euphiesman

hi

fletch

real, all the way. totally. I cant stand fake plants. I realy want to keep crabs but I value my real plants too much. Id definately have real plants in there over anything.

onelovie

Yep, I second that!

Gunnie

I love real plants! They not only make your tank beautiful, but they also help with nitrates!

tennhound

real plant and nothing else here. I think they make the tank look better nad they are better for the fish. plants also help keep the levels down with less maintanance.

MARIE

Butterfly

I like live plants much better. although I do have fake plants in my breeder/fry tanks. The angels like to move their eggs and fry around quite alot and they destroy live plants doing that soooo I gave them some fake plants and they love them. There are live floating plants to suck up the nitrates though.
Carol

0morrokh

I only have fake plants in my 10-gallon. However, I agree that real ones are much better. They take a little more work, but they look sooooooo much more beautiful. Someday I want a 55-gallon planted Amazon aquarium. But for now, I'll stick to fake ones while I'm learning to care for the fish.

Jessie_Lynn

I have real plants because I love the way they move in the water but I do have a couple of fake plants in my other tank because my other fish love to destroy the real ones...bummer

newbie101

I would like to have real platns but they are so much extra time and work. I know they are so beautiful and help w nitrates and stuff but I just wouldn't have the time and my mom would probably be against it anyway.

Jason

You dont really have to put that much effort if you get plants that can survive in low light. Visit that Plant Geek website for further info on low light plants. These usually have minimal requirements.

Craig

i use alot of fake plants but i would LOVE 2 use real plants but the proper pH 7.0 stuff i use from aqarium pharmaceuticals says on the bak DO NOT USE THIS pH buffer WITH LIVE AQUARIUM PLANTS so that sucks!!!! i said!! actually any ideas on this guys and girls?? could i hav live plants?

CHEERS

C W

Butterfly

My minds gone dead I can't remember why your're burrerin g to change your ph. My water is 7.4 and plants grow great. But don't know about the chemicals.

Jason

Craig, I say you go and try some of the tougher varieties. Should be ok

Craig

well i've takin a bit of a bashin about usin the pH 7.0 stuff so im goin 2 stop usin it 4 and i'll c how i get on lol

C W

Jason

Butterfly

J-Man I guess you've learned to read my mis-typing. I said burring instead of buffering. But evidently you knew what I meant Thanks. There are plants that will grow in just about any PH. Just have to do some research. If you will post your Ph we could have some fun and make plant suggestions for you :P But lets start a new thread for that since we're hyjacking this one
Now as far as the chemical, if theres a big difference in your natural ph (before chemical) and after buffering you might want to stop using it a little at a time so theres not a big ph fluctuation. This fluctuation might make your fish uncomfortable. Just some thoughts.
Carol

fish_r_friend

i have fake plants

Isabella

Fake plants are not bad and they can look as nice as real plants do, but if one can, it's best for his/her tank's ecology to have live plants. Live plants help keep the water clean and stable. They oxygenate water which is great for fish. They also help keep the pH stable and they remove heavy metals that are toxic to fish. If a tank is planted very heavily, the plants prevent algal blooms and they keep nitrate very low or non-existent. They get rid of ammonia and nitrite. So in these respects, live plants are far better than fake ones. Not only do live plants look better, but they actually contribute to the maintenance of tank by helping in keeping it clean.

Jon

i use live... threw out a dieing argentine sword that did not work for my aquarium and bought 2 java ferns today... flippin costed me 7$ a fern i was like wtf?

Isabella

Really? $7 for one fern? That is a darn lot! But you're lucky they have these plants at your store at all. In my LFS, they NEVER had any java ferns, java mosses, or anubias. Even when I asked them to order, they did not. That sucks. I'll have to order online, and for that I need to wait until the spring, as the plants can freeze in the cold during shipping.

Look here: http://www.aquariumgarden.com/index....&plantid=mi078 - java ferns for only $2.49. On this website, you can have 3 java ferns for $7. Probably even with shipping and handling fees it would still be cheaper to order java ferns here than to buy java ferns at your LFS at $7 each.

Jon

yeah and the ones i bought from my lfs are all crappy looking and small with torn up leaves

Gunnie

Jon,
Next time you are ready for plants, check the classifieds here or on other forums you belong to. You can usually get them a lot cheaper from fellow hobbyists. You might also want to find out if you have a local aquatics club in your area and join. Folks in those clubs are always selling stuff.

Jon

i would think denver would have a local aquarium club or something but i cant find one... if anyone knows of any plz tell me

ps - ty for the tips gunnie

Butterfly

Jon I don't know how close this is to you but you could check and see.
http://www.southerncoloradoaquariumsociety.com
Carol

Jon

SWEET!!! thank you thank you for the link thats awesome... im in evergreen though so CO sprgs is somewhat far (like 2-3 hours) but i drive that way anyway when im going to the western slopes... ill look for one closer but thank you thats great

Butterfly

Here is one that maybe closer to you.
http://www.coloradoaquarium.org/
Carol

Jon

sweet that is closer

dano569

i have fake in mine,but i got an amazon sword and some water lettuce a couple of weeks ago.the water lettuce died,the amazon looks ok,has some dead leaves on it.i would like to have a combination of both.

dahly

I just had fake in my 29 since I first started in this hobby 4-5 months ago. A couple of weeks ago, I bought two java ferns for my tanks at a local swap meet for $3.50 each, and put one in each tank. Last Sunday I picked up two cupfulls of Najas Grass, and put it in my 29. In the spring I am going to set up one or more "tubs" outside my house to raise fish, and load them up with various plants for filtration. Live is MUCH nicer than fake, but fake was pretty nice too!

atmmachine816

live all the way no need to take them out of the tank and clean them once a month or so and live make the tank look so much more natural

hey gunnie do you know of any clubs or anything in or by cleveland i saw theres a cichlid one just have to find out about it but are there anymore