Pros and Cons of Aquatic Plants / Planted Aquarium:

Aquatic plants are very helpful for creating a beautiful aquascape inside your aquarium. Fish love plants & they use them for food, & hiding. Planted aquariums keep water clean by absorbing every impurity. Although there are many advantages of aquarium plants, they have some disadvantages too. They need regular maintenance such as pruning, removing dead leaves, & if you have too many plants then the very hungry plants will absorb most of the fertilizers / fish food while others will have insufficient food.

Pros and Cons of Aquatic Plants

Pros of Aquatic Plants:

Check out major pros of having a planted aquarium:

• Live plants are used by fish & invertebrates for hiding. It allows fish & invertebrates’ babies to hide from adults who might consider them food & eat them. Stressed fish use aquatic plants for hiding from bullies. Also, herbivorous & omnivorous species of fish, & invertebrates feed on aquatic plants.
• Aquatic plants will lower the intensity of light, & light passing through the plants will be less harsh. Lower intensity of lights is usually good for fish & invertebrates because they do not stress the inhabitants. Stressed fish usually develop a disease known as fin rot. Also, stressed inhabitants are prone to many types of sicknesses.
• Taking good care of aquatic plants will help you in developing a gorgeous aquascape in your fish tank. Aquascape offers a stunning natural appearance to your aquarium. Artificial plants offer different colors & depth to the fish tank but real plants seem natural & offer a better look to your fish tank.
• Fish waste, & other decaying matter inside your aquarium water releases ammonia. Ammonia is very toxic to fish, & valuable bacteria inside your filter breaks it into nitrites that are less dangerous than ammonia. Also, nitrites are further broken down into nitrates that are even less dangerous than nitrites. Ordinary bio media only hold nitrifying bacteria & they can remove ammonia & nitrites from the aquarium water but can’t remove nitrates. Presence of abundance of nitrates in the aquarium water is highly toxic for the fish. Absorbing nitrates will fertilize aquatic plants. No additional fertilizers are required if you are keeping live plants in the tank. Aquatic plants & fish help each other.
• Aquatic plants help fish in spawning, & many types of fish use plants for hiding their eggs. For frequent breeding, make sure that you provide a natural stress-free environment to your fish. Planted aquariums offer many hiding spots for fish that relieve their stress. Also, clean water is mandatory if you want to encourage fish to spawn.
• Aquatic plants grow fast in fish tanks. It is very simple to trim stem plants, & replant them. There are other ways of propagating plants, for example seeds. Aquarists can sell the additional plants to earn some cash.

 

Cons of Aquatic Plants:

Have a look at major cons of keeping aquatic plants:

• Aquatic plants only look beautiful if you prune them regularly. Otherwise, your aquarium will look like a jungle.
• Aquatic plants need high intensity lights that must reach the depth of the aquarium. If tank water is dirty or tank lights are not strong enough, then light will not be able to reach the submersible plants. Light is required for photosynthesis of plants.
• Aquatic plants usually need high intensity of light that will increase the growth of algae in your aquarium. Algae normally appears when you are using too bright lights & they are indirectly harmful for the fish & aquatic plants. Also, algae do not look good in your aquarium.
• Some of the aquatic plants will absorb more fertilizers than others. In such cases, other plants will suffer from deficiency of fertilizers & hence will not grow well. Although plants that absorb fertilizers quickly will clean your tank in no time.