Freshwater Aquarium Plants: A Guide to Selecting and Growing

The use of aquatic plants in an aquarium will provide the fish with some additional dissolved oxygen while adding beauty to the aquarium and providing cover for the fish. A few unscrupulous dealers may try to sell submerged terrestrial plants as aquarium plants, but you should stick to aquatic plants. The Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum) is an example of a terrestrial house-plant that is sometimes sold as an aquarium plant. Submerged terrestrial houseplants will quickly begin to rot and will foul the water, producing additional ammonia.

In the presence of light, plants will take up carbon dioxide, which is expelled by the fish, and give off oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. By removing some of the carbon dioxide, the plants can elevate the pH of the aquarium water. After the lights are off. the plants reverse their process and use oxygen while giving off carbon dioxide in a process called respiration. During the night, the pH of the aquarium may lower due to the release of carbon dioxide into the water, which produces carbonic acid.

The following is a list of a few hardy plants that can be used in the aquarium.