Live plants and oxygen

[ClearVision94]

I don't have a planted tank but would like to have one, but how do I know I have enough plants to produce the oxygen needed for this fish I have? I don't like using air pumps because of the noise they make and it's just not natural... I have
5 neons
3 guppies
2 otocats
1 ghost shrimp
20 gallon aquarium with an internal power filter

I've seen people with tanks that don't require air pumps to produce the oxygen and I want to get into that....

Any advice or ideas?

 

[Mebbid]

No tanks should need air pumps to add oxygen to the water. As long as there's surface agitation from the filter it should be plenty for your tank.

 

[Old Scales]

Plants do produce oxygen when photosynthesizing but not nearly enough to sustain fish respiration. That's an old myth. Oxygen, and indeed, atmospheric CO2 also, are exchanged at the surface of the water. The swirling of the filter flow or air stone assists this exchange pretty efficiently. OS.