sunstrip

All my tanks have been converted to minimal substrate...all my live plants are placed in....basically...pots...can anyone here recommend a good plant root tab that I can place into each of the pots to fertilize...looking for one that wont affect water quality or fish health....thanks.

Blub

sunstrip

I have reduced the substrate to a single layer or so of medium sized pea-gravel (had a little over 2.5 inches in there before)...it's barely an inch deep...this makes keeping the tank clean much easier...and none of the fish that I have require a deep substrate...the only draw back is that there is no longer enough to hold the plants...I came up with an idea to hold the fake plants...and that was to remove the existing anchors and replace them with suction cups which I hot-glues on...as for the real plants...I cut the bottom off of some water bottles...about 3.5 inches worth...and put the plants in them with some of the existing gravel that was in the tank...it all worked out great and cleaning is a breeze now...and the plants look great in the nearly invisible pots.....this is the reason for wanting to know more about the Plant root tabs.

sunstrip

Any advice ?

lilsoccakid

im not really sure, but a quick look on the forum of plantgeek.com would solve this

miker

Plant Tabs start to slow disintegrate as they are supposed to and spread around the area. So, they might come out of pot, mix with tank water which is not desired though safe. Break the tabs into small pieces, put a piece in the bottom of pot and push it into gravel.

Blub

sirdarksol

There's nothing wrong with leaving the plants potted, as long as the roots have some space to expand.
The only experience I've had is with API's root tabs, and I've only been using them for a week or so. However, I haven't seen any negative effects on my tank yet.

sunstrip

As I said...I have them in a pot that was made from the bottom 3.5 inches or so of a drinking water bottle...and filled to the top with existing gravel from the tank...they are quit heavy and don't move at all...I pretty sure there is plenty of room for root developement...thanks for the answers you guys...so far the plants seem to be doing very good...I think I'll leave well enough alone.

King_Snuggles

you can alwayse use a aquarium plant food. I use API's leafe zone its just a liquid that i add once a week i saw results the next day after i added it so there are other options besides tabs.

miker

Just wanted to add that long rooted plants like Swords don't do well in Pots. Others should be fine (though planting them is always better).