Monday, November 3, 2008

Aquarium Plants

Keeping plants in the aquarium can require just as much patience and care as the fish in your aquarium. Keeping a planted aquarium will pose many new challenges for you to keep track of and manage. Many people chose fake plants for their aquarium, but they do not get the full experience out of these. In this article I will going through the various things you need to consider when picking out the proper plants for the aquarium.

The first thing you want to do, is find out what type of plants best simulate your fish's natural habitat. Of course you could always mix it up as long as it will pose no harm to your plant or your fish. Many fish require plenty of plant cover in their natural habitat so it is good to provide it in the aquarium. You should also make sure to not add real plants to aquariums where the fish you are keeping tend to eat that plant type. You should also make sure to house any plants in an aquarium of at least 10 gallons in size. It is better to have an aquarium of 30 gallons, but for starting out 10 gallon should work just fine.

As far as lighting conditions for your planted aquarium, you should provide an adequate amount of lighting for the plants. You should make sure that you do not use lights that can cause additional heat to be transferred to your aquarium. Lighting arrangements can work out if there is plenty of plant cover for this fish to hide under, but you should also definitely take into account the fish's own lighting needs. It is best to include plants and fish with similar lighting requirements to make adjusting the levels that much easier.

When you are putting plants in your planted aquarium, you should provide a suitable substrate for the plants to get their roots in. A substrate of at least 1-3mm in size is normally recommended, but you should check your plans specific needs to find out exactly what would be the best for it. Most planted aquariums are freshwater, so just be sure to properly condition and de-chlorinate the water so your plants aren't damaged. Different species of plants have different water conditions so just make sure you know the exact water parameters to properly care for the plant.

I have tried to show you a couple of things to take into consideration when you are thinking out the details for your planted aquarium. I always recommend you take it a bit slow when starting out your planted aquarium. Haste definitely makes waste, and it is great to have a bit of patience. You can purchase your aquarium plants from many retailers all over the web, you can always ask a helpful sales representative if you have any problems or questions when selecting the plants. Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope I was able to provide you with a bit of useful information. An informed decision on a planted aquarium is always the best kind.
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