Picking The Right Plants
The Right Live, Saltwater Plants For Your Aquarium
Keeping plants in your saltwater aquarium can have many benefits like neutralizing toxins like nitrate and phosphates, provide food for certain fish, shrimp, and snails, and just make your saltwater aquarium more appealing and attractive.
I hope this goes without saying that plastic plant only provide visual appeal.
Most people keep their saltwater aquarium for the sake of their fish and they add live plants to enhance their aquarium. We’re going to assume the same is true for you.
Things To Consider When Choosing Live Plants
Although you can add live plants at any time, you should ideally start adding live plants after:
If something goes wrong, it’s easier to track down the culprit if you take things one at a time. Also, it’s better to do things gradually and let things get used to each other.
If you know from the start that you’re going to add live plants, you should do it before adding fish.
Substrate
When setting up your substrate, you should have 2 layers. The bottom layer will provide nutrients for the live saltwater plants while the top layer will provide anchoring and protection for the roots.
One article goes into much more detail in about picking the right substrate.
Plant Size
By now, you should’ve picked out your saltwater aquarium tank and you should know its size. Consider how large your plant will be when full grown.
If your tank is 30 inches tall and the live plant grows up to 40 inches, you’re going to have a problem.
There are dwarf saltwater plants that only grow 1 – 2 inches. Giant kelp can grow up to 175 feet. There’s probably a plant species that fits your tank.
Water Quality
Ideally, you’re going to add live plants before fish. Research your fish tolerances for pH and water quality in general. Make sure your live plants will be able to survive in that environment.
Unwanted Passengers
Depending on where you got your saltwater aquarium plant, it could have snails, algae, or other passengers that you don’t want to introduce to your saltwater tank.
Some snails only grow 1 – 2 milimeters and breed really quickly. They can quickly overrun your saltwater aquarium if you’re not careful.
Make sure you carefully examine your live plant before planting it in your saltwater aquarium. Better yet, quarantine it for a week and see if any unexpected animals or organisms appear.
Light
All plants need light to power photosynthesis. You should measure how much light your entire tank will need (fish, coral, etc.) and pick live plants that can live within the measurements.
A good rule of thumb is 2.5 watts of fluorescent per gallon.
Starter Plant vs. Mature Plants
Starter plants will be cheaper than fully grown plants but you’ll have to wait for them to grow. But if you have the money, you can just get mature plants.
Care For Your Live Saltwater Plants
Compared to fish and other organisms, live plants are pretty hardy. But you still need to give them some basic care to make sure they stay healthy. In general, by keeping a healthy aquarium, you’ll naturally care for your live plants.
Living Entirely Submerged
A true aquatic plant likes to be completely submerged. If you quarantine them before introducing them to your tank or between tank maintenance, don’t let them dry out.
Anchoring Your Plant
If you’ve picked the right substrate, the bottom layer should be a type that contains and/or releases phosphates. Some even convert ammonia into nitrate (which is another nutrient for live plants).
A good mix for the bottom substrate layer is half laterite and vermiculate.
For mosses, tie them down to rocks with twine until they attach.
Algae
Algae compete will compete with your live plants for nutrients and light. One way to control algae is to control your phosphate and nitrate levels.
Ironically, the presence of algae indicates an inbalance in your tank (too much phosphate and nitrate in the water). One of the reasons people introduce live plants into their aquarium is to control both these compounds in the water.
However, don’t be “too effective” in controlling phosphate and nitrate in your saltwater aquarium since both are nutrients to live plants. It’s going to be a balancing act to provide the right levels so your live plants can survive but not enough to cause algae to bloom.
Another way to control algae is to introduce algae-eating organisms like shrimp and snails. Snails also eat live plants so make sure they don’t harm your live plants.
Shrimps are great scavengers and will not only eat algae but uneaten food particles and even dead fish. Keep in mind that when shrimp have young, your fish will consider them snacks. But adult shrimp may also snack on your smaller fishes.
You can also remove algae but periodically rubbing them off your live plants and your aquarium tank walls.
Siphoning Or Vacuuming
If you don’t have housekeepers like shrimp to control uneaten food particles and algae, you might want to vacuum the substrate. Make sure you only siphon the top layer. Otherwise, you might damage your live plants’ roots.