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ALL THE BEST PLANTED AQUARIUMS IN THE WORLD USE A COMBINATION OF THE RIGHT SUBSTRATE,
FERTILISERS, LIGHTING AND CO2. GIVE IT A TRY, YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED!
LIGHTING
Light is a
fundamental
requirement for
all plants. Light
must be provided
in the correct wavelength
and colour temperature for
plants to photosynthesize,
and on for the right duration
throughout the day.
Most of our plants come
from the brightly lit areas of
the tropics, and we need
to replicate that in our
aquariums if they are to
thrive.
Add reflectors to
standard T8 tubes or use
high-powered T5 tubes to
provide sufficient light, and
that usually means two or
more light tubes per tank.
As a rough guide,
best plant growth will be
provided by 0.5 watts of
light energy per litre, or
50 watts of lighting per
100 litres of water.
The colour temperature
of artificial lighting is
important for plants,
so check the colour
temperature (measured in
Kelvin or “K”) when you buy
your next light tubes.
Plants grow best in
colour temperatures
of between 2000 and
10,000K. This can be
catered for by Hagen
SunGlo, LifeGlo, or Flora
Glo. Plug lighting into a
timer and set it to come on
for 10-12 hours per day.
Do you like live plants but want better results? World of Water shows you
five easy steps for better plant growth.
ways to
better plants
5
SUBSTRATE
Proper substrate choice can mean the
difference between success and failure
with plants. Plants need substrate to anchor
and to take up nutrients, and the substrate
needs to be of the right grade and depth to
be able to do just that.
Fine substrates of between one and five millimetre
diameter are best, with three millimetre being a good
average size. The particle size of substrates is important
because too coarse, and nutrients are washed away,
and if it’s too fine, the gravel can become anaerobic and
the roots will rot. Always make sure that the gravel is pH
neutral, or inert, as most plants do not do well in very
hard, alkaline water. Layer gravel to a depth of between
5 and 10 cm to enable the plants to send down roots.
This deeper-than-average substrate depth should not be
vacuumed too heavily as any fertilisers will be removed.
Use a combination of algae-eating and substrate-feeding
catfish to keep your gravel clean.
SUBSTRATE
FERTILISERS
Once gravel has been
chosen, a fertiliser must
be added to provide the
plants with their food. As
good as any sand, gravel or grit is,
they are mostly sterile so they need a
substrate fertiliser in order to allow the
plants to take up nutrients.
Some very hardy plants like
Egeria
take nutrients from the water and will
survive in sterile substrates, but most
aquatic plants like
Vallisneria
, Amazon
Sword plants and
Cryptocoryne
need
food. Compare your substrate and
plants to those in your garden. Few, if
any, will survive in a pot of gravel, and
instead need soil.
Special aquatic soils, eg Tetra
Complete Substrate, are available
from World of Water along with
fertiliser tablets and powders to make
sure you achieve good results. Tetra
Complete Substrate is an excellent
substrate fertiliser and will help you on
your way to successful plant growth.
There is another element that aids
growth of aquatic plants.
A heating cable is a low-wattage
cable that is placed under the gravel,
amongst the fertiliser or soil. It doesn’t
need to be controlled by a thermostat
and is not warm enough to heat the
tank by itself.
Instead, heating cables provide
gentle convection currents in the
substrate and turn your gravel into a
slow propagater, gently warming the
roots and easing the movement of
nutrients.
Heating cables are not essential,
but they have been the key to
success in many Dutch-style planted
aquariums for the past few decades.