growing plants in bare botom tank

[baruch mor]

its a set up for high value plants i intend to sell. most of the plants are considered difficult and sensitive ( not toninas n eriocaulons ) . im growing them in thier small pots with rockwool , lots of co2 and a lot of w/c. not to much light (200L n 110W of T5 with good reflectors)till now its going queit well. but i want to rubust the growth n leave them healthy till i sell them.

any good tips? fert is CSM+B , ferrous gluconate, KNO3, PO4 , KCL and plants hormones (gibberelins and auxins) and from time to time ammonium sulphate.

should i go for substrate?

 

[Greg Watson]

Re: growing plants in bare botom tank

its a set up for high value plants i intend to sell. most of the plants are considered difficult and sensitive ( not toninas n eriocaulons ) . im growing them in thier small pots with rockwool , lots of co2 and a lot of w/c. not to much light (200L n 110W of T5 with good reflectors)till now its going queit well. but i want to rubust the growth n leave them healthy till i sell them.

any good tips? fert is CSM+B , ferrous gluconate, KNO3, PO4 , KCL and plants hormones (gibberelins and auxins) and from time to time ammonium sulphate.

should i go for substrate?

Since you are growing them in their own small pots with rockwool, I wouldn't add a substrate.

I tried doing something similar last year with the belief/guess that perhaps potted plants would sell better at fish auctions than non-potted plants. So about a month before the auction, I dug up all of the plants I wanted to pot and potted them.

I am personally of the opinion that I got more money out of the potted plants, but I am not sure it was actually worth the extra time and expense.

I only experienced one disadvantage ... I had a couple pots that "tipped over" causing the plants to then grow at almost a 90 degree angle to the side which was not attractive and they did not sell as well.

I also had a few "pots" that couldn't fit in my "potted plant tank" that I left sitting on the surface of a flourite substrate, the creamy tan color of the rockwool and white color of the roots absorbed the red color from the substrate ... perhaps it was just "timing" ... but when these plants sold, they also brought a lot less than the others did.

I'm not sure that actually answers your question ... but its an opinion ...

Greg

 

[baruch mor]

Re: growing plants in bare botom tank

thanks greg, from my short experience i guess u are right. i am going to add substrate to let the tank look better and than the plants will look better too.
my problems are :
1. the light are on for 8 hours only (with no problems at all ) and clients that want to buy plants after lighting hours cant c the beauty of the plants (cabomba furcata for example).
2. light demanding plants are hanged on the walls of the tank - not very atractive
3. the 90 degrees angle - i solved it by inserting a small fishing weight inside the pot
4. although im planing to add substrate - im going to leave the plants in pots as it gives the avarege client feeling that he gets more for his money, specialy when it involves in high value plants such as rare rotalas (pussila, vietnam etc. ) , rare ludwigias (red inclinata, green inclinata, inclinata verticilata cuba and pantanal etc.) and toninas...

 

[GreenStuff]

Re: growing plants in bare botom tank

Your bare bottom is not the best place to grow plants.

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: growing plants in bare botom tank

If they want to buy those types of eclectic plants, they hopefully would have substrates, no?

I'd add the substrate of choice, and then sell the substrate also. Marketing more products, makes your life easier, more sales, healthier plants.

Seems like a no brainer..........

Pots are fine, buy lots of RW/pots.
I'd do 2x a week water changes, 50-80%.
Fertilize only after the water change.

Grow out tanks ansd sales tanks get lots of abuse and rotting leaves. This is a good routine to remove all that.

Vacuum the substrate once every 1-2 months.
do 1/3-1/2 of the tank each time.

High light plants(is there such a thing??) can be addressed in a sales tank by placing a glass slat(typically 3 going higher , front to back) to create a terrace. Many sales tanks use this set up design.

The rear might be 12", middle 7" and 3" of gravel in the front of the tank.
the light is set slightly towards the rear(reduces any front glass algae).

If the tank is 12" front to back, you should be able to get 2 rows deep in each terrace of the pots.

Anubias, Swords, etc are best grown in terrariums! Cheaper, less light, no algae, easy dosing, faster growth rates.

Anubias/swords are worth $ and many beginners/non plant folks enjoy them.

Also, you can fertilize the pots/Rock wool also.
If you soak jobes for 3 weeks in a shallow tray of water, add a tiny amount of soil, then allow the water to dry up, the result is NH4/Urea free sticks.

Add a 1/4 piece to each pot.
You can add KNO3 to the water to add more N and K+ also.



Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[jerime]

Re: growing plants in bare botom tank

could u explain more about the free NH4/Urea jobes?
did u mean that we should use them in the anubias/sword terrariums only or the aquariums too?

 

[baruch mor]

Re: growing plants in bare botom tank

thanks tom for the great tips, im sure ill use some if not all of them.