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Re: Substrate longevity
George wrote in:
> Aquatic Plants Digest Sunday, October 25 1998 Volume 03 : Number 602
>
> Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1998 12:16:50 -0700
> From: George Booth <booth at frii_com>
> Subject: Re: Substrate longevity
>
> We typically uproot all stem plants, trim the best part
> off the top and replant the top. We toss the root end and do a little
> surface vacumming in that area. This avoids the problem of unsightly "water
> roots" and, I conjecture, stirs the top part of the substrate enough to
> remove any waste material or alleochemicals generated by the plant,
> preventing it from "poisoning" itself. Also, it will get replanted in a
> slightly different spot where there has not been a concentrated "nutrient
> uptake" by its roots. Sort of like crop rotation <g>.
I use a sterile 4" 2-3mm sand substrate my 55g setups.
Once in a year or so I "air" the substrate using 18"
glass tube 1/4" dia hooked up with an my best air
pump. I poke around the substrate with this tube
and the air pushes out all the muck/mulm/detritus,
which gets filtered out.
It would make a mess of layered "active" substrates.
Regards
--
Raj
Bangalore, South India