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House Plants as Supplemental Water Filters

10 Tanks

10 Tanks

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Hello TFF...

Was wondering if anyone has used house plants to help filter the nitrogen the fish produce from the tank water. Have been experimenting with Chinese Evergreen house plants for some time and have found them to be quite useful. Attached is a photo of the plant immersed in the water of a 45 gallon tall tank. There's really no trick to using some specific house plants as a natural water filter. Won't take the place of the periodic water change, but the plant will allow you to go a bit longer between those water changes.

Anyone curious?

10
 

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There are a few members of this group that modify their tanks to support plants growing out from the aquarium. I believe @itiwhetu is one such person. I would love to do it but I have to run a dehumidifier since I have aquariums so I keep the open tops to a minimum.
 
I believe I've seen similar things before. People actually growing vegetables hanging into tanks. The roots are great for the fish too as they have new places to investigate and perhaps lay eggs.
A lot of aquascaped tanks have wood or rock that protrudes out of the water and plants growing a fair bit higher. They look wonderful, but I already found out myself that a tank without a top means lots of evaporation and very steamed up windows. Long term it may even cause mildue or black fungus.
I must look for a good inexpensive dehumidifier but hey.... the cost of electricity nowadays......
 
Even with cover glasses and a lid the window gets steamed up in winter so I could never have an open topped tank.
I am lucky that my tap nitrate is below 5 ppm so it never gets near even that level in the tank, probably because I have aquarium plants including floating plants. But I still do weekly water changes even though my nitrate level is just above zero because it's not the only thing excreted and secreted by the fish so I need to remove those other things.
 
I have started to use bamboo on my two tanks (29g and 10g) both the tanks and the plants are thriving. The loner in the 10g (a dwarf gourami) loves the couple of semi submerged large leaves that the bamboo provides, he "hides" behind them and also servea as a "baffer" for the gentle surface current that the filter creates (since I don't have a feeding ring for his tank, this works for me too so the food doesn't go floating around the entire tank).
 
Uberhoust said:
There are a few members of this group that modify their tanks to support plants growing out from the aquarium. I believe @itiwhetu is one such person. I would love to do it but I have to run a dehumidifier since I have aquariums so I keep the open tops to a minimum.
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Hello Uberhoust...

I also run a dehumidifier, because I have eight tanks in the room. Open and semi open tanks easily have room for house plants. By just removing the potting mixture and immersing the root system in the water, certain hose plants will grow better than they do in soil. I add an air pump underneath the roots to maximize the oxygen getting to the plant. With the constant source of nutrients from the fish, the plants do very well.

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I've grown basil with roots in, yellow coreopsis in winter to brighten things up, Pothos, Monstera, peace lilies, Chinese evergreen - it's fun. The key for me is unheated tanks or tops designed to support the plants. I have a lot of peace lilies right now - it's getting out of control on that front.
 
It's not quite a miracle cure as some make it out to be. For one thing,you need to get the terrestrial part of the plant plenty of light and secondly- you need to feed that plant with iron. When you do start with iron- the change is amazing with much darker green growth and faster growth..THAT will help filter the water.
I've been doing it for 2 years now with Syngonium vine and roots in the water and it means I can feed the fish plenty and have no overfed problems with the water. You also will see that you don't need to change the water nearly as often. Why starve the plants?
It's really a good method to reduce water use and maintenance overall as algae will decline.
 

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Stan510 said:
It's not quite a miracle cure as some make it out to be. For one thing,you need to get the terrestrial part of the plant plenty of light and secondly- you need to feed that plant with iron. When you do start with iron- the change is amazing with much darker green growth and faster growth..THAT will help filter the water.
I've been doing it for 2 years now with Syngonium vine and roots in the water and it means I can feed the fish plenty and have no overfed problems with the water. You also will see that you don't need to change the water nearly as often. Why starve the plants?
It's really a good method to reduce water use and maintenance overall as algae will decline.
Click to expand...
That's an awesome looking tank!
 
Stan510 said:
It's not quite a miracle cure as some make it out to be. For one thing,you need to get the terrestrial part of the plant plenty of light and secondly- you need to feed that plant with iron. When you do start with iron- the change is amazing with much darker green growth and faster growth..THAT will help filter the water.
I've been doing it for 2 years now with Syngonium vine and roots in the water and it means I can feed the fish plenty and have no overfed problems with the water. You also will see that you don't need to change the water nearly as often. Why starve the plants?
It's really a good method to reduce water use and maintenance overall as algae will decline.
Click to expand...

Hello Stan510...

Actually, you can set up a tank with the Chinese evergreen that needs only simple room light. No other light source is necessary. As far as plant nutrients, the evergreen just needs nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. I feed my fish food with those nutrients and the plant grows real well. Sorry to say that the plant doesn't eliminate the need for large, frequent water changes.

10
 
@10 Tanks, I live in a somewhat recently built house and it is sealed right up. Without the tanks the RH in the home averaged about 55% with the addition of the tanks with covers and without the de-humidifier the RH started approaching 80%. Thankfully the insulation keeps the temperature differential low on the inside walls but our window that are not so good end up fogging up a lot. The dehumidifier will drop the RH to around 65%, which I can live with but if I open the tank tops even a bit I end up going over the 70% RH which I feel is too high.
 
Uberhoust said:
@10 Tanks, I live in a somewhat recently built house and it is sealed right up. Without the tanks the RH in the home averaged about 55% with the addition of the tanks with covers and without the de-humidifier the RH started approaching 80%. Thankfully the insulation keeps the temperature differential low on the inside walls but our window that are not so good end up fogging up a lot. The dehumidifier will drop the RH to around 65%, which I can live with but if I open the tank tops even a bit I end up going over the 70% RH which I feel is too high.
Click to expand...

Hello Uberhoust...

I understand that problem. During nicer weather, we run a second dehumidifier. With a second piece of equipment, we're able to keep the humidity in our house at a level that doesn't fog up the windows and eliminates mold and mildew. On the downside, we're constantly emptying the dehumidifiers.

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I actually propagate my monstera delicioso clippings and baby spider plants in my 20 long tank. as long as the roots aren't harmful to the fish it will benefit the nitrogen cycle.
 
I currently grow bamboo and pothos and vining monsteras on my tanks. I have some spider plants I’d like to try as well.
 
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