# New to plants - Looking for advice



## vrodolfo (Apr 7, 2011)

Hey guys,

I want to pose the following question:

I have a number of fry tanks with nitrate problems (finding myself performing water changes every third day). I realize the fry tanks are overstocked beyond normal capacity so I decided to throw in some plants to help me out.

Given that the tank is overstocked, the fry are producing CO2 all on their own, do I really need to supplement with CO2 for the following plant varieties:

Anubias barteri nana Golden
Java Moss

Well? 

Thanks for your advice in advance.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

No, you do not need to supplement CO2.

However, the plant varieties that you have chosen are slow growing and will not likely make an impact on reducing nitrates in your aquarium. I would recommend much faster growers such as Hornwort.


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## vrodolfo (Apr 7, 2011)

Thanks Darkblade48. Good to know.

Has anyone out there tried to grow hornwort in a high pH enivronment, like 8.2?

If so, how does it fare? I read online the range is like 6.5 to 7.5 but that does not mean it won't thrive in a high pH environment either.

Anyone tried this?


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## fishclubgirl (Mar 4, 2010)

vrodolfo said:


> Thanks Darkblade48. Good to know.
> 
> Has anyone out there tried to grow hornwort in a high pH enivronment, like 8.2?
> 
> ...


Yes, I'm in Calgary and we have "liquid rock" as water... My hornwort does really well too.


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

I grow hornwort in my sulawesi tanks with high Ph.


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## vrodolfo (Apr 7, 2011)

Again, forgive my ignorance...those metal weights at the bottom of some stem plants that you find in the pet store...are those safe for fish? It looks like lead??


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

vrodolfo said:


> Again, forgive my ignorance...those metal weights at the bottom of some stem plants that you find in the pet store...are those safe for fish? It looks like lead??


Older ones were made from lead, newer ones are not supposed to be made from lead due to its toxicity.

To be 100% safe, remove them and do not use them.


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## vrodolfo (Apr 7, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your feedback...some good tips here.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

If you need nitrates lowered, you might want to try some floaters.. giant duckweed, frogbit, though that does do better with a bit more than low light, water sprite, even regular duckweed, though both duckweeds do spread very quickly, it is not hard to scoop out the excess when required. I've got extra of both duckweeds, you can have them if you wish.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

vrodolfo said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I want to pose the following question:
> 
> ...


The reason people inject CO2 is because fishes produce a lot more nitrates than they do CO2, for the purposes of plant growth. Your plants will grow, and they will help, but they will not be as effective as if you were injecting CO2.

In order to control nutrients with plants, you need plants that grow fast. Java moss is a good candidate, if you had a lot of it. While each individual strand grows relatively slowly, a large ball of java moss has a *lot* of strands. Remember though, it's not the amount of plants present that matters, it's the amount of *growth*. Plant growth = nutrient uptake.

Hornwort is another good candidate. It grows quickly and does not require any substrate. It will grow fine floating, or you could weigh it down for better aesthetics.

Both hornwort and java moss will benefit from CO2 injection, far improving their growth rate.

Both java moss and hornwort pales in comparison to duckweed, however. Being an emersed floating plant, duckweed can freely make use of atmospheric CO2, making them extremely effective nitrate soakers.

However, growing plants need more powerful lights than those usually used in a fish only aquarium. Java moss can work well in a low light tank (though it will grow much slower as a result), while both hornwort and duckweed need relatively higher light to do well. So what kind of light do you have?


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## Blitzcraze (Dec 16, 2011)

Darkblade48 said:


> No, you do not need to supplement CO2.
> 
> However, the plant varieties that you have chosen are slow growing and will not likely make an impact on reducing nitrates in your aquarium. I would recommend much faster growers such as Hornwort.


+1 very good advice and hornwort just float it in a corner helps with algae problems as well


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I have also found water sprite is very helpful for nitrates and it grows astonishingly quickly when it's floated. I have one 6500 K tube, under a low hood that is very poorly designed for growing plants, since most of the light hits the tank rear. 
Anything floating gets some better light, but only when the pump current spins it around under the bulb, so only about half the time.
Despite this, water sprite grows at a rate that blows my mind. One plant, the length of my palm that had two daughter plants about 2 inches across, attached on runners, was given to me not more than two months ago. Main plant now covers nearly half the top of my 30G. The daughters take up much of the rest, with numerous plantlets growing from leaf edges, and it will send out runners with daughters at the ends. Some of the leaf edge babies are 2 - 3 inches across now. These have a substantial root system, on my big plant it hangs down 6 or 7 inches. Plenty of root hairs but not too furry. Shrimp and snails spend a lot of time browsing in the roots. 

If you'd like some, I may sell some, so PM me if interested. Offer for free Duckweed stands. It spreads fast, especially the little one. Greater duckweed has more roots, about an inch long. I like it's looks better. Grows ok in my 30 G, while Minor duckweed does better. Both spread much faster in my 5 G tanks, which have much brighter light. I feed Flourish lightly, use Excel lightly for other plants in the tanks, but all three of these plants do fine with no carbon supplement, as Darkblade has described. If you get them and later find your floaters are taking over, control isn't hard. Scoop some out, sell it, pass along or compost/toss it. Water sprite can also be planted in the substrate and can look very nice that way, but I haven't done so.


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