Fake Plants From The Craft Stores

my mom has a bunch of extra fake plants that she gets from places like michaels or any other arts and crafts store...has anyone tried using these in their tank, I am soaking some in hot water right now, the water is turning kinda green...is this dye or tannins?

 

I use 2 Large Grasses 12"+ that are "regular" fake plants. The problem is the lack of a base. I used the lids from a couple empty food cans and bent the bottom "branch" of the plant to make a stand with base. Works great, and you can do some interesting things. I personally tried to pick somethingthat looked like it could be aquatic.

 

did your water get dyed green or anything?

 

The problem with using plants not made specifically for tanks is that some times the dye runs(tannins come out of wood) and they have wire inside the plastic stems and the wire rusts.
Carol

 

that's what I was thinking...the plants I currently have do have wire in them...so I guess I will be going to search for ones w/o wires...and what does dye do to fish?

 

yea, i'd say it's dye and it would most likely kill everything in the tank, including the biological filter.

 

The plants I use are plastic not cloth, so no dye problems. As for the wire, mine have a wire inside the plastic and it is such a small amount of wire that I have never worried about it. I have been using these fake plants for about 2 years now, so I don't think I have anything to worry about. Actually now that I think about it I have been using a vine with cloth leaves for even longer than the others, and it has been fine. No different than the fake aquarium plants with fabric leaves. Don't know, could be a volume of water thing. Mine are in 150 Gal. so it may just be such a small amount that I have never noticed a problem. In a small aquarium it may make a difference. I'm not sure on that.

 

i'd say tread with caution. if you've used craft ones and they've been fine then that's great, but do take care as you've no idea what chemicals are in them and what will leach out. you can see the dye, but there could be other chemicals you can't see. the effects will be more apparent in smaller tanks as the leaching is more concentrated. i'm quite a cautious person, so i'd still with those which say aquarium on them!!

 

i'd say tread with caution. if you've used craft ones and they've been fine then that's great, but do take care as you've no idea what chemicals are in them and what will leach out. you can see the dye, but there could be other chemicals you can't see. the effects will be more apparent in smaller tanks as the leaching is more concentrated. i'm quite a cautious person, so i'd still with those which say aquarium on them!!

yea, what I might save isn't worth it to me. I really like the tetra wonders silk plants.

 

I have only used plastic aquarium plants and of course real ones. Craft-Store ones could be cool but I would be afraid about are plecostomus or corys that might ingest it.

Beeboy

 

I currently added artificial plants from walmart without a problem. I used a trick that my grandma showed me. She used to add vinegar to some water with a bit of salt (I didnt use iodized) then put the clothing in. This would set the dye into the fabric or leach the loose dye out (not sure). The dye in the fabric would never again run. I tried this with the plants, soaking them overnight, rinsed them well and then I placed them in my tank. its been several days and everything looks fine so far. My fish love them, and it was considerably cheaper.

 

I currently added artificial plants from walmart without a problem. I used a trick that my grandma showed me. She used to add vinegar to some water with a bit of salt (I didnt use iodized) then put the clothing in. This would set the dye into the fabric or leach the loose dye out (not sure). The dye in the fabric would never again run. I tried this with the plants, soaking them overnight, rinsed them well and then I placed them in my tank. its been several days and everything looks fine so far. My fish love them, and it was considerably cheaper.

That will definitely work to keep the dye from running but craft store silk plants have wires in them and they will rust. artificial plants made for aquariums is really the only way to go.
carol

 

Would the wires still rust if they're plastic coated and none of the wire is visible? If not I'll try to see if I can yank out the wires.

 

Anyone ever use plastic fake plants from a craft store in an aquarium? Did you have a problem with bottom feeders, such as cory cats, dieing? I have had 4 cory cats die one at a time over the last month and before I try anymore I would like to make sure that I rule out all possiblities causing them to die.

Right now I am thinking it must just be the slight nitrite spike that killed the last two and the other two died right after the tank was cycled with them in it so that probably stressed them out. But I just want to make sure.

ps I used the plants from Michaels because I need taller plants for my aquarium than any of the stores had. My tank is a 65 gallon tall.

 

Most plants from craft stores have wires in them that rust and the dye is not completely water proof.
Artificial plants made for aquaria is about the same price and are aquarium safe.
Carol

 

Yea, crafts store plants can also have dyes and metals that can leach into the water so yea, definitely best to stick with plants for aquariums. is the way we get ours.. they work out cheaper and we like to get the Tetra Wonders plants.

 

I took the wire out of the plants. So check on that factor. So the dye can leach out and kill fish?

I couldnt find any over 18 inches... maybe I'm looking in the wrong places... I will keep looking.

 

Yea, a lot of those crafts store plants have dyes that slowly leach into the water and can be toxic to the fish.

I took the wire out of the plants. So check on that factor. So the dye can leach out and kill fish?

 

Thanks! Thier out

 

I don't know if you'll read this but I was looking through the random discussion threads and saw one with people's pictures. COBettaCouple, you have the most posts (that I seen) but yet I didnt see you post a pic!!! What's that, did I miss it? Pure curiousity

 

Our pic is in the thread, but probably WAY deep in it by now.

 

Cool! I'll find it

 

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/wondering-what-everyone-looks-like.9906/

 

ya that's where I saw the pictures to cause me to ask the question. I went right over it... it was on the first page... I was pictureing way older... I mean I thought it would take decades to get up to 18,000 posts and become a Master of Fish Poo

 

The LFS here uses fake plants from the craft store in all their tanks, they suggested it to me because it's cheap and I wanted a lot. Just make sure they are plastic or silk with no dye or wire. I have them in my tank and have for 2 weeks no issues yet and I test everyother day. But I also would remove and replace as soon as they look yucky. But do what your most comfortable doing.

 

There is a thread of this in the DIY section, just thought you might want to know.

 

LOL, not for a :;z ..

ya that's where I saw the pictures to cause me to ask the question. I went right over it... it was on the first page... I was pictureing way older... I mean I thought it would take decades to get up to 18,000 posts and become a Master of Fish Poo

 

Just FYI I tried this with plastic plants from Michaels. 4 cory cats have died mysteriously... may be because my tank is in cycle chaos (keeps having random jumps in nitrites (only up to 0.5 so far) and ammonia but just food for thought before you try this. Oh and I took the metal wire out so the rust wasn't the cause of their demise. The plants are in the trash now... they were very beautiful though... sucks that I can't trust them... they were more expensive... I just needed taller more full plants than were available in fish stores.

 

I'm no expert but I've read once your nitrites hit .50 ppm and up it will have horrible effects on the resident fish! And If you see ammonia spikes at the same time..... In a few days that could turn to a big problem. I would be doing large frequent water changes if I were you. I found and use fake plastic plants with no wire from jo-anns fabric they are just on top though, to ease the filters waterfall effect. Ebay has some great deals on aquatic plant lots.

 

High nitrite is negative and so is ammonia. My biological filtration is not working correctly so I keep getting minI cycles even though I am doing water changes every week. The ammonia goes up slightly then the nitrite goes up. Levels over 0.8 for extended points of time are lethal to fish. Nitrite absorbed by the blood can reduce it's capacity to transport oxygen around the fish's body. Continuous exposure produces a condition known as "brown blood disease". All the hemoglobin in the fishes blood has been bound with nitrite effectively starving the fish of oxygen.
Currently the nitrite is up. I added extra prime and did a water change... but I also just did one two days ago and my nitrites were at 0.5 yesterday. And hence my term cycle chaos. But yes the cory cats deaths could very well be because of this and not the fake plants, just wanted to give people another fact to work with in determineing if these plants are actually save.... I would love to hear that they are cause I would love to put my beautifully thick tall plants back in the tank