# Plants as significant nitrate reducers



## cichlidpastor (Jun 20, 2009)

I am always looking for a way to keep my nitrates to a minimum and if you have a heavily stocked hap tank you know what i mean.

I'm thinking about adding some live plants. But I've never been a fan of them. 3 questions:

1. If you had 2 moderately sized plants (java ferns or anubias), would they significantly reduce nitrates in a 125 gallon setup?

2. I use a single strip light with a more blue (17,000) range light. Would that provide "enough" light for the plants?

3. Will just 2 the plants muck up my tank?

Thanks in advance


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

Both java fern and anubias can be attached to rocks or wood, not planted in the substrate, so I don't think they'll "muck up" the tank (not sure what you mean by that).

Neither are fast growers and thus will not be taking up the nitrate in your tank to any great degree, so I doubt they will make any noticeable impact on your nitrate level (especially in such a large tank).

I don't know how to answer the light question. Java fern and anubias are "low light," but they would need at least 1-1.5 watt per gallon on for 8-9 hours a day to grow.

The faster growing, more heavier "feeder" plants are going to use more nitrate. Good ones include swords and wisteria (especially the latter). I don't use plants in my African tank, tho, so I'm not sure how they'll hold up to haps . ..


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## Morcs (Jun 1, 2009)

You could look at making a refugium.
Buy an aquaclear 110 and simply modify it, and get a small clamp on light.

Not sure what plants would be best to stuff in it though.

Google aqua clear refugium and theres quite a bit of info


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## WillieB (Jul 4, 2009)

I grow kitchen herbs above my 55gal using a powerhead on a timer suppling a rack of 2" pvc feeding about 10 very small plants. My nitrates out of the tap range from 20-30ppm. API test kit and dip strips say my nitrates are currently and consistantly <10ppm>40ppm with equal # of fish.

Currently I'm changing things up and there's only 8 Jewels in there or I'd photodocument some test results for you.

My opinion: Plants do significantly reduce nitrates.


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## WillieB (Jul 4, 2009)

Well the "edit" function isn't working, and I think my greater and lesser signs are messing with the post.... so

With ponics above the tank my nitrates are lower than 10ppm. Without the plants, my nitrates were at or greater than 40ppm every other day.

I actually got better results than that because when I was getting 40ppm test results my HOBs had charcoal in the filters, and with plants, I don't add the charcoal.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

> My opinion: Plants do significantly reduce nitrates.


Yup, of course. that is not in doubt. The question as posed was would two very slow-growing medium-sized plants in a 125 gallon tank make a difference in nitrates. I seriously doubt it . ..


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## WillieB (Jul 4, 2009)

apologies :thumb:


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## Aislinn (Jul 31, 2009)

What kitchen herbs do you use and how do they do in your tank? Do the cichlids not eat them?

What about Marimo moss balls? How much do they help with removing nitrates?

Thanks,
Deb


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## bigdaddy67 (Sep 5, 2009)

In my humble opinion, regular water changes are the best solution for nitrates. Plants look nice, but nothing seems to work quite as well as regularly scheduled water changes.

--Dave


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## niccomau (Oct 14, 2008)

I have a pretty well planted tank - mostly with low light plants, apons, ferns, crypts, and moss. I have just about zero nitrates...the highest I've seen is about 5ppm. I usually do water changes every two weeks.


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## justinf67 (Jul 19, 2009)

Im going to be doing some experiments with this very soon. what i plan on doing is adding fast growing plants such as anachris or floating lilys into my sump and recording the difference i see in nitrates.... gonna test nitrates without the plants for prob a month, with regular water changes, and then with plants. see what kind of difference i see...should be interesting to see.


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

From what I have found the messiest plants work the best at removing nitrAtes but require the most maintenance/ cleaning. I used duckweed and anacharis in a 40 G breeder sump/ fuge for a 220G display overstocked with very large fancy Pearscale goldies and Orandas.

I would weekly lower 80ppm nitrAtes to ~20ppm doing two 30% WC's on a weekend. About two months after loading the fuge with plants I could go a month and the nitrAtes would never go above 20ppm with the same BioLoad. Goldies love duckweed treats but I could not keep up with the mess it makes in the fuge, then the anacharis would foul the pump prefilter and I was clearing it constantly. And to boot I felt guilty going 4 weeks between WC's so I did weekly changes anyways.

Plants help greatly in reducing nitrAtes, it all depends on how much time you intend to pay attention to them. The slower growing ferns and swords work but not as efficient while requiring less maintenance.


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## WillieB (Jul 4, 2009)

Aislinn said:


> What kitchen herbs do you use and how do they do in your tank? Do the cichlids not eat them?
> 
> What about Marimo moss balls? How much do they help with removing nitrates?
> 
> ...


Currently marjoram, thyme, sweet basil, garlic chives. The fish don't eat them because they are suspended above the tank inside 2" pvc pipe which is supplied tank water by a powerhead.
These plants arent messy at all. They are used for meal preparation on a regular basis.

Had three types of lettuce associated with another tank that did real well too. It was great cause we made salads and ever so often the Africans got a snack. The cichlids liked Black Seeded Simpson lettuce the best out of everything we had. (they were lettuce snobs)

Don't know about moss balls, I'm just starting another tank where there will be plants inside the tank. I want to be able to measure the water quality and compare it.


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## Aislinn (Jul 31, 2009)

WillieB wrote:
<<Don>>

I look forward to seeing your results. I have live plants in all my tanks, mostly java ferns, anubias and vals which the cichlids leave alone, but just a plant of each in each tank. I also have a moss ball in each. I'm just starting a planted tank for angels and am looking forward to seeing if there is a difference. Of course, there are different plants being used.

Deb


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## niccomau (Oct 14, 2008)

I just bought some nice looking hornwort (haha no really this stuff looks good), it supposed to be a very fast growing plant in low to moderate lighting. Any fast growing plant is going to suck up a lot more nitrates and nutrients. I think that planting a tank, even sparsley is a great help to the home aquarium. Slow growers won't reduce the nitrates a lot, but something is better than nothing. Also plants filter out CO2 and add oxygen to the tank aswell. Some of the people that experienced blackouts in new york, said that having their tanks planted was the only thing that saved their tanks. Low light plants can grow with ambient light even, and if the power goes out that little bit might be want saves your tanks stock. Plus they are a lot prettier than the fake ones. Anyway there's my 1.99 worth of advice  Sorry if I blathered more than necessary.


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

I am using hornwort now in one of my fuges and it works great. Grows like a weed and is very easy to maintain. I let it grow to the surface and spread across the surface then snip just below the root sprigs and replant. Rinse and repeat.


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## aji1217 (Aug 22, 2009)

hornwort, water lettuce, and hyacinth work amazingly for nitrate removal, but require frequent upkeep, and the last two are floaters, and need good lighting, but I have read a few studies that say hyacinth (if you can get it to grow..its pretty picky indoors) is the best for nitrate removal...under ideal conditions. any fast grower would work though.

if you need help getting hyacinth to grow, let me know, been toying with it for the past few months and think I got it down pretty good.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_o ... e62ca9aa64

old study (1968), basically proves that hyacinth makes a big difference in nitrate/phosph reduction
http://www.apms.org/japm/vol06/v6p27.pdf


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