Hi all,
FerocactusLatispinus wrote: It makes me wish I had a ton of live aquatic plants, but I've no experience as far as keeping a balance between aquatic plants and fish goes......
Every tank can have plants, there are ways of growing them even in tanks with no substrate or Mbuna etc. Plants have a myriad of advantages for water quality. I developed the "Duckweed Index" as KISS method for planted tanks <
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... weed+index>, it does away with all "froth", and just concentrates on the important bits.
FerocactusLatispinus wrote: I know cacti don't bother with organic nutrients for the most part, and mineral resources are one of their big requirements, but that makes sense that aquatic plants would use vegetative surface area for most nutrient absorption; cacti definitely utilize surface area for sunlight. I raise a ton of different species of several genera of cacti....
I like Cacti as well, probably my favourites are the "furry" barrel cacti like
Cephalocereus senilis and some of the epiphytic ones, good flowering ones like
Hatiora gaertneri and "interesting" ones like
H. salicornioides or Rhipsalis spp..
Cacti growing is quite relevant to how I use aquatic plants as well, I'm always trying to find ways to keep my plant alive, healthy and growing, but growing as slowly as possible (you can think of it as the Cactus, Bonsai or orchid approach). This is partially why I like
Anubias, most ferns, and mosses, they have very low nutrient requirements.
cheers Darrel