# Plants in a bucket?



## Grey (Feb 9, 2013)

I have come across some plants from a friend that he was otherwise going to throw out. My tank isn't ready for plants yet because I'm doing the "dry start" method. My plan is to put these plants in a bucket of water and let them float with a desk lamp shining on them. Will this be okay for a week or two? 

Thanks


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## Ischemia (Dec 19, 2012)

worked for me when I was setting up my tank. you may get some small amount of die off if they are rooted plants but you should be good to go


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

+1 to ischemia


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

should be fine as long as the water doesn't get too cold


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## Grey (Feb 9, 2013)

okay Ill giver a try. thanks guys


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

I just did the exact same thing. I put a pile of plants in a bucket (with tank water, for nutrients), and put the bucket beneath my tank, with a light on for a few ours a day. 

I sorted them out and sold them today, and they seemed as good as when i put them in, around 6 days ago. It worked really well, just be sure to keep a bit of light available (but not to much, or you'll get algae).


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I've kept plants going in a bucket for weeks at a time. I run an air stone in it, because it helps prevent the water from stagnating. If I don't have tank water, I just use conditioned tap. 

I try to keep all new plants in a bucket for awhile, to make sure they don't have anything hitchhiking I don't want, like pond snails, planaria, etc. Despite that, I now have planaria, detritus worms and various other wildlife in my tanks, but not in excessive numbers. Fish eat some of them, at least. 

But QTing plants will help keep such things down. Also it will leach any pesticide residues that may still be on commercial plants off them. I light the bucket with a clamp lamp containing a spiral CFL 23W or 13W 6500 K bulb - depends which plants and how light hungry they are. 

So long as it's not packed so full that the stuff at the bottom is shaded right out, they'll stay in good shape for a surprising length of time in a bucket. I prefer a white bucket, which helps reflect light off the sides, better than a dark bucket.


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## robert77k (May 27, 2012)

I’ve had some plants sidelined for up to 3 to 4 months and not only did they not die, they actually were growing. These were the ones that feed off of the water column. The ones that feed off of the substrate will die on you eventually but even those can go for weeks before the need to be tossed.

The desk lamp is probably not the right light for the plants, unless you are using a proper CFL bulb which you can by at the pet store. They need proper lighting and to get that you need a proper quality bulb that is less than 1 year old. What I did with my plants that were sidelined was put them in a clear container and put them near a bright window (but not direct sunlight). The best light is natural light and bright light beside a window should be enough for most plants. I also changed the water with old tank water every time I did a water change in my tanks. That has the nutrients they need. If you don’t have any tanks running yet, you can add a little bit of plant fertilizer. I never added a air stone but that seems like a good idea and probably helps so if you can easily do that, give it a go. It will help to get some CO2 that is in the air into the water.

The substrate plants will survive several weeks, but they will die eventually. They just need to get their nutrients from the substrate. Although I never tried, it might be possible to actually plant then into some dirt or other substrate that has nutrients right now (Like Stratum). That would probably help. Planting them in just pain gravel probably wont help since it hasn’t built up any nutrients yet from a cycled tank. But maybe if you added a fert tab in the substrate, it might be enough to root and feed the plant. At the end of the day, the three basic needs are light, nutrients, and CO2. Via water colum or substrate depending on the plant. Do your best at giving it those to needs, and you will do fine.


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## Grey (Feb 9, 2013)

Will they be alright at room temp?


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## robert77k (May 27, 2012)

Room temp is fine. They arn't as sensitive as fish and have a wider temp range.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Even plants that normally grow in substrate can last a surprising length of time in a bucket if they are rootless cuttings. Ensure there are nutrients available so they can generate roots, and you can have nicely rooted cuttings to plant after awhile. Not all stem plants will do well this way but a good number of them will. 

If daylight is not an option, you can get 6500 K spiral bulbs pretty inexpensively at Home Depot. Cheapest in boxes of four, but they're sold singly too. Phillips brand, they call them 'Daylight' types.. come in 9, 13 and 23 W strengths. I use them in a simple clamp fixture with a round aluminum reflector that works very well for a bucket.


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## Reckon (Mar 6, 2013)

Fishfur said:


> Even plants that normally grow in substrate can last a surprising length of time in a bucket if they are rootless cuttings. Ensure there are nutrients available so they can generate roots, and you can have nicely rooted cuttings to plant after awhile. Not all stem plants will do well this way but a good number of them will.
> 
> If daylight is not an option, you can get 6500 K spiral bulbs pretty inexpensively at Home Depot. Cheapest in boxes of four, but they're sold singly too. Phillips brand, they call them 'Daylight' types.. come in 9, 13 and 23 W strengths. I use them in a simple clamp fixture with a round aluminum reflector that works very well for a bucket.


+1 was about to say to still dose a little into the bucket. The plants won't look immaculate but they should be alright. Plants that require CO2 should still get CO2.


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