# Should I Change to Live Plants?



## Plyr58 (Mar 7, 2007)

I am fairly new to the aquarium scene and am considering adding live plants to my setup. I have a 28-gallon bow front aquarium with a Penguin bio-wheel filter and a heater. I currently have 2 Serpae Tetra, 5 Neon Tetras, 2 Buenos Aires Tetras, 2 Diamond Tetras, and 3 Panda Corydoras. My water temp hovers at approximately 78 degrees and I have the basic hood/ fluorescent light setup that came with the tank. My bio-cycle has been complete for a while and I am slowly adding a few fish at a time. I was considering adding some live plants to my setup to replace the fake ones that I have now, but I was advised by an employee at Petsmart that fish would just uproot them and they would end up floating at the top of the aquarium. Is this true? I know these guys generally don’t know much about what they are selling (based on the other posts I have read they apparently know nothing). I would love to add some live plants, as long as it is not going to dramatically test my skills as a newby to the hobby. If it will not be that difficult, can anyone recommend some good plants for my setup and how to go about adding them? Thanks.


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## NewfieFishGuy (Jul 27, 2006)

Post back a bit more details about your lights. Wattage/brand I suppose. But you likely have a low light tank so you have to look for low light plants.

I've got neons and corys and neither of them touch my plants. Certainly there are some kinds of fish that will. Strange for them to say that. Normally it would go the other way and they'd try to sell them no matter what...


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## goldseverum109 (Mar 7, 2007)

i think you are good to try plants, just add a few at a time, and im not certain but its my understanding that biowheel filters leach alot of C02 from the water, that plants need.......or maybe its the opposite, something to look into.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

Java fern, amazon sword, rangeri sword, broadleaf sword, java moss, and chain sword are not to demanding. Most Crypts are also very easy to care for and do not require any specific lighting at all.


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## rcomeau (Apr 23, 2006)

I got motivated to change to live plants when I read anti-toy posts. I was also discouraged from live plants by my LFS. They told me that customers don't like fighting algae. I took the plunge and detailed it in this 'discouraged' post.

Maintaining live plants can be as complicated as brighter lights (~$100) timed for hours a day, CO2 injection (~$200), substrate (~$40), and fertilizers. You might want to try Seachem's Flourish Exel first. I think of it like cheating... you should be able to establish growing conditions without it. Overdose to bring algae under control and normal doses to keep it in control along with plant growth.


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## Plyr58 (Mar 7, 2007)

Thanks alot! I'm going to investigate the biowheel bleeding CO2 from the system and start looking into adding some live plants.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

Provide proper lighting (not 100 bucks mind you ) and the plants I listed should do just fine.


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## squishy (Mar 8, 2007)

you could get plants such as amazon fern but then u might have a chance of getting snails 
you could also just buy fakes


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## girth vader (Apr 24, 2006)

if you want plants and are adding CO2 somehow (diy ect.) ditch the biowheel. It will cause you to lose the CO2 in the water faster making it hard to impossible witha low tech CO2 system to keep up.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Try a few "low-light" plants and see how they do. You don't have to jump whole hog onto the planted-aquarium bandwagon to add a little green to your tank.


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## girth vader (Apr 24, 2006)

emc7 said:


> Try a few "low-light" plants and see how they do. You don't have to jump whole hog onto the planted-aquarium bandwagon to add a little green to your tank.


agreed. java fern, anubius, vals....... soem may say crypts but they like a little more light then ppl give credit for.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Try a lot of low tech plants. Dont buy one or 2. Much easier to add a buch than one or 2. Stay with easy cheap plants.


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## Kageshi17 (Sep 6, 2006)

My post might help a bit seeing as I JUST got into live plants and also have the standard hood that has a wattage of 20. Hahaha low and pretty much not very good for growing, haha, but it does its job with the right plants.

I added 1 java fern (seeing as my lfs had REALLY unhealthy looking plants)
2 tufts of java moss (1 tied down with floss and the other stuffed in the end of a plastic log)
5 bulbs of aponogeton (i think thats it, the sell them at walmart)

So I pretty much assumed the bulbs would never sprout, that the java fern would die, and the moss might do well because it is said to be hardy. Well, the moss hasnt taken ahold of anything yet but is getting bigger and my cories love to sit in it. The java fern still doesnt look very nice but isnt dead yet! And ONE of my bulbs is sprouting green grasslike thingies! Yay!

So, pretty much, this was a success. The only thing is now I have algae on my glass that is brown and spreading. But of course, this is how the world works! So I purchased one of those magnetic cleaners that you just slide accross the glass and it works wonders! Its awesome. I would definately say try it!

Heres a pic of it incase you dont know what I mean:

http://www.petsmart.com/media/ps/images/products/detail/large/SpringCatalog05/lg_56573_4128f.jpg

And go with java moss! Its the coolest for covering decorations and makin em look awesome. Hahah.


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## girth vader (Apr 24, 2006)

I'm glad to see you're happy  thats the main thing. and welcome to the ever addicting world of live plants


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## Ravynnm (Mar 5, 2007)

> The only thing is now I have algae on my glass that is brown and spreading.


Have you considered a birstle nosed pleco for the algae? My 55 was coated so you could bare see in, added 2 and within a week it was all gone, and my glass as stayed clean. They're not really cheap, you'll never see them, but they only get to about 4" or a bit more, and will keep the algae under control.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

After the BN plecs have eaten all the algea, they will go on to eat your plants if they do not have another source for food.


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