Growing aquarium plants. Simple method

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Algae are also plants

Algae is one of the widest sub kingdoms in the plant kingdom. The obsolete name, lower plants, is used less and less in our time, however, this concept is due to the simple structure of plants.

The basics of algology

Algae - unicellular and multicellular photoautotrophic plants - they use light to generate energy. Algae grows not only in water, but also in humid conditions, for example, a stone located near a reservoir can become a great place to live algae.

There are a large number of different algae, they differ in color: there are green, brown and red algae.

Algae, entering into symbiosis (mutually beneficial assistance) with mushrooms, form a new organism - lichens.

Common characteristics for a large number of algae are:

The presence of chlorophyll.
Photoautotrophic nutrition.
The body of algae does not have a clear distinction and is called a thallus or thallus.
Algae live only in a humid environment - moist soil, water or any other place with plenty of water.

Scope of Algae

Most often, algae is used as food for people or livestock. In coastal countries, there are many popular dishes made using seaweed. Algae are cultivated to produce biomass for livestock feed. In coastal areas, algae is also used as fertilizer.

Iodine-rich algae are used in pharmaceuticals to create drugs.

The chemical industry uses algae to produce iodine, cellulose, alcohol, and acetic acid.

Algae are not only unique plants that can increase their mass twice per day, under favorable conditions. They are great for use as livestock feed - in the United States, algae are pressed into briquettes, which are then sold to animals.

Despite the fact that algae is the simplest plant, a large number of different food products can be prepared from it: bread, soups, chocolate, marmalade. Burlap and cloth for clothes are also made from algae.

It is necessary to choose what kind of algae it is worth growing independently, they differ in color, size and area of \u200b\u200bapplication.

In order to grow algae at home, do not have to carry out lengthy preparatory activities.

All algae needs is nutrient-rich water, carbon dioxide, and lighting.

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In the last century, scientists discovered substances that affect the work of various plant functions. With the help of these substances, every gardener can affect the life cycle of a plant, accelerate or slow down its development. Such substances are called growth stimulants.

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Modern technology allows you to control the development of plants by human will. Back in the 20th century, scientists discovered phytohormones, substances that stimulate all processes of vital activity and control their course.

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When growing plants without sunlight, you need to try hard to provide everything you need. After all, the plant feeds precisely light rays, without which growth and development is impossible, soil and fertilizer play a secondary role.

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With artificial lighting of any green space, powerful lamps are used that can give a large amount of light rays. But in addition to the number of rays, the plant is important for their quality, that is, the length of the light rays.

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LED lights are without a doubt the most modern way of lighting. Their design allows you to work at low temperatures and generate a minimum of heat during prolonged use.

Aquarium is a corner of wildlife in your home. The correct selection of fish and other inhabitants is important. In this review, we will tell you about which plants to choose for the aquarium and briefly describe the main aspects of care.

Types of aquarium plants

The following varieties of vegetation in the aquarium can be distinguished:

mosses and ferns - there are no full-fledged roots and leaves, there is no flowering, no care is needed, they grow in different conditions, are unpretentious, they perfectly decorate the aquarium (azolla, bolbitis, cladophora);
stalk plants - are distinguished by the presence of a trunk (alternanter, tradescantia, rotala);
rosette plants - do not have a stem, foliage grows from one point, forming a rosette (cryptocoryne, echinodorus, vallisneria);
ground plants - planted in the ground (hygrophil, kabomba, echinodorus);
unpretentious plants - require a minimum of attention (naias, hornwort, elodea);
floating plants - float freely on the surface (duckweed, salvinia, swamp flower);
ground cover plants - very stunted up to 10 cm, their shoots and roots beautifully envelop snags and stones, decorate the facade (ricchia, sitnjag, chemanthus cube);
fast-growing plants - grow rapidly, absorb organic and inorganic substances, revitalize the landscape (ludwig, lemongrass, ambulia);
meristem plants - they are obtained by microcloning, they are identical to each other, not susceptible to snails, algae and fungi.

Description of popular plants

There are many options for aquarium plants. Here is a short overview of the most common of them.

Schisandra

The plant smells like lemon, reaches a large size, has spiky leaves, is sensitive to chemicals in the water, requires a weekly replacement of a quarter of the water and mineral supplements. Schisandra grows in nutrient silted soil, has a powerful root system, needs intense lighting and propagates by cuttings.

lemongrass

Hornwort

This dense perennial plant adorns the aquarium, plays the role of a shelter for fish, filters the water from harmful substances. The hornwort is characterized by long stiff stems, it has no roots, algae grows per month per meter, swims in the upper and middle layers of water, has small inflorescences and fruits.

hornwort

Elodea

Water Elodea successfully reproduces, grows rapidly almost all year, requires a lot of light and cool water, lives well in all but tropical aquariums, can attach to the soil or swim freely. The plant resembles a tropical vine, requires pruning and minimal maintenance, has a long stem with bright green translucent leaves.

elodea

Anubias

anubias

Cryptocoryne

The cryptocorin plant is often found in home aquariums, there are many difficult to distinguish from each other species, the flowers are quite beautiful and rarely appear. It is possible to breed in poorly lit aquariums without supplying carbon dioxide, food comes from the soil without additional feeding.

cryptocoryne

Echinodorus

Fans of aquariums prefer echinodorus for its high ability to adapt to different conditions, there are excellent decorative properties, most species have roots, petiolate leaves and are arranged in a spiral. The plant requires bright light, often overgrows with algae, needs carbon dioxide nutrition.

echinodorus

Cabomba

You can grow kabomba in different aquariums, it is very beautiful, takes root pretty well almost everywhere, is unpretentious and does not create problems, which is why aquarists love it so much. This plant has high-speed growth, prefers a moderately warm or tropical environment and strongly affects the metabolic processes of the habitat.

cabomba

Nymphaeum

Nymphaeum has not thick, but strong roots, is in demand due to beautiful flowering, large heart-shaped leaves, it can be grown only in spacious aquariums. In the soil where the plant is located, there should be enough nutritious organic substances, for example, peat, charcoal, clay acts as top dressing.

nymphaeum

Riccia

Water moss as a whole is unpretentious, but grows better in intense light, it floats in water of any temperature, likes a frequent change of water. Riccia has stems filled with air and collected in sockets, does not require top dressing with minerals.

riccia

How to plant aquarium plants?

Priming

Aquarium soil is neutral, with a nutrient substrate, granular, ground. This product may be natural, such as crushed stone, sand, pebbles and stones. Also on sale you can see the soil obtained after processing natural materials with chemicals. And another group is artificially developed materials.

Most plants are attached to the ground, only a few are floating. The top layer should be represented by fine gravel or sand. The substrate is selected based on the wishes of the breeder. For an aquarium, gravel with fractions of 3-4 mm and river sand with fractions of 1.5-2 mm are optimal. Fine sand, such as marine or quartz, is inappropriate.

The soil should have normal porosity, an appropriate nutrient medium and as little limestone rock as possible. Dark color and the absence of harmful impurities are welcome.

Before placing the soil in the tank, it is washed and boiled for about 15 can with stirring. Alternatively, for preparation, you can use a warm solution with 25% hydrochloric acid, this allows you to fill the material with potassium useful for plants. After this treatment, triple washing is needed.

There are plants that can only be found in soft water. Suitable for them is soil purified from salts of magnesium and potassium. This is done with sulfuric acid. When aquarium vegetation requires an anaerobic environment, then planting is done in clay pots. Good soil is usually not painted. Most plants are comfortable with a soil thickness of 5-7 cm.

Soil collects bryozoans, fungi and bacteria on its surface. It promotes the processing of fish vital products, filters the water.

For planting, it is preferable to use natural soil, for example, small stones, quartz and quartz sand, lava, volcanic sand, pebbles. Application without treatment is possible. There are no nutrients in this material. Plants planted in such soil give flowering after six months. Enough silt will appear at this time.

It is undesirable to use glass, expanded clay, layered soil, garden soil for planting plants. Artificial multi-colored store material made of plastic and glass is appropriate.

Fertilizer

Aquatic plants will not be suitable for conventional garden flower dressing. Against the background of nitrogen deficiency, aquarium plants suffer - their leaves are destroyed and fall off. When there is not enough potassium, brown spots and holes appear on the foliage.

With iron deficiency, intense yellowing of the leaves is observed. For plants, calcium and boron are also important; without these elements, plants are deformed, and small leaves, whitened at the edges, appear.

Fertilizers are introduced into water in strict accordance with the attached instructions. The most significant factors are the volume and types of vegetation, the supply of carbon dioxide, the nature of the lighting, and the properties of water. Beginning aquarium lovers will not be mistaken if they start with ready-made fertilizers.

Modern substances for feeding are available in liquid form, as well as in the form of tablets or capsules. The liquid is poured into water, this fertilizer is useful for floating plants. Tablets and capsules are placed in aquarium soil, they nourish the roots well. Clay balls are also on sale; they contain trace elements, birch charcoal, sapropel, peat.

Before starting the aquarium, until the vegetation has adapted, feeding is usually not added, only potassium is used. It is also obvious that additives are not useful in an unbalanced aquatic environment. Therefore, you must first correctly set all the parameters. You should be careful when adding different products together, it is worth checking compatibility in advance, and in the worst case, a precipitate forms that does not dissolve.

Initially, the dosage of the new top dressing should be small, it is reasonable to add a third of the usual dose. So you can observe the changes. With an overdose of algae begin to multiply actively, which is undesirable.

As a rule, macronutrients are introduced in the dark, and micronutrients in the morning. Nutrients have a delayed effect, after about a month changes appear.

Examples of well-known manufacturers of aquarium fertilizers for the growth of beautiful and healthy plants:

Tetra;
Aqua Medic;
Florastim;
Sera
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals;
Tropical
AquaPlants;
Zoomir;
Dennerle

Lamps and light

The daylight hours in the aquarium should be close to the natural environment where the plants live. For example, for a tropical aquarium this is 12 hours. With a lack of light, plants grow slowly, their leaves fall off. Due to the excess light, aquatic vegetation can also suffer and blue-green and green algae begin to grow.

Today, fluorescent, LED, metal-halogen, mercury-organic lamps are popular. When choosing lighting should be based on the depth and volume of the tank, plant varieties.

For high up to 50-70 cm aquariums, it is advisable to use organic mercury lamps. Of the power is 80 and 125 watts. The lamp light reaches the bottom.

For an aquarium with a depth of 1 metric, metal-halogen lamps are needed, they are expensive and give good light output, color reproduction and intensity.

It must be borne in mind that individual plants do not like bright light. And some of them can change the appearance under the influence of light. Most species feel great in lighting 0.5-0.8 W per liter. When buying an aquarium with built-in lighting devices, you need to select plants for the existing environment.

For aquariums with dense vegetation, lighting of at least 0.8 W per liter is required. The best choice for a home herbalist (a water tank populated by plants) is a special phyto lamp.

Water parameters

The total hardness (GH) of the water should be 6-8 degrees. Plants do not need a too soft environment, and the maximum show is 15 degrees.

Temporary hardness (KH) of water is also important. The pH and SC are interrelated. If the SC is equal to 2-4 units, then the pH should be equal to 6.6-7.5 units. Such an environment is good for vegetation growth.

You will also have to monitor the pH level, the best range is 6.6-7.5. Under such conditions, plants grow well and absorb CO2 as much as possible.

There should be an optimal concentration of nutrients in the water, so all fertilizers should be applied in a timely manner. The average temperature is 24-25 degrees. If it drops below 24 degrees, then the plants can grow sluggishly, less algae appears. When the temperature exceeds 25 degrees, algae grow intensively. In the first week of a herbal aquarium, it is recommended to start at 22 degrees and gradually increase the degree.

Disease and Care

Why don't plants grow in the aquarium?

If you notice a slowdown in the growth of aquatic plants, you will need to check the hardness of the water, to populate fish that are carefully related to the landscape. Some species of plants take a long time to get used to a new place. Try to clean the soil and partially replace the water. And most importantly, review the temperature.

Why does a raid appear?

The cause of black plaque is infection with harmful algae. To get rid of this problem, it is necessary to regularly change the water, remove all undesirable impurities from the soil. Blackbeard is treated with a remedy called JBL Algol. It may also be necessary to update the entire aquarium, replace some of its inhabitants and the feeding regime.

Why do plants rot and blacken?

Blackening and rot on the roots is a consequence of soil problems. It is possible that organic deposits lie deep in the ground. Excessive soil density may also be a problem; loosening is required. And still acidification of the soil is undesirable.

Rotting and depletion of stems occurs in poor light. It is worth revising the light delivery schedule.

Sometimes cryptocoryne and some other plant species become infected with rot. This disease is provoked by oversaturation with nitrates, sudden cooling, or a change in the properties of water. For treatment, it is not necessary to touch the plant, it is enough to establish the correct environmental parameters and often change the water.

How to disinfect aquarium plants?

Disinfection of plants is carried out according to the instructions given by the manufacturer. They are kept in a disinfectant for some time. Only experienced aquarists can do everything right. Here are the suitable drugs:

bicillin;
whiteness solution;
buprofesin;
methylene blue;
imidacloprid;
alum solution;
trichlorfan;
peroxide solution;
ammonia solution;
sodium permanganate solution.

How to care for plants?

Aquarium plants need to be trimmed on time and skillfully propagated, well fed, created for them the right temperature and other parameters of the water, set the optimal lighting.

It is also important to control siltation, to change the water strictly on schedule.

It’s wise to buy a book on aquarium science, consult with specialists, or watch instructional videos regularly. Some fish can damage leaves and stems, this must be considered.

To growing aquarium plants one must approach with no less responsibility than to fish. Do not buy tropical plant species from cold reservoirs. When choosing plants for your aquarium, you need to pay attention first of all to their color - it usually should be bright green, their integrity, and the absence of rot.

Aquarium plants are undesirable to catch on their own - As a rule, the plants of our natural reservoirs live at low temperatures and can rot in a warm-water aquarium with exotic fish. Such plants must first undergo a complex and lengthy acclimatization process in a separate pond with a gradual increase in temperature. Therefore, it is better to buy aquatic plants at a pet store or from aquarists.

There is no need to fill the plants with water immediately after purchase, they only need to be warm and moist. Plants are sold either cut off - with a stem, leaves, growth buds, but without roots, or rooted. Remember that in a new place young plants take root better and do not pay extra money for large specimens - they can not always transfer a transplant.

Preparing aquarium plants for planting

Before planting, all plants should be washed with clean water at room temperature, each plant should be cleaned of the filamentous algae, caviar of snails, and rotten areas that adhered to it. It is also advisable to disinfect them as follows: dilute a 1% solution of alum or a 2% solution of manganese in 1 liter of water and lower the plants there for 5-10 minutes. Then rinse the plants under tap water. Do not forget to remove the rotten leaves and roots and shorten the long roots along the thickness of the soil layer to awaken them to early growth. Your plants are ready for planting in the aquarium!

When landscaping an aquarium, do not place plants too close together. Plants continue to grow, and their fast-growing species can increase dramatically in just a few weeks (wallisneria, sagittaria, egeria).

Rules for planting plants in aquarium soil

The soil used to plant the plants should not squeeze the roots so that water can flow freely around them. The roots must be placed in accordance with their natural growth. Plants rooted in the soil are planted so that the growth bud is on the surface of the soil and the roots are completely covered.

Cryptocorins and wallysneria take root vertically downward, this should be considered when planting. At apogoneton and echinodorus, the roots are flat, they go down only a few centimeters and spread mainly horizontally.

Water plantsthat absorb the substances they need directly from the water using the special organs of their leaves, you need to plant them in the soil in the form of cuttings, without roots, after removing the leaves from the two lower nodes of the stem. Creeping plants should be planted 4-6 pieces together, like bushes. In order to achieve the effect of a continuous wall during frontal viewing, plant the plants in a checkerboard pattern.

Sometimes plants are best planted not in the ground, but in pots. This is done in cases where fish live in the aquarium, who love to dig in the ground, or when it is necessary to limit the growth of the plant. A potted culture has the advantage that when cleaning the bottom soil, the vessels can simply be removed from the aquarium and then put back in without damaging the roots.

Large and thick plants will look better if you plant them in the background, and the light source will be on top of the aquarium. Being in the foreground, these plants will block the view in the aquarium and too crowded out the fish.

Fast-growing plants such as hornwort and dentate are excellent suppliers of oxygen and absorb nitrate from the water, which promotes the growth of algae.

Smaller plants look good in the middle and along the side walls of the underwater corner. Separate plants need a large space on the side and look better when they stand separately in the center; bush plants, for the most part, have a slender stem and are most representative, as their name implies, in the bush.

For the foreground, small plants are suitable that do not obscure the appearance in the aquarium. It is better to leave the part of the aquarium closer to the front wall that it is better to observe its inhabitants.

In that part aquariumAs it is best lit, plants that require a lot of light and grow quickly should be placed. Place the swamp plants as high as possible so that they soon emerge from the water and can bloom.

Aquarium Plant Compatibility

You can not plant any plants indiscriminately. Their individual species need to be combined into groups, and then separate them from each other using stones or snags.

Different types of mosses and plants can be used to cover snag. Thin cirrus moss, and in larger plants, like ferns, only roots, is carefully placed in narrow wood fissures.

If you have acquired various types of aquatic plants, then place them in the aquarium in the following order: plants rooted in the ground; plants floating in the water column, and the last - plants that live on the surface of the water. Naturally, before the second stage, fill the aquarium with water.

It is necessary to constantly monitor the growth plants in the aquarium, remove strongly overgrown shoots, make sure that plants floating on the surface and in the water column do not block the light of those that grow in the ground.

If you find a diseased process or leaf, immediately remove it from the reservoir. Once a week you need to replace the water in the aquarium by 10%, this is useful not only for plants, but also for fish.

The number of plants in the aquarium

The ratio of the number of fish and the number of plants in the aquarium plays an important role. The more plants per fish, the cleaner the water will be.

The dirt particles formed in this case are decomposed by bacteria and absorbed by the roots of the plants. An excess of mud particles always indicates too many fish, which does not allow achieving biological equilibrium.

You can arrange the plants according to your taste, but the vegetation in most cases should not occupy more than 1/3 of the area of \u200b\u200bthe aquarium.

Firstly, many fish will feel uncomfortable in a small amount of water.

Secondly, plants produce more oxygen during the day than carbon dioxide, and in the dark they only absorb oxygen, and this can lead fish in the aquarium to oxygen starvation.

Algae are aquatic plants that grow thanks to the nutrients in the water and solar energy. People grow many different types of algae, which have a lot of ways to use in everyday life. Different types of algae are grown for different purposes: for food or as a source of biofuel for trucks. One of the benefits of growing algae is that it is a fairly simple and clear process.

Steps

Part 1

Prepare a growing medium

Choose a transparent container so that the light hits the algae. For this purpose, a container of glass or plastic is perfect.

If you are growing algae for a science fair, take a plastic bottle or something bigger, like a small aquarium.

Fill the container with water. The culture medium will mainly consist of sterilized water. Pour water into a transparent container.
Add nutrients to the water. In nature, algae live together with other aquatic inhabitants. These creatures create a balance in the underwater ecosystem and provide them with a sufficient amount of nutrients, such as nitrates, phosphates and silicates. Since the water bottle does not have these nutrients and trace elements (such as trace metals and vitamins), you need to add them yourself. Buy them at a store or take some water from an aquarium or pond and add to the container.
- Water from a pond or aquarium can contaminate the culture medium with various particles.
- Nutrient salts can also be added to the container. Find a nutrient mixture that is suitable for most types of algae.
- Analysis of the effect of various nutrient mixtures on algae may be one of the topics of your scientific exhibition.
Find a sunny place. Before adding algae to the bottle, find a suitable place for it (window sill or sunny area in the yard where you can safely leave algae). This will allow the algae to receive enough sunlight to grow in the culture medium. If you are unable to find a suitable place, place a container of algae under the phytolamps.

Part 2
Add algae
1. Choose the type of algae. According to recent estimates, there are now about 70,000 species of algae in the world, and this is not counting those that have not yet been classified. People use different types of algae for many different purposes. Many types of algae are used to produce biofuels that feed electrical parts. Other types of algae, such as spirulina, are used in food. Sometimes algae is grown in schools or for scientific experiments. The choice of algae depends entirely on what purpose you need them for.
  - For example, if you want to include algae in your diet, start growing spirulina.
  - Spirogyru is sometimes used in science fairs.
2. Take a sample of algae. For a simple experiment, you can take any sample of algae and observe their further development. If you just want to observe the development of algae in general, take a sample of the algae in a pond, lake or other natural source. Do not forget that in nature there are many different types of algae. If you want to study a particular species, take a sample in the appropriate place. In this case, it is better to purchase a specific type of algae or algae culture from an algae company or order them online.
  - For example, many people are interested in growing algae such as spirulina. Since it is often used in food, buy a sample from a reliable company.
  - If algae are needed for a school project, take a plant sample from a local pond.

Instruction manual

Prepare the plants for planting seaweed. Remove rotten or sore parts. Cleanse dirt from roots. Prepare a weak saline solution at the rate of 1 teaspoon of salt per liter of water. Rinse each thoroughly, and then leave in the solution for at least five minutes - this is necessary to destroy pests. Rinse with running water. Shorten excessively long roots.

Choose a planting method for algae. There are two planting methods rooted in the ground. Can plant seaweed in already partially filled with water, but you can first plant the plants in the ground, and only then pour water. Each of these methods has its advantages and. In the first case, it’s much easier to inject seaweed the desired position, in the second - it is easier to fix the plant.

Consider the place where the algae is planted It should be remembered that plants, as a rule, should occupy no more than 1/3 of the area. Thick and seaweed It is recommended to plant at the far wall. If they are planted forward, they can block the view and squeeze the fish. Plants of size will look good on the sides and in the middle. Freestanding seaweed It is recommended to be placed in the center. seaweedleaving part of the front wall free. Make sure that photophilous plants are located as close to the light source as possible and do not obscure each other.

When planting algae in a dry aquarium, it is necessary to do small indentations in previously designated ground areas. Carefully lower the plant into the resulting fossa and make sure that its roots are pointing down and do not extend to the surface. Lightly compact the soil around the planted plant.

Bought plants before placing them in the aquarium, it is necessary to treat them with a disinfectant solution to rid them of the bacteria living on them. Prepare a solution of sodium chloride, consisting of 1 tsp. NaCl and 1 liter of water, rinse the acquired sprouts in it.

But for some sprouts this is not enough. Plants with increased buoyancy should be tied to the stone with kapron thread and buried in the sand. After rooting, the thread can be removed.

Top up the aquarium with water, straighten plants, give them the desired shape. After that, you can run surface plants. Place them in the corner where you want to see them. If plants spread out, build a small kapron network and limit the area of \u200b\u200btheir distribution.