Can i make my own nitrogen?

[RumAndRedbull]

I'm a novice fish keeper, and had about 1500 gallons total back in my old house, but I've since moved for work.

It's been about a year and I want to try my hand at a small planted aquarium. However, my local store doesn't sell nitrogen diffusers.

Would I be able to create my own nitrogen by just throwing extra food in the tank and letting it break down? I'm just not sure if a few fish would sustain high enough nitrogen levels for at 15g tank.

Thanks!

 

[Back in the fold]

I make my own methane so , yeah , give it a shot.
Seriously though , you don't need anything extra for your aquatic plants in a simple set up. The fish fertilize the plants fine and dandy all on their own. IMHO people go way overboard fertilizing aquatic plants. Keep it simple.

 

[RumAndRedbull]

I make my own methane so , yeah , give it a shot.
Seriously though , you don't need anything extra for your aquatic plants in a simple set up. The fish fertilize the plants fine and dandy all on their own. IMHO people go way overboard fertilizing aquatic plants. Keep it simple.

Yeah, I got the fertilizer substrate thinking that might help a bit. When I've help plants in the past, it really just wasn't enough to keep them bright and green haha, couldn't ever figure it out cause I was too busy caring for all the other tanks

 

[Back in the fold]

Yeah, I got the fertilizer substrate thinking that might help a bit. When I've help plants in the past, it really just wasn't enough to keep them bright and green haha, couldn't ever figure it out cause I was too busy caring for all the other tanks

Aquatic plants are tricky. You have that wet green thumb or you don't. If I get them to just stay alive I'm happy and if they actually grow I'm ecstatic.

 

[RumAndRedbull]

On God, same haha. I'm satisfied if they just stay alive

 

[Essjay]

Fish excrete ammonia which plants take up as fertiliser. If the tank is an aquatic garden with a few fish, there won't be enough ammonia to feed the plants, but in a tank full of fish with plants there is usually enough ammonia to provide all the nitrogen needed by the plants.

 

[RumAndRedbull]

Fish excrete ammonia which plants take up as fertiliser. If the tank is an aquatic garden with a few fish, there won't be enough ammonia to feed the plants, but in a tank full of fish with plants there is usually enough ammonia to provide all the nitrogen needed by the plants.

I'm curious as to if it would help to just not have the filter on 24/7?

 

[Essjay]

If you were thinking that leaving the filter off would mean the bacteria in the filter wouldn't take up all the ammonia, that's not a problem. Plants remove ammonia faster than bacteria; and in a tank with a lot of plants only a few bacteria grow in the background as the plants do almost all the ammonia removal. And the few bacteria that grow in a heavily planted tank grow on every surface in the tank not just in the filter.

 

[GaryE]

The filter off would maybe help plants but would not help fish. It's good to have both.

 

[sharkweek178]

Wouldn't it also depend on what kind of plants we're talking about here? Slow growing or fast, column feeders or root feeders?

 

[RumAndRedbull]

It's primarily utricularia graminfolia, first time doing carpets, too