potted plants and bb tank

[wildy]

What are your opinions on potted plants and bb tanks with discus???

as in inside a ceramic pot..

[M0oN]

Some people say it will hinder the discus' growth, I think they look great inside a BB tank while leaving the option of keeping the tank fairly clean, not to mention they seem to make most fish feel more relaxed and do a number of good things to the water...

[yippy]

I have potted plants in one of my tanks thats BB. Discus grew nice. Only thing i did was do a light syphon on the pots while draining as food can still collect on the top of the substrate you use in the pots. i just used gravel, with easy to care for plants. or you could try tying the plants on driftwood too like i have in my planted tank (which does have a fine layer of gravel) and that also looks nice.

kerry :)

[Wahter]

Yippy, did you get any sword plants yet? What did you get? Last year, I gave a friend of mine a rubin sword (echinodorus rubin) about the size of a person's thumb and she gave it back to me over the weekend because it was 18" (~45cm) tall now! I gave her another thumb sized rubin plus a couple of others. (probably in a year, they will take over her tank). ;D

[Willie]

It never worked for me. First, it seems like all the crap in the tank find its way into the gravel pot. Could never get that gravel really clean. Second, there's not enough plants in the tank to outcompete the algae. Gradually, the algae coat the swordplant and I end up cleaning the leaves --- until I throw the whole thing out in disgust!

Willie

[Abercrombie6202]

you could always use fake plants...

Personally i love Planted tanks, but i think putting plants in pots looks really weird and akward, like it doesn't go, it's very abstract! But even though as i say that i have three amazon swords stuffed into a clear betta bowl and stuffed it into my BB discus tank.

[Mattzilla]

i have sen potted plants and they have worked very well

personally i have planted driftwood...works for me

(i know the plants are looking a bit shabby at the moment...)

[wildy]

thanks for that..

[yippy]

Looks lovely Matt - i have some of mine on driftwood too.

Never had a problem with algae on the plants - must be the geo liquid ;D In fact the ambulia grew so much it was growing out of the back of the hood :o

Anyway - Doesnt matter whether you have fake or real, if you have plants BB or gravel, you still have to do a little extra work and have the right plants for your water conditions or dont have them at all . SIMPLE ;D

Matt, Im getting a big twisted stump for my tank - they look great ;D

Walter, I will email you pics of the plants I got tomorrow. :)

Kerry

[justathome]

The main thing is with cleaning really. If you take out the plants and wood and clean regularly then there should not be a problem. Thats the only reason for barebottom, a build up of C**P and higher disolved solid from food and feces is what can cause runts/ stunted growth.
Cleanliness with clean water regularly and all is good.

[yippy]

yeah, i take the potted plants and driftwood out weekly and give them a clean - i dont get algae buildup on the plants but still give the driftwood a bit of a scrub, the potted plants have only enough gravel to hold the plants down - i also use those plant anchors which work well, just give the pots a syphon with a mini syphoner like i use on my betta tanks. Doesnt take long.

Kerry