Chewyoda

I got some plants for my 10 gallon aquarium about a month ago. I heard that plants are supposed to help your nitrate levels, yet nothing has happened and my nitrate (last time I checked before my 25% yesterday) was still 40ppm. Is the info I got true?

Butterfly

Plants use Nitrates for food. Fast growing ones (floating and stem plants) use up Nitrates faster. You still have to vacuum the substrate and do water changes to keep them from building up faster than the plants can use them up.
Carol

Nate McFin

Some plants will help with Nitrates. Wisteria is a good one for nitrates. one thing to keep in mind with plants is that nutrient intake is directly related to amount of light and co2 recieved. So if you have a low light tank and no co2 nutrients and ferts will be taken in much slower. This will also result in slower growth.
On the flipside. A high light tank with Co2 will absorb nutrients very fast and may even need to have Nitrates added to the tank to help sustain them.
Plants by themselves will use some but not enough to make a huge impact without the other factors being raised as well.

mathas

To further expand upon Carol's point about not letting nitrates build up faster than the plants can use them, it's also worth noting that many plants actually prefer ammonium and possibly nitrites to nitrates. If you have recurring elevations of ammonia/ammonium or nitrite levels, the plants may be getting enough nitrogen to keep up with the photosynthetic demand imposed by lighting and CO2 levels without having to ever touch your nitrate levels.

To quote Diana Walstad, "The nitrogen cycle is often presented incorrectly to hobbyists as nitrifying bacteria converting ammonium to nitrates and then plants taking up nitrates. Actually, it consists of both plants and bacteria competing for ammonium. Only if plants are forced to, will they take up nitrates. Thus, nitrates may accumulate even in planted ponds and aquariums."

That quote, and the rest of the excerpt from her book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, can be found here.

Chewyoda

As far as water changes go...is a 5-7% weekly water change good enough? Because that's what I've been doing since I've gotten my tank.
BTW thx for the advice!

Chewyoda

Thx for the info! To check all my water lvls check my aquarium info it's up to date since Sat.