Nitrate absorption

Was just curious about what plants people would use in their tanks to help absorb nitrates this bringing their readings down. By no means am I trying to skimp out on the work of water changes just simply wanted to provide a healthier environment for my fish. I'm running two led lights for my tank, one is a finnex planted 24 plus, and a current satellite. The finnex is 48 inches and current led is a 21 inches, temp of the tank is 80-82 degrees Fahrenheit, no co2 for the moment but coming soon. Have root tabs as well as fluorite sand. Any advice is appreciated!

 

Anacharis does a good job, as does hornwort. You can put pothos in the filter or hanging out of the tank too.

 

How effective is pothos in a HOB filter?? I've read nothing but great things about it but it seems to good to be true

 

Water Sprite takes in a lot

 

I have one water sprite plant that is absolutely taking off I see new growth almost daily and need to add more into the tank!

 

How effective is pothos in a HOB filter?? I've read nothing but great things about it but it seems to good to be true

Amazingly effective. TrI'm to roots about 1 inch before submerging them in the filter, they'll grow water roots in a week or two. Around that time you'll start to see your nitrate levels drop dramatically.

I used to do weekly water changes where my nitrates would climb from 20pmm on sunday to 80-100ppm the following sunday. Now they're rarely, if ever, above 40ppm.

 

That quickly? I hear it took longer for the roots to grow but if that's the case then I will definitely pick a plant up and add it later today. My nitrates rise fairly quickly and level out around a little bit above 40 weekly and I just want to keep them down naturally by plants and such but okay thank you for the quick response! Any specific store or type of the plant I'm looking for or will any hardware store that sells plants would suffice?

 

They're always available at Home Depot or Lowe's. Usually called golden ivy or devil's ivy. Thick stems, waxy feeling white and green leaves. Can't miss 'em.

 

Thank you so much!

 

I think toxic to pet though, so make sure they're out of reach!

 

I picked some up on my way home from school today, rinsed them free of the soil they were in trimmed the roots and put them right in there

 

Looks great. Some people think it looks messy; personally I think it makes the tank look even better.

 

I agree personally I like it and it doesn't bother me and thank you!

 

Is there a type of pothos that stays smaller or has smaller leaves?

Edit** I did some research nevermind!! Lol

 

Just a quick update it worked like a charm it's been about a week since my last water change and my trates are under 20 ppm and I haven't changed anything other than adding the pothos! Thank you for the advice guys!

 

Just a quick update it worked like a charm it's been about a week since my last water change and my trates are under 20 ppm and I haven't changed anything other than adding the pothos! Thank you for the advice guys!

Awesome. My water change in coming up but my nitrates in my big tank are under 20.

Make sure you still do a small water change to replenish the minerals in the tank.

 

Definitely I actually enjoy changing the water I find it soothing, I plan on changing it tomorrow seeing as it's one of my few days off!!

 

The Tank looks great. Had a question for you. How many stems of Pothos did you plant. Is there a limit. My concern is if I add too much will it deprive other plants in my tank of Nutrients?

 

The Tank looks great. Had a question for you. How many stems of Pothos did you plant. Is there a limit. My concern is if I add too much will it deprive other plants in my tank of Nutrients?

With everything you do in aquaria you're looking for balance.
It is possible to plant too much of anything if what you're feeding (both fish food and plant food) is not enough for what you have ... something will have to give. It could be in plant health or fish health. More than likely your pothos would thrive (if it's in your HOB) and the tank plants would suffer. This would be because the pothos is closer to the nutrients in the filter.
This can be compensated for by either feeding more fish food and letting the extra detritus fertilize your plants (not recommended-can cause many other problems) or by supplementing with plant food (a.k.a. Fertilizers). Again, we're talking about balance so I can't tell you what/how much since I'm not right there. You'll have to tinker with it, add plants, test, water change, & watch. Get a little notebook to make notes in and keep it by the tank. Then you can record levels and what you did/didn't do to it and know what you may want to try next as far as plants and ferts.
I now this isn't a definite answer but I hope I helped answer at least some of your question.

 

It has been proven that readily available CO2 increases a plants uptake of, and ability to utilize nitrate as it's nitrogen source. In the open atmosphere (air), CO2 is much more prominent than within an aquarium. So, terrestrial plants have much more access to CO2 than aquatic plants, which allows a much more rapid consumption of nitrate!

Most aquatic plants will utilize ammonium as their source of nitrogen and only when it is completely exhausted will it utilize nitrate, which is why there is a build up of nitrate in an aquarium after time.

Adding terrestrial plants to an aquarium could ultimately hinder aquatic plants, however if you always see an excess (greater than 0) reading of nitrates in your water, it confirms that your aquatic plants are not utilizing all of the available nitrates and can share.

I knew those aquaponics lessons would come in handy eventually . Yay science!

 

HI all! Am not so experienced in planted tanks but I know somethin bout gardening... so why do u need to lower the good nitrates for planted tanks?? And I know we can always lower the nitrates via 25% water changes... I have few plants and my nitrates reading at 7ppm so I think tats great ... and always remember 5ppm reading means 10ppm in actual tank... and the readings will depends if u have a rhizome or rooted plants... fast growing plants , floating , broad leafs and rhizomes needs more nitrogen... rooted ones needs special ferts and always a hassle for beginners... so in conclusion nitrates level depends really on water level and how many and what kinda plants u have....

 

Basically my train of thought was more concerned with my fishes health, I had high nitrates for a while considering my tap contains 10 ppm of nitrate. So I figure pothos would take some of the edge off and allow the fish to have a healthy environment for the time being in between water changes. But nitrates also depend on the type of fish and how much you feed etc. and since prolonged exposure to high nitrates can harm fish I wanted to minimize this risk.