What plants are best at sucking nitrates besides floater plants?

I am having a hard time getting any floater plants near me so does anyone recommend any other aquatic plants that suck up nitrates well? My 20g would love the extra plants just unsure what to get.

 

elodea canadensis. It grows like a weed when happy. Also hornwort. I have found thriving elodea and hornwort gives me the cleanest water.if either are struggling then my water has issues be it green or algea issues

 

elodea canadensis. It grows like a weed when happy. Also hornwort. I have found thriving elodea and hornwort gives me the cleanest water.if either are struggling then my water has issues be it green or algea issues

thank you!! i will be on the lookout for those 2 when I go to my LFS

 

Hornwort does better floating around for me. It can be a pain gets wrapped up every where. Ruins a scape . I used to try to keep it contained now I just let it go where it wants.

 

Guppy grass and ludwigia also do well in addition to what Rcslade124 said

 

Guppy grass and ludwigia also do well in addition to what Rcslade124 said

I will have to lookout for guppy grass as I cant seem to find it unfortunately;( is there another name for it?

 

I will have to lookout for guppy grass as I cant seem to find it unfortunately;( is there another name for it?

Najas guadalupensis. It's hard to get rid of because its brittle so be sure you want it first.

 

Najas guadalupensis. It's hard to get rid of because its brittle so be sure you want it first.

Oh okay, will it work well in a shrimp tank? I am starting one, that's still going thru cycling.

 

For shrimp I'd use myrio personally because of all the surface area

 

Oh okay, will it work well in a shrimp tank? I am starting one, that's still going thru cycling.

Yes

 

For shrimp I'd use myrio personally because of all the surface area

wow never heard of that, ill try to see if any of my lfs have those as well

 

wow never heard of that, ill try to see if any of my lfs have those as well

They come in several colors from solid red of tuberculatum to straight green. Buceplant.com has the biggest variety that I can find of myrios.

 

Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus, water sprite, water wisteria, and cabomba all are crazy fast growers, all stem plants. Just some options not mentioned. Water sprite and wisteria are stems that grow planted or you can leave floating and they throw off roots for cover.

 

It may have been a coincidence with something else but when my vallisneria reached the surface and started growing over the top I noticed a big drop in nitrates.

 

It might be worth looking at online plants too. I don't know what the shipping is like there, but I got a nice set of plants in the mail last week

 

I buy all my plants online. Never been disappointed. I get the fastest shipment but I don’t think that really matters too much.

 

PWC once you get a good schedule for it, almost no nitrates.

 

PWC once you get a good schedule for it, almost no nitrates.

Does that mean partial water change? I have 30ppm of nitrates in my tap water so have to rely on my plants to keep the fish happy. I end up with 10ppm a week later then do a WC and start again.

 

Does that mean partial water change? I have 30ppm of nitrates in my tap water so have to rely on my plants to keep the fish happy. I end up with 10ppm a week later then do a WC and start again.

Yeah my tap water has around 15ppm of nitrates which sucks!

 

Floating and many stem plants actually take up ammonia first, before they will take up nitrates. Water sprite is not naturally a stem plant, it prefers to float, and works best as a floater, providing wide leaves and a bushy root system on the surface versus the narrow leaves it produces when submersed. It has a third form for emersed growth.