We are moving to a new server and this address will soon be invalid and closed. Please update your book marks to our new address that will soon have many new features, including a 'Fish Breeders Database', forums, site searh capabilities and much more. To many people an aquarium is not complete with out live plants and most would agree that though artificial plants have come a long way, the beauty of a tank aquascaped with healthy live plants leaves no comparison.
Live plants serve a real purpose in an aquarium.
Plants are natural water filters consuming excess nitrates, helping to prevent various algae, which as simpler plants, tend to be starved out by the competition with higher order plants. We have already stated that a planted aquarium adds to the visual appeal of a tank, it also creates areas of refuge for the fish, thus providing security which in turn reduces fish stress. Most Ichthyologists estimate that 80 - 90 percent of fish disease is caused by stress, therefore anything we can do to help reduce stress on all tank inhabitants improves our success rate at maintaining a healthy aquarium. It is probably correct to assume that most plant failures have to do with lighting, either simply not enough light or attempting to raise plants that are not receiving the correct spectrum of light. It is very hard to have to much light and most tank covers with a single light strip will not provide the amount of light needed for healthy plant growth, except for some of the plants with low light requirements.