Does anyone know if aponogeton and dwarf lily plants are root feeding or leaf feeding? I've tried to find the information on the internet but I'm coming up empty. Also, what is the best way to gravel vac a planted tank? I am worried about uprooting the plants or damaging the roots.

you might have wanted to post this in the plant section instead of the tropical fish section, but to answer your question both plants are definitely root feeders.

They are both, but root feeding is more important to these plants so use some root tab fertilizers if you aren't already. Syphoning a planted aquarium can be tricky....just to small frequent water changes and try to be careful. It will be hard at first because the plants won't have their roots all settled in, but they will become more strongly rooted later. Try to stay clear of the bases of the plants or you'll suck up dissolved root tabs! I do that so often lol.

Thanks. I did buy some of the seachem root tabs last Wednesday. I had been using liquid fertilizer. Maybe that's part of the reason the roots on some of the apons didn't look too good when I moved them into my larger tank. I have also been thinking about getting a CO2 system to see how that works.

Which co2 system would be best? One uses fizzing tablets, the other uses activator (my guess is yeast) and sugar. Would it even be worthwhile to use a co2 system on a 10 gallon tank with only aponogetons and 1 dwarf lily?

I'd like to know the answer to that aswell. I'm trying to plant my 10gal. I got the aponogeton bulbs too, I bought two packs and had a total of 12 bulbs. Only five seem to be sprouting, one of which looks dead already. I think I bought pretty much the whole seachmen Flourish line, but not the tabs so I ordered that today and I got the CO2 machine that uses sugar, I got that in today.

I went ahead and bought the co2 system that uses sugar as well so i'll see how it works.
I've learned that when I buy apon bulbs, it's best to look for ones that look larger with an orangish-redish tint to the bulb as opposed to ones that are shriveled and a dull brown color. I've had pretty good luck that way. I also bought a couple more dwarf lily bulbs on Sunday and one is already starting to sprout. 3 of the new apon bulbs, bought at the same time, are sprouting as well.

most of the ones I got are bigs ones, but some of them still didn't sprout. I might get some of those lily ones too and see what they do. another one of my sprouts looks like it's dying, I got a few test kits, one of them is for iron and it keeps showing I have 0 in my tank so I've been adding the flourish Iron so I'll see what happens. I hooked up my CO2 machine last night at around 11 p.m. and this morning there still isn't any bubbles, but it says it can take up to ten hours, so I'll see on my lunch break if it started yet.

My co2 generator only puts out 1 bubble about every 1.5 to 2 minutes, it's not a steady stream. It started producing bubbles after about 2 hours (it's close to 80 degrees) Part of it would depend on the temperature where you keep your tank and co2 gen. Do you see any bubbles in the diffuser? If so, those might be co2 bubbles.

Yea, I've got bubbles now. Mine come every couple of minutes too.

I've noticed one of my new apon bulbs a very noticeable red tint to its leaves. The leaves so far are very narrow compared to my other apons, are flat, and almost look like a slender spearhead shape. It looks like an Aponogeton Longiplumulosus but with smooth leaves. Is this just some sort of apon hybrid or an entirely different type of plant?

I know mine, almost all of them are the redish colored ones, first they started narrow and smooth then they become curly. I was thinking mine are Aponogeton vanbruggenii, but I really don't know