Are plants enough to replace water changes

[lee_an]

I have water lettuce for almost every tank.(i live in the tropics and put the tanks outside.Are plants good to absorb waste.Why is there so much dirt at the bottom.also.

 

[canarsie11]

Nothing replaces water changes

 

[parker313]

Right. Plus, there's probably dirt on the bottom if you haven't done any water changes or vaccuumed it out - it's probably fish poo.

 

[David]

Plants don't absorb waste... they use nitrates which are the byproducts of the nitrogen cycle. The fish poo remains and sinks to the bottom.

 

[Teelie]

The only thing that replaces water changes is to have a volume of water large enough it supports the diversity needed to keep the water clean, and that's something about the size of a pond which still does water changes after a fashion with rain and evaporation.

 

[guppymonkey]

The only thing that replaces water changes is to have a volume of water large enough it supports the diversity needed to keep the water clean, and that's something about the size of a pond which still does water changes after a fashion with rain and evaporation.

That would depend on the size of the pond and the population in it. A large enough pond with plants, good lighting, no pollution and a low enough population of fish would be stable. Its difficult to maintain that balance though.

With a fish tank water changes are necessary. Plants can take care of some of the waste but nitrates will build up and the plants won't use all of them most of the time. High nitrates from fish waste and rotting food or plant matter will stunt the growth of fish and lead to an early death for them. Live plants can only handle so much though sometimes its necessary to dilute the nitrates with fresh water.

 

[Teelie]

Well yeah, thought that was a given.

 

[endparenthesis]

The plants will get starved of the various minerals they need and die off as well.