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Should I start low until plants settle?

I

Iwagumi_Scaper

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Joined
9 Jun 2018
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124
Location
York, UK
Hi all,

Just wondering if I should start my tank with low lighting and co2 until the plants settle in a bit. I have a 25W light on order, but my tank has a built in 5W I can use until then (about 3 weeks).

Cheers 🙂

Chris
 
Zeus. said:
depends on what you plan to grow.

Hemiathus Callitrichoides (HC) aka 'baby tears' carpet - no you need a decent output of light for it to grow compact. Or if doing a DSM

Some easy grow plants you should be fine. But why not wait anyway
Click to expand...

I'll be trying to grow Monte Carlo as a carpet. So you think high light from the start is best?
 
Iwagumi_Scaper said:
I'll be trying to grow Monte Carlo as a carpet. So you think high light from the start is best?
Click to expand...

MC is easier, but doing a dry start (DSM) may be your best bet, then you can have a great carpet coverage before you flood 😉
 
Zeus. said:
MC is easier, but doing a dry start (DSM) may be your best bet, then you can have a great carpet coverage before you flood 😉
Click to expand...

Hi Zeus.

If I didn't want to use DSM, what is the best way to plant the MC? Spray soil, plant, then fill? Or fill the tank 1/3 and plant while it has water in it? I'm using powder type aquasoil so I could probably compact it around the roots slightly with my hand while the substrate is moist.

Cheers
 
MC can be a pain to plant as short roots and you plant one then another pops up, which is why I like a DSM. But if going straight to flood I would fill tank till all substrate is covered let it soak a bit then drain till water is below substrate then plant with MC misting as needed. Filling very slowly and get the floated replanted as they pop up 😉
 
With DSM roots already formed and you can max the light out during DSM so MC will have lots of spare energy to make the transition to submerged grow plus substrate will be cycled so no ammonia spikes so less chance of aglea issues, once flooded after DSM cleaning crew can go in quicker than straight to flood also.
 
Iwagumi_Scaper said:
what is the best way to plant the MC? Spray soil, plant, then fill?
Click to expand...
Yes

You can also plant with completely dry soil - Jurijs mit JS uses this method (you'll also see George Farmer doing so in recent videos) just misting occasionally

Green Aqua sprays soil just until damp, then begins planting, occasionally misting (again check their videos)
Planting always begins in the shallow substrate areas, as these can become flooded as planting progresses (more an issue in larger tanks)

In the various videos, notice how deeply the 1-2-Grow type plants are inserted into the soil
Also the planting of separate small bunches vs larger clumps improves "lift off" - after flooding it's typical to see loads of fine bubbles on the plant leaves, this gives quite a bit of "lift" (why stuff is floating in the morning after 😉)

I would not flood the tank, then remove as much water as possible - I find the above methods much easier/cleaner with fewer plant floaters thereafter (the dry or damp soil settles in about the plantlet much more firmly/closely)

Note if you have current directly hitting any substrate areas, this will lift/tumble soil & release plants

Most plants are very susceptible to "lift" for the first week or two after planting, so I don't substrate vacuum even close during this time
 
alto said:
Yes

In the various videos, notice how deeply the 1-2-Grow type plants are inserted into the soil

I would not flood the tank, then remove as much water as possible - I find the above methods much easier/cleaner with fewer plant floaters thereafter (the dry or damp soil settles in about the plantlet much more firmly/closely)

Most plants are very susceptible to "lift" for the first week or two after planting, so I don't substrate vacuum even close during this time
Click to expand...

I haven't come across any videos that clearly show depth of planting yet, but I'll keep looking.

I think my plan is this:

1. Set up hardscape, leave it for a few days to make sure I'm 100% happy
2. Soak the substrate until fairly moist and then plant Monte Carlo (Not sure how much I need yet)
4. Add water until plants are just barely covered to allow them to be submerged but not allow them to float enough to come out of the soil
5. Wait a couple of days to let soil settle/compact around roots
6. Fill the tank and start co2/filtration etc

Do you think this is a good approach? The substrate is powder type Aquasoil so I think there's less chance of floating compared to the normal type anyway.
 
Green Aqua Workshop #1 shows some very clear planting technique ... except it's a live Aquascaping video of 2 tanks so rather difficult to find the specific moments

How to make an Aquascape by GA demonstrates a very nice stone set up, & some planting technique (not as detailed as in the workshop video)
 
Iwagumi_Scaper said:
4. Add water until plants are just barely covered to allow them to be submerged but not allow them to float enough to come out of the soil
5. Wait a couple of days to let soil settle/compact around roots
Click to expand...

While you can try this I'm not sure why you wouldn't just follow standard tecniques ...

I've not used ADA in ages, preferring Tropica - but at the stage where there is just enough water as you describe, it's at it's slithery best 😉 - once filled, the height of the water column applies gravity weight/pressure onto the substrate layer

If you want to partial fill & wait, I'd leave the water level at below the soil surface so that the uppermost layer of soil is pressing down (as much as it can 😀) - of course this doesn't work with banked substrates as either extreme will be either completely flooded or most dry depending which soil height you use as your "upper water level"

In one way you're right, if soil has become too dry during shipping/storage etc, adding water to the soil can cause it to swell (slightly), tightening the soil around the plantlets but I would just try this process at the damp/misting stage rather than the partial flood you've described
You can just cling wrap the top of the tank overnight or few days (as long as you continue to mist plants regularly)
 
Hi Alto,

Quick question on DSM. Do you use pure RO water, tap water, or re-mineralized RO water for the daily spraying, or doesn't it matter?
 
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