Substrate

[steelsquid]

Does it work and is it ok to plant a tank that has gravel substrate vice soil? Also should I leave the plants in their pots when I bury it, or should I remove the pot?

 

[magpie]

Smaller substrates work better than gravel. Are you looking to buy substrate or do you already have it in the tank and want to plant it?

I remove the pots.

 

[steelsquid]

I already have the substrate in the tank and want to plant.

 

[magpie]

Can you post a pic? If it's larger gravel it won't work well for some plants. Others don't care as much.

 

[Fat Homer]

Agree with the above, really will depend on the substrate and the type of plants you want to go... certain plants can grow in almost any condition, while others will be more demanding of varying degrees...

 

[steelsquid]

Here are some pics of the substrate

 

[Fat Homer]

^ not sure what the top and bottom plant are, although top one doesnt look to be a aquatic plant???

Eitherway the one in the middle pic (Water Sprite) can sometimes be grown as a floater plant...

Last but not least, i would also pull the plants out the tank with the pots they are in, and then in a bucket of water or something, carefully remove that cotton like stuff wrapped around the roots, give the plants a good clean and then place them back into the tank...

 

[skjl47]

ok to plant a tank that has gravel substrate

Hello; Gravel has been OK for me so far. I have been using it for a bit over 50 years.
I like a gravel that ranges from around bb sized (maybe 2mm ??) up to small pea size. I have tried larger and I have tried sand.

I tried growing plants in various pots with mixed results. Not the sort of pots you have pictured, I do as others suggest and remove them. I tried to make pots out of plastic containers by making holes in the bottom. It worked in that the plants grew well. The plan was to be able to move a center plants such as a amazon sword without uprooting. The flaw was that the plastic became brittle and fell apart. Perhaps a good pot could be the terra cotta sort.

I do like fairly deep gravel, up tp four inches or more. This can be a problem with finer gravels and sand in terms of anaerobic pockets.
A couple of things to consider. Snails help in a planted tank. The MTS type burrow into the gravel.
I also have used UGF in my planted tank setups. May be that the flow created helps with these pockets.

I have also used deep gravel without UGF with good results.

Good luck