Crazyfishlady Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 I hate frog bit... can I just say that again? But... maybe I need to learn to just live with it. I've heard it is great at sucking up the nitrates.. I have one tank with floramax substrate so I can 'plant' plants but the others have sand and I will not use CO2 or ferts in my tanks. So.. with those parameters, does anyone have any recommendations for good plants that will use up nitrates? I do like water spangles but so do my snowball shrimp, they eat them faster than they can grow... ha ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 You can always add Purigen into your filter and your nitrate will become 0 very quickly as plants absorb it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyfishlady Posted March 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 I have purigen but I'm going through it so fast that I thought I'd look into some plants to help things out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 Ideally, you'd want a fast-growing stem plant that doesn't mind cooler water. I have used Ludwigia repens x arcuata for that, grew nicely with Floramax and low light. I did dose potassium and a few other nutrients. Dosing iron would turn the tops red. No CO2. Many stems like slightly warmer water - water sprite is a bust at 68 F but growing like mad at 80 F. I used to have a few rotalas, but I think they needed more light, warmth, or possibly both. I'm not sure how fast of a grower something like pygmy chain sword would be, or how much it liked cool water, but it is something to consider as it does well as long as you give it root tabs. I love duckweed, personally, but most people hate it. It grows readily with minimal fertilization (just potassium seems to be all it needs). I do think, from my observations, that to use up more of the available nitrogen, you should consider adding a source of potassium. Plants will stop growing if they run out of other nutrients, even if lots of nitrogen/nitrate are available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 I have purigen but I'm going through it so fast that I thought I'd look into some plants to help things out. I do love dwarf water lettuce but it's very hard to keep nitrates low unless a planted tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 Han has some purle floaters that are very beautiful. Ricciocarpus Nattans I believe its a liverwort. Grows fast and my shrimp love to graze hanging upside down on its "roots". Crazyfishlady 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayphly Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 Salvinia minima is my favorite plant in a shrimp tank. It doesn't take over and get messy like duckweed. The roots aren't as long as frogbit and the root mass is so dense it can hold plenty of food for shrimp to graze in. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Crazyfishlady 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roborep1 Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Salvinia minima is my favorite plant in a shrimp tank. It doesn't take over and get messy like duckweed. The roots aren't as long as frogbit and the root mass is so dense it can hold plenty of food for shrimp to graze in. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Agree with salvinia. I don't like frogbit either. I love dwarf water lettuce. Personally I just trim the roots. In a few weeks they are six inches again. It doesn't seem to hurt the plant. When I say trim I go to half inch. Hornwort and camboba are two others that come to mind not mentioned. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk mayphly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roborep1 Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 And elodea. Elodea is used often to demonstrate nitrogen exchange in biology. It grows fast which means it sucks nutrients. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyfishlady Posted April 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 I do have elodea in another tank, but I want to put it in my tanks with just sand, that should be ok right? My elodea grows like made in my substrate tank. I love water spangles but my snowballs ate them all, ha ha I will look into the others, thank you all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Elodea can grow floating, so substrate is not a concern. Crazyfishlady 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phreeflow Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Red root floaters look nice Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roborep1 Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Elodea can grow floating, so substrate is not a concern. Agree It grows fast floating and ideally you want it sucking from the water column not a substrate. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r45t4m4n Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I have salvinia minima in the tank and lucky bamboo behind the HMF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyfishlady Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I'm going to be getting some floaters... from Han and I'm also clipping some of the elodea from my other tank to use in the others. My snowballs love to snatch floating plants, drag them down and eat them, so I need to keep up. They don't eat the elodea though...luckily Roborep1, mayphly and RyeGuy411 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 I have the opposite problem now. I had to order potassium nitrate because I finally received the nitrate test kit that I had ordered months ago - and both of my tanks have zeroed out. No wonder my plants aren't growing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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