Can I mix live and fake plants?

I currently have a 10 gallon with fake plants. I acquired a 55 gallon that came with some fake plants. I would love to do a fully planted tank someday but I have a pretty small budget right now.

Do I need a special light if I were to use real plants? I am not sure if I will be using sand or a pea gravel substrate.

Can I have some real plants and some fake plants together or will that look stupid?

What are the best beginner live plants? Thanks!

 

You do need certain lights to grow plants. For low light plants you can have a light for 6500 K. I would suggest starting with easy low light plants. You can do whatever you want with your tank, but I think mixing fake and live plants just make fake plants look even more fake! Just save up some money so you can buy more than 1 or two plants. I order plants off of Ebay, you can find good deals like a full small rate box of plants for $19.99 with free shipping! I bought from rossdotseller789

I prefer sand in my aquarium. I bought 50 pounds of pool filter sand from Home Depot for about $5. It's worth it if you are on a budget, but it takes forever to rinse and clean! But $5 is worth it!

I don't know what would be the best beginner plants, maybe java fern?! Just don't try to grow any red or purple plants. You can't do that without perfect lights and Co2.

Hope this helps!!

 

HI Misscap,
Yes most plants need a light but I have found the Anubias plant to be great in a tank without a light on it and just the light from my house in the lounge room on daily, bearing in mind I had a glass lid to let light in. So I guess I would suggest that for a beginners plant, Also I had that same plant in my tank that was full other wise of fake plants, it didn't look much out of place either

 

Java fern, anubias, crypts, and java moss do well in low light and don't require a crazy setup or substrate.

 

I prefer sand in my aquarium. I bought 50 pounds of pool filter sand from Home Depot for about $5. It's worth it if you are on a budget, but it takes forever to rinse and clean! But $5 is worth it!



Hope this helps!!

I was thinking of pool filter sand. Any particular brand that is best? Also, how do you rinse it and know it is clean?

 

I use pool filter sand. It was easy to clean. Put it in a bucket and keep rinsing it until the water is clean. Honestly I don't like the look. Wish I had just used some dirt and capped it in a black sand

 

I am worried that I won't like the look either. I am debating the pool filter sand and pea pebbles.

 

Java fern, anubias, crypts, and java moss do well in low light and don't require a crazy setup or substrate.

I will check those out. Thank you!