Greetings from Oklahoma!

[Garbo Aquatics]

My name is Joey and I've been keeping fish and planted tanks for about 5 years now. I have a small fish room set up with a few planted tanks and im currently trying to breed some aequidens diadema. I'm also going on a trip along the eastern edge of oklahoma looking for some Vallisneria neotropical and other native aquatic plants this august, I'll make sure to post if I find anything!  

[Pete]

Hey Joey! I'm in OKC. What part of the state are you in? If you're from the OKC metro, do you have any local stores you recommend? I visited a nice shop up in Edmond last week, but I'm still new to fishkeeping so any tips or pointers would be great.

[Garbo Aquatics]

Hey Pete! I'm in The Village/OKC area, by Hefner lake. I would recommend Aquariums but I'm guessing that was the shop you visited in Edmond? I like going to Garden Ponds Unlimited as well, though they're in Moore so it's a bit of a drive. 

Make sure you're growing plants outside! Our weather and temps are perfect for aquatic plants, I have a couple of tubs full of Val and frogbit right now, and since our winters aren't horrible the plants should overwinter and come back next year.

[Pete]

Oh cool. I used to work up in The Village years ago. Yes, I went to Aquariums for the first time this past weekend and picked up three Khuli loaches. They seemed like a nice shop. I'll check out Garden Ponds Unlimited next time I head south.

How are you growing val outside? Can you share your setup? I've got tons of it in my main tank but I'd love to grow more. And speaking of frogbit, I just added some to my outdoor tank so I hope it takes off. It's only been there about a week. 

[Garbo Aquatics]

Good stuff! I hope those loaches do well for ya.

I use a 1 part sand/3 parts garden soil mixture for the substrate, which is about 4in-5in, and add 1in sand on top as a cap. After that I let the tub or tank sit over night and I plant the next day. I try to place the tubs/tanks in a spot where they get some good sun for most of the day, though they really only need a few hours of direct sunlight IME. As long as the Val has some good substrate it should explode in growth and you'll never run out. And the frogbit should do great! mine took about a week to start growing, though once it gets used to the heat it should explode as well. 

here's a pic of some of the tubs, so far I havent had any issues with algae or anything like that, though I usually just leave it alone and it goes away after time.