Plants

[manners8]

I'm looking to add more plants to my tank at the moment (which currently has 1 plastic and 1 real plant) Just wondered if it made much of an issue by putting in more plastic plants.
How much more beneficial is it to have real plants in the tank.

As my tank is one of these wall aquariums space is not that large (tank measures L44" x W6" x H20")

 

[Mr._Fishy]

It depends on what kind and and amount of lighting you have and whether or not you inject co2. Some benefits of live plants are that they absorb nutrients from the water which helps prevent algae. But this also means that you will have to dose nutrients in many cases. They also look better than plastic plants.

Ryan

 

[fishboy2]

i, personally would go for plastic plants, because some fish tear and uproot them, and if you get algae on on the leaves, you cant take them out to scrub them. They are more expensive and require more maintance. I would stick with plastic ones, they work just fine.

 

[aaronnorth]

i, personally would go for plastic plants, because some fish tear and uproot them, and if you get algae on on the leaves, you cant take them out to scrub them. They are more expensive and require more maintance. I would stick with plastic ones, they work just fine.

You have to research on fish, even some types of anubias can stick up to cichlids. They are now where near as expensive, i was buying plastic plants and it cost me more, they were like £3-£8, some plants will be dearer than that but the majority is under£3, and if you see a plant for £3, you can easily split it up to create more. Algae won't grow much on leaves because healty plants will grow that quickly that alhgae wont have a chance to take over, and as for maintenance all you have to do is cut a few leaves of every week, or if you go for stem plants then the will need pruning to keep in shape.

Live plants will benifit your water and fish, the will use up excess nutrients but a weekly dose will supplement them, it will also bring out natural behaviour and colours in fish.

Some plants require different things like lighting, co2 ferts but there are easy ones that will take some killing like:

Anubias
vallis
egeria/ elodea densa
java fern
Hygrophilia polysperma
Cryptocorynes
Onion plant

 

[manners8]

thanks for the info, may just get more plastic ones, but i'm keen on getting some tall plants (atleast 14" high)to hide my filters behind on each side of the tank.
any suggestions on whats worth getting?

 

[Shrimper]

You don't need to be high tech to keep plants some plants, all you really need is a light. I have never added ferts or CO2 to my small tank and the Java fern, Anubias and Moss are all growing well.

I have Vallis in my bigger tank that is covering my filter quite well.

Depending on what fish you have I would recommend live plants, so long as nothing will eat them.

 

[billy0510]

i do like the look of real plants i have tried some here and there but so far have not really done a whole lot with real plants.

But as for fake plants i have tried and bought many different brands to see which are the best??? Still have no idea lol!!! I

do like Hagen Marina plants the best for there realistic look. they flow really nice i guess second best to real of course. I

really cant seem to get into silk though,I don't know why i have several friends who have silk mixed with real plants and they

look good mixed but not by them-self. The only real pro for plastic is that i can change my tanks whenever and my plants will

NEVER die, My fish wont eat them, i can get the look i want right away without waiting for plants to grow. I don't know

someday when i get more time i will probably do a planted tank but for NOW fake is my choice.

 

[loachman]

As long as you stay away from hard to grow species, a planted tank isn't that difficult.

Under standard aquarium lighting in my 75 gal, I have swords, crypts, vals, java ferns, and a couple stem plants. Substrate is a industrial black sand product, with root tabs placed around the swords and crypts. I don't dose with any regularity at all (I did at first and realized it didn't do much). The vals grow like made, the crypts are doing well, and the java ferns have been reproducing.

I'm sure they would grow faster, especially the stem plants with a more high-tech system but it looks good as is and the plants look healthy.

 

[aquablue]

I tried real plants in my tank and to be honest it requires much more work... but they do help keep the tank clean. On the other hand I had some fish eating my plants. IDK who or why but it bothered me. Anyway I currently have plastic in my tank. Its neat because now they have plastic plants thats look real. You pay the price but its worth it.

 

[manners8]

yeah i've since added a few plastic ones to the tank, don't actually look bad for a an ebay jobby. might get 1or 2 real ones and i think i should be done, but i'm off to get some more fish for the tank, yippee!