Habitat - Indoor :: Need suggestions for plant bases

[Shorty's mom]

I want to make some weighted plastic plants for shorty's tank. I have the plants already but I am stumped as to what to use for the bases that will be safe for her. Would I use some type of cement mix or something along that line? Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

[adam85491]

I guess you don't have one of those fake plants with the little stone holder on the bottom to weigh it down? Aquarium glue aka silicon is what you should use if you want to stick them to the bottom of the tank, however, they do sell aquarium suction cups so you can stick the plants in them and put them wherever you want.

[Shorty's mom]

I do have plants with the stone holders but since I don't have stones\gravel in the tanks they don't stay down and float in the top of the tank. I need them to be rather heavy so that they stay on the bottom of the tank but she can push them around and not get hurt. She loves to play with her plants(never eats or shreds them though, thank goodness!) but doesn't like them just floating on the top. Thanks for your suggestions though!

[adam85491]

I use river rocks, you can get them at the dollar store and they are those smooth polished ones. They will usually fit in there and are safe for your turtle as they are big enough so they will not get eaten. This works for me and they move them around but you could always silicon/suction cup them down. Just trying to help.

[SpotsMama]

I weight them down with river rocks that are glued (with aquarium silicon) to the stone holders. Works for us.

[DavidY]

Sometimes you can find some porous rocks at the pet store like lava rock or sandstone. You can use a masonry drill bit and an electric drill to make some appropriate sized holes that you can stick the plants into and then silicone glue them in place. I haven't tried that yet myself but I've thought about doing it.

[missibsu]

I believe what adam was talking about was not the plastic cups that hold stones, but the fake plants that look like they have stones on the bottom that act as a weight. You can buy preweighted plants at many petstores, and it will save a lot of time glueing and drilling, etc. They are cheap too, so when they get nasty you can pitch and replace.

[DavidY]

But that takes all the fun out of it.

[adam85491]

Actually, I kind of worded it bad, sorry about that. You make a good point about the preweighted plants so there are definetly numerous options for holding down plants. I only have one fake plant and its the kind that is in a green hollow base that you fill with some sort of stone. Preweighted plants are another good option, though.

[Spookster]

Sometimes you can find some porous rocks at the pet store like lava rock or sandstone. You can use a masonry drill bit and an electric drill to make some appropriate sized holes that you can stick the plants into and then silicone glue them in place. I haven't tried that yet myself but I've thought about doing it.

That's exactly what I did. It looks good and works perfectly.

[marisa]

In the past I've siliconed flat rocks to the bottoms of the plastic holders that the plants are stuck into to weigh them down. They've never come undone, and are easily moved around, even by my turts.