so I have a 120 with a black piranha in it, Ive been looking into possibly putting some plants in it, I was at the lfs and they had bamboo that was about 12" tall... now if i put this in the tank it will be completely underwater.... is that going to work? please remember I have never had plants in my tank so any advice would be great...
bamboo question
- Thread starter saints24
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Your LFS may tell you that "this is a type of bamboo that will live underwater" and they are sort of right... but it won't live very long. If you get it, you will need at least 50% of it out of the water to thrive. Lucky Bamboo is what I've been experimenting with. The longest I've been able to get these live fully submerged is 30 days. 51-95% submerged, they don't grow, but just live. 50%-10% submerged and I get fast beautiful green growth.
as long as the leaves are above water (this is where all the photosynthesis happens) then your plant will be fine but if fully submerged it may grow a little but it will eventualy die. They are terrrestrial plants which is why their leaves need to be above water so that they have access to the much higher level of co2 in the air that they require to grow.
Why not just float the bamboo until it grows tall enough to plant in the substrate? I use a combination of fishing weights & floating plastic "doll-making" beads to get the buoyancy right. Float it to 50% emersed, then wait. It'll double in height in just a few weeks.
If your local store carries "Lucky bamboo - Dracaena" (the stuff that is in planters with rock) you can use that as well. It is actually the same plant. I bought some at a local grocery store for $5 for a 18" tall plant. The LFS had a plant a third of the size for $7. Just rinse the plant well before placing in with fish. As stated above, some of the leaves need to be out of the water for it to survive.