How to plamt in ADA Amzonian?

[Judi]

Oh my, definitely some cloudy water here too!

Kind of serves me right; I was feeling a bit smug after filling the tank ever so carefully, and seeing minimal clouding. "OK, so it's a little cloudy, but what's the big deal?" I thought. And then I planted my Downoi, and saw big billows of brown stuff swirling through the tank!

I left it alone after that (had to --I couldn't see what I was doing!), and it had cleared quite a bit by the next morning. Did a 75% water change, and planted a few stem plants. Still some cloudy stuff, but not as bad as before. Left it until the next day, did another big water change and planted some more. And again, left it alone until today when I did a big water change and planted more stuff. Each time it seems less cloudy, so I think things are moving in the right direction.

I've been using tweezers, a chopstick, and occasionally fingers to plant. So far, so good. Everything has stayed put. I have noticed however, that suddenly my hands feel huge when I'm working in that tank. And I never realized I had such fat fingers

[krisw]

I'm glad the water's clearing for you Judi.

Here's one other thing that might help in the future. When Amano came to the AGA in 2004, he demonstrated how he sets up and plants a tank. Basically, he fills the tank with substrate, sets up the hardscape, fills in gaps in the hardscape with more aquasoil, and then proceeds to fill the tank up, but only until the water line is just above the substrate. Then, he plants his entire tank with barely any water in it. To keep plants moist, he uses a spray bottle to dampen them. Then, once the entire tank is planted, he fills up the tank (slowly) the rest of the way. By doing most of your planting with very little water, you're not moving as much water around, as you plant, pulling more dust into the water column.

[B Considine]

Now you tell us

[Judi]

I'm glad the water's clearing for you Judi.

Here's one other thing that might help in the future. When Amano came to the AGA in 2004, he demonstrated how he sets up and plants a tank. Basically, he fills the tank with substrate, sets up the hardscape, fills in gaps in the hardscape with more aquasoil, and then proceeds to fill the tank up, but only until the water line is just above the substrate. Then, he plants his entire tank with barely any water in it. To keep plants moist, he uses a spray bottle to dampen them. Then, once the entire tank is planted, he fills up the tank (slowly) the rest of the way. By doing most of your planting with very little water, you're not moving as much water around, as you plant, pulling more dust into the water column.

That makes a lot of sense. I had wondered (after the fact, of course) if I should be doing the planting with little or no water in the tank. I'll try that in the future. I'm sure that method carries its own challenges, though!