# Nice plants to decorate Driftwood?



## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Hello Everyone,

so I just ordered a small piece of driftwood online along with some other things like water conditioner from pets and ponds. The Driftwood should arrive Wednesday because I live close to where they ship from. My question is what are some nice ways to decorate the driftwood with real plants?

My setup is 
5g
3 watts per gallon of light
Fluval 20g CO2

So far I have 2 banana plants (just started to grow roots after I turned them right side up after a month), some micro swords (growing but not spreading), one anubias plant, and some fern like plants. Could I use any of the exsisting plants or should I get something else?


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## Fishy friend2 (Dec 7, 2011)

I usually place a small carpeting plant at the very edge of the driftwood where it's laying down, and Riccia would look amazing on the driftwood


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

anubias nana petite would work well on the driftwood..it stays small so it will be proportionate to the tank...they are slow growing plants but very beautiful....


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Javamoss, well really any kind of moss would cool. Moss will attach itself.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

ok, I'll try to make a carpet around it with the microswords, if it doesn't work with the current gravel I have I'll add a thin sheet of sand ontop of the gravel for the micro swords to be able to grow. I might get some moss for it but I'll see about that once the wood arives. Thanks everyone, i'll post a picture once I get it all set up in a few days. What sand (or sand like substance) do any of you guys have good experience with?


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## cossie (Dec 19, 2010)

java moss and java fern


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

ok, so I just now looked at some off the plants you guys wrote about, and I think I'll go with java fern and another small anubias plant. It wont be till a few days untill I have time to go to the lps though. I hate having to be patient


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

bulbitis fern would work. It can be hard to find sometimes but has a really neat look when it gets larger. Takashi uses the plant quite often and it works for him. It attaches works the same as anubias and java fern. (don't plant the rhyzome)


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

I'm sorry if I sound like a noob, but how do you see what the rhysome is? Also would playsand work as a substrate on top of the gravel just so my microswords can spread?


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

For the substrate I changed my mind. I'll take out the gravel and will go all sand instead. I will probably use silica sand instead of playsand. I did some research and silica sand seems to be the best. One more day untill the driftwood arives


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

figured out what rhizomes are. Can't wait till the grand rescapeing next time I do a waterchange which is sunday


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Plant substrates? They would be your best choice. If you can get you hands on some Fluval Stratum I have heard good things about it. If you are planing on using rooted plants I would advise agains sand. If you stick to your driftwood plan you could use whatever you wanted.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

I'm sticking to the driftwood plan, but I also have some rooted plants. I know that some people say sand is bad because it is so compact that it can crush the roots, but then from other posts on the internet I have read that sand is good. It seems so confusing, but the pool filter sand has fairely big granuels so I think it should be fine. I also like the look of sand which is why I want to go with it. Also I think micro swords need sand to spread, and banana plants will grow better on it. I think I will try it out since I also want to get maybe like two corys for clean up of uneaten food.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

well at least get yourself some root tabs if you insist on sticking with this substrate.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

I'm not questioning your wisdom Grogan, but why are root tabs necessary. I guess I forgot to mention that I dose Nutrafin Plant Grow twice a week, 2.5ml each time. Does this not provide enough nutrients to the water? Or do these Nutrients just not get into the ground? What root tabs would you recomend?


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Liquid fertz are more for plants that absorb there nutrients from the water column. Rooted plants get there nutrients from their buried roots and therefore will not get what they need from liquid fertz. depending on where you live I would suggest ADA root tabs. They are what I use but can be difficult to find sometimes. I know that Petsmart carries API root tabs which should work just fine. They need to be replaced monthly


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

ok, I didn't know that different plants absorb nutrients differently so thank you. I will check my lps first since I can actually get there without my parents driving me. 

I realy hope the driftwood will arive later today so I can prepare it for the weekend. I'll just boil it since it's small.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Anubias, Java fern, and stem plants are a few examples of plants that absorb nutrients from the water column. Swords, bulb plants, and grass like plants are an example of some that feed from the substrate.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

ok awesome thanks. The driftwood just arrived with some other stuff, and I must say it looks pretty sexy  Can't wait till sunday to decorate the tank. I'll post some pics once I'm done


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

So once again thank you, I set up his tank sunday and here are some pics.

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/album.php?albumid=709&pictureid=5524

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/album.php?albumid=709&pictureid=5525

I really like the new look, and hope that the microswords will thrive. I'm on my way to the petstore now to pick up some malaysian trumpet snails to churn the sand.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

looks great guy...very nice job....now you can enter it in the TOTM contest..


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

Thanks  I'll do that once I figure out how it works. I think I read a thread about it so I'll just look for that again.


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