House Plants as Supplemental Water Filters

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BBradbury

Aquarium Advice Addict
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May 24, 2011
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Hello AA...

Added some large Chinese evergreens to my 55 gallon Red Eyed Tetra tank and noticed a considerable drop in the nitrate level. After some research, it appears the immersed roots of this house plant is using the ammonia and nitrite from the fish waste material faster than the bacteria. So, most of the nitrite is used before it can be converted to nitrate. The natural filtration is doing a better job of keeping the water clean than the mechanical filtration. The Tetras live in near pure water conditions. The red eyes look striking against the grey body and black and white tail fins.

B
 
Nice! Seen a few presentations on aquaponics here going well too. I assume with yours, no chance of ph drop as would also have large water changes?
 
Hi B.

I have no nitrates either. If this is your interpretation of near perfect water conditions then I guess I’m there. I haven’t done a water change in months.......keeping an aquarium has never been this good.
 
I got it. That's a helluva set up. Those plants are a lot bigger than I was thinking.
 
Awesome! I'm not looking for miracles, ai just want to make my water quality better. My tap water adds about 5ppm nitrates and I believe API misreads the Chloramine as 1ppm Ammonia, let's hope so anyway. I will rig up a planter to keep on the back row where the platstic would attach to the glass top.
 
House Plant Filtration

I got it. That's a helluva set up. Those plants are a lot bigger than I was thinking.

King...

The house plants get much larger than normal, because the roots receive a constant source of nutrients from the dissolving fish and aquatic plant waste. A typical house plant gets nutrients roughly once a week. I added an air pump and air stone that runs oxygen to the root system. This mimics the high oxygen environment the plant would get if it was planted in potting soil. The tank in the pic is 60 gallons.

B
 
House Plant Filtration

Awesome! I'm not looking for miracles, ai just want to make my water quality better. My tap water adds about 5ppm nitrates and I believe API misreads the Chloramine as 1ppm Ammonia, let's hope so anyway. I will rig up a planter to keep on the back row where the platstic would attach to the glass top.

sav...

I use Seachem's "Safe" to remove the chlorine and chloramines from the tap water. The tank in the pic doesn't need water changes. I just top off the water that's lost to evaporation with distilled water. I have to use distilled water, so the minerals don't build up to a toxic level. The plants remove all the ammonia and nitrite from the water as soon as the fish produce it, so there's no need to remove and replace the water, just top it off. I feed the fish a diet that includes the trace minerals, so those levels remain steady. There's a small bacteria colony that works to remove nitrogen at night, when the plants rest.

B
 
Those are the largest healthiest Chinese Evergreen plants in all the ones I have seen looks great.

Do you ever test for GH and KH?

What lighting do you have above the plants?
 
House Plant Filtration

Those are the largest healthiest Chinese Evergreen plants in all the ones I have seen looks great.

Do you ever test for GH and KH?

What lighting do you have above the plants?

Hello...

I do test the Hardness and Alkalinity sometimes. The GH is typically 75 and KH is roughly 80. I have four bulb shop lights hanging over the tanks that have the Aglaonema plants. The bulbs are 32 watt, 6500K, T8. The plants do fine with just room light and grow well in rooms across from large windows. I have most of the plants in my basement tank room with just the shop lighting. I have some really large "Ag" plants, but those have been growing for several years and the root systems have filled the tank. Fortunately, I keep small fish in those and they take care of fertilizing the plants. I top off those tanks with distilled water, no water changes and trim old leaves and blossoms. The plants flower constantly, a lot more often than those that are potted. I'll try to get some other pictures and post them.

Thanks for the interest!

B
 
I've done that with Pothos years ago. This time around using some smaller plants.. Hypoestes,Acorus,and a basket with African Mask Alocasia.
So many tropical house plants can be bought at HD,brought home and have soils washed off and then plunged into tank water..and do fine. Dracaena and Spathiphyllum,many Ficus, Dieffenbachia. I wonder about the ferns. Haven't ever tried the Boston. They are kind of messy even if doing well. Its a wonder that the dwarf tropical pond plants aren't used more often indoors. If you have a window or a Light that site high over the tank,you're set!
 
Always have interest in plants growing in the fish tank water.

A couple of my favorites are Syngonium podophyllum / aka Arrowhead house plant, but it is not the Arrowhead pond plant. And Anthurium. Haven't grown them for a long time now though.

Would love to see more pics.
 
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