well, i don't have any live flora in his tank...what i have are artificial plants...i'm not sure if i plans to put some live ones...but in case i doesn't, is this set up healthy to the fishes? will they survive and thrive in it? or is it necessary for natural plants to be added?
artificial plants
- Thread starter roger1
- Start date
fish really dont care. it's all about prefrence. Real or fake they wont really harm anything....Real ones dieing off may ruin water paramiters though..
Hehe we are pretty much speaking in almosts and maybes here. As long as you have a good maintenance schedule you should be fine without plants. I think one of the big mistakes people make is to assume that if they have a planted aquarium they can do less maintenance because the plants help keep the aquarium balanced. This to me is the wrong attitude to take. Now your just asking about will your fish be healthy and be able to thrive in a aquarium without live plants and the short answer is yes. The real answer depends upon how you maintain the aquarium.
fresh_newby said:
Hmmm...I had some platies that lived in a fake-planted aquarium, got moved to a planted one to keep it cycled for about 6 weeks, and then moved back to the fake-planted. They acted the same in both tanks. :huh:
I agree that water quality is the key, not plants.
Hannys_Papa said:
maybe... decaying plants... but i doubt this, if you keep on top of everything your planted tank should be much better balanced, the plants act as biological filtration and produce oxygen for the fish
Hannys_Papa said:
For someone who isn't constantly checking pH, ammonia, nitrates and the works, the stable water conditions is because there is a lack of a whole other factor that affects the water condition itself.
Many people with planted tanks use fertilizers for their plants. This can potentially be a source of water pollution. People also use CO2 in their tanks for better plant growth. CO2 + H2O -> carbonic acid, which lowers pH. There are many additives in planted tanks that can affect the water quality.
However, if you get your fertilizing schedule down pat and have everything up and running and it's all stable, I believe a planted tank will yield an overall better environment for your fish. But that takes time, patience, and trial and error.
It's all down to the tank schedule. Nothing will replace water changes for keeping a clean environment. Plants are not a magic bullet and can substanstially raise your maintenance time, but IMHO that's a small price to pay for a tank that can't be rivaled by plastic plants.
I can't think of anything negative about keeping live plants. Sure people get algae but that's common in non planted tanks, except that in a planted tank the algae has more areas to infect. That's all part of the learning curve.
roger1, there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping artificial plants but if you want to try live ones, go for it.
I can't think of anything negative about keeping live plants. Sure people get algae but that's common in non planted tanks, except that in a planted tank the algae has more areas to infect. That's all part of the learning curve.
roger1, there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping artificial plants but if you want to try live ones, go for it.