Just a couple of clarifications I would like to make.
Aquarium plant are not all created equal but most of them are in fact semi aquatic. As the seasonal droughts and floods occur they need to adapt their leaf structure to facilitate
co2 uptake. For example, emersed plants will develop stomata which will take in
co2 but when they are underwater they will change their leaf structure and lose the stomata. The leaves are very thin so that gases can move between the leaf surface and in to the plant. True terrestrial plants die under water and there are a few plants sold in aquarium store that are strictly non aquatic.
Natural water ways vary in terms of
co2 availability due to geographical elements. Some waterways are low in
co2 but high in carbonates. As we know plants can take in carbonates and change it’s structure internally to
co2. So just because waters are naturally low in
co2 does not mean that there is a shortage.
As you can see from the data supplied by Tropica (one of the leading suppliers of plants in the industry for decades)
co2 in natural waterways can be quite high, far exceeding that of equilibrium. If you consider that most high tech keepers aim for 30ppm
co2 then it is quite clear some plants do come from
Waterways with a very similar
co2 content. It isn’t fair to say these plants are terrestrial only. Some of these plants die without high levels of
co2 because they are not accustomed to water that is low in
co2.
So in short, some plants need
co2 supplementation to survive in aquariums but it doesn’t mean that they are not aquatic.
The question is whether high tech plants and fish/shrimp and snails etc share the same spatial characteristics. What might be required for some plants might not be good for certain fish species and vice versa. This is why it is important to keep species that are closely linked in nature.
Planting as many different plants as you can and letting the dominant species take over. This means they are tailored to your water and there is no need to add things to the water to help.
Lastly, many aquarium plants do very well on relatively low light. In fact most aquascaping competition aquariums only run at <40 Par which would be considered low light.
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