House Plants rooted in tank / benefit?

[blasterman_]

This all started when I got back from a business trip and found my GF was putting plant cutting in my 70gal community. Normally she puts cuttings in jars with water from our aquariums because they root faster, but being in a hurry one day she just decided to float cuttings in the tank water.

Of course our silver dollars loved this free salad bar and made short work of the plants. However, this got the light bulb going on above my head and made me wonder......

I don't have time right now for a freely planted tank. I also *hate* water changes with a screaming passion and procrastinate as much as possible. Anything that can reduce nitrate build-up and prolong water changes is a good thing in my book.

So, not having a refugium or sump, I improvised. I took some clear 16oz water bottles, cut the bottoms off, and secured them to the inside corners of my community tank so the necks just peek above the water line. Plant stems can be inserted in the neck of the bottle and have free yet protected access to the rest of the tank circulation.

Plants are growing/rooting like crazy, GF is happy, fish are happy...blah, blah, blah. However, I'm interested in opinions as to how much Nitrogen the roots might actually removing from the water, if at all given that house plants have somewhat different metabolisms than aquatic plants. I suppose I should invest in a Nitrate test kit and do a control study, but I've found nitrogen testing to be very unreliable in aquariums.

 

[Sorab]

The rooting plants will take up quite a lot of nutrients, depends how many you have but they will help water quality. Here tap water can have 50ppm nitrate so I used to grow land plants in pots of gravel on the edge of my african cichlid tanks. From the tests they did keep the nitrates down, but I did have quite a few. Still needed to do those water changes though!

 

[Plecosterone]

I knew a guy that had a 12" JD, 16" plec and 4 large convicts in a 90 gallon with a large eheim filter (can't remember which model). On the top of the tank he had lighting diffuser (egg crate) with some kind of ivy growing on it. The roots grew down into the tank and pretty much filled the tank with just enough room to the fish to move around them. His nitrates never went over 15. I was amazed at how well that worked.

 

[theotheragentm]

I wouldn't ever remove water changes completely as topping off may not add enough elements to the water for the plants and fish, but plants can definitely reduce the bioload on a tank significantly. I dose nitrates into my 55 gallon, and I still can't get my nitrates to top off above 20.

 

[Que]

When I asked the owner of an LFS if he had nitrates I could add to my tank since it's at 0 he looked at me like I had a 3rd eye and he sells plants.

Q

 

[Irred]

My nitrates are around 20 in my tank.....if I add more plants will they "eat" up some of the nitrates?

 

[Que]

I'm sure they will but to what extent only testing will tell.

Q

 

[maxthedog123]

My 55g with heavy planting has a pretty robust stocking level and I NEVER get nitrates over 10 and that's only if I put off a water change. Typically I do about a 30% change every 2 weeks.