Older Substrate

[aquaphish]

I have had my tank set up for around one year now and have noticed the other day that some plant roots have not been growing as before. I also notice when I dig into the substrate there is a release of bubbles from it. Is this a good or bad thing??? :? :? :?:

[Buck]

If you are talking of flourite it lasts a long , long time and never really loses its effectiveness.
The bubbles you are seeing comes from the breakdown of fish mulm through bacteria. Every few weeks I normally take my trusty 1/4" wood dowel that is pointed at the end and stab around in the substrate to always keep it from packing tightly. I also have sand in my tanks so this has become a regular habit over time.
As far as the roots stalling in growth...
Normally a plants root system will only grow large enough to support its needs. If it is constantly trimmed, the plant still only needs the existing size of the root system to get its nutrients and will slow down I have found, but if you let a plant of the same type get very large you will see the root system increase along with it.

Some plants definately break this rule though, ever pull up a 3 year old Sword ? Yiiiiikes ! :lol:

I wouldnt worry about the substrate getting stale at only a year but I would stir the substrate gently every now and then...

If the plants look healthy, they are healthy...

[convicted_convict]

Try pulling out a tiger lotus that has only been in your tank for two months.
I had roots from that going half the distance of the tank, which is a 55 gallon tank. Those roots were real thick too. It took me a while because I did not want to damage the roots too much and I also did not want to destroy the half of my tank.

[Wasserpest]

Sometimes the size of a plant isn't proportionate to the root size. I did pull out a Tiger Lotus recently http://www.plantedtank.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2379 but it wasn't as bad as I had thought.
On the other hand, I wasn't prepared for the root development on a comparatively tiny Melon Sword...

[anonapersona]

Originally Posted by convicted_convict

Try pulling out a tiger lotus that has only been in your tank for two months.
I had roots from that going half the distance of the tank, which is a 55 gallon tank. Those roots were real thick too. It took me a while because I did not want to damage the roots too much and I also did not want to destroy the half of my tank.

What substrate does that tank have?

[SNPiccolo5]

You can just pull to a certain point, and then cut. Eventually the other roots will decay and might actually provide nutrients for other plants...

-Tim