Live Plants?

kevinthecow · Jan 2, 2009

Hi FFers! Just asking, but..

What are the benefits to live plants?
How much is usually a plant? (I see some at my lps for $4ea. A variety of them too)

Thanks for replying!

minxfishy · Jan 3, 2009

Live plants are beneficial in that they use up nitrAtes and some ammonia I believe, not too knowledgable about plants though myself, just getting into real ones again after a long time of silk plants as Ive had problems keeping them alive in the past

I guess thats a reasonable amount of money per plant, they are about £1-2 each over here (UK) depending on the variety of plant.

Truck · Jan 3, 2009

plants will mop up nitrates and ammonia as minxfishy said.

some things to consider.

light
fertilisers
and CO2

all of them are benificial to a plants growth, and if given in the right quantities the plants will thrive

kevinthecow · Jan 3, 2009

Fertilizers?

Carbon dioxide?
So, if I go to my lps, and what do I ask for? Live plant fertilizer?

OldMan47 · Jan 3, 2009

If this is your first foray into the live plant realm, I would start with low maintenance, easy plants Kevin. The CO2 and fertilizers usually come with higher light and more difficult plants. For an easy plant to grow, try to get some java fern, java moss or anubias. All of these will grow with the light that a typical tank comes with. The anubias and java fern cannot have their rhizomes planted in the substrate so be careful not to plant them too deep. Java moss will just lay on the tank bottom and never is really rooted but it absorbs nitrates and is a good spot for fry to hide.