hi guys i got a pile of amazon swords i have grown they have great root systems but i want to plant them in sand !!!!!!any one know of a good way to hold them on the bottom of the tank until the roots grip the sand ????? thanks in advance

paul can you suggest something ???????as you do a lot with plants!!!!!! and is co2 essential for plants to flourish in the tank ???? is the gas bottle injector type needed, or will the natural mechanichal tablet diffuser be ok??

and will the sand provide enough nutrients for amazon swords or will i need a fish friendly aquarium plant feed ????

you will never get the plants anchor in the sand.
i am not sure why growing oscars want to uproot them
when roots are sprouting out. co2 are usually used to
enhance photosithysis of submerge plants.

all my plants are edible plants and they are in the
overhead open type filtering box. i am practicing
hydroponics using mapal bed for rooting base of the
plants. it is where ammonia and nitrites are being
processed and used by the plants. i had tried submerge
plants only twice which stay alive for one week only.
when got tire of anchoring, i let them float. by accident
i found out that oscars do like to rest beneath those
uprooted plants until all of them (plants) were rotten.

I keep Black Amazon Sword in two of my tanks, but not with my Oscars.

I tried and fatally failed (a literal fatality, for the plants).

In my 29USg bow Angelfish tank, I have a mixture of Sand and Eco-Complete. I use suction cups to hold them in place. You know the closed ring 1" suction cups used for holding heaters? that type, I slipped two or three leaves and placed as close down to the substrate as I could. It has been working wonderfully.

I believe that if you provide 2+WPG and DIY CO2 your Amazon Sword would make it, that's what I did.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!my fish dont touch the sword plants ...great idea with the suction cups i will use that..what i have tried is i have spread the roots over small flat stones wrapping them underneath the stone and secured in place with a pea sized blob of aquarium silicone then burried in the sand, this is just a test tho but its looking good .....will the swords survive without any added co2 please????????????

it will but will not grow that fast. moreover,
the color will be dull later on. co2 can be applied
periodically just to reinvigorate its health.

There is an option to adding CO2 that is not injecting it. There's a product, manufactured by Seachem, called Excel (please check my spelling it might be wrong) that I haven't used (I like the DIY CO2 maintenance) but read good reviews around some forums.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

the diy co2 is produced using sugar water and yeast ....isnt it ??????????

just an update guys and gals........the amazon swords have successfuly rooted in sand with no co2 no peat or fertiliser sub base and are growing great and producing new shoots and leaves........out of 10 plants ..2 died but the rest are fine...i will start with liquid fertiliser next week once a month!!!!!!!!