[APD] Cheap Plants

["Liz Wilhite" <satirica at gmail_com>]

For cheap plants I'd look at the plants for sale forum at
http://www.aquaticplantscentral.com where you can often find common plants
available for little more than the price of shipping, and some relatively
rare plants inexpensively.  Robert's site, http://www.aquabotanic.com has
relatively inexpensive collections of plants that are good for beginners as
do some other online retailers.  You can occasionally find boxes of various
stem and other plants on http://www.aquabid.com, but I'd say that you are
taking some degree of risk on aquabid with regards to quality -- I have
gotten great plants there but I've also gotten garbage from people who have
50 or more 100% positive ratings.  And be aware that there are issues
regarding importing if you buy from overseas sources -- buying from a retail
business based in your country means that *they* absorbed the import risk so
you don't have to.

Thing is, when you first start you want the whole tank planted initially to
help prevent having algae issues.  If you have nutrients in the water and
good lighting but not enough plants to get everything running and balanced,
you can find yourself with an algae pit rather quickly.  The easiest way to
cure algae issues is to start off right and not get them.

What I would do is put together enough money to buy a collection then fill
in with other cheap sources.  You do not have to have rare, hard to find or
tricky to grow plants to have a beautiful tank.  You might also want to ask
for people who have dealt with these online businesses for info.  Some of
them get great reviews, and at least one mentioned recently gets great
reviews only if you purchase from them at certain times of the year.  I
mentioned aquabotanic, and I've never purchased there, but I know that
Robert does stand behind his plants.

-- 
Liz
_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants