Can I plant with ugf?

[Brengun]

I was wanting to have a few plants in my undergravel filter. Do you think a few swords and "bit" pieces of other plants would be ok here and there?

 

[Doodles]

For a few plants i would say yes.

There are good and bad points to UGF with plants, the roots can get tangled in the plates but on the flipside they enjoy the nourishment that is provided.

I had a few plants when i had an UGF, and they did pretty well.

Also if you have plecs in the tanks especially the larger ones, they could up root some of the plants but that would be the same in any type of tank and a lot of plecs like to eat amazons lol

 

[scatz]

i always had a few plants when i had an UG filter, they seemed to grow better for me then than they do now:wb:

 

[Lornek8]

My experience seemes to mirror scatz's. When I simply stuck some plants into a tank with an UG they grew better then my attempts at a heavily planted tank with a more dedicated approach including specialized substrates.

 

[bre]

same here, we had some in with an ugf and some in another tank with the ugf. the ones with the ugf grew better etc....even though the other ones were getting more attention.

 

[Stan]

I set up a 40 litre seamless for my wife with anubis nana, java fern, and a couple of vals. I use a UGF with the powerhead set up backwards (water flows up through substrate) been set up for over a year with no issues. HTH
Stan

 

[Rabbit]

Just liky hydroponics the plants are getting a constant wave of fresh water past the roots along with a captive/constant food source.

 

[Brengun]

Ooh your posts have encouraged me even more to put a few plants in as I am not the greatest at plant growing and need all the help I can get. :clap:

 

[Rabbit]

lol me neither brengun but i found it easy with an established tank and a undergral filter.

 

[kerryteatsjr]

I can say that there isnt a single tank that I have with an ugf right now that doesnt have plants in it. I can also say that java fern grows like a weed in these conditions.I actually throw it away,I also have some crypts and anubias that are doing fine for over 4 years in a ugf tank.

 

[Brengun]

So the java fern I can just stick in the gravel in a back corner somewhere or do I have to fasten it to a rock first?

I have a huge java fern on dw which is always throwing off plantlets. Its gotten so big I have to lay it across my arm on rare occasions I take it out as the weight of it would pull away from the dw. Its about the only plant which has grown well for me as that val stuff doesn't really florish here.
Val used to when my pH was around 7 but since I am using rainwater of closer to 6 pH some plants don't do so well.

This is exciting. I wish the the ugf would hurry up and arrive so I can get cracking.

 

[scatz]

the java fern will root well in the gravel, no need to attach it to anything.

 

[Rabbit]

Iv found val to do alot better in african tanks.