Aquatic plants/lower nitrates

[ccp2007]

Ok y'all, this is a 2 part question concerning plants.

Part 1: I recently bought an "aquatic combo" and bamboo from petco for my aquariums. The "aquatic combo" consists of: Dracaena, Spathiphyllum, Ophiopogon, Trichomanes and Syngonium. I have found conflicting results when researching these plants. Some saying they are aquarium plants and some saying they're not. Anyone here have success or bad experience with these in their aquarium?

Part 2: My husband is having nitrate issues in his 75. They are consistently remaining high after a week of daily wc, gravel vacuums, decor and filter cleaning. We even went to the extent of removing half the gravel and washing it under hot water and doing a bleach bath on the gravel. Today, the nitrates are still at 80ppm. We are not over feeding. We feed 2 small portions a day. Both feedings we only drop a few pellets at a time and wait for those to be eaten before dropping in more. So, question is, what's the best plants to help with nitrates? We have tried everything except using chemicals and would like to keep it that way if possible.

Also, we have a few extra hob filters, would it be beneficial to make one into a veggie filter? If so, how do you do it? Please be descriptive as I am a plant moron lol


Happily married Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 15 gilled babies

 

[Thai]

Throw some pothos clippings in them and watch it grow and suck up the nitrates, that what I use

 

[ccp2007]

Where do I get pothos? I know it's ivy but is any ivy ok or only devils ivy?

Happily married Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 15 gilled babies

 

[Becca]

Home Depot, the grocery store, office max, staples - it's that plant everyone has on their desks.

You might be damaging your beneficial bacteria by washing your gravel and doing massive water changes daily. That would lead to nitrate/nitrogen cycle issues.

Also, try testing your tap. Your problem might not be coming from your tank at all, especially if you're on well water.

 

[Becca]

Also, you could cut back on food. Once a day is usually plenty for fish and most of us here skip a day or two a week for a variety of reasons.

 

[dogofwar]

If she was damaging the beneficial bacteria, she would see nitrItes and/or ammonia. Nitrate is a sign that the nitrifying bacteria are working.

What kind of filter(s) do you have on the tank with the high nitrates? When's the last time you cleaned the mechanical filtration (fluff or sponge)?

Matt

Home Depot, the grocery store, office max, staples - it's that plant everyone has on their desks.

You might be damaging your beneficial bacteria by washing your gravel and doing massive water changes daily. That would lead to nitrate/nitrogen cycle issues.

Also, try testing your tap. Your problem might not be coming from your tank at all, especially if you're on well water.

 

[ccp2007]

We don't feed at all on Mondays, we used to feed only once a day until we were told that 2x a day in smaller portions is better...idk, seems to be a "whatever works for you" kinda topic. They don't get fed twice a day every day. We alternate depending on food schedule. Mondays are nothing, Tuesday, thurs and Saturday is pellets in morning and frozen in evening, Wednesday, Fri and Sunday is only evening feeding. Wednesday is their live food day (usually a worm) if we have any.

I know pothos is a house plant, my question is, does it matter the TYPE of ivy or can you only use Devils Ivy?

Happily married Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 15 gilled babies

 

[Becca]

We don't feed at all on Mondays, we used to feed only once a day until we were told that 2x a day in smaller portions is better...idk, seems to be a "whatever works for you" kinda topic. They don't get fed twice a day every day. We alternate depending on food schedule. Mondays are nothing, Tuesday, thurs and Saturday is pellets in morning and frozen in evening, Wednesday, Fri and Sunday is only evening feeding. Wednesday is their live food day (usually a worm) if we have any.

I know pothos is a house plant, my question is, does it matter the TYPE of ivy or can you only use Devils Ivy?

Happily married Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 15 gilled babies

I believe some Ivy is toxic to animals if eaten, though I'm not sure if it would impact fish.

Water sprite also loves nitrates.

And Matt, of course, is right. I'm a dummy and got my suffixes confused.

 

[dogofwar]

Your feeding schedule is fine if all of the food is consumed in a short amount of time.

If your tap isn't high in nitrates, you're regularly vacuuming the gravel (and getting the gunk out from under rocks, etc,) and you're doing regular water changes, your nitrates shouldn't be so high... unless there is a filter that's full of waste.

It never hurts to do an extra water change or three to knock your nitrates down (dilute them).

Matt

We don't feed at all on Mondays, we used to feed only once a day until we were told that 2x a day in smaller portions is better...idk, seems to be a "whatever works for you" kinda topic. They don't get fed twice a day every day. We alternate depending on food schedule. Mondays are nothing, Tuesday, thurs and Saturday is pellets in morning and frozen in evening, Wednesday, Fri and Sunday is only evening feeding. Wednesday is their live food day (usually a worm) if we have any.

I know pothos is a house plant, my question is, does it matter the TYPE of ivy or can you only use Devils Ivy?

Happily married Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 15 gilled babies

 

[ccp2007]

We added pothos today and will test again tomorrow morning and do another wc. It's came down to close to 40ppm. It's a red between 40 and 80. The jewels will be moved to the 30 this weekend and we are taking our pleco to our LFS.

Different type of question but still in regards to nitrates and waste...what is the best clean up crew for a 75 that can live with cichlids and Bichirs that don't produce as much waste?

Happily married Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 15 gilled babies

 

[Becca]

We added pothos today and will test again tomorrow morning and do another wc. It's came down to close to 40ppm. It's a red between 40 and 80. The jewels will be moved to the 30 this weekend and we are taking our pleco to our LFS.

Different type of question but still in regards to nitrates and waste...what is the best clean up crew for a 75 that can live with cichlids and Bichirs that don't produce as much waste?

Happily married Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 15 gilled babies

What kind of clean up do you need your crew to do?

 

[ccp2007]

Uneaten food & algae. I'm trying to talk my hubby into re-homing his pleco because it's a bigger mess than help. He asked me if I could come up with a better clean up crew. So, I turn to y'all. I like my clown loach and want a few more but I know they get quite large. I have also had good results with crawfish but I'm seeing what y'all have experienced.

He likes the crawfish route but wants a back up plan because his Bichirs or peacocks will probably just see it as dinner.

Happily married Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 15 gilled babies

 

[men_arell]

I use ricia. It floats under the surface. Besides being an amazing filter it gives my fish a great sense of comfort under it.

 

[jonclark96]

The big pleco is probably a source of a lot of mess. A bushy nose is a good choice, as they stay smaller (maybe 5" on a big one) and do a decent job with algea as juveniles.

I'd also feed less if you have uneaten food in the tank. I usually only feed every other day with the exception of small fry. Adult fish will do just fine and I believe (although I don't have any scientific evidence) that a fish that is more fit, versus over weight.

 

[scientist0724]

That plant combination are not aquatic plants.

Arlene

 

[zackcrack00]

Clown Plecos are awesome algae eaters. I have two I put in most of my tanks. They keep a 75g, a 29g, and a 10g clean by themselves.


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[scientist0724]

Water sprite and water wisteria are two simple and good plants to use to soak up nitrates.

Arlene

 

[dogofwar]

The question is: Why are there so many nitrates to remove (when she'd doing regular, large water changes and the tank doesn't sound like it's too heavily stocked)?

Matt

 

[mchambers]

Large plecos certainly can leave a lot of, uh, waste, but even that shouldn't cause such high levels of nitrates.

 

[Becca]

The question is: Why are there so many nitrates to remove (when she'd doing regular, large water changes and the tank doesn't sound like it's too heavily stocked)?

Matt

If the pleco isn't eating the uneaten food and is producing tons of waste, could that be the issue? If overfeeding isn't an issue, there shouldn't be much in the way of uneaten food, though.

Is it possible one of the kids is feeding fish when no one is looking? We have this problem with Isaac - he will grab food off counters while we're distracted and toss it to the dogs.:wacko:

I didn't see a response to whether the filters were possibly gunked up.