Reducing Water Changes With Lucky Bamboo

[Pawl]

Link to the original article w/ pictures: http://modernaquaria.com/reducing-water-changes-with-lucky-bamboo/

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I had extremely high nitrates in a new 25 gallon freshwater tank I was cycling, but I was able to dramatically reduce the nitrates in only 11 days by adding 10 stalks of 12 inch Lucky Bamboo to the system. Today, the test didn’t detect any nitrates and the bamboo seems to have grown a bit. I’ll admit to doing a single 25% water change, but I think it’s still clear – Lucky Bamboo is a voracious eater of nitrates.

I got my lucky bamboo from a local Asian supermarket, but it was fairly expensive ($3) for each ~10 in. bamboo stalk. Today, I was surprised to see Walmart’s outdoor garden selling pots of 10-12 bamboo stalks that were each at least foot long for only $16 total. If you’re willing to wait, you can do even better by getting a total of 400 inches of it on Amazon

for less than $20.

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It was interesting to find that Lucky Bamboo is a relative of the waterlily from West Africa and not really bamboo. So, why not just put real bamboo in your tank? Real bamboo does not like having its entire root system submerged in water. Lucky Bamboo is at home in the water, but it will die and begin rotting if the entire plant is submerged in water. It’s best to leave the leafy parts above water.

One of the main things which makes Lucky Bamboo a popular houseplant is it’s ability to thrive in low light. It will yellow and wilt if kept in strong direct light. So, it should thrive in a sump without extra lighting or planted in your tank while sticking up beside your light fixture (not underneath).

In conclusion, I recommend getting Lucky Bamboo for your own tank because it’s easy to find and especially good at getting rid of nitrates.

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[jpappy789]

It's a well known fact that plants, both terrestrial and aquatic, use nitrate. That being said, nitrate is not the only thing we remove with water changes. It's simply the easiest thing to test for...

 

[rufioman]

Still a pretty nifty article

 

[GEV83]

My thoughts exactly. It's a good way to help reduce nitrates which in turn help keep away algea but by no means does it replace the need to do water changes. It is known now that fish release a chemical in the water which in the wild gets washed out in river systems and diluted by rain but in the home aquaria builds up which slows or even stops the growth of a fish causing stunting.

 

[FreakIndeed]

Interesting. Are you putting it IN the aquarium? Or in a sump? Any harm in putting it directly in the tank? How do you plant it? Lastly, will silver dollars devour it?


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[japbart]

I have an ac110 and I took the lid off and put the bamboo there.


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[jpappy789]

A lot of people also use Pothos, which is a very common houseplant...easy to grow, easy to find, and cheap.

 

[Pawl]

Interesting. Are you putting it IN the aquarium? Or in a sump? Any harm in putting it directly in the tank? How do you plant it? Lastly, will silver dollars devour it?


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I've seen people just putting it in the tank, and I've also seen people wrapping the roots with cloth and barely dipping the roots into their tank. Your silver dollars will probably eat the roots unless you cover them.

This is a picture of how I put it in my tank: http://i.imgur.com/vZdq6.jpeg

It's an aquaponics system. The fish and the bamboo sit in the reservoir below, and the plants are on the top in the "grow bed" (it looks red because of the strong LED light). Currently I'm waiting on some ghost pepper seeds to mature and I'll transplant them into the grow bed.

For my purposes, it does reduce the need for another water change to get my nitrates down. I'm not advocating replacing water changes with bamboo. But keep in mind, there are lots of people operating closed aquaponics systems without water changes.

 

[GEV83]

jPappy that what I use for one of my tanks are Pothos. I have the more variegated forms though not just the common green ones. They love it. There roots do tend to grow like wild fire so got to keep it in check.

 

[Uaru]

Nice article! I've been wondering about the lucky bamboo for a while as I've seen it at my LFS but know it isn't fully aquatic. I have a big silver dollar tank which needs some nitrate reducing... I think I'll try some in the sump and in the tank itself. Don't think the silver dollars will be able to do much damage to it.