Plants

[Anonymous]

Are there any "plants" I can buy that I can put in a 20gal. tank with some damsals and a leather. I have a skimmer and 2 power heads with 15 lbs live rock. I am just looking for color like something with long wide leaves.

 

[Anonymous]

How about some macro algaes? - Red or green Gracillaria or maybe Chaetomorpha? (I'd stay away from the caulerpas but who knows, maybe the leather can survive a small bomb if it goes sexual..??)

 

[Anonymous]

Are there any "plants" I can buy that I can put in a 20gal. tank with some damsals and a leather. I have a skimmer and 2 power heads with 15 lbs live rock. I am just looking for color like something with long wide leaves.

Long wide leaves sure sounds like caulpera profilera. It is a macro but seems to do well. If you could stand "skinny" leaves then there are a few true marine plants like turtle grass.

for color I once has some fauchea sp. It was an awesome irredescent dark red/purple. and it did very well for a few months but then just "went away" over a 6 week period.


Chaeto might even look nice. It is brillo pad macro but can be in the form of a ball.
You might take a look at this site: www.floridapets.com.

Finally, the plant life will make the tank much easier to maintain. Nothing consumes nutrients or toxins better than live plant life. IMO

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the info.
Ya I want to stay away form anything that I can't control. I try not to touch anything unless I have to. I think I will start with some turtle grass.

Thanks
Teddy

 

[ChrisRD]

Finally, the plant life will make the tank much easier to maintain.

Well, personally I would never introduce any macros, particularly a Caulerpa sp. into my main display, but that's just me...

Caulerpa is known to emit noxious compounds that can cause problems for other organisms in the system. It can also periodically go "sexual", melting down and making a mess of your system. Further, once their stolons are attached to the rockwork, good luck getting them out of the tank if you decide later you don't want them. Also, a fast growing macro can require constant trimming so that it doesn't irritate or overgrow neighboring corals. Not my idea of low maintenance...

Nothing consumes nutrients or toxins better than live plant life. IMO

Well, there are different philosphies here as well. Some macros can actually release toxins and/or nutrients into your system. If you're going to use macros for export, I'd recommend keeping them in a separate tank, plumbed to the main system rather than in the display itself. That way, if there's a problem it's easy to isolate this stuff from your main system.

I guess what it boils down to is that some folks choose to deal with waste products after-the-fact with nitrate/phosphate resins, algae scrubbers, sandbeds, etc. Some choose to remove wastes before they become dissolved nutrients through such practices as aggressive protein skimming, strong circulation to keep detritus suspended, activated carbon use, good husbandry practices, etc. Others combine different strategies.

Clearly all of these tactics can work to some degree and what is "best" probably depends more on how you want to run your system and what you're trying to accomplish with it.

JMO of course...