How many low-light plants to replace a filter?

[Ms.Bubbles]

I'd like to turn off my filter at night (noise problems), so I'd like enough plants in my low-light tank to consume ammonia & nitrites in order to maintain a safe environment for my betta overnight while the filter is off.

So my question is really:
How many low-light plants would it take to 'filter' a 10 gallon tank & 1 betta? (say, using java ferns, crypts, maybe some hygro?). The lighting is about 1.5 watts per gallon.

Is this idea even do-able???

Thanks

 

[valleyvampiress]

I'm not sure if it's doable with a fish that big in a 10g. Maybe if you had like two neons or something, it could happen, but with a fish that big in that small of a tank, I don't think it'd be possible. If you had any chance, your tank would have to be very heavily planted.

By the way, I'm assuming your tank is already cycled. In that case, turning off your filter for the night would kill all your good bacteria and cause a re-cycle, unless you left the media floating in the tank for the night. If it is a bio-wheel, it would also stop circulating oxygen in the water.

A better idea would be to just get a quieter filter. I use a penguine bio-wheel for my 20g. I don't even hear it on. The only sound I hear is trickling water.

 

[Onikun]

You dont need to add anything. First of all theres bacteria that are on all surfaces of your tank that can complete the nitrogen cycle. Also your betta isn't going to die overnight from having no filter on. I kept a betta without a filter before. I seriously doubt the little guy can produce enough ammonia overnight in a 10gallon environment to kill himself. I mean look at the bettas in those cups in pet stores.

 

[valleyvampiress]

The OP mentioned keeping a safe environment for her fish. Any amount of ammonia or nitrites is harmful to fish. This can easily shorten the life of a fish, and/or cause health problems down the line. If you know anything about fish keeping, you should know that ammonia and nitrites are deadly in any amount. This doesn't have to be instant death. It could be a slow, agonizing death for the fish where his/her health deteriorates over a long period of time.

On another note, the only reason why I mentioned that the bacteria would die is because most of the benificial bacteria lives on the filter because that is where most of the oxygen/water circulation happens. That is where they would thrive the most. Turning off a peice of equipment that houses most of the benificial bacteria would cause the tank to either go into a re-mini cycle or a complete re-cycle.

On another note, I wouldn't take fish care advice from most commercial pet stores. It is always best to do your own research.

 

[Captain Hook]

It's pretty much impossible to answer this question, everything is speculative until you actually do it and test for ammonia. I don't know how much plants take in ammonia at night. That's something I've wondered about lately.

If there's no light on, you would think their nutrient requirements are not as high.

 

[Watcher74]

Any amount of ammonia or nitrites is harmful to fish. This can easily shorten the life of a fish, and/or cause health problems down the line. If you know anything about fish keeping, you should know that ammonia and nitrites are deadly in any amount.

Any tank with fish in it has amounts of ammonia and nitrite. Without the presence of any amounts of ammonia and/or nitrite the beneficial bacteria will have nothing to live on. Creating an uncycled tank.

A betta is not a big fish at all. And a 10 gallon tank in reference to bettas is often called a palace. Many, many people keep bettas in small vases less than one gallon, with no filter, and no heater.

If you kept your filter off at night then you would lose the biological filtration that a cycled filter would provide. It would still perform mechanical filtration and chemical filtration (if you use carbon or whatever).

Try it.

Test for ammonia and nitrite a couple times a week (right after a water change and then right before the next water change) for a month or so.

The tank could very well build up a colony of beneficial bacteria outside of the filter.

Bettas are tough fish. But even without that fact, your tank would find a balance even if you did turn your filter off every night.

 

[Ms.Bubbles]

Thank your for all your answers.

The filter I'm planning to use is a Fluval internal filter, which sits underwater. I'm wondering if being submerged at all times would help to keep the bacteria alive in the filter, even though it is off.

Noone really addressed the issue of plants as a filter-- perhaps nobody on the forum uses a heavily planted tank for filtering purposes?

 

[minnesotagal866]

Somewhere, in my home computer, there is a link to a webpage (not updated anymore) about a paludarium (Amy and someone, I think). It is a 55 gallon and they ran it for 2-3 years without a filter. It was heavily planted and contained newts, otos (I think), some type of tetra, etc. I would think that you might be able to do away with a filter altogether for a betta in a 10G with a bunch of plants. It would be an interesting experiment. I believe they only use a powerhead for circulation.

Jackie

http://www.geocities.com/~amazingaq.../www.geocities.com/~amazingaquaria/fiftyp.htm

The link is above, I think you have to copy and paste it into your browser because I am internet-challenged. Otherwise, a google search for paladarium quickly finds it. It's Amy and Philip's amazing aquaria. Interesting webpage although they do not update it anymore.

 

[phanmc]

Thank your for all your answers.

Noone really addressed the issue of plants as a filter-- perhaps nobody on the forum uses a heavily planted tank for filtering purposes?

2 bunches (around 10 stems) of hornwort or anacharis should be sufficient in biofiltering for a single betta in a 10g tank. I chose those 2 plants because they are good nutrient sponges for a low light setting, I wouldn't recommend some of the other low light plants alone, like java fern & moss, anacharis, and crypts, because they are slow growing. Combining the plants above should get you a nice aquascape and good biofiltration.

I wouldn't recommend hygros for a low light tank, they require a bit more light.

Just make sure the plants are healthy and growing, plants not growing will do no filtration.

 

[valleyvampiress]

Any tank with fish in it has amounts of ammonia and nitrite. Without the presence of any amounts of ammonia and/or nitrite the beneficial bacteria will have nothing to live on. Creating an uncycled tank.

I didn't mean they're never present at all. I thought that was obvious. What I meant was it's never able to be present for long because of the benificial bacteria. Otherwise, why would our tests show zero for ammonia when are tank is cycled? You cannot say that having a cycled tank exposes a fish to the same dangers as a non-cycled tank.

A betta is not a big fish at all. And a 10 gallon tank in reference to bettas is often called a palace. Many, many people keep bettas in small vases less than one gallon, with no filter, and no heater.

Of course a betta in a 10g is great for the fish's needs in terms of living space. That is also obvious. What I was saying was that the amount of waste that fish can produce in relation to the size of the tank can be a danger if the tank is not cycled and does not have frequent water changes. We all know the smaller the tank is, the faster it becomes contaminated. I'm sure you agree that most commonly the smaller the fish, the less waste it produces. For example, two neons in a ten gallon with no filtration and plants can be doable. Two neons in a one gallon with no filtration and plants would be less likely to happen. That is what I was pointing out. Yes, people keep them in tiny living spaces, but that doesn't mean it's appropriate for the fish. Most of the time the reason the ones in the store are able to survive is because of the blue coloring added which is actually an ammonia and nitrite binding chemical.

If you kept your filter off at night then you would lose the biological filtration that a cycled filter would provide. It would still perform mechanical filtration and chemical filtration (if you use carbon or whatever).

Yes, you're right... when it's on. But what kind of filtration does it provide when it's off? None.

Bettas are tough fish. But even without that fact, your tank would find a balance even if you did turn your filter off every night.

Yes, and the balance would be that the tank would go through a re-mini cycle and the biological filtration of the tank would no longer be provided by the filter since the bacterial colonies in the tank would grow from the death of the colonies in the filter. Bacterial colonies cannot survive more than an hour without water, so I'm sure one night in terms of survival of the filter colonies isn't going to happen.