd say at repot around 19" from what was probably a 8" plant when I got it. Now it's probably 24". In the original pot it was just planted in rocks. Now it has a Caribsea planted substrate base (cause I had it on hand) and blue glass topper. I fill it to the top with water (it goes down about an inch or less) every 7 days. When I repotted it, there were no real roots to speak of so honestly I don't believe they really need much room. I think you're good with "bamboo pots" and you can save the bigger pots for the Val. 

Edited July 10, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX
to clarify

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

(what roots I do remember were no longer than 2" or less)

[Odd Duck]

@xXInkedPhoenixX Do the roots stay short?  Or just start short?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I think they stay short, because when I pulled the plant there was nothing long enough to warrant the repot I did other than the height needing a better center of gravity so the plant wouldn't topple if that makes sense. I'm pretty good with potted plants, only have a container garden- so I know what root bounded plants can do- and this was farrrrrrr from it. 

[Odd Duck]

Good to know!  Gives me hope I can use fairly small pots and hide them behind rocks.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Oh I think you'd do fine at least for a good number of years before you'd even have to check. I found a couple of images, so the first one looks like that's about as crazy as you can get- but the 2nd ones are more what I saw when I pulled mine and they are beautifully healthy stems. IN FACT I happen to have a pic of right after the repot, that's the 3rd pic of course!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Oh and real bamboo pots don't have holes so that comes in handy. I used my lucky bamboo's old pot in my grow out tank for a sword. 

Edited July 10, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX
1 more thing.

[Odd Duck]

@xXInkedPhoenixX Thanks so much for your time and the pics.  Very helpful!

I’m going to try to document as I go if I can remember to take pics as I go along.  I tend to get too absorbed and just dig in and go.  It could take weeks for Val to establish, so it may be a long time before I’m fully done with it.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Oh yeah, I do that too, I just get into it and THEN when I'm finished think, hmm, I should have taken pics. Oh well. Other people are better about that than I am, they'll document stuff for me. 😄 I'm not great at pictures anymore anyway (says me with 2 Nikon dslr and several lenses), I can if it's my only task but if it's just because I'm trying to show something I don't have time for all that fuss. I guess I'll never have a job as an instruction manual writer!

....look forward to you documenting your adventure! I'll live vicariously. 

Edited July 10, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX