# Nitrate sucking plants



## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

Hi all. 

I am considering setting up a sum for my 45 gallon planted. I was thinking of lkeaving a section for nitrate sucking plants. I will of course keep that section lit. 

any advice on what plants are the best nitrate bustrers? I was thinking some floaters like frogbit? but what else? I would try to keep current in that section down. 

on a side note I have heard sumps remove some effects of CO2 injection. Comments?


----------



## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

mini water lettuce and duckweed are great too.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Typically plants that grow very fast remove the most nitrates. Some floaters are very good, such as duckweeds, and stem plants that grow fast as well. Hygro difformis is one that comes to mind, there are others too. But the faster it grows, the more nitrates it will use up.


----------



## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

elodea anacharis. nuff said


----------



## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks guys. I have some fast growing stem plants left over (many where cleared out to keep a neater tank and make room for species I liked more), but I will aim to throw some frogbit, hygrophial (ceylon grows like mad), and a few other stem plants. I will try to get my hands on some elodea anacharis, which looks very nice, and if grown thickly enough also seems like it would make a nice additional surface for bacteria growth. Though I will try to keep water movement in that part of the sump at a lower level. 

i am really excited to try a sump. My wife is gonna get mad at how much I end up spending to build it though, but cheaper than good filters! 

: )


----------



## malajulinka (Mar 29, 2008)

If you want some frogbit I'm just down on Roncy and have a bunch to give away. It will probably come with some hitchhiker duckweed, just fair warning. PM me if you're interested!


----------



## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

malajulinka said:


> If you want some frogbit I'm just down on Roncy and have a bunch to give away. It will probably come with some hitchhiker duckweed, just fair warning. PM me if you're interested!


Ohhh, no worries there~ My 35 grows frogbit like bad. I can't even give it away! Granted, that is because my snails like to lay eggs there.

But thanks!


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Bear in mind that you'll get the best results by continual cutting or harvesting of your nitrate suckers. Each time you remove a handful of duckweed or other floaters or take cuttings off the stems, you are completely removing all the nitrates that group of plants sucked up. And cutting stem plants back also stimulates branching, which in turn produces more growing points, which increases the net growth of a given plant.

Rather than simply let them grow until you have to harvest to make room, do frequent smaller ones. Even if you don't find buyers for the extras, you still are permanently removing all the nitrates those plants took up while growing in the sump. Duckweed is probably one of the single best plants for this, simply because it multiplies so very quickly. Each leaf makes at least ten copies of itself, and each daughter leaf does the same, so you can see why it grows so fast. Though hard to get rid of altogether, it's easy to harvest frequently. Just grab a bunch and toss them regularly. 

If you can get the giant duckweed, there are often more people interested in buying that than in the Lemna minor, the tiny duckweed that gets into everything it touches.

If you don't have giant duckweed, I have some I can part with. It is the red bottom kind, which is more attractive than the plain green bottom. No matter in a sump but might matter to potential buyers.


----------



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Hornwort is also a great nitrate sucking plant. Best grown if left just floating in the water. This plant grows *fast*! The downside is that it doesn't look very nice if you're trying to create an aquascape. You can try to plant it in substrate, but IME it won't grow as well as when it's left floating.

Hygro polysperma is also a fast-growing, low-light tolerant stem plant. Not as fast as the hornwort, but it looks much nicer.

Vallisneria is another excellent choice. It will send out runners so there is no work involved to propagate this plant. The more vals you have, the faster it soaks up nutrients.

For a sump, my recommendation would be hornwort, even over duckweed and frogbit. It's much easier to control than the latter, and where duckweed/frogbit can only make use of the water surface to grow, hornwort can make use of the entire water column.


----------



## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Hornwort is one of the fastest growing plants, as mentioned. It can not be planted because it does not grow roots; ever.


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I just tossed out probably 100 feet plus of hornwort, it grows crazy fast


----------



## charlie1 (Dec 1, 2011)

Why do you want Nitrate sucking plants in a planted tank sump?


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

if your tank is planted enough, you can bottom out on nitrates, I have this happen often with my main 90, I try not to do water changes to try to keep the nitrates from going to 0.

Best is to find a level where the nitrates stay low but are still there for the plants


----------



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

pyrrolin said:


> if your tank is planted enough, you can bottom out on nitrates, I have this happen often with my main 90, I try not to do water changes to try to keep the nitrates from going to 0.
> 
> Best is to find a level where the nitrates stay low but are still there for the plants


I wish this was true for me. You can't even see substrate in my tanks and my nitrate is always high and I don't dose kno3. Damn 100 fish in a 40g breeder...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Time to either get rid of some fish, get a bigger tank or get another tank


----------



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

pyrrolin said:


> Time to either get rid of some fish, get a bigger tank or get another tank


Nope not getting rid of my school of fat cardinals, Harlequin rasbora, and no space for new tanks.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


----------



## charlie1 (Dec 1, 2011)

pyrrolin said:


> if your tank is planted enough, you can bottom out on nitrates, I have this happen often with my main 90, I try not to do water changes to try to keep the nitrates from going to 0.
> 
> Best is to find a level where the nitrates stay low but are still there for the plants


That is the reason I asked why he needs "Nitrate sucking plants" in a planted tank sump.
Since all plants depends on Nitrate among other nutrients, he needs to figure out why there is unused Nitrates in his planted display tank & address that, always better to go to the source of the issue as opposed to seeking band aids.
Regards


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

not sure if co2 is being used or not, not going to double check but co2 might help the plants use the nitrates more. Also if lighting is lower, getting better lighting can help. Give the plants the ability to use the nitrates.


----------



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

pyrrolin said:


> not sure if co2 is being used or not, not going to double check but co2 might help the plants use the nitrates more. Also if lighting is lower, getting better lighting can help. Give the plants the ability to use the nitrates.


+1

When my nitrate problem was really bad and my red plants turned green at about 160+ppm. I tried everything even doing many water changes per week. I looked at my bulbs which I marked the date it was first used and it was hitting a year. Changed my bulbs and the plants turn red and nitrates went down to 40ppm

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

oh yeah, old bulbs could be the problem, they are only good for plants up to a year max, general rule is 6 to 9 months, after that, you start to notice a difference in growth.

Do you have any algae problems?


----------

