Thoughts on fake plants

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thanks, I will be re-doing it. Got destroyed when I caught three 3" fish out of it haha.
it's nice to know you're not perfect after all, ACO ;-)
Last time I caught fish, all the plants & decor were immediately yanked out of the tank.
 
I actually read that thread, but a lot of the info is not new to me and what is new is pretty much just some new plans to try, but they all just die or seem to just exist without any growth.

Yeah that's what I've been hearing. So you pretty much need an extensive system for them to thrive?..I think I will just buy some ferts and that's it.
 
My trip into live plants got to was a couple months after here:

ebeefec0.jpg


Then I just got tired of it and sold the tank. That tank had pressurized CO2 and dry fertz by the end. Best advice if you want to really do a legit planted tank is join a dedicated planted tank forum. It is just as much work and requires the need of a knowledge base as much as a reef tank IMO to get it looking like the pros.


Here's a couple more fake plant tanks of mine:

40:
E35AF133-C0F4-4486-8098-B279D1587808-374-000000254F0B55BF.jpg


180:
E8E87159-F141-4ADC-AEF2-D2F9B2E02D0D-1156-000000CB411BE44E.jpg


100 bow (cloudy from new sand):
7A4F4CDB-8C87-430F-B60A-765A2ECBC138-7513-0000042FC9EE0310.jpg




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Yeah that's what I've been hearing. So you pretty much need an extensive system for them to thrive?..I think I will just buy some ferts and that's it.

I have read threads with people who has low tech planted tanks that have had great success and they aren't doing much more than I do currently. I suppose it depends on your water source a bit. It's looking like my water is deficient in several resources and I can't keep buying things like phosphates, potassium, iron, etc to finally start to see some growth. I am sadly not made of money and live plants are beginning to bleed my wallet dry. Doesn't make much sense for me to keep doing live plants if the plants themselves are expensive (the cheapest being $3-5 per small plant) and I can't keep them alive with all the chemicals they make to make live plants flourish. :(


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My trip into live plants got to was a couple months after here:

ebeefec0.jpg


Then I just got tired of it and sold the tank. That tank had pressurized CO2 and dry fertz by the end. Best advice if you want to really do a legit planted tank is join a dedicated planted tank forum. It is just as much work and requires the need of a knowledge base as much as a reef tank IMO to get it looking like the pros.


Here's a couple more fake plant tanks of mine:

40:
E35AF133-C0F4-4486-8098-B279D1587808-374-000000254F0B55BF.jpg


180:
E8E87159-F141-4ADC-AEF2-D2F9B2E02D0D-1156-000000CB411BE44E.jpg


100 bow (cloudy from new sand):
7A4F4CDB-8C87-430F-B60A-765A2ECBC138-7513-0000042FC9EE0310.jpg




Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

Beautiful tanks. It's all I needed to see to know fake plants are a good option for me. :)

Have you ever had issue with your fake plants causing damage to your fish? And did you get most of those fake plants from Michael's?


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I have read threads with people who has low tech planted tanks that have had great success and they aren't doing much more than I do currently. I suppose it depends on your water source a bit. It's looking like my water is deficient in several resources and I can't keep buying things like phosphates, potassium, iron, etc to finally start to see some growth. I am sadly not made of money and live plants are beginning to bleed my wallet dry. Doesn't make much sense for me to keep doing live plants if the plants themselves are expensive (the cheapest being $3-5 per small plant) and I can't keep them alive with all the chemicals they make to make live plants flourish. :(


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I have not seen an amateur low tech tank that has impressed me in quite a while. But you guys probably know what a picky critical bastard I am about aquascaping (and I'm definitely my own worse critic lol).


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Really my advice if you're on the fence, go buy a few fake plants, throw them in your tank, see how you like them. If you don't, throw them in a pot somewhere around the house, or you could even POSSIBLY return them if you left the tags on and dried them out (from michaels).
Not everyone likes them and that's ok. It's all about coming home at the end of the day and enjoying what's in your tank, fish stock, aquascaping wise, whatever!
I haven't been around here as long as some old timers, but long enough to see the guys worried about what's "cool" and what other people (strangers on the internet no less) think too much come and go, more than a few times!


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