I'm looking for guidance on what are the best plants to use for removing nitrates from tank water. Pothos, bamboo and mangrove seem popular. Has anyone tried anything else with any degree of success?
Best hydroponic plants
- Thread starter Potts050
- Start date
I think most of them are good... provided, but some will always be better than others.
Try to find plants that grow well.
Plants use nitrates to synthesize proteins for tissue structures, so if you want nitrate removal, it's important to make the plant grow!
Lots of light and an adequate CO2 system, quite possibly home made will help.
Good luck.
Try to find plants that grow well.
Plants use nitrates to synthesize proteins for tissue structures, so if you want nitrate removal, it's important to make the plant grow!
Lots of light and an adequate CO2 system, quite possibly home made will help.
Good luck.
Water lillies, or any floatable pond type of plant will do well inside your sump....I'm doing this myself....Also, Camboba and Anarchis plants are good....One thing with Anarchis is the possible shedding.....
some good sugestions but I am looking for terrestial/bog plants as these grow faster and should clean the water faster
I use plants in one tank, and purigen in another. The planted tank has 4 14-16" silver arowana and 12" Royal knife, plus a 8" ornate and my plecos. It is very heavily planted, and I have to dose nitrates into the tank every other day, and still can only maintain a level of 1.5-3ppms of nitrate. I prefer the plants over purigen anyday.
some people use edible plants like lettuce, etc
theres lots of info on edible plant growth, etc at http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/
theres lots of info on edible plant growth, etc at http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/
Dannyboy, that is a great link. Thanks for that. I am about to start a bog garden for my tanks and my pool/pond.
BTW Potts, I have experimented with ferns, impatiens, pothos, and aquarium plants (walmart specials). Of course pothos ranks number one in my book. Ferns are excelent for nitrogen removal. They have storage bulbs in their root system specifically for nitrogen storage. The only problem with ferns is when they start to shed, there is no end to the tiny leaves. And if the storage bulbs decay, they will dump the nitrogen products back into the water.
I have sweet potato vines hanging in my pool/pond (with long roots in the water). It is a 18,000 gallon tadpole factory. I tested it today for the first time in a year. I expected the nitrates to be sky high, but they were zero.
I have sweet potato vines hanging in my pool/pond (with long roots in the water). It is a 18,000 gallon tadpole factory. I tested it today for the first time in a year. I expected the nitrates to be sky high, but they were zero.
im glad you liked it Chompers, i found it very helpful.
Potts, just a warning, some plants take nitrogen from the air and release it into the soil. Im pretty sure they are just legumes, so avoid those (sorry if you already knew that..)
Potts, just a warning, some plants take nitrogen from the air and release it into the soil. Im pretty sure they are just legumes, so avoid those (sorry if you already knew that..)
In general, aquatic plants will consume ammonia first and will only start utilizing nitrate in the absence of ammonia. Terrestrial plants will start with the nitrate. So it depends on what you are trying to do. By consuming ammonia, aquatic plants effectively remove it from the nitrogen cycle with the end result being less nitrate. But this also means less beneficial bacteria in your filter media.
Terrestrial plants will not impact the beneficial bacteria but use of terrestrial plants is more complicated. I've heard of some good results from use of tomatto plants.
Some fast growing aquatic weeds that are easy to grow, such as hornwart, make excellent nitrate reducers.
Terrestrial plants will not impact the beneficial bacteria but use of terrestrial plants is more complicated. I've heard of some good results from use of tomatto plants.
Some fast growing aquatic weeds that are easy to grow, such as hornwart, make excellent nitrate reducers.