Benefits of Plants?
- Thread starter equinom
- Start date
R
One quick answer to plants is that it competes with algae for nutrients therefore limiting algae. I had plastic plants in my 90G for 6 months and the algae was terrible. Now that I have plants, not much algae can be seen. Real plants are much more beautiful than fake, believe me.
Funny that you mention 'the ease of artificial'. Maybe for 2-4 weeks. I find that real plants take less time to maintain than having to take out the fake plants to wash every couple months but that is just my experience.
I have never really heard that wood helps with the maintence though.
Funny that you mention 'the ease of artificial'. Maybe for 2-4 weeks. I find that real plants take less time to maintain than having to take out the fake plants to wash every couple months but that is just my experience.
I have never really heard that wood helps with the maintence though.
If good algae prevention and regular tank maintance is practiced, algae should not be a problem.
I have used fake plastic plants in all my tanks at home, and have never had algae problems with them. I don't even have algae eaters in my tanks, nor do I take the fake plants out and scrub them. I simply limit the amount of light my tanks get, keep the tanks minimally stocked, and make sure no leftover, uneaten food floats in the tank. I do regular water changes as well to keep nutrient (nitrate) levels low. I don't use any chemicals except for my dechlorinator.
There are many benefits to having live plants. Lots of fish like to nibble on them, so they provide an alternate food source. They help add oxygen during the photosynthetic process. They can help keep algae down by competition for nutrients. Some people like them aestically better than fake because of the more natural look.
The reason I personally don't have live plants is because I don't have time for punning and replantings, nor do I have the money to spend on lighting or CO2 equipment at the moment (although some would say that saving money from the purchase of plastic plants will pay for that). And I have goldfish, who would just love to rip up plants like they do the anachris I put in their tank as an experiment that is now floating all over the tank turing brown and wilty. Not many plants are compatible with goldfish anyway.
Some people say live plants are easier to take care of, some people say that it is a lot of work. My opinion on that is you get out of it what you put into it. If you invest the time and finance into researching live plant care, you will make it easier on yourself in the long run to maintain healthy plants. From my understanding of it, is it not as easy as putting a pot in the tank and hoping it grows *shrug*.
Good luck.
~~Colesea
I have used fake plastic plants in all my tanks at home, and have never had algae problems with them. I don't even have algae eaters in my tanks, nor do I take the fake plants out and scrub them. I simply limit the amount of light my tanks get, keep the tanks minimally stocked, and make sure no leftover, uneaten food floats in the tank. I do regular water changes as well to keep nutrient (nitrate) levels low. I don't use any chemicals except for my dechlorinator.
There are many benefits to having live plants. Lots of fish like to nibble on them, so they provide an alternate food source. They help add oxygen during the photosynthetic process. They can help keep algae down by competition for nutrients. Some people like them aestically better than fake because of the more natural look.
The reason I personally don't have live plants is because I don't have time for punning and replantings, nor do I have the money to spend on lighting or CO2 equipment at the moment (although some would say that saving money from the purchase of plastic plants will pay for that). And I have goldfish, who would just love to rip up plants like they do the anachris I put in their tank as an experiment that is now floating all over the tank turing brown and wilty. Not many plants are compatible with goldfish anyway.
Some people say live plants are easier to take care of, some people say that it is a lot of work. My opinion on that is you get out of it what you put into it. If you invest the time and finance into researching live plant care, you will make it easier on yourself in the long run to maintain healthy plants. From my understanding of it, is it not as easy as putting a pot in the tank and hoping it grows *shrug*.
Good luck.
~~Colesea
Anacharis does poor in water with higher nitrates IMO.
I had nice looking anacharis back when I first started using live plants. I neglected the water changes on an over stocked tank, and the nitrate got higher. As the got higher, the anacharis started looking bad.
Did the water changes, it came back fine. That was with no ferts, no Co2, and 40 watts over my 55.
A no brainer plant IME is hygrophila sperma and hornwort. These grow for my in anything. I cant seem to kill java moss either.
On the other hand..I cant keep java fern or anubius nana if I tried. Both look real bad on their older leaves(bad to me, fine to my friends)
Plants use ammonium/ ammonia, then nitrates. If your filter system is new, they help by using ammonia. If they don't have ammonia, they use nitrates. It is all a balance issue. If you don't have high lighting, don't use liquid ferts(or very minimal on doeses)
Co2 is a plus in my opinion(and some sort is required at high light levels IMO), but I have two tanks that I do not fertilize or use Co2, and the plants do Ok. Not good enough to put their cuttings in my 55 gallon planted though.
Artificial looks like it says. They are actually easy to clean with diluted bleach. They just look fake..as they are. The silk one are nice for a while, until they start getting stringy and torn..then look worse than any.
I had nice looking anacharis back when I first started using live plants. I neglected the water changes on an over stocked tank, and the nitrate got higher. As the got higher, the anacharis started looking bad.
Did the water changes, it came back fine. That was with no ferts, no Co2, and 40 watts over my 55.
A no brainer plant IME is hygrophila sperma and hornwort. These grow for my in anything. I cant seem to kill java moss either.
On the other hand..I cant keep java fern or anubius nana if I tried. Both look real bad on their older leaves(bad to me, fine to my friends)
Plants use ammonium/ ammonia, then nitrates. If your filter system is new, they help by using ammonia. If they don't have ammonia, they use nitrates. It is all a balance issue. If you don't have high lighting, don't use liquid ferts(or very minimal on doeses)
Co2 is a plus in my opinion(and some sort is required at high light levels IMO), but I have two tanks that I do not fertilize or use Co2, and the plants do Ok. Not good enough to put their cuttings in my 55 gallon planted though.
Artificial looks like it says. They are actually easy to clean with diluted bleach. They just look fake..as they are. The silk one are nice for a while, until they start getting stringy and torn..then look worse than any.