# Am I doing this right? First time "Gardener"



## kevonnn (Feb 5, 2014)

The pictures came out really blurry, but should be good enough.

I got my plants from PeaBody. They were awesome enough to send extra! Lots of extra actually.

Soil/Substrate:
I went to Home Depot and got some Miracle Gro Organic Potting Mix. (I read that that should work.)

Lighting:
I have a 40W lamp on each setup. Only one in the pics below...

Dwarf Baby Tears:
I do not have CO2 stuff, so I did some reading and saw that having the DBT exposed to the open atmosphere is a good second option. As long it stays really wet, it should be good. I put down a 1/2" thick layer of mix and planted the DBT. All of the cotton was removed before doing so. I read that direct light helps it grow outward instead of upward. My goal is to carpet the pan it's in.

Dwarf Sag and Narrow Leaf Sag (I think):
I laid down a little more than 1/2" of mix, then covered it in regular gravel. I placed all three DSags and the three NLSags then filled it with water. Is there anything special to look for or do?

Java Moss:
I mentioned that this was my first venture into plants, so I guess that's why I got this as another extra. I've heard that JM is so easy to work with that it can be a nuisance. I'll be honest, a quarter of it was/is brown, but the rest is a deep green. I simply dropped it in my 6 gallon tank (1 ~4" pleco and 9 neon tetras), which has a 5000K 15W T8 (long) bulb. It sank on its own. Anything I need to do for this?

Thanks,
Kev


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## kevonnn (Feb 5, 2014)

I just realized that I posted this in the wrong section. :-?


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## sponge1234 (Oct 29, 2013)

How is this in the wrong section? It looks really nice, but do you have a cap on your soil?


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## kevonnn (Feb 5, 2014)

It was in the Fish Bowls, Habitats, and Acc. section before.

Thanks

The DBT is not capped. It is kind of like a floating solution. It has just enough water to float. The Sags are capped with regular aquarium gravel. The intention is just to get some growth going. No fish will be going in it. It's only about a gallon.


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## kodawg9 (Dec 25, 2013)

Generally, you should put about 1" of the Miracle Gro substrate and then add .75"-1" layer of small grain gravel or sand on top. Right now, you're seeing some of the soil float to the top and it looks like that's a result of the cap substrate either being too thin of a layer or too big of a substrate. 

Make sure all the floating dirt is out of the water. The Miracle Gro dirt is a great dirt substrate but there can be initial ammonia spikes from these things. 

I'd flush out most of the water, then add a bit more layer of cap, then do full water changes until all the dirt is gone from the surface of the water. Slowly pour water into the tank so it doesn't disturb the substrate and cause the dirt to mix and rise into the water (ie. pour water in a cup or a small plate placed inside the tank).


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

I had this same problem with my fist NPT. I had wet down the dirt which was a bad idea. my whole water turned black and never cleared. But I found out not to wet the dirt and it worked much better. XD 

I had some dirt float up though even when I placed enough gravel, I just took it out and no more floating dirt, =)


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## kevonnn (Feb 5, 2014)

kodawg9 said:


> Generally, you should put about 1" of the Miracle Gro substrate and then add .75"-1" layer of small grain gravel or sand on top. Right now, you're seeing some of the soil float to the top and it looks like that's a result of the cap substrate either being too thin of a layer or too big of a substrate.
> 
> Make sure all the floating dirt is out of the water. The Miracle Gro dirt is a great dirt substrate but there can be initial ammonia spikes from these things.
> 
> I'd flush out most of the water, then add a bit more layer of cap, then do full water changes until all the dirt is gone from the surface of the water. Slowly pour water into the tank so it doesn't disturb the substrate and cause the dirt to mix and rise into the water (ie. pour water in a cup or a small plate placed inside the tank).


First of all, which setup are you referring to?
Would an ammonia spike be harmful to the plants?

The water in the Sag bowl is nice and clear. There is a minuscule amount of floating dirt around the edges, but it really doesn't seem to be any concern and I'm slowly removing it. Keep in mind that those pictures were taken right after I poured the water in.

Is it bad to have the light on all day and night, or should I be doing day/night cycles?

If I could get updated pictures, I would but the forum doesn't support tapatalk (or does it?) and my pc just lost it's PSU.


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## kevonnn (Feb 5, 2014)

My bad. The longer plants are chainsword.


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## kevonnn (Feb 5, 2014)

First up is the DSag and NL Chainsword. Both of them are turning yellow and are really sagging. They will not survive for another week. What should I do? The water is clear. (I stirred it up in one of the pics.) I have the light on them around the clock.

The DBT seem to be doing well. I did a little reading on it and it seems that DBT are not a beginner plant, nor do they grow fast. So it seems as though I am doing good. It is really hard to see in picture, but it is growing outwards from under the surface. A few bits break the surface. There was also another tiny patch that fell off when I removed the cotton and it also seems to be doing well.

Last is what I believe is the Java moss. I originally said that a quarter of it was brown on arrival. Actually, almost half of it was brown. When I dropped it in my 6g tank, it sank to the bottom and has pretty much been in the same spot since then. I just wrapped it around the fake rock. Most of it is on the other side. Hopefully that will help it.


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## kevonnn (Feb 5, 2014)

kodawg9 said:


> Generally, you should put about 1" of the Miracle Gro substrate and then add .75"-1" layer of small grain gravel or sand on top. Right now, you're seeing some of the soil float to the top and it looks like that's a result of the cap substrate either being too thin of a layer or too big of a substrate.
> 
> Make sure all the floating dirt is out of the water. The Miracle Gro dirt is a great dirt substrate but there can be initial ammonia spikes from these things.
> 
> I'd flush out most of the water, then add a bit more layer of cap, then do full water changes until all the dirt is gone from the surface of the water. Slowly pour water into the tank so it doesn't disturb the substrate and cause the dirt to mix and rise into the water (ie. pour water in a cup or a small plate placed inside the tank).


I was blind before, but I (think I) get what you said about the thick layers now. The roots need it to feed properly. With that said, would I be able to successfully grow them in a bucket? Kind of ghetto, but if it would work, why not?


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

I have kept all these plants here is what I learned. 

Dwarf sag is a bitch. I grow this in a high tech tank with co2 and it grow so tall and long it tried to take over my tank it sends out runners not crazy. It will grow a thick forest. But not I have it in a low tech tank it's much shorter does not grow tall and is not as thick. I moved some to my 80gal and it is staying very short in there because it is so far from the light maybe. Dwarf sag is a weird plant. That can look and grow different depending on how you keep it.

Baby tears - I love this stuff it is so cool but needs a lot of work I had a thick carpet of this stuff but it took a while and I had it in a high tech tank with co2 and ferts. It's best to plant it spread out not in one big clump. When I switch my tank to low tech it all slowly died off.

Java moss is awesome . Tie it to a rock and it will grow and cover the whole thing. It will need to be trimmed from time to time. I love moss.


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## kman (Dec 10, 2013)

I agree with snowflake, the one thing likely to be a problem is the dwarf baby tears. The issue is co2, or lack of it. Right now, it's growing well because it's exposed to the air where it can pull all the co2 it needs. Dry start method is basically what's happening now which is a great way to grow a carpet. But once it's fully immersed, it's going to need extra co2 injected into the water or it will die off. It just doesn't do well in low tech tanks. Lots of people have tried but I have yet to see a success story. (And trust me, I've tried, because I would love a DBT carpet in my low tech tank, too!)


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## kevonnn (Feb 5, 2014)

The tears just died on me in a span of 3 days, even after it was blowing up. The rest are at my LFS. Even though the leaves were falling apart, their roots were growing. I figured it was best to give them to someone with a proper setup.

The java moss is doing great. ...not sure how I could mess that one up. Should I pour Clorox on it? Haha


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