Hi buddies, I came across this informative feature on using plants as a filter on petfish.net
"Plants as a filter? Yup, it's true. Plants are colorful, they remove nitrates and oxygenate the water. Plants love them for cover or as food. A planted tank really adds character and a whole new personality to a tank. Out of the three filtration, chemical, specifically nitrogen removal is the main benefit. Uncommon, however some tanks may have plants as the sole filtration. Odd as it is this can work out especially if the tank has a low bioload and plant conditions are ideal.
Cons? Well these plants need to have the proper environment. In most cases this means proper lighting which most tanks don't come stock with. The plants themselves require care and if they start to die, they will add to the nitrogen waste instead of removing it. If you don't have luck with plants, then this kind of filtration won't help you."
Can I use plants as a filter in a 5 gallons for a single male Betta. I plan to have sand with plenty of plants? Also, if I use plants as a filter, how often would I need to change water in the 5 gallons?
"Plants as a filter? Yup, it's true. Plants are colorful, they remove nitrates and oxygenate the water. Plants love them for cover or as food. A planted tank really adds character and a whole new personality to a tank. Out of the three filtration, chemical, specifically nitrogen removal is the main benefit. Uncommon, however some tanks may have plants as the sole filtration. Odd as it is this can work out especially if the tank has a low bioload and plant conditions are ideal.
Cons? Well these plants need to have the proper environment. In most cases this means proper lighting which most tanks don't come stock with. The plants themselves require care and if they start to die, they will add to the nitrogen waste instead of removing it. If you don't have luck with plants, then this kind of filtration won't help you."
Can I use plants as a filter in a 5 gallons for a single male Betta. I plan to have sand with plenty of plants? Also, if I use plants as a filter, how often would I need to change water in the 5 gallons?
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