# Plastic plants



## [email protected] (Aug 18, 2010)

Anybody know of a good/efficient way to clean plastic aquarium plants without using any harmful chemicals?


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

take them out and wash them in warm water?


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> Anybody know of a good/efficient way to clean plastic aquarium plants without using any harmful chemicals?


no.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Well actually you could bleach them then rinse the bleach off.

I just find that too much work and slightly dangerous.

But then I have been spoiled by decades of live plants that do not require cleaning.


my .02


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## [email protected] (Aug 18, 2010)

On the subject of real plants, how do you plant them? Just stick the roots into the gravel? If that's the case, I may purchase some this weekend. I've never had real plants before.


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## Martini2108 (Jul 23, 2010)

Well for live plant's (almost everyone on this forum advocates the use of live plants) you need to make sure you have the right lighting for the plant. A few good starter plants are hornwort (kinda messy but can be a floater), anachris which can be planted or float, monywort planted for the most part i believe, & java fern which can grow on wood/rock/or be planted. I'm pretty sure all these have low light requirements, the standard aquarium florescent bulb should work. Btw yeah you just plant the root/bottom of the plant in the substrate.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> On the subject of real plants, how do you plant them? Just stick the roots into the gravel? If that's the case, I may purchase some this weekend. I've never had real plants before.


Awwww I remember those days. *old dude

At first I just pushed a couple of plants into the substrate. Nothing happened.

But when I started a tank with lotsa plants right from the start amazing things happened.

I would recommend

1) a sand substrate (with some peat moss) even if you use gravel on top of the sand.

2) several bunches of anacharis and several vals as fast growing plants

3) several small potted type plants like crypts/small swords/anubias

4) a very few amazon sword plants as a center piece.

If you basially just cram them in the substrate and let them root you will do fine. You can get more technical but that will work.

my .02


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## igot2gats (Aug 12, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> On the subject of real plants, how do you plant them? Just stick the roots into the gravel? If that's the case, I may purchase some this weekend. I've never had real plants before.


I would make sure you read up on them before doing only that. Real plants need co2 in the tank. Head over to the plants forum & read up before just buying & planting them in your tank.


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## igot2gats (Aug 12, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> Anybody know of a good/efficient way to clean plastic aquarium plants without using any harmful chemicals?


There really isn't any efficient way of doing them, since algae gets in all & any cracks on them. When I had my fake plants, I would just throw out the old ones & buy new ones. It wasn't worth the hassle after trying to clean my 1st set.

If they're all green fake ones, I would just let them stay in the tank, the algae is dark anyways, it wouldn't look too bad if you ask me. I had all different / bright colored plants in my tank, so they looked god awful when algae attacked them.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

You can clean the plastic plants with a toothbrush.On live plants,some are undemanding and do well in just plain gravel,others need a nutritious soil.Also some need CO2 and some do not,same with bright lighting.The thing is you must balance these aspects to start getting into the really colorful plants.Right now i am looking into upping my lights.I have DIY CO2 and a fairly decent soil as well as dosing ferts.So really its just as difficult as you wanna make it,lol.I suggest looking up lowlight plants.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

igot2gats said:


> I would make sure you read up on them before doing only that. Real plants need co2 in the tank. Head over to the plants forum & read up before just buying & planting them in your tank.


Not all real plants need Co2, Co2 is mostly used on heavily planted display tanks with zero to little livestock and with plants that require medium to high light. 


BeaslBob,susankat,myself and a few others are more then happy to help you get your aquatic green thumbs. Its not hard and to be honest it not only looks alot better but is much more beneficial to the tank inhabitants to have live plants(that depends on species though).

You cant really just go get some and throw em in. like the plants in your landscaping in your yard they need things to survive and flourish.


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## [email protected] (Aug 18, 2010)

What are the names of some of the more basic/easily kept plants for the novice of real plants in the aquarium? I'm really looking for those plants that can be "stuck" in the gravel and, if need be, "fed" in some manner. I'm sure if I visit my LFS, they'll take my money. That's why I'm asking the experts here. Thanks.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Java ferns are wonderful.They will thrive in lowlight and are not meant to be buried.The roots are just used to anchor to rocks or driftwood.Anubias,java moss,some crypts.
List of lowlight plants - UltimateBettas
Thats an easier way to tell you all of them.Just read through that list,and some will link you to pics and whatnot.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

yep, ive also noticed the darker I keep low light plants(using ambient light rather then overhead direct light) the better and faster they grow. I got a tub in my laundry room I chunk em in when they arent doing so well in the bigger tanks and two weeks later they are better then ever.


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## automatic-hydromatic (Oct 18, 2010)

I've all all kinds of plants in my 10 gallon, all planted in gravel only, and no CO2. Just using a HOB filter and a small aerator pump with a home made defuser on the end (regular tubing capped off with a single piece of gravel, and then a bunch of tiny holes poked in it with a thumb tack). It's lit with 2 15 watt CFLs, and these plants are thriving!

2 Amazon Swords, about 8 Argentine Swords, 2 Java Ferns (one in the gravel, one on the drift wood), one Lace Java Fern, 3 Aponogetons, 2 bunches of Anacharis, and hitchhiking with the Anacharis I also got a single Wisteria and two small Red Ludwigias.













The fish absolutely love them; I always see them swimming through them and hiding in them. And they keep the water perimeters in check too, so that makes tank maintenance SO much easier. Most of these are fast growing, so they pretty much don't have any algae growth on them. The slower growing ones like the Java Ferns get a little growth on the, but there's a small Chinese Algae Eater in the tank that takes care of most of it, and actually this afternoon I'm picking up 4 or 5 Cherry Shrimp that should help even more 

As an added benefit, when you load the tank with live plants, they usually eat up all the nutrients and keep algae from growing out of control. The only algae I really ever see is on the log, some on the rocks, and on the Java Ferns. At any given moment, the Chinese Algae Eater is working his way up and down the log or over the rocks. A little bit develops on the tank walls in some spots, but they don't last long, as he cleans those up quick too.


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## [email protected] (Aug 18, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback. Looking at the pictures of the tank, it looks like these plants are just set into the gravel. That's all there is to getting started?


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

I second java fern, and I'd add java moss, and I have a pretty easy time with bolbitis, although I understand some people have a tough time with it, usually because they try to bury the rhizome. I don't use co2 or any plant additives other than putting in a nice plant substrate when I start out, and my light fixtures are just the ones that came with the hoods that came with the tank.


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