A few months ago I would have said plastic, however, since I've taken the plunge into real plant keeping, I'm hooked, despite the algae(and I hate algae!!!). I'm even considering trying my hand at real plants with african cichlids in my new 80g. From what I've read and been told, I'll need alot of luck.
real or plastic?
- Thread starter ballsmcgee1234
- Start date
Propz said:
If you do it right, it is possible! There is an article about it on Aquahobby.com.. BTW, Good Luck!
Live plants have their pros and cons, and they are very beneficial. Plastic plants may not look as nice or have as many benefits, but they are low maintenance!
Check out the planted African pic! Crazy!
DeLgAdO said:i like plastic
live requires to much maintanence for my kind of tank, plus my silver dollars and tinfoil barb would have a field day
Real plants take to much care. I have 1 that has actually lived. I like aged fake plants better, after they have been in a tank for awhile they start to look real. But i do like the look of real plants better if it is done right.
i got real plants in my 55gal. I got a geo and labs and blue rams but there small so they dont uproot yet
It all depends if you want to be a slave to your tank, anyone can keep live plants, there are sour plants that fish will not eat, there are low light plants so you dont have to go out and buy the expensive lighting for your tank, and there are low maintance plants so you never have to do anything to them. If you like scrubbing algae and doing constant water changes then go ahead and do fake plants but keep in mind algae is a plant and when you have established plants in your tank they compete with algae for CO2 that the fish produce and also suck up the nitrates in your water which cuts down on the water changes you have to perform. There are only 2 ways to get rid of Nitrates,water changes or live plants. Plants are algae's competition and will cut down on the scrubbing of algae and the amount of water changes. If there is a will then there is a way. Hope this changes some minds and clears up some myths.
~Zack~
~Zack~
Real plants. Fake plants look so... fake. Heheh. I'm using native Minnesota aquatic plants to go with my native fish to make a biotope of a Minnesota lake. I'm eventually going to make my 210 gallon tank into a Minnesota planted tank, but fish I need to sell my live rock and sand - I decided saltwater wasn't worth the effort. I think bass are way more beautiful than any saltwater fish anyways.
Funny.. I was going to ask the same question. Myself, I still have plastic but want to start a REAL tank however I am trying to do my homework first. The problem I keep running into is not the plants being eaten it is that all the helper animals for keeping a planted tank are best described as "Lunch" for my other fish.
