Newly planted

[ponderbc]

Chris aka Supersmirky hooked me up with a butt load of his plants. This isn't all of them. I have the rest just floating in my 25 till I get time to set it up. I wanted to load it up but decided against it for when I had to do some general maintance. one is the 55 cichlids tank and the other is the wifes 10 gallon Betta

[mrsadler]

nice looking good

[supersmirky]

Looking good! I got a lot of new species now so when I get these to grow in, I can get you a different variety of plants

[ponderbc]

Great. I am thinking of doin the 25 heavily like a few of yours. I am just wait for a few of the plants to root a little bit. If I put them out side during the daylight hours in a bucket to get alot of quality sun would that help them ???????????

[nicole4983]

They look awesome! And wow your wife's betta sure has a nice life!!

[ponderbc]

Well she had one of those little betta bowls thats like small fish bowl. The way I see it if i was a fish I wouldn't want to be in a little bowl. Yea he is livin large. I hate to say it though if I get a sick fish he might have to take up temporary residence in that bowl until it gets sorted out.:o

[supersmirky]

Not sure...never tried mine in the direct sunlight. If they were in a bucket, I would usually have them near a window. I don't see why you couldn't put them in direct light though as long as they are all submerged.

[AndrewH]

I'm really lovin' the greenery you added :hehe:. Looks really good.

X2 on the betta setup.

Direct sunlight: Letting the plants hangout in the sun all day is good for them, but there are some things to watch out for.
1. Bugs getting into the water and making it into your tank. Now generally speaking even if this happens it's not that big of a deal, but introducing bugs can bring diseases too. Just something to consider.
2. The water the plants are sitting in can become overrun with algae, which can also take over the plants (killing them) and/or finding it's way into your tank when you reintroduce the plants.
3. Especially since the weather's getting colder, you don't want to have the plants outside if a cold front is going to come through while you're away from the house. Cold will kill the plants.

Natural sunlight is supposed to be some of the best medicine you can give plants. Normally will perk them up and make them takeoff like never before.

If you plan on letting the plants get some sun I might recommend some pointers on making the process easier or less risky.
1. Put the plants into pots (like small clay pots) so that they're easier to move from the tank to the bucket if you intend to do the sunlight bath frequently. This also helps protect the roots.
2. Keep the bucket indoors, but still within direct sunlight (like near a window). This will help make sure the plants don't get too cold if the temp outside drops suddenly, and it will help keep foreign objects out of the bucket.
3. Keep an eye on algae growth and make sure you take the plants out of the bucket and clean the bucket really good every time the plants go back into the tank.

Over the summer I tossed some clippings into a small kiddo swimming pool in my backyard, and those clippings took over the pool within days. No food, no water changes, no anything. Simply tossed 'em in there to see what would happen. They received morning sun and afternoon shade.

Depending on which plants you intend to put in the sun, you might want to research to find out if they're full sun, sun with partial shade, half and half, or mostly shade with a little sun in their natural habitat. With this knowledge you should be able to provide the best sunlight conditions for your plants :D And if you can't find any info I might recommend morning sun and afternoon shade as a general starting point.

[supersmirky]

Good info Andrew. Did your kiddie pool get taken over with Algae?

[AndrewH]

Actually, I never saw any algae what so ever. The plant I tossed into the pool was a "very aggressive" species, so it took over the pool quick enough that nothing else had time to get started, then it blocked all the possible light from getting to the lower parts of the pool.

Seems if you can starve the algae of food and light it doesn't stand a chance :D.

The pool was setup for about 2 months this way before I ended the experiment.

[supersmirky]

Hmmm....was it duckweed? :hehe:

[AndrewH]

Damn, you're good! It was a plant from the depths of hell!

[fishyjoe24]

pretty tank.