Gravel to potted

[Jameson]

Basically womdering whom here has done the switch and how are you keeping your plants now.

I have a 55 gravel tank with over 14 plants and thats alot of pots.

do your fish really seem that much healthier. i do 40 percent changes 3 times a week now, and spend forever cleaning the gravel. with potted plants do you suction the gravel in the pots. i think the money i wasted on the awesome lighting i have is just that if i do not keep my plants, not to mention i think the plants are incredible looking and so vivdly colored. just looking for some reassurance on a potting project i am about to underake. thanks for the time.

jc

[Ralph]

You're fine jc.

The idea of going to pots is to reduce the area of gravel. With 14 pots, you just as well stay with the gravel. The important part is keeping it clean and it sounds like you are doing that. And your WCs are good too.

Your discus will tell you if they are not doing well by changes in behavior and looks.

Keep the water quality up and enjoy your planted tank.

[Jameson]

Ralph thanks for the input. but every time i do a siphoning, i cant help but think that just using a hose and siphoning the bottom with water changes, and every thrid water change suction the gravel in the pots with the gravel tube, this would make my tank at least fifty percent cleaner if not much much more. i just cannot believe the amount of stuff i pull out of my gravel every other day or so. where does it come from. they eat every last bit of food i put in there i cannot understand it. i want to change my substrate to something better than plain gravel anyway, and i figured why not put the money towards pots instead of more gravel that will keep getting dirtier and dirtier... please give me some input fellas.

i remember seeing someones tank with some great pictures of crypts and swords all potted and he had seven or eight pots in the tank. they looked incredibly healthy, whom was this, it is in the photo forum i think. he was actually posting pics of his fish but the tank and plants showed up as well, and they looked fantastic. i like the look of my aquarium, but would rather pull the gravel for six months or so and grow my fish out more healthy, while keeping the plants alive and growing in pots until that day. good idea???

jc

[Ralph]

My personal preference is plants tied to driftwood. Done right, it really has a natural look to it and there is no gravel at all.

Someone once mentioned using the trays that the pots sit on instead of the pots to hold the gravel (aquatic plants don't have taproots for the most part). You could do group planting in each tray. The nice thing about pots or the variations, is that you can just pull them out as often as you want to and completely clean them or redo them without disturbing the tank.

[ChloroPhil]

I second Ralph....conditionally..:)

If you're wanting to get rid of your gravel you'd be better off going to your better LFS and ordering Java Fern then bringing your plants in for credit. You might also try letting a bunch of Watersprite float and cover your tank.

The whole planted-wood tank works well for a lot of people who don't like the idea of gravel but want the benefits of plants. I've seen some very nice planted-wood tanks with a very thin covering of mid-sized dark gravel to get rid of the bare bottom look while making it very easy to clean.

An even easier fix would be to get yourself some Malasian Trumpet Snails, aka Malasian Livebearing Snails. They're whole purpose in life is to sift around peoples' substrate eating all the leftover food and plant matter that gets down past the surface. My tank's full of them and I have no problems with stuff in the substrate. They're the conical snails you see in the LFS tanks. Ask them if you can have a bag full next time you're there I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige.

I've got a tank full of plants and an old dirty substrate. My discus are just fine though, no problems with health aside from one being a big old bully. My weekly 50% WC are enough to keep all the fish happy. I've got a fat little lady otto ready to lay a load of eggs, if only the males could find her..:)

[Ralph]

Please don't feel obliged to agree with me on anything, it's better that we give good advice. That's doesn't sound right for some reason, I think I just insulted myself.

Just a general comment. I think the jury is still out on the effects of mulm buildup in the gravel. At this point, I would guess that water changes are much more important for discus health. I think that planted tanks, on the whole, get less WCs. Probably due to tank size as much as anything. I don't want to sidetrack the thread though.

[ChloroPhil]

Ralph,

I think the idea of a tank with just planted wood is awesome and will be doing it myself in all my future grow out tanks. My condition is I don't think it's the only way to go. :)

[keith_cny]

Jameson,
I have the same dilema so I am interested to hear alternatives. I have a 75 gallon tank with 2 huge swords (approx. 18" high and 20" in diameter). I have grown them for some time now and they look really nice so I don't want to trash them. I want the benefit of the "cleaner" water as you have stated so am looking for pots also. I like the regular pots but wish I could find some that were only half the height. I'm thinking about still covering the bottom with some kind of fine sand. I think any waste material will sit on the top and not mix down in as it does with the gravel. What do you think of the switching from gravel to sand idea? What type of sand would be best? I know the discus will blow through it will foraging if I get the right stuff.


Keith

[Ralph]

I'm in the process of converting my tanks to sand substrate. The cleaning works like you described, the solid wastes stay on top and collect in corners just like a bare botttom tank. With a thin layer of sand (1/2" to 1"), you can put the vacuum tube all the way to the bottom glass, the sand boils around in the tube, the mulm gets sucked up, and the sand returns to the substrate.

The sand that works the best for me is large grained and heavy. You don't have to worry about vacuuming the sand out of the tank and it doesn't compact. I like the white sand but that is a personal preference.

The drawbacks: plants don't anchor well in sand, it's too light. I use the lead weights and plant the plants deeper than I normally would. The other problem is that sand is inert and will not fertilize your plants. Some people have had success with sand over other substances: clay, Flourite, etc. which also takes care of the anchoring problem.