Having the best aquatic plants for your fish tank can be a great aspect to making your fish tank more appealing not to mention that they offer a more conducive environment for the fish. This is why they are usually more preferred as opposed to having the artificial plants. Sadly, most aquarium owners opt go for the latter because they do not need any maintenance much so to the predicament of the fish in the tank. Given some guidelines on how to grow and care for your own fish tank plants should change the mentality that it is a hard thing to do and hopefully you might be finally inclined to do the right thing.
What you need to know when planting your live fish tank plants.
The first thing that you need to know with regards to successful fish tank plants is that balancing the light intensity as well as the minerals and nutrient levels is a very vital aspect. As the light intensity increases, you need to make sure that increase the amount of nutrients. This is because you need to stimulate ferocious plant growth to discourage excessive algae that can pose a major problem.
Planting in a new tank is best done at the beginning. This is because you allows the plants to take advantage of any nutrients available and hence does not give algae the chance to establish itself. While at this, it is vital to make sure that you include some rapidly growing plants to make the best use of the available nutrients.
Before you start planting, make sure that you scrutinize the plants. Make sure that you remove any yellow or decaying leaves. The decaying leaves greatly drain the plants of nutrient supply making them weaker and less aggressive in their growth. Also make sure that you remove ant dying roots since these seem to rot in the substrate. They are characterized by a limp and brown color. Generally fish tank plants have a pale and more rigid look to them. This is how you can distinguish the healthy from the decaying.
If you decide to have a number of stem plants in the aquarium, you should make sure that you remove a number of the bottom leaves. This is because they are less likely to receive any substantial amount of light and also the root system might not initially be in a position to support a full complement of the leaves.
For the case of tubers, you should make sure that they are planted at an angle in the substrate. The growing tip is the one that should be exposed.
It is vital to understand the type of plant that you are planting. This is key because some of the plants require things like rock or bogwood to become successful and hence there must be presence of such aids in the tank. Some of the plants that need such aids include Java Fern and Java Moss.
Tips to help you maintain successful fish tank plants.
After you have planted, you need to make sure that you have the best possible care for your plants. You need to make sure that they thrive and at the same time, you also need to keep the algae at bay which can be quite the problem.
To maintain healthy plants, you can make cuttings from the stem plants once they reach the surface. You can decide to replant these in the substrate as they usually grow their own root system. This is also done since the stem plants in most cases start bending when they reach the surface.
Since most plants reproduce by runners, you can separate the new plants from the parents once they are about a third of the size of the parent plant. You don’t want there to be too much congestion in your aquarium so you ought to make sure that you control it.
Make sure that the tank is exposed to full spectrum lighting for a maximum of 12 hours a day. Any more than this will play in the favor of the algae. While at this, it is important to make sure that you maintain a pH of about 6.5 to 7.4 and to help with this, ensure that the tank is located in an area that has very low or no movement at all. This ensures that there is no turbulence which helps to retain the CO2.
The benefits that come with having live fish tank plants are insurmountable both for appeal of your aquarium and the fish that will be living in there. That is why getting it right is very important.
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