Real or Fake?

zof

Get a Java Fern too it doesn't look as nice as the anubias but will break up the tank full of just anubias leaves, plus I'm pretty sure you cant screw up too badly on it because I bought one at petsmart when I got my fish and it was in my tank a week maybe 2 and it was already growing plant-lets on its leaves, that is with out any fertilizers and under my 17w T8 for my 36g tank. Its still going strong a month and a half later although it hasn't dropped any of the 7-14 plant-lets on it yet :( they just keep growing....

redchigh

As long as you have the proper lighting,plants will grow. (The fish produce the ferts and CO2.)

There's one other thing I would point you to. Many people (here included) vew it as unneccesarily complicated, but it's the farthest from high-tech. It's soil-substrated tanks. I've seen it side by side, and to me it's less work overall.

All I did is buy or dig some (organic, I used Miracle grow brand 'Organic Choice' potting soil.) soil.
I placed about two inches, laid down some gravel on top, and planted some plants.
Other than feeding the fish, I haven't touched it.
In about three months, every plant (3 different plants- I had 3 6" stems of anarchis, 1 tiny dwarf sag sprout, and a few stems of rotala red) has entirely filled up the tank.
As an added bonus, if you monitor the parameters, you don't even have to change the water as often.
(Instead of once a week, you can do it once a month- some people go up to every 6 months with extremely healthy fish.)

Don't try to do it just from reading this post, but maybe you should look into it if you haven't actually started the tank yet.
Do a search for "Diana Walstead soil Natural Aquarium" and it'll pop up in no time. She wrote a book too. She's the genius that began sharing it and doing the scientific research.

squilky

I found some interesting articles about the Diana Walstad method. Here is one I found very useful Walstad

I don't know if I want to go this route in my new 20 gallon, but I am considering picking up an inexpensive 5 gallon tank and trying this method with a Betta. I've had good luck with Betta's and think it would be a fun project. I considered setting one up on my desk at work, but I don't get much direct sunlight, so not sure how well it would work with with all artificial/fluorescent light.