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Aquatic Plants - A few tips

© Winston Vaughan Schoenfeld

One of the best things about being an editor on Suite101 is that I get a chance to go out and learn more about aquariums, often in areas that I had limited knowledge of before. This week I found myself at Newport Beach with a little extra time, so I decided to do a little research on something that I did not know a lot about - aquatic plants. While the resources I found were limited, I did manage to collect up a few things that I think you will find interesting and useful. I must admit that there is a lot more to aquatic plants than I had imagined, so I do recommend that you get additional information about the subject if you decide that you want to add plants to your aquarium.

First let me say that there are a large number of plant species that you can find available. The two main categories are those that are rooted and those that float. As you probably already figured out, rooted plants are physically attached to the substrate media in your aquarium by roots, and those that float do not have roots that anchor it in one spot on the bottom of the aquarium. One interesting fact about aquatic plants is that they get a large percentage of their nutrients through their leaves rather than their root, and as such, they are more dependent on good water quality than one might first believe.

This brings me to the main sources of nourishment for aquatic plants. Similarly to land plants, they require both nutrients and light. You may recall from articles about the nitrogen cycle of aquariums that the end product of the cycle is nitrate. Without plant life, this nitrate builds up over time, and must be removed using a gravel vacuum and water changes. Well, as it turns out, nitrate is a great source of nourishment for aquatic plants. In addition to the natural supply of nitrate in a properly cycled aquarium, one also can add nutrients to the plant using liquid or solid pellets that can be inserted next to the roots of the plants. Obviously it is a bit easier to use pellets for rooted plants, and liquid for the floating plants. Since aquatic plants rely on getting light and nutrients through their leaves, water quality is important. If there are a lot of particulates in your water, these will accumulate on the leaves of the plants, and reduce their ability to collect light and nutrition properly.