Live plant

[Velksfish]

I have just recently been think about using live plants in my new tank. But i know nothing about what it tAkes to do so, and how difficult it is to grow and maintain. And suggestions and help with be very very helpful.

Not for sure if i will be using live plants yet but would like to learn about it and all the pros and cons. Thanks.

 

[Autumnsky]

Go to the articles section and read about plants and lighting and fertilizing, also read the stickies in planted tanks. Get an idea of what you want to do with the plants and which ones you like and what type of lighting.

Mostly newbies will start with low to medium since there is little extra to do for them, cost wise or time wise. Low light plants will add to a great environment for your fish, and make the tank look nice too. I like my low to medium light plants.

My two cents worth is that you not leave your light on for 12 hours straight hoping to make good light for your plants. Can lead to algae as can over feeding.

If you aren't home on a regular basis to turn the light on and off, get a timer and give the plants a 2-3 hour rest period in the middle of your 6-8-10 or 12 hour light period. It has made a big difference for me in avoiding an algae problem.

People here are generally great with your questions and very helpful.

Some of my first plants were Banana plant, moss ball, and chain sword and a good group of plants are the Anubias, for low light. A couple of my favorites are Ambulia, mosses, and ludwigia repens x l. arcuata.

 

[TOMatt]

I have just recently been think about using live plants in my new tank. But i know nothing about what it tAkes to do so, and how difficult it is to grow and maintain. And suggestions and help with be very very helpful.

Not for sure if i will be using live plants yet but would like to learn about it and all the pros and cons. Thanks.

I recently added Wisteria and Amazon Sword to my fake-plant tank.
Right away the fish seemed happier. They nibble at the Wisteria, but not enough to stop it's growth. As the real ones grow, i'm going to slowly swap out the rest of my fakes so that it's an all-natural tank.
The wife also noticed that the aquarium looks nicer with organic colours and "honest" plants.

I'm glad I'm switching to live plants. Hopefully you will be too.

 

[Fresh2o]

...
My two cents worth is that you not leave your light on for 12 hours straight hoping to make good light for your plants. Can lead to algae as can over feeding.

If you aren't home on a regular basis to turn the light on and off, get a timer and give the plants a 2-3 hour rest period in the middle of your 6-8-10 or 12 hour light period. It has made a big difference for me in avoiding an algae problem.
....

I was wondering about the same thing (taking break in the middle of a photoperiod) and what effects it would have on the plants and fish. Initially my timer would be set so that I could view the fish in the morning before work and it would shut off late in the evening. Obviously this was too many hours. So I reduced it to midday to early evening (8-10 hours).
Let's say the lights were on 2 hours in the AM then off for 4-5 hours then back on for 6 hours in the evening. Would this have a negative impact on the fish? I read an article about an experiment on lighting and fish where the lights were on only every other day (or every third or fourth day) and the guppies in that tank lived lived quite a bit longer than the control group. I don't recall other details from the experiment but it got me thinking about the opposite effect...increased photoperiod frequencies contributing to a shorter life span. Any thoughts on this? I'm going to back to looking at my fish now while the lights are still on.

 

[librarygirl]

It really depends on how much you want to put into it. There are a good number of low-light plants that can grow mostly in the lights that come with the tank or a cheap upgrade. Some of these are: Swords, anubias, java fern, mosses (do a GOogle search for "low light aquarium plants" and you'll come up with a good list. Most of these plants grow fairly slowly so there isn't much maintenance involved.

If you wanted to go high-tech, you'd need a good amount of light and start dosing some fertilizers, maybe special substrate, and would probably need CO2 depending on your light. These tanks are more high maintenance due to the fertilizers, etc and the more rapid growth of the plants.

 

[Rivercats]

All planted tanks are different. In low light tanks there is no benefit from having a light break, in medium tanks it is rarely needed as if there is an algae issue it is stemming from something besides lights barring lights are only run 6-8 hours daily. For high tech high light tanks light break work for some not for others. I have high lights over my 220g. 4x39w 6700K T5HO's and 3x150w 6000K Metal Halides. I run my T5HO's for 10 hours simply because that is very low light over a 220g and rather deep tank. But my Metal Halides have a 6 hour light burst running time. I get get plant growth. Also adding liquid carbon such as Excel will help plant growth in any tank. It aids plants in photosynthesis and growth. Any except very low light tanks benefit from this. I actually run my high tech tank using liquid carbon only. Which also brings about the subject of fertilizers. In low and even some med light tanks with low amounts of plants a good liquid fert like Seachems Comprehensive is good to use weekly or bi-weekly after WC's. One med light tanks with alot of plants or high light tanks then dry ferts are the way to go with daily dosing.

As for substrates a planted tank can use sand or gravel but the plants benefit from use of one of the commercial substrates that has a high CEC (cation exchange capability) which means the substrate can absorb nutrients from the detris and water and hold them for use by the plants.