Best plant to help remove nitrates?

[Camogirl28]

Am looking for a plant like fern . Not to fast growing and easy to take care of. Also look natural in community tanks.

 

[maxwellag]

While it is very messy and fast growing, duckweed uses nitrate fast. It is so easy to take care of that you might just have trouble getting rid of it, if you should ever want to. If you are wanting something a little less pesky, I suggest anubias or java ferns.

 

[azmodan]

Am looking for a plant like fern . Not to fast growing and easy to take care of. Also look natural in community tanks.

Fast growing stem plants are best for sucking up nitrates. You could try water sprite or water wisteria, although they do grow quickly. As Max mentioned you might want to try Java fern or any type of anubias as they grow very slowly. Bolbitis is another option that could work and Amazon frogbit is a good floater too.

 

[Camogirl28]

Okay thanks plants are really new to me but I want to learn more.

 

[Old Scales]

You state that you are looking for a slow growing plant that uses up nitrates fastl. No such thing. Fast growth equals faster nitrate & other nutrient intake. However it is a common misconception that plants will solve or massively slow down nitrate build up. They will help some especially if the tank is very lightly stocked,but regular and adequate WC's are your best recourse for nitrate buildup. OS.

 

[BBradbury]

Nitrate Use

Am looking for a plant like fern . Not to fast growing and easy to take care of. Also look natural in community tanks.

Hello Cam...

Nitrates, at a low level, under 50 ppm, aren't going to harm most aquarium fish. Floating plants that take in nutrients from their roots are effective if you want to remove nutrients, like nitrate from the tank water. Hornwort, Anacharis and Pennywort are good examples. I keep these plants in all my planted tanks. They help filter the tank water and maintain a stable water chemistry. You'll still need to remove and replace half the tank water weekly to ensure safe water conditions for your fish and plants.

B

 

[Camogirl28]

Hello Cam... Nitrates, at a low level, under 50 ppm, aren't going to harm most aquarium fish. Floating plants that take in nutrients from their roots are effective if you want to remove nutrients, like nitrate from the tank water. Hornwort, Anacharis and Pennywort are good examples. I keep these plants in all my planted tanks. They help filter the tank water and maintain a stable water chemistry. You'll still need to remove and replace half the tank water weekly to ensure safe water conditions for your fish and plants. B

What about when I want to remove the plant. Since it floats and reproduces fast how do I get rid of it. Also is there any good hardy plants that you can plant in the gravel. My book says bitter grass can't live in a tank with a temp above 68 degrees, is that true?

 

[Old Scales]

Camogirl,


From your description of your tank set up, water wisteria and ambulia would be two plants that would do well. They are hardy easy to grow low medium light plants that can take up respectable amounts of nitrates. With the light you describe they should give you a medium growth rate. Hope this gives you some ideas. OS.

 

[BBradbury]

Nitrates

What about when I want to remove the plant. Since it floats and reproduces fast how do I get rid of it. Also is there any good hardy plants that you can plant in the gravel. My book says bitter grass can't live in a tank with a temp above 68 degrees, is that true?

Hello again Cam...

Anacharis and Pennywort will grow planted, but they'll need to be trimmed regularly. You can attach the stems to pieces of driftwood and to lava rock with dark, thin sewing thread. Again, you'll have to keep the plants trimmed. Most aquarium fish and plants are tropical and prefer warmer water, 74-80 degrees is normal. The Bitter Grass I'm familiar with is a land plant, so don't know that it will grow emersed or submerged in the tank.

B

 

[maxwellag]

As others have said, it's really not that hard to jeep nitrates under control without plants. A weekly water change would be fine.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[flitabout]

I use wisteria, water lettuce and golden pothos for that purpose in my tanks. Wisteria is probably going to be the easiest to use for your purposes. If you planted it with a root tab It will take off and go mad so It will need to be trimmed regularly. I had mine under high light with DIY co2, root tabs, and pps-pro ferts. It grew around 5-6 inches in a week. But while I had it in there growing like that my nitrates never got over 5ppm.

 

[Mebbid]

As others have said, it's really not that hard to jeep nitrates under control without plants. A weekly water change would be fine.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

The issue in the OPs case is that her tap water runs at 40 - 80 ppm nitrates

 

[flitabout]

And with nitrate in the water like that I wouldn't drink it either it isn't safe. You may also want to look into RO or reverse osmosis water that you remineralize. That is what I do.

 

[Camogirl28]

And with nitrate in the water like that I wouldn't drink it either it isn't safe. You may also want to look into RO or reverse osmosis water that you remineralize. That is what I do.

I have looked into RO but the deal breaker questions are: How much for what with a 36 gal? How much work and time is needed to put into it? Os it hard to start and maintain? How big is it?

 

[maxwellag]

With that many nitrates, duckweed would probably be the fastest nitrate sucker.

 

[flitabout]

I hike 20g of water in once a week for my 37g tank. I will be doing the same for my 36g when it cycles. Remineralizing is really simple I just add some seachem's equilibrium and I am good to go till the next weeks change. I will be buying an ro unit soon so I am not lugging 40 gallons of water in every week. When I do that I will have a trash can for that purpose remineralize it and then pump it in to the tanks with a wet dry power head.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Gold leaf tobacco uses nitrates like nobody's business. You'd have to grow it hydroponically using your tank water though..

 

[Camogirl28]

Finally a breakthrough in my nitrate problems. My nitrates on Wednesday was 180 ppm, I did a 50% water change vacuumed the gravel and washed the decor. Then I treated it with Prime. I waited 48hrs so the water would settle. I just tested the water and my nitrates was a 80 ppm. I know this is still high and I have a long way to go but, this is a small victory. I would just liked to thank you guys for your helpful input.

 

[Masha]

If I understand it correctly, plants with leaves in the air and roots in the water are much more efficient at removing nitrates. I have a setup with a philodendrum in a pot next to my tank, with some of the tendrils hanging into the water. They produce roots very quickly, and it looks really nice too. Philodendrum grows well in low light conditions so you don't need to have a special light for that as well. Pothos works nicely like that too.

 

[siva]

Anacharis is a nitrate sponge. All stem plants are good. Water lettuce works too.