Low tech plant question

[Brent Shaver]

I want to add a couple plants to a 10 gallon which will be a half sand, half water set up for a vampire crab.  I know most plants would prefer a nicer substrate so was wondering if anyone has tried the seed pods you can get?  They are the hard little hockey pucks that once hit water swell up.

I would like to mount the roots in the pod and then bury the pod in the sand.  It has a nice set up to hold the substrate in place without spreading out.  I know the roots will out grow it but am hoping this will work as the plants will not be directly in the water but in the sand.

Any one done this, is there any pros or cons I should watch out for when doing this?

Thanks in advance
Brent

[HappyGuppy]

With soil substrate aquariums, essentially what you are doing, it is important to have an inch of inert substrate on top of the soil (gravel, sand) to lock the soil out of the water column, otherwise you can have a big mess, and serious spikes in nutrients (may kill fish & spark algae bloom). 

I have had a few soil tanks in the past, and in the end what I liked doing was using small containers (trimed yogurt plastic cups, small terracotta pots, coconunts) where I'd put a tablespoon or more (depending upon size) of soil, then plenty of sand/gravel on top.  Then I put the plant inside.  In some tanks I left the container visible, for some I scaped the gravel around the container to make it invisible.

Feel free to try those pucks, but I'll be honest with you that I personally wouldn't go that route.  Remember when they swell they grow up a few inches tall, so you would need an absurd 4 or 5 inches of substrate to keep them covered.  Think 1.5 inch (trimmed) plastic cups... 1/4 to 1/2 inch soil, then remainder sand/gravel.  That would be my 2 cents.

[HappyGuppy]

Another option that might be better for you is to make small clay balls with nutrients.  You can go to Ottawa pottery supply near carling/maitland, and get the smallest bag of natural clay. Either use some aquarium relatively safe ferts to mix in, or sometimes some kinds of pet food works well too.  Make the balls the size of marbles, let them air dry rock hard, then bury under the sand, and the plant on top of it.

[HappyGuppy]

Never tried, but you can probably make tiny dorodangos the size of marbles, let air dry rock hard, and use them as suggested above.  That is an intruiging idea... I'm gonna have to try it.  I am sure it would work very well for you, can't see why it wouldn't, and based on previous experiences as long as it is at least an inch under your sand you're fine.  Hmmm... this is a great idea.  Incredibly cheap, easy, fast, and effective.  Thank you for posting your question to spark off this thought process!!!

[Brent Shaver]

Maybe I didnt explain myself properly.  

First the pucks would be at full capacity of water when the plant was put in, the puck itself would be above the water line although I am sure the sand would retain enough moisture to keep the plant well watered.

These crabs need dry land as well with plants.  I understand there could be some leaching but thought it would be low.

Maybe I will have to try it out and watch for problems for a while before adding the crab, possibly 2.  This will give me a better idea of possible problems.

I am planning on having a horseshoe pvc pipe under the substrate to keep water flow moving.  I am hoping to make this happen with a small power head to keep the water moving.

Again this is a new venture so a lot of thought, very little experience.

[HappyGuppy]

Hmmm... crabs eh?  So basically wet sand, not really an aquarium?  Yeah, that might change things for sure.  It might work, but now I'm not confident in my 2 cents of input (good for aquariums, but not sure what you're doing - terrarium hybrid?)  I would still strongly suspect that the dorodango idea would probably be your best solution based on the details of this thread.

[sas]

I've used the disks that you are describing, and they worked well. I used them to plant plants
that had fine roots in my coarse gravel.
They will eventually break apart but it takes awhile.
Just make sure that they aren't loaded with chemicals.
Think they'll work out even better for you since they won't be under water.

Nice idea look forward to see what you end up doing.