David J. Braunegg wrote:
I tried Elodea a couple of years ago, but my Platys were ravenous and
completely destroyed the plants. After removing the Elodea, I reduced the
gravel depth to 1/2" to make gravel vacuuming easier. I've decided to try
again and this past weekend I added some plants to my 10-gallon tank: 1
Anubias barteri, 2 Cryptocoryne wendtii, and 2 corkscrew Valisneria (the LFS
fellow actually gave me an extra 2 small ones, as well).

My questions:
- For the plants that I now have, how deep should the gravel be?
- What is the procedure for gravel vacuuming with plants? Go around/between
them? Go lightly over the root areas? Only vacuum in non-planted areas of
thee tank? (All the plants are on the left side.)

Thanks!
Dave


Crypts and val like at least 2" of substrate. Crypts in particular root
extensively and benefit from a fine substrate with iron supplementation.
Fluorite, Onyx, or Eco Complete all have iron in them. You can also
buy laterite tablets to put at the plants' roots or laterite to mix into
the lower layer of the substrate.

I personally leave plants alone to root for about a month. Grasses are
easy to knock out of the substrate at first. Once plants are rooted
well, I vac the top 1/2" or so around plants to collect dead leaves or
debris. Some people don't vac around their plants at all, arguing that
the debris breaks down into plant fertilizer. I've seen pics and their
tanks look fine; I just prefer more control of my fertilizer.

For non-planted areas, definately vacuum. Plant substrates are fine
enough that not much gunk makes it very deep so you probably won't have
to vacuum the full 2".

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com