View Full Version : Live Plant Benefits
what are the advantages of having live plants?
any disadvantages?
PumaWard
08-17-2003, 1:04 PM
Plants provide a much healthier enviroment for fish. They take up stuff that would otherwise be toxic to your fish, (also help with the biological balance of things going on in the aquarium). Plants also help relax and bring out colors in fish and give them a place to hide and recoup when they are scared (although so don't fake plants). However, IMO, live plants make an aquarium look SOOOO much nicer than fake plants. I actually think they are easier because plastic plants, IME, gather algae over the long period, it becomes hideous and then is very hard remove.
They also give you the benefit of hearing "Oh, I love your tank!" :D (not all the time though).
The down side of plants is that they are actually alive. You have to clean away dead material from them, provide light and nutrients for them etc, etc. If you don't remove dead stuff, then they rot and add excess ammonia to the water, which may hurt your fish. Some plants don't grow roots, like hornwart, and come easily up out of your gravel or sand... others are just plan difficult to keep down.
However, IMO, the good way out weighs the bad and live plants make an aquarium look SOOO much nicer.
are there any particular plants that are better?
that are easier to care for?
PumaWard
08-17-2003, 1:51 PM
Java moss is by far probably the easiest, though you must take care because if you don't, it will become more off a nuisance. Hornwart and elodea are also easy to care for. I don't have experience with any other easy plants, but I have heard that java fern is also very easy.
cdawson
08-17-2003, 2:57 PM
Get yourself a bunch of beginner plants (like listed above). Since I added live plants to my amazon biotope tank I've spent countless hours staring at it, it's so much more realistic and more of a pleasure to look at. There is maintenance that is required everyday (for about 5 minutes a day). Daily you should add trace minerals (in smaller doses than the bottle recommends, they only recommend weekly), prune dead leaves, check to make sure your bulbs are working properly, and clean any dead or loose plants from the filter intake.
cdawson
08-17-2003, 2:59 PM
Originally posted by PumaWard
Java moss is by far probably the easiest, though you must take care because if you don't, it will become more off a nuisance. Hornwart and elodea are also easy to care for. I don't have experience with any other easy plants, but I have heard that java fern is also very easy.
Java moss grows in my bettas bowls like wildfire without light even. Same with hornwort, and .
well I went to my LFS and bought a small plant, but darn it, I forgot the name of it by the time I got home, it started with an A i believe...
I found the name "Anacharis"
PumaWard
08-17-2003, 8:50 PM
I believe that is a specie of elodea. I used to have some, it grew very easy until my brother's baby oscar decided that it tasted good ;)
this brings up a new question now that I have this live plant...
When I clean my tank out, every other week, I take out all decor and vac the gravel and while doing that I end up doing a 1/3 water change. Can I or should I pull out the live plant also?
cdawson
08-17-2003, 9:10 PM
no, I don't generally clean the gravel near the plants because I use flourite for substrate, the plants break down the waste and use it for nutrients. So, Vacuuming gravel is usually not a good idea when having a planted tank. Use some sort of plant substrate (flourite, red sea plant substrate). You can use normal substrate but, it's much better for the plants when using a plant enriched substrate.