Live plants without dirt

Hi guys, I've decided against dirting my tank(s) going to wait till I get a bigger tank then dirt that and plant the hell out of it!

I still want some live plants in my tanks though, one is a sand substrate, the other is gravel, will I need to add anything to help the plants root and grow?

the sand is approx 1inch deep at the front, going up to 2inchs at the back, I will only be planting at the back of this tank

the gravel is 1inch level to the back, I have more gravel I can add though if needed.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and I know dirt would be the best thing, but I haven't got anywhere for my fish to go, unless a friend has a spare tank I can borrow from him for a little while

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Permalink Reply by Matt on June 28, 2014 at 3:54pm

i saw a video on youtube of a guy making his own root tabs with gelatine cases for pills and miracle grow fertiliser of some sor

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Permalink Reply by Mr.Styx Tropical Tanks on November 6, 2011 at 3:24am

ok you can plant with sand if you make sure its a clean fine grade sand and not too deep where your planting cuz over time your sand will build up gases that can kill your whole tank,you can also inclued leave zone for your firt in water and root tabs for healthy roots,i tryed it my self and so far my tank has been up and running planted for about 4 months.Im also gonna dirt mine after we move,so far so good,no fatal endings yet..heres the prof..not a drop of dirt,and a lil co2 walts 40 gallon planted "sand" tank

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Permalink Reply by jeremy on November 6, 2011 at 11:06pm

get a broad leaf ludwigea

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Permalink Reply by Johanan Micaiah on June 17, 2014 at 8:19pm

If you are referring to ludwigia repens, they will not do well in plain gravel. They at least need some root tabs

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Permalink Reply by Johanan Micaiah on June 17, 2014 at 8:18pm

Those gases will not kill your whole tank, they actually do some good because the bacteria there consume nitrate, and they actually help plants roots to grow better. Also, people have seen that when these bubbles come out from their sand, the fish don't seem to be affected

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Permalink Reply by Connor on November 7, 2011 at 4:57pm

get at least an amazon sword they look killer when they're healthy.. with the gravel tank your probably going to have to use root tabs which are basically healthy pills for your plants that you just stick in the gravel where its roots are. Now for the sand tank its going to be much harder to grow plants because sand is compact and the roots will not grow that well

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Permalink Reply by Johanan Micaiah on June 17, 2014 at 8:12pm

Many people have grown plants in sand, and they grow very well... Many even cap their dirt with it

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Permalink Reply by Danny1107 on November 7, 2011 at 4:58pm

Thanks for the replys guys, I've since dirted my tank though!

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Permalink Reply by jeremy on November 7, 2011 at 7:39pm

I have a planted tank without dirt to and i use fertilizer root tabs and all my plants grow great

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Permalink Reply by Johanan Micaiah on June 17, 2014 at 8:11pm

Some plants can grow easily in plain gravel such as water sprite, hornwort, and elodea. You can also try floating plants or those that you anchor to wood or rocks (cos they don't grow on the ground) :) also other plants will need some form of nutrients in the substrate, so u can use root tabs. For the rest, liquid ferts are adequate

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Permalink Reply by DePreston on July 11, 2014 at 6:20pm

I have an all gravel tank with about 3 to 4 inches throughout with a pile of plants that make it look like a forest in there. I have no idea why anyone would want to put dirt in a tank, I try to keep mine, a 90 gallon, clean.