Considering getting live plants...help

meng-chieh said:

All the levels in the tank are quite satisfactory except for one - nitrate levels. I've been doing weekly 10% water changes for at least 2 months now, with no obvious results

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Have you tested your tap water to see if the high nitrates are coming straight from the tap? If they aren't, you could possibly be overfeeding or perhaps you need to increase the volume of your water changes. I personally do 30% a week and that seems like the low end compared to what most of the veteran users on here seem to do. You might want to try 30% to 50% a week and see if that helps you out. Get a Python if you are only not doing it because of the perceived work involved (not insinuating that is what stops you, just letting you know how to make it easier regardless).

1. Is it really really hard to keep live plants?

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Not at all, especially if you take care to purchase plants that suit your tank capabilities. Check out the plant guide at plantgeeks.com http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php and look for easy, low light plants. After you master those, you can graduate to higher lighting, CO2 etc if you really get into it.

2. Will keeping them actually make the nitrate levels go away?

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They will feed off of N, but it depends on how heavily you plant the tank, how healthy your plants are, how your feed your fish etc. Lots of factors, but mainly you need to have healthy plants that are growing well for them to really keep knock out your nitrates. Again, you really want to identify the source of you nitrates first.

3. If so, are there any downsides to keeping them (e.g. will they make the tank harder to maintain clear and clean?)

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There will be a little more maintenance involved such as pruning and possibly adding ferts down the road. They could also lead to algae if you don't keep their needs in check. But overall, I've found that my tanks look better and are healthier with them and any added work involved in them has more than paid off in terms of my enjoyment. If you stick with low maintenance, slow growing plants then you really won’t have any extra work at all hardly, but you wont get much nitrate help either.

4. Will any of my fishes, listed above, eat the plants?

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Not that I'm aware of.

Also, as for one personal recommendation. One plant that is fast growing and sucks up a lot nutrients that doesn't require a top notch setup is Watersprite. I throw some of that in basically every new tank I setup and really like what it does for me.

The plants you can keep really depends on the amount of light you have. You should aim for at least 2.5 WPG but if you have around 1.5 WPG you could still grow some nice plants like Java fern, anubias, and anacharis, among others. Plants DO use nitrate, and it should help with the nitrate levels in your tank, depending on how many plants you have. Hornwort is really good at sucking up nutrients like nitrate, and is a low maintenance and low light plant.

No, it's not really really difficult to keep live plants, provided you have the basic requirements of light, perhaps C02 (if you have more than 2.0 WPG), and nutrients. It's very easy to make a DIY CO2 system, and very inexpensive as well. For nutrients, if you don't want to go into nutrients I think a liquid supplement is sufficient if you won't be growing demanding plants.

Good luck!

Basically, yes. Here's an excellent hood for 20 gallon aquarium (assuming your aquarium is 24"): http://www.hellolights.com/242xcoraqpch1.html

If you order that, in the "Extra_Bulb1" field, make sure to order the 6700k one as well since plants do better in a lower spectrum. Buying this hood and light will give you more than 3 WPG, which is sufficient to grow many plants.

If you don't want to spend the money, you could still grow some types of anubias and java fern in that light, and perhaps hornwort and maybe anacharis.

WinterWind said:

Basically, yes. Here's an excellent hood for 20 gallon aquarium (assuming your aquarium is 24"): http://www.hellolights.com/242xcoraqpch1.html

If you order that, in the "Extra_Bulb1" field, make sure to order the 6700k one as well since plants do better in a lower spectrum. Buying this hood and light will give you more than 3 WPG, which is sufficient to grow many plants.

If you don't want to spend the money, you could still grow some types of anubias and java fern in that light, and perhaps hornwort and maybe anacharis.

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The one you linked to was actually 6.5 wpg and he could order same light at Big Als in the freshwater version, not have to swap a bulb and save a few bucks link, . They also have the freshwater 1x65 for $57.99 link . Either way, there wouldn't be any bulbs to replace. Or he could go to ahsupply.com and retrofit his current hood.

He is going to find himself mixed up in CO2, ferts etc though if he goes any of those routes so until he says that is what he wants, none of them are good options at this point.

You can grow plants with what you have right now, you just have to be very selective. I've kept swords, watersprite, wysteria and a host of other plants alive at 1wpg, but the growth is minimal and there are better choices than most of those. Bigger water changes are probably your best weapon against nitrates at this point, but you will most likely need to do the lighting, CO2 etc, if you really want an effective nitrate fighting plant system.

Woops I thought it was 65 watts, but that's x2!

Keeping live plants can only benefit your water quality and well being of your fish. I have a HEAVILY planted tank and the maintenance is no more than without plants. You just need good lighting. Plants will bring down your nitrites and nitrates. Nowadays with DIY co2 and so many lighting options (go power compact fluorescent or a doubletube standard) keeping live plants is EASY.