Anchoring plants down!

[pokerboi]

Hey everyone,

I have bunches of Cabomba planted in my aquarium, some of them near a filter, some as far as possible from the filter.

my problem is keeping them rooted in the substrate. I have medium/small pebble substrate (not sure of the brand). If I can manage to bury the cabomba with without breaking the stem, it ends up floating to the surface the next morning.

Does anyone else this problem? If you do, how do you deal with it? Any ideas on how to anchor the cabomba down? Maybe I need some rooting hormone around the base.

Please help!

[Madison]

Hi I've been having the same problem in my newly planted tank. I'm afraid to use the lead plant weights or super glue. Here's what I did.

1. Using invisible thread I sewed little nylon net bags that would fit medium sized rocks tightly.

2. After the rocks are in sew them closed by hand.

3. Weave fishing line through a few holes in the net and tie a knot. I used a large needle and it went fast. The loose ends of the fishing line are tied around the plant base.

3. Shove the covered rock weights under a little gravel and they stay put.

If you use netting that is close to the color of the rocks or your substrate it almost disappears underwater. I found if I made the bags tight fitting they were less noticeable. You can buy netting in fabric/craft stores. I had some on hand.

It takes a little time but I made 10 bags pretty quick on my sewing machine and just had to close them up by hand. It was worth the trouble. I noticed my anubias roots like to grab onto the rough netting. There is room for adjustment depending on how you lay the rock down on the substrate. It might be a little trouble but I think it's a long term healthier solution. Good luck!

[psyche]

Lead plants weights, larger ones, should do it.

[echoofformless]

The joys of sand substrates.

[247Plants]

Use tweezers and plant the stems at an angle. It will help them stay put.

[pokerboi]

Thanks everyone, I think I will go with another post I saw, using bottle caps to secure the plants down, seems like a good idea. If the bottle cap wont work then I will try Madison's nylon bag idea. Wish me luck!

[Fieval1]

I find thoe tiny clay pots, plant inthem, fill them with gravel nd then bury them under the gravel, I kepp my gravel deeper for plants, I have my cichlid tank planted and they cant uproot them, also there are some lead twisty ties you can use, but still need to plant deeper.

[tanker]

Cut the plant shorter(in half??) ---less floating "strength"??

It will root and then grow long. Up side--more plants too.

[jpappy789]

Pull some of the bottom leaves off so you have more of a stem to plant.

[DeeDeeK]

I use a polyester (non-decaying) thread to gently tie my floating plants to some some old noodle-type biomedia and bury the noodles deep enough that the plant's stem is pulled into the substrate. I do this with pennywort

[Quartermain]

I bought a bag of the "lead" strips and wrap one or two around the base of a group of stems I wish to plant, careful not to constrict them. Don't know what I would do without them.