lyndatu

I'm going to get some plants for my 20 gallon freshwater aquarium, but they say that plants will do best and vegetation will occur if the plants were given nutrient salts. What can I put in my gravel to give them their minerals? And one more question: How do you anchor plants into the gravel? I heard about plant anchors, but there's none in the stores.

In other words, can you give me a step-by-step and very detailed procedure on planting and maintaining my aquatic plants to the fullest?

Thanks in advance!

griffin

as far as anchoring the plants in gravel, if you put the plant roots in the gravel, that should hold the plant down. you might need a weight initially, but once the roots grow in, you should be fine.

as far as nutrient salts, i think they meant fertilizers? stuff like potassium nitrate, potassium sulfate, potassium phosphate, calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, etc. those are all salts that can be used as fertilizers

hope that helped

Isabella

Have you read this article: General Guide to Low-Light Planted Tanks - and the "substrate" section in particular?

There are "plant weighs" you can buy at online plant stores which can help you with weighing down plants and keeping them in place.

For step-by-step planting and plant maintenance procedures, I recommend for you to read: Aquarium Plants Manual: Expert Advice on Selection, Planting, Care, and Propagation by Ines Scheurmann, Dennis W. Stevenson.

jsalemi

You can find plant anchors here: http://www.aquariumplants.com/Profes...9_p/pr1325.htm .

They also have lead weights and pots (not to mention they also sell plants ).

lyndatu

Thanks for the info. Just one question: are these fertilizers available in pet shops? Where can I find these fertilizers? Thanks in advance.

griffin

if you're talking about the fertilizers i mentioned in my post, you can get them online. i havn't seen them at pet stores. rexgrigg and gregwatson's both have the fertilizers. (i think greg watson's got a name change, but i don't recall what they changed it to - google should be helpful there. another alternative if you're not going heavily planted or if you have a high fish load is to either not use fertilizers or to use the flourish line of fertilizers.

hope that helped

Isabella

Yup, you can buy a variety of plant fertilizers online, and they come in 2 basic forms: liquids (ex. Seachem's Flourish liquid fertilizer) and solids (ex. some plant root tabs). If you won't have a nutrient rich substrate, you should use some kind of plant root tabs (if you'll have rooting plants). Ferts can also be "home-made" - meaning, you buy various ingredients necessary to make your own ferts, and you make the ferts according to specific recipes.