Plastic Grass Mats

[Thyra]

Does anyone have suggestions on what to use to anchor fake grass mats to the substrate? I can't get enough weight on them with just the gravel and any vacuuming usually knocks them loose. I am guessing lead sinkers would be a no-no in the tank because doesn't lead leach into the water? Is the stick glue from electric glue guns safe? If it was, I might be able to find some flat rocks I could glue them too. Or what about metal - like some large galvanized nuts?

 

[OrangeCones]

I've always used nylon fishing line to make a 'harness' around a flat-ish rock and then tied the fake plant to the rock. The rock can be buried in the gravel so you don't see it.

You can use 'Superglue' also (cured 48 hours before putting it in the water) but I've never had luck with it staying 'stuck' over time unless the rock is really flat. Same with silicon glue.

The nylon tied to the rock trick has let me do good gravel vacuums without dislodging the plant.

 

[frankenfish]

suction cups stuck to the flat bottom of the tank under the substrate might work

 

[Thyra]

Thanks for the ideas. At this point the harness and rock idea might do the trick!

 

[OrangeCones]

I do the 'harness' idea too on pieces of driftwood that don't sink on their own yet. It was so frustrating trying to tie the rock TO the deco without having it all come undone while trying to tie knots. It was easier to just tie a bunch of random loops around the rock, then I could run a loop or two around the deco and tie it off easily. Far safer (for driftwood) than putting rocks on TOP of the wood. I had a friend do that with some big rocks in a cichlid tank and they knocked the rocks off and one hit the tank wall. Didn't break the glass completely, but it was a long crack that leaked slowly. He had to replace a 75gallon tank (he didn't want to try to repair it and have it fail and then he'd have a bigger mess on his hands ....errrr carpet!)

 

[Thyra]

These grass mats are about 6 inches square and the base is made of a grid so there will be plenty of places to tie to - in fact I am starting to think I can fit the rocks on top of the grid inbetween the individual grass sprigs and secure them that way. I have some 2 inch sort of oval and kind of flat smooth black rock from the beach that might work just fine.

 

[Lotus]

Most aquarium weights these days aren't made of lead, they're made of zinc. So, they should be safe for fish/fry. It might say on the packet what the weights are made from.

For sticking stuff, superglue is safe for aquariums.

 

[Kiara1125]

If you want to try and tie something, do the regular first knot, but instead of just wrapping the string together once do it twice. So take one end of the string and wrap it around the other like you were tying it regularly but loop it around one more time. It's called the cooking knot and it holds the knot in place. It really helps.