Aquatic Plants

In addition to the visual impact, aquatic plants provide they also are a great benefit to your fish. .
They reduce the carbon dioxide in the water. They provide shelter, shade and hiding places for your fish. They give a natural look to the aquatic They provide spawning sites. They provide food for some fish. They help absorb excess nitrates.

Growing Aquarium Plants

Growing aquatic plants successfully is not as easy as pushing the roots into the gravel and hoping for the best. Light, PH, hardness, availability of nutrients and other factors all play a part. In spite of this you can grow plants with different requirements in the same aquarium. For plants that like to get most of their nutrients from their roots, you can place fertilizer tablet under or close to their roots. Plants that like more shady conditions can be grown at the bottom of large taller plants that will provide the shade then need.

Planting Suggestions

Fast Growing tall plants are ideal for placing at the back of you tank. They can help hide heaters and filters from your view. A couple of suggestion which are relatively easy to grow are: Vallisneria and Sagittaria. Bushy plants like Synnema, Hygrophila, Ludwigia and Ceratopteris are best placed in the corners of the tank. Foreground plants need to be smaller and are usually slower growing. Eleocharis and Acorus work well in this part of the tank. To finish off your tank you can add a larger specimen plant. Something like Echinodorus is an easier plant specimen plant to grow. These can be a bit more expensive, but as you’ll only need 1 or 2 they are a great addition to a planted tank.

Vallisneria

Acorus

Artificial Plants

While they don’t serve any biological purpose, they do perform other roles. There is such an assortment of colours, sizes and models available these days that, with a little creativity you can create an instant aquascape that is difficult to tell apart from the real thing. Their main benefits are that they don’t die and can be easily cleaned; you can use any kind of lighting with artificial plants.

Carbon Dioxide

During photosynthesis plants give out oxygen and use up carbon dioxide (CO2). This gas is present naturally in the aquarium, with the vegetation breathing it out during the night, but it is possible to distribute it in the water using a suitable device. Although this piece of equipment is not compulsory, a good tank of plants should ideally have one. As a general rule, the plant species with the greatest need for CO2 are also the ones which demand a rich soil.