Nitrate lovers!

[MMantelli]

I am setting up a little experiment on the top of my cichlid tank and need a few good ideas. I'm wandering what are some aquatic and semi-aquatic plants that absolutely love nitrates. I mean like plants that thrive with high nitrates.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I know elatine triandra does but in also high tech conditions. Not sure what conditions other than high nitrates you have planned.

 

[Sharkfin]

Elodea is one of them, it loves nitrates and absorbs lots of them, it also releases a substance that prevents the growth of bluish algae as it grows. But it needs high light intensity

 

[Rivercats]

Water sprite, it can grow in the water and up and out of the water and it thrives with high nitrates. Something else to think about is getting some water lettuce but you have to buy ones called dwarf water lettuce which isn't anything other than small ones but will usually remain small in tanks. It doesn't need a ton of light and those roots suck nitrates like crazy. I've used both water lettuce and water hyacinth in my tanks.

 

[GodFan]

Pothos vine. Hangs out of the tank.

 

[aqua_chem]

Are you trying to get rid of said nitrates? Nothing really 'thrives' in high nitrate that I know of in that they do better in high levels of nitrate (40+ ppm) than low levels (<20 ppm), although you do have some that don't grow well in low nitrate (Elatine Triandra mentioned above is a good example). If you're looking for plants that will absorb lots of nitrates, then you need something that's not CO2 limited. Otherwise you're going to be carbon limited as is almost always the case if not light limited. Plants growing in the air that take nutrients from water (like pothos) or floating plants (duckweed is king, water lettuce is also great option) are going to absorb way more than any aquatic plant in a non-CO2 tank.

Why don't you tell us a little more about what you're doing so we can give you more relevant options?

 

[MMantelli]

Well its an over stocked African cichlid tank. All paramaters are great except nitrates. I even went to doing 2 water changes a week and the lowest I can get them is 40. I have a hob biowheel 350 I was using as a riparium but just decided to do a grow bed on top of the tank to help out. I have glut and all the ferts I need for pps pro but don't really need to dose anything but glut and the plantex. I was just wandering if there's anything I can put in this that will help suck up the nitrates. Here's what I just put in there.

.........:..................













From back left corner
Row 1: mangroves, water sprite, peace Lilly, java moss
Row 2: potted hygro compact, potted crypt wendtii (trying to see if I can get it to go emersed, guppy grass
Row 3: microsword, unknown 1, moss balls, unknown 2, ludwigia ovalis
Row 4: HC, staurogyne repens, pothos clipping, marsilia sp.



Unknown plant 1




Unknown plant 2 the submerged leaves were shaped and sized like amania gracilis but where green on top and almost purple on the bottom I did a dsm to get it to grow emersed.

Well that's what I was doing and was wandering what some good nitrate sucking plants are.That I can add to it and if there's anything in there I should take out and do something else with. The lighting is a 48" t8 shop light 2x32w about a foot above the grow bed type thingy.

 

[LJosephine0116]

Water sprite, it can grow in the water and up and out of the water and it thrives with high nitrates. Something else to think about is getting some water lettuce but you have to buy ones called dwarf water lettuce which isn't anything other than small ones but will usually remain small in tanks. It doesn't need a ton of light and those roots suck nitrates like crazy. I've used both water lettuce and water hyacinth in my tanks.

mike (mmantelli) wanted me to mention he thinks water lettuce is on the noxious weed list here in florida. What about red root floaters and we have tons of duckweed half a block from our house what would be the best wsy to prep wild picked plants for a tank mike said a bleach dip but isn't that bad for a tank

 

[Rivercats]

Red rooters would work as would duckweed BUT if you don't have a way to contain duckweed it gets everywhere and is hard as h*ll to get out of a tank. Both will absorb a lot of nitrates and nutrients in general.

 

[MMantelli]

Well I do have 23 African cichlid mbunas in there they are grazers i wander if they will eat much of it. The duckweed that is. I can imagine how hard it is to get rid of in the county we live in it is covering every slow moving canal and stagnant body of water. I wander what else I could find in our lakes.

 

[Rivercats]

They actually might eat it. I used to put a handful of it in the goldfish tanks weekly as I knew there wouldn't be any left to multiply!

 

[MMantelli]

I wander if its worth it. What are its lighting needs vs red root floaters?

 

[Rivercats]

Duckweed is often found mixed in with other floaters so it could work. Both like light but check on the red rooter as I haven't had any of that in ages!

 

[MMantelli]

Ok so plants to keep an eye out for: elatine tiandra, elodea, water sprite, dwarf water lettuce, water hyacinth, suckered and red root floaters. Any others?

 

[Rivercats]

Elatine tiandra ships poorly and what you end up with will take forever for what you want. Honestly I'd remove that from the list. Pull up a list of floating plants for ponds and see what's available. There are quite a few that would work well.

 

[MMantelli]

Cool thanks ill do that

 

[jetajockey]

Your mystery plant looks like dwarf pennywort. Hard to tell on the second one.

I suggest sticking with emersed grown plants or floaters, red root floaters are good and are relatively low light. They will stay green in lower lighting, but they don't get crazy long roots like water lettuce and especially frogbit do.

Water wisteria grows insane out of water, as does water sprite. Some of the plants that come to mind that I keep above water and are fast growers are: Bacopa monnieri/caroliniana/lenagera, Rotala rotundifolia, glosso, as well as all of the various sword plants. Hygro corymbosa (all of the variants), dwarf pennywort, almost any ludwigia, microsword, marsilea.

I know of a deal where you get 5 bunches for $8 and they are all emersed form plants. I don't know if your goal is to load the growbed down asap or fill it in with plants you particularly like, though.

 

[MMantelli]

im pretty much trying to load it up with plants asap but that i will also like having to look at how deep would you reccomend i keep the level of the water? i finally have it stable at about 1.5" at the deep end where the HC and microsword is and about 1/2" on the shallow end where the ludwigia and marsilia are. pm me about that $8 deal i also have a question about switching a crypt enndtii from submerged to emersed.

 

[jetajockey]

im pretty much trying to load it up with plants asap but that i will also like having to look at how deep would you reccomend i keep the level of the water? i finally have it stable at about 1.5" at the deep end where the HC and microsword is and about 1/2" on the shallow end where the ludwigia and marsilia are. pm me about that $8 deal i also have a question about switching a crypt enndtii from submerged to emersed.

The substrate depth is the biggest concern, you want to be able to plant them deep enough so they can stand up on their own.

 

[MMantelli]

i did an inch to inch and a half organic potting soil and an inch and a quarter to two and a quarter of pool filter sand i have a powerhead pumping water up through a ball valve and down into a diy filter with bonded filter pad polyfill a peice of screen and then 18 bio balls the black ones from a wet/dry filter then into the bed and out a peice of pvc with a 45 on it then into the center of a stripped down penguin 350 with activated carbon and ceramic rings then flowing back into the main tank. mabey ill make a little video tomorrow after my water changes of the setup it still needs a little tweaking. im not spending 17 bucks on a bulkhead and i cant seem to find anywhere around here that sells uni-seal plugs.