Emergent planted tanks and Nitrates

[dasaltemelosguy]

That is really interesting! Thanks for sharing. Your tanks look great.

I wonder if the lucky bamboo, being a root feeder, sucked up all the nitrates from the substrate before it began taking it from the water. Possible explanation for what you experienced? I used to have some in a SE Asia tank and it is a really cool aquarium plant.

Thanks so much. I suspect you're right as it took an inordinate amount of time to effect nitrate reduction (compared to the pothos) so as you said, first the substrate, then the water column. Soon my ceiling!

 

[dasaltemelosguy]

Beautiful tanks, @dasaltemelosguy !

@WhistlingBadger , I grow two emersed plants for nitrate removal:
- Cardinal plant (Lobelia cardinalis) gets beautiful red/purple foliage when closer to the light. Have them in a shallow tank (pea puffer) and also the Vampire crab paludarium which has tannins (black water).
- Peace lily (Spathiphyllum) in the shallow tank for the pea puffer.

I used to have pothos but decided to remove it since the critters peck at the roots when getting snails. These plants do an amazing job at Nitrate removal. I do not fertilize because one time I tried, algae took over, so it proved to me that the nutrient balance was there without fertilizers.

The added bonus is that they are easy to propagate. Here is the one in the paludarium:

View attachment 143500

Gorgeous. I have to look into the cardinal plant and the peace lily after seeing this. I'd never leave home if I had that!

 

[OliveFish05]

Water hyacinths have purple roots! They look cool, but not in every setup. I didn't know it when we bought some