Dealing with rockmoss?

[JHewitt]

Hey gang, 

 

I just got some lovely plants from aquarium coop and I was trying to figure out what to do with the rock moss. 

 

Some research online suggests it needs to be removed as it will absorb nutrients from the water. I personally worry it will slow the growth of roots, but I'm still fairly new to plants. 

 

I bought water sprite and another plant whose name I don't recall, sorry, it had a scientific name at the store but not a common name. 

 

It looks similar to hornwort but maybe a bit finer and denser on the leaves? It's a stem type plant. 

 

 

Do I need to get my plants out of the rock wool, or am I good to leave them in it to root? 

 

I've got gel super glue to attach plants to tank objects necessary. 

 

The guide I saw online suggested cutting stem plants just above the rock wool for transplant. Is this correct? 

 

Thank you so much for any advice! 

[H.K.Luterman]

If you're going to take the plants out of the little plastic planters they came in, yes you should remove the rock wool; at least as much as you can, sometimes little bits stay stuck on but that won't hurt anything. Stem plants you then plant right into the substrate, or leave to float; when it's time to trim them, cutting the tops off will let the bottom part grow a new top, and the cut top will form a new plant. Rhizome plants like anubias and javafern you can glue to objects, since they need to have their rhizomes exposed. Things like crypts and amazon sword you plant into the substrate and feed with root tabs. 

Hope that helps! 

Oh and if you can't remember what plants you have, post photos and people here will be able to identify them for you.

 

[JHewitt]

Whoops! Rock wool, not rock moss. I knew the word wasn't right but I couldn't find the right one.

 

Thanks so much for your advice!

 

I'll definitely grab some photos later to share, though I may out myself for my poor Amazon sword looking so terrible. And all of my green short filament hair algae growing on everything in sight.

 

Thanks for the advice! I've read that you can pick the stem plants out and glue them to lava stone, for instance. I've had terrible luck planting them directly into the substrate, I never seem to be able to get the plants to stay. Would a little bit of glue that doesn't seal the bottom of the stem be okay to hold the plants secure in the tank?

 

I recently bought the co ops easy fert and CO2 products so I'm hoping that will get the algae problem under control, along with reduced lighting.

[H.K.Luterman]

Aw, don't worry if your plants don't look great right now, we won't judge. It took a while for my big amazon sword to get established and look good. And algae is something we all deal with. 

I've never heard of gluing stem plants. I do know they can be tricky to get to stay planted. If you're using tweezers, you might want to just use your fingers; that seems to work better for me. Get a good length down into the substrate and then push it a little sideways, that will usually get them staying in for me. Also, pat the substrate around the bottom to compact it a bit.