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I am having a really bad problem with Nitrate in my tanks, one viable solution would be to have plants in the tank, when I try plants in evan my non-cichlid tanks, they die... it is not feasable for me to go to the expense of accomodating plants with things like adding co2 and softening my water (PH is over 8, and off the scale for hardness).

So my idea is.... what if I were to put the root system of a few house plants in one of thoes netted breeder traps hooked to the side of the tank. Fish water is the best thing to water house plants...... so why wouldn't that work?

What do you think????

I think it would depend on the house plant as some plants are toxic or could cause other issues with the tank.

What light do you have on the tank? Hardness and co2 have alot less to do with growing plants than light. In fact you can grow plants quite successfully in extremely hard water with no co2. I do it all the time. The light is the biggest factor. Different plants need different amounts of light. You could just toss in something like hornwort or duckweed. These guys use nitrates like crazy, definitely don't require co2, couldn't care less about the hardness of your water, and usually survive in fairly low light. But they aren't called weeds for nothing. They'll take over the top of your tank and if you don't trim the hornwort or scoop out the duckweed occasionally they'll turn into a giant green mass and the bottom layers will start to die from lack of light. Duckweed is also near impossible to get rid of if you ever decide you don't want it. Both would most definitely serve your purpose though provided you have some light on the tank.

get some low light plants, java fern and wisteria are working great for me at the moment. No co2 is required I do use flora pride? fert. just a simple addition at each water change nothing to difficult. they are using my nitrates like crazy, my tank currently reads zero nitrates, but I do have a small bio load at the moment. My ph is about 8 and the water is hard. Also are you doing a good gravel vac regularly, this could lead to high nitrates. Anyway plants can be easy just get the right ones.

Its possible that your nitrates are so high that aquatic plants might actually find it difficult to grow, whats the actual nitrate level?

I have tried hornwort a few times, and someother one that had lots of thoes needle like leaves, I have also tries those bulbs, they grew great when I had them in with my betas before we moved here, the ph was about 7 there, here I have no idea exactly how high it is here, like my hardness... its off the chart.

I mostly have cichlids so they will eat them anyways, I have a brackish water tank also, maybe thats why they died in that tank....

I do thank you all for your advice,/:'

Oscar, I have 80 nitrates right out of my tap. Recently I bought something called Nitra Zorb, cause it was inexpensive. It hasn't had time to work yet, so I can't recommend it yet. If you check back with me in a couple weeks, I should be able to tell you something. If you are interested in it, this is it:
Here

I've grown hornwort and several different ones that come in bulbs(apongeton, lillies) with a ph of 8.2-8.4. Even surpassed 9 a couple times and I had to go get a new test kit that went up to a ph of 10 in order to have any idea how high it was. The kh sometimes goes over 20degrees. I don't do too many hardness tests cause it uses the bottle up so fast I can never keep one around. If they grow in my water then they don't care one bit about hardness. Which is what I was trying to tell you. Those plants don't care. It's something else that's causing your problem. You still haven't said what light is on the tank? Perhaps the betta tank was actually in a brighter room or closer to a window or lamp instead.

While java fern would probably grow it's not that big of nitrate user. The wisteria is probably what's burning through the nitrates and depending on light it may or may not work for this situation.

If your light is too low for plants then the best solution would be more frequent water changes. Even if that means 25% twice weekly. If that doesn't help then your tank probably has too many or too big of fish in it or your tapwater has nitrates in it. Nitrate removers are questionable and some people are strongly against them because of potential problems they can have so they are best used as a last resort. Better than dumping in water that's already full of nitrates though.

Sham,

Lighting could very well be a problem, I have regular flourescent bulbs, and I try to have the light on all day... I did do tests on my well water and there are no nitrates in it.

I think it was poisonwaffle who had the roots of some houseplant vine (I think it was just English Ivy? Devil's Ivy? Something like that...) rooted into his filter pad. He never had a problem with the tank due to the plant, and the plant grew like mad, as I recall.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Cool, thanks Kitten

Kitten, for some reason I'm thinking it was a pathos plant in his filter. Maybe that's because that's what I tried once. They are the ones you frequently see in hanging baskets with all the vines hanging down. They are very common & easy to grow, with sort of heart shaped leaves. In fact I cut a vine off mine & just placed the whole thing in the main tank. It eventually died. I think I will try it again & place the vine in the filter & let it grow from there.

It could well be. Funny thing is that I just picked up a houseplant book at the library last night and the Pathos was one of the plants featured... I sat there thinking, "Hmm... maybe it was THIS plant instead." *grins*

So, in all likelihood, you're right, patty.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

pothos will grow indefinately with the stems in water, just take cuttings off of the plant. on its stems you'll see little nodes- these if putt under water will become roots. cut the stem off a quater inch below a node, as this will rot, then havve atleast 2-3 nodes of the stem under water. strip off any leaves that would be underwater also. you'll want 2 leaves or more left on the cutting when you are done with the cutting. .
its a low light houseplant, so average room lighting is all it needs to grow. more lighting will make it grow faster of course. its commonly available and cheap. its usually varigated, with glossy heart shaped leaves.


other common house plants that could work- arrowhead vine,philodendrons,( cut as described above) or lucky bamboo.( or anything listed as a bog plant on sites that sell aquatic plants.)

just wash the plants really well with dechlorinated water to get the traces of ferts and whatever off the plant before putting in the filter of the tank.

Hey patty... after reading that book a little more in depth, pathos IS devil's ivy... so we're both right.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

A good idea after all..... cool... thanks alot /:'