A Detailed Guide to Selecting and Planting Aquatic Plants
Selection and Planting of Aquatic Plants
Before aquascaping, we probably all have to do the same thing -- buy aquatic plants.
Before selecting aquatic plant species, we first need to consider whether our aquarium is going to use a CO2 system to assist plant growth. If you do not plan to buy a CO2 system for the time being, you should avoid choosing fast-growing aquatic plants, because rapidly growing plants will cause a large consumption of CO2 in the water and lead to slight fluctuations in pH. So you should choose some aquatic plants that grow slowly and have low planting requirements, such as: Amazon swords, Java ferns, Anubias, and so on.
In terms of meeting aquascaping effect needs, the overall aquascaping effect should be taken into account. Therefore, for background aquatic plants you can choose species that grow up to the water surface; for the middle and both sides choose medium-height aquatic plant species, while the foreground should be short aquatic plants. This requires buying some stem plants and creeping plants in bunches. To strengthen the theme effect of the aquascape, you can even separately buy a single aquatic plant with a form and color different from the rest.
In terms of the quantity of aquatic plants purchased for planting, you should not skimp from the start, because too sparse a quantity of aquatic plants can easily trigger unnecessary algae spread during the planting period. Moreover, given the current low prices of aquatic plants on the aquarium market, I believe no one who has spent hundreds of yuan, or even thousands of yuan, on aquarium peripheral equipment would begrudge spending a few dozen more yuan on aquatic plants, right? But you also need to pay attention: some aquarium dealers often mix some terrestrial plants with beautiful leaf shapes into their aquatic plant assortments, trying to convert them into aquatic plants. So if you see these "aquatic plants" with unusually beautiful colors and leaf shapes, and you cannot determine their species while also being reminded of certain bonsai placed on windowsills, then by no means buy them! Although these plants can survive in water for a fairly long period, they will ultimately die. This will foul the water quality and also disrupt the balance of growth, so it is not worth trying.
Before going home to plant these aquatic plants, the aquarium should already be filled with water that has been kept at constant temperature and treated by filtration, and all aquarium equipment should be running normally.
First, you need to remove the plastic baskets, lead strips, and foam containing temporary nutrients used to package these aquatic plants. Do not rush to plant them yet. At this point you can soak these aquatic plants in water containing a diluted copper sulfate solution for 10-20 minutes, which is enough to kill all the parasites, snails, hydras, and other foreign organisms carried on the aquatic plants that may harm fish growth.
Then, for creeping aquatic plants, you can use sharp scissors to trim off at least 1/3 of the roots, and at the same time remove rotten, yellowed, or already withered leaves, and you can even remove some excess leaves of the emersed form. As for stem aquatic plants, they usually have not yet grown roots or have very short roots when sold, so you only need to remove rotten, yellowed, or already withered leaves.
When planting aquatic plants, for stem aquatic plants you only need to carefully insert the roots into the bottom sand. For creeping aquatic plants, first press the roots deeply into the bottom sand, then carefully pull them up a little so that a small part of the root base is slightly exposed, which is better.
Trimming the roots of aquatic plants
At the same time, whether they are stem aquatic plants or creeping aquatic plants, when planting it is best to plant the same variety in small clusters together, which looks more attractive. Be careful not to plant aquatic plants of a single tone and with overly similar leaf shapes together, while making full use of the shapes and colors of aquatic plants makes it easy to create a bright landscape. Try pairing feathery-leaf aquatic plants with broad-leaf aquatic plants; pairing dark green with light green adjacent to each other; and pairing red with green, and so on, all of which will produce unexpected effects.
After the aquatic plants are completely planted, they need a period of time to adapt to the aquarium environment, gradually take root and sprout, and then enter a normal growth state. At that time, the aquascape will increasingly look perfect!
Before selecting aquatic plant species, we first need to consider whether our aquarium is going to use a CO2 system to assist plant growth. If you do not plan to buy a CO2 system for the time being, you should avoid choosing fast-growing aquatic plants, because rapidly growing plants will cause a large consumption of CO2 in the water and lead to slight fluctuations in pH. So you should choose some aquatic plants that grow slowly and have low planting requirements, such as: Amazon swords, Java ferns, Anubias, and so on.
In terms of meeting aquascaping effect needs, the overall aquascaping effect should be taken into account. Therefore, for background aquatic plants you can choose species that grow up to the water surface; for the middle and both sides choose medium-height aquatic plant species, while the foreground should be short aquatic plants. This requires buying some stem plants and creeping plants in bunches. To strengthen the theme effect of the aquascape, you can even separately buy a single aquatic plant with a form and color different from the rest.
In terms of the quantity of aquatic plants purchased for planting, you should not skimp from the start, because too sparse a quantity of aquatic plants can easily trigger unnecessary algae spread during the planting period. Moreover, given the current low prices of aquatic plants on the aquarium market, I believe no one who has spent hundreds of yuan, or even thousands of yuan, on aquarium peripheral equipment would begrudge spending a few dozen more yuan on aquatic plants, right? But you also need to pay attention: some aquarium dealers often mix some terrestrial plants with beautiful leaf shapes into their aquatic plant assortments, trying to convert them into aquatic plants. So if you see these "aquatic plants" with unusually beautiful colors and leaf shapes, and you cannot determine their species while also being reminded of certain bonsai placed on windowsills, then by no means buy them! Although these plants can survive in water for a fairly long period, they will ultimately die. This will foul the water quality and also disrupt the balance of growth, so it is not worth trying.
Before going home to plant these aquatic plants, the aquarium should already be filled with water that has been kept at constant temperature and treated by filtration, and all aquarium equipment should be running normally.
First, you need to remove the plastic baskets, lead strips, and foam containing temporary nutrients used to package these aquatic plants. Do not rush to plant them yet. At this point you can soak these aquatic plants in water containing a diluted copper sulfate solution for 10-20 minutes, which is enough to kill all the parasites, snails, hydras, and other foreign organisms carried on the aquatic plants that may harm fish growth.
Then, for creeping aquatic plants, you can use sharp scissors to trim off at least 1/3 of the roots, and at the same time remove rotten, yellowed, or already withered leaves, and you can even remove some excess leaves of the emersed form. As for stem aquatic plants, they usually have not yet grown roots or have very short roots when sold, so you only need to remove rotten, yellowed, or already withered leaves.
When planting aquatic plants, for stem aquatic plants you only need to carefully insert the roots into the bottom sand. For creeping aquatic plants, first press the roots deeply into the bottom sand, then carefully pull them up a little so that a small part of the root base is slightly exposed, which is better.
Trimming the roots of aquatic plants
At the same time, whether they are stem aquatic plants or creeping aquatic plants, when planting it is best to plant the same variety in small clusters together, which looks more attractive. Be careful not to plant aquatic plants of a single tone and with overly similar leaf shapes together, while making full use of the shapes and colors of aquatic plants makes it easy to create a bright landscape. Try pairing feathery-leaf aquatic plants with broad-leaf aquatic plants; pairing dark green with light green adjacent to each other; and pairing red with green, and so on, all of which will produce unexpected effects.
After the aquatic plants are completely planted, they need a period of time to adapt to the aquarium environment, gradually take root and sprout, and then enter a normal growth state. At that time, the aquascape will increasingly look perfect!