I am new here and have been reading through many of the posts and it seems like everyone here has a planted tank. Is there a reason for this besides that it looks better? It seems like and awful lot of work and I wanna have a nice looking tank but I don't think i'd have the time to maintain a planted tank.
seems like everyone here has a planted tank, any reason besides looks?
- Thread starter jujubee
- Start date
Well I like the look of planted tanks more. If it is done right with lowlight low matinee plants it’s not that bad. But a lot of times it will add to the matinee you will be doing on that tank. If you have a good plane from the start it’s not bad but does a lot of reading on it first.
A planted tank will not let the nitrates build up because the plants will use up the ammonia before it can cycle. With to little plants you will end up with algae. You will have to do water changes every week.
If you set one up looking into a planted tank look at the low light low matinee plants.
A planted tank will not let the nitrates build up because the plants will use up the ammonia before it can cycle. With to little plants you will end up with algae. You will have to do water changes every week.
If you set one up looking into a planted tank look at the low light low matinee plants.
Welcome to AquariaCentral!
It may seem that way, but not everyone has a planted tank... I'm actually more incline to think that more people actually have tanks with no plants in them.
Plants can provide many benefits to a fish tank... as said by got_nailed. Generally, when comparing a healthy planted tank to a healthy non-planted tank... water in the planted tank is of better quality, because plants are in a nutshell, the ultimate filter. Conventional filters relay on nitrifying bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite, then nitrite to nitrate. Whereas plants take both ammonia and nitrate and convert that to plant mass. Adding plants to a tank also increases the surface area of the tank, and thus increases the surface area for nitrifying bacteria to colonize as well. It is quite possible to run a heavily planted tank with nothing but a couple of powerheads for water movement (as long as the tank is stocked lightly and has fast growing plants).
If you decide to research further into keeping plants, you'll also notice that there are two kinds of plant tanks you can keep... the high tech tank, and the lower tech tank. High tech tanks have higher maintanence time, but also has rapid plant growth, and it is easier to acheive a "lush" aquascape in a high tech tank. Low tech tanks obviously have a lower maintanence time... but it plant growth is slower. Both have their pros and cons, it depends on what you want, and what kind of money you're willing to spend.
If you want the filtration benefits of plants, but you don't want to spend the time maintaing plants in a show tank, you can plumb your show tank via overflows into a sump. The sump can be planted with fast growing plants, and will give you the benefits of plant filtration.
By all means, you can keep a healthy tank with no plants. I keep a Malawi cichlid tank with no plants, and its inhabitants are thriving.
HTH
-Richer
It may seem that way, but not everyone has a planted tank... I'm actually more incline to think that more people actually have tanks with no plants in them.
Plants can provide many benefits to a fish tank... as said by got_nailed. Generally, when comparing a healthy planted tank to a healthy non-planted tank... water in the planted tank is of better quality, because plants are in a nutshell, the ultimate filter. Conventional filters relay on nitrifying bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite, then nitrite to nitrate. Whereas plants take both ammonia and nitrate and convert that to plant mass. Adding plants to a tank also increases the surface area of the tank, and thus increases the surface area for nitrifying bacteria to colonize as well. It is quite possible to run a heavily planted tank with nothing but a couple of powerheads for water movement (as long as the tank is stocked lightly and has fast growing plants).
If you decide to research further into keeping plants, you'll also notice that there are two kinds of plant tanks you can keep... the high tech tank, and the lower tech tank. High tech tanks have higher maintanence time, but also has rapid plant growth, and it is easier to acheive a "lush" aquascape in a high tech tank. Low tech tanks obviously have a lower maintanence time... but it plant growth is slower. Both have their pros and cons, it depends on what you want, and what kind of money you're willing to spend.
If you want the filtration benefits of plants, but you don't want to spend the time maintaing plants in a show tank, you can plumb your show tank via overflows into a sump. The sump can be planted with fast growing plants, and will give you the benefits of plant filtration.
By all means, you can keep a healthy tank with no plants. I keep a Malawi cichlid tank with no plants, and its inhabitants are thriving.
HTH
-Richer
I know this is the fish forum and not the plants forum, but I was wondering if Richer or somebody else had suggestions about easy ways to have plants in your tank. I really like the idea of having live plants, but I don't want to invest too much time or money. I like the sound of the "low tech" tank.
yeah, same here. i am just getting into this hobby and i am worried that a planted tank would be too much to take on right now.
How much lighting does your tank have?
For plants that don't need much attention, you can try various species of Anubias, java ferns, and java moss. Those plants are quite beginner and low tech friendly.
-Richer
For plants that don't need much attention, you can try various species of Anubias, java ferns, and java moss. Those plants are quite beginner and low tech friendly.
-Richer
thanks richer for all the info. I am really new at all this and am trying to learn as much as possible. I have been reading through all the posts and doing searches and stuff and there is just so much to learn. Its gonna take a while to get all this stuff down. lol
Definately take your time and learn from our mistakes and experiences. Though its more work for you right now, it will pay off for you in the long run... you'll be more happy with your tank, and the fish you'll get will thank you as well.
-Richer
-Richer
I used plants in my very first tank almost right from the start. Its not quite as difficult as you might believe. Make sure you buy inexpensive plants with low to moderate light requirements. Java Fern and Java Moss are the two you hear most commonly mentioned though I've never tried them.
I've had good luck with Crytocyrne, some Swords, and Anubias in a 10g with 20W of flourescent light. The more light, the faster the growth, in general.
It really doesn't start to get tricky until you start going for plants with high light requirements. With the low light plants you can even get away without fertilizing, particularly if you're not heavily planted.
My tanks are all planted and I love it. The nitrates are always low and the fish are happy.
One peice of advice when buying plants at your LFS. Many shops will sell aquatic plants in the same tanks with semi aquatic plants. Semi aquatic plants are meant for things like terrariums where the plant is only partially submerged and will die and rot in your tank if fully submerged. The problem is, many shop employees don't have a clue about the distinction between the two so they can't be trusted to inform you.
The safest thing to do is to do a little research before you go. If you find plants that catch your eye at the shop, write down the names and do a google search on them to confirm that they are actually aquarium plants. Spending money on a plant that rots in your tank and clogs up your filters is a crappy way to learn
Tom
To answer the original question I have plants for two reasons. I believe it helps keep my tank stable and I also think my fish like it better planted.
Now to get to what MissMeow and Jujubee are asking I use a low tech tank myself. I have 80 watts over 50g long tank so right at 1.4 watts per gallon. I have one corner planted in anacharis mainly for algae control, but I have found my neons like it to hide out in also. I also have some 12 crypts of three varieties (lucea, wendtii red, and wendtii green) along with a java fern attached to driftwood. With those set up so far I really haven't noticed much more maintainence over an unplanted tank. I more recently added a compacta sword (really beautiful one I'm hoping survives) and some microsword, but will have to wait a few weeks to be able to tell how well those are going to do.
Now to get to what MissMeow and Jujubee are asking I use a low tech tank myself. I have 80 watts over 50g long tank so right at 1.4 watts per gallon. I have one corner planted in anacharis mainly for algae control, but I have found my neons like it to hide out in also. I also have some 12 crypts of three varieties (lucea, wendtii red, and wendtii green) along with a java fern attached to driftwood. With those set up so far I really haven't noticed much more maintainence over an unplanted tank. I more recently added a compacta sword (really beautiful one I'm hoping survives) and some microsword, but will have to wait a few weeks to be able to tell how well those are going to do.