a few questions from a plant beginer

[thetmaxx]

should i trim my argentine sword? i've done it before with leaves that looked bad, and it grew back way better. I haven't done it in a while because its looked really healthy, but it has a few leaves with holes, and the such. by triming those, would it cause more positive growth?

also... where do most of you buy your plants? from pet stores, or do you find better deals online. and how do online stores ship the plants? im considering buying more plants, but i dont think my aquarium shops have the particular plants i might be looking for that online shops do. or might i be beter off asking the shop to special order the plants? ( i know petco can s/o any fish species)

and if you could, recomend some plants for my aquarium... i was thnking some java moss, maybe a java fern, some anubias, some cryptocorynes? obviously picking them out for size...and i was also curious about crowding plants... like if i plant a bunch together as i've seen many people do, are there any side effects to that?

thanks!!!!

 

[djlen3]

You need to tell us more about your tank. Tank size and wattage of your lights, as well as any other info. you can supply regarding water conditions etc.
Different types of plants require different conditions and no one can make recommendations/suggestions without more knowledge of your tank.

Len

 

[thetmaxx]

10 gallon, 15 watts.nitrates are hard for me, cuz i kindda over feed. nitrites are always low, hardness 120ppm. ph is normally about 7.2. 9 i just did my weekly test. i really need to work on not overfeeding.

 

[hashbaz]

From what I have seen most online stores require quite a large minimum order. I would suggest asking petco to special order it if possible. My next suggestion would be to check ebay. - but make very sure the seller has excelent feedback!

 

[malkore]

10 gallon, 15 watts.nitrates are hard for me, cuz i kindda over feed. nitrites are always low, hardness 120ppm.

Uhhh, nitrItes should be 0ppm, other wise you've got a problem keeping your good bacteria alive.

did you mean nitrAtes are always low? nitrAtes aren't very toxic until you hit really high levels, but nitrItes above 2.0ppm start to kill fish.

 

[thetmaxx]

well, by low, i meant 0, i have a color test strip, and its always the color of 0, and the next shade of pink is .5ppm so, i guess ya, its always 0. nitrates get high, (40-80ppm) but now i have more fish to eat more food. Im really excited, and hoping to see the nitrates stay below 40ppm due to less over feeding.

also, any input to triming the sword? is it a good thing to do, to encourage growth? thanks!