Adding live plants is a wonderful way to enhance your home aquarium. Live plants add beauty, and they also enhance the atmosphere of the tank by boosting the oxygen in the water. Your aquarium fish enjoy a more natural aquarium setting, and it makes them healthier and their water more balanced.
There are some things that have to be considered when adding live plants to your home aquarium, and one of the most important is lighting. Fluorescent lights are fine, and it is recommended to ensure a lighting balance of 2-3 watts per gallon of water in the tank. The only concern with fluorescent lighting is if your aquarium is more than 20-inches deep. Some plants have a bunch of leaf levels, or they are not very tall, so having a light source that is too far away may hamper their growth.
Besides lighting, water maintenance is also a critical issue when live plants are added to a home aquarium environment. Obviously, the water must be clean and clear for both the fish and plants to thrive. Weekly cleaning and water testing is recommended, and this includes making sure that no debris is left residing on the bottom of the tank. Water full of waste and debris is very detrimental to live plants. Water hardness is also an important issue for live aquarium plants. Good, healthy plants do best when their water hardness is between 4 and 12 dH, and the pH level is between 6.5 and 7.2.
Just like the fish in your aquarium, live plants needs nutrients in order to grow and thrive. Live aquarium plants required macro nutrients and micro nutrients for survival. Macro nutrients are nitrates, phosphates and sulfates, and they are natural elements found in aquarium fish and the tap water used to fill the tank. You will never need to add macro nutrients to your aquarium. Micro nutrients include copper, iron and zinc. They are important to the health of live plants, so tiny amounts will likely be needed.
You don't need to fertilize the live plants in your aquarium, because the nutrients come from the fish and the tank itself.
The only other aspect that needs attention if you are adding live plants is your aquarium filtration system. When bringing live plants into the tank, it is not wise to use an under gravel filter. This type of filter creates a constant stream of bubbles, and this is not conducive to the growth of live plants. Additionally, the filter plate used on the bottom of the tank by an under gravel filter may interfere with plant roots and negatively affect healthy growth. Most other types of filters work just fine, as long as they are not too powerful. For optimal live plant care, you want to have good water circulation but not too much disruption on the surface of the tank.
Adding live plants to your home aquarium doesn't just enhance its beauty, it is great for the health of your fish too! Live plants do require a bit more care and attention, but as long as the water is properly filtered and maintained, you can count on a healthy and peaceful aquarium environment.
To read about sand shark and salt water fish tanks, visit Aquarium Fish Care.
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