If you have decided to grow live plants inside your aquarium you’ll need to set up the tank perfectly to ensure that the ecosystem can survive. Plants are great for aquariums because they can provide a beautiful and more natural look and if they are given the proper care it possible that the fish can live in a much healthier environment with real vegetation.
Ultimately aquariums are designed to replicate natural conditions that a fish would live in if it were in the wild. While you cannot a lot of extra toys and features into your tank, adding natural plant life is one of the best ways that you can make sure that new fish adapt to your tank and act more naturally in your aquarium as well.
You may find that many of your fish seem to just swim around in a set pattern, but with the inclusion of some plant life their behavior will definitely change and this is because they are getting natural nutrients actually have a place where they can hide and rest in a comfortable environment.
Care and Implementation
Ultimately a planted tank requires three main key elements. The main three elements include having proper lighting, proper nutrition for the plants and a proper substrate (surface on which the plant will grow).
Substrate: any plant that you want to put inside your fish tank will need a proper surface that it can grow within and draw nutrients from. Different varieties of plants will grow better based off of the material that they are able to place their roots in. Some plants are very effective at thriving in substrates which don’t provide much nutrition. There are some types of plants which are commonly placed in aquariums that do not draw any nutrition from their roots and simply use roots as an anchoring system. Others however will need a quality substrate that can hold nutrients and regularly feed the plant to ensure its survival. You simply can’t select any type of gravel for your aquarium and assume that the plants will grow. Instead it’s important to look at the size of the gravel and to take recommendations on the best type of substrate for the plants that you want to grow.
Lighting: without plant life inside your tank you simply need lighting that illuminates the tank enough for you to view the fish and any accessories that you have. In order to grow plants however you will need to have at least 2 to 3 W of lighting power per gallon in your tank to grow most types of plants. This can involve using high-intensity bulbs and special growth lamps.
Nutrition: plants will also need to be regularly fertilized. The first time you fertilize your tank should be roughly a month after you have planted your new plants. Generally, the more light that you have in your tank, the more often you will need to fertilize it (to avoid yellowing leaves and stunted growth). Most aquarium experts can give you information on the best types of nutrients and fertilizer to placing your tank.
For more information on how to set up a planted aquarium visit Perry’s Aquatic Center in Lincoln.
Photo: praline3001 via Compfight
Perrys Aquatic Centre, The Bungalow 6 Market Rasen Rd. Dunholme, Lincolnshire LN2 3QR, Phone: 01673860727
How to Set Up a Planted Aquarium
Really excellent post Perry, I have been looking at creating a live aquarium Eco-system, I have a couple of set ups at the minute which i think would really benefit from the live plants but have been hesitant to get started without doing some real research, I think you have covered the basics perfectly here and I am definitely going to start purchasing some plants and get a nursery tank going!