# good plants to help with nitrITES?



## kyle89 (Mar 1, 2013)

I have 4 corck screw val 3 jungle val 3 Italian val 3 green wendtii and a few green myro but what plants are good to help lower nitrITES??


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

Fast growing plants such as Hornwort, Anacharis, and my Banana Lilly is a really fast grower. Those are all I can think of or have in my tank. I am sure others will know of a few fast growers for you.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

+1 on the fast growing plants.

Once your tank is cycled, you shouldn't have any nitrites anyway.


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## kyle89 (Mar 1, 2013)

My tank has been cycled but when you look at it wrong the cycle has a mini crash


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## DefStatic (Mar 17, 2013)

Plants will help lower Ammonia and Nitrates way more than Nitrites. Beneficial Bacteria is what you need to take care of Nitrites.

Your goal should be a completed nitrogen cycle, where if you add water from a water change that has a trace of ammonia, your plants/BB convert it quickly to nitrites, which quickly get converted to nitrates, which do not build up and are taken care of by the plants. 

At least that is my understanding. The water I use to refill my office tank supposedly has a tiny trace amount of ammonia, which my tank clears out in a day.

Kind of scary learning about what is in your local water once you start setting up aquariums.


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## Otterfun (Dec 31, 2012)

DefStatic said:


> Plants will help lower Ammonia and Nitrates way more than Nitrites. Beneficial Bacteria is what you need to take care of Nitrites.
> 
> Your goal should be a completed nitrogen cycle, where if you add water from a water change that has a trace of ammonia, your plants/BB convert it quickly to nitrites, which quickly get converted to nitrates, which do not build up and are taken care of by the plants.


my tank has been fully cycled since mid-Feb: 0 ammonia & nitrite and 40 nitrate. the nitrate keeps creeping up if I do not do WC every other day.

So I do not think my plants are doing its job to absorb the nitrate. Also, 

FYI, the link on Nitrogen Cycle-betta specific sticky and it is differenet from how you understand the build up of Nitrate. Nitrate does build up if the WC is not kept up or if the tank is not clean (as in slack in vaccuming, overfeeding, leftover food decomposing, excretion not vaccumed)

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=107771

...Once the nitrogen cycle has established your water prams should read:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5-10ppm ideally...You want to keep this under 40ppm..


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## kyle89 (Mar 1, 2013)

Yeah water changes still need to be performed weekly to remove waste an keep the nitrates down


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## Draug Isilme (Aug 7, 2011)

Whoa, wait... I thought plants absorbed the nutrients that nitrates fed off of, and therefore your tank _wouldn't_ go through the nitrogen cycle(?) Unless say you didn't have enough plants compensating for the extra nutrients and cycling your tank was possible then... but that's just the way I understand it...
Anyway, if you're worried about nitrites then yes fast feeders should definitely a first option. Otherwise, all plants absorb these and if you have a vast amount, they'll do the job regardless.. you just need to figure out if you want to go with fast growers (and make sure you're able to care for them as most fast growers you come by need more lighting and nutrients than others) or if you'd like to get a hoard of slow growers.


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

if there are enough plants in a NEW tank you will NOt see a cycle. plants will convert the ammonia to ammonium and then uptake it that way before it even has a chance to turn to rites or rates.

nitrates are a sum of the end of the chain as far as organic breakdown goes. yes plants can use this but only if the other 17 essential elements are in balance. this goes for all macro micro trace light and co2 needs.

plants are also much faster/efficient at using the ammonia/nitrite then bb so again if you have enough plants you don't even need a filter, just water circulation and surface agitation - all within moderation of course.


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## Otterfun (Dec 31, 2012)

I think the issue is not about ammonia and nitrite but the fact that nitrate us the last by product of the nitrogen cycle that will build up and needs to be removed by WC And maybe chemically. Plants will not be efficiently remove rates as it would with ammonia and rites no matter how densely planted, rates will ultimately build up to a point that needs to be removed.


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## Draug Isilme (Aug 7, 2011)

(to moneymitch's post) Okay, I thought so >.>... I'd also like to add (if I recall correctly) that since the plants tend to eat up the nutrients in the tank, your nitrates/trites/amonia should also go down to 0ppm and therefore not have a reading.


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## Draug Isilme (Aug 7, 2011)

Otterfun said:


> I think the issue is not about ammonia and nitrite but the fact that nitrate us the last by product of the nitrogen cycle that will build up and needs to be removed by WC And maybe chemically. Plants will not be efficiently remove rates as it would with ammonia and rites no matter how densely planted, rates will ultimately build up to a point that needs to be removed.


I thought since the plants took up the things that nitrates feed off of and trates are a living bacteria, the plants would eventually starve the nitrates and eventually cause it to read 0ppm?


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

correct, if you have a sufficient amount of plants then you will get 0 readings across the board except rates. my tank usually sits around 10-20ppm rates depending how long its been since last w/c

0 rates is a bad thing means the plants don't have enough food to grow.


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## Draug Isilme (Aug 7, 2011)

MoneyMitch said:


> correct, if you have a sufficient amount of plants then you will get 0 readings across the board except rates. my tank usually sits around 10-20ppm rates depending how long its been since last w/c
> 
> 0 rates is a bad thing means the plants don't have enough food to grow.


Hahhah, I like that you just brought that up 'cause I went through some more digging and actually came across a few threads that said more older/established tanks with plants will still have readings of nitrates xD From what I got, it seemed the plants still help keep nitrates in check but obviously since it's a closed ecosystem that's still a variable which needs an eye kept on it... anyway, I'm sorry I feel like I'm drifting from the original reason for this post... I'll stop now


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

no need, threads will evolve as they progress. I do notice if I skip a waterchange in my tank my rates do seem to get a little towards the high side 30ppm+ but I don't use any co2 and dose flourish comp x2 a week and couldn't tell you the last time I vacd my gravel. (I don't vac to let the organics breakdown to produce natural co2)


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

My tank consistently has nitrates 20-40ppm according to the API Test kit. I use the gravel vac weekly on a 50% WC and clean my canister filter out about once a month. I have lot of plants, including giant hygro which was marketed to me to be a "nitrate buster." It's doing well (as are all of my other plants), but still have higher nitrates. My fish are fine though and I'm not worried. My mom has nitates off the charts in her tank and her angelfish spawn every two weeks...I don't think nitrates are that much of an issue compared to nitrItes and ammonia...


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## DefStatic (Mar 17, 2013)

Right, Nitrates are not a problem like Ammonia and Nitrites. But anything over 40 is getting on the bad side.


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## MoneyMitch (Aug 3, 2009)

unchecked nitrates can cause issues with fish, while some will be fine in some systems they wont be so fine in other systems. each system is unique. in the wild fish do not encounter any rates rites or ammonia at all so in theory any of this in in our tank isn't "good" for them. those are some high nitrates though 40pp,? do u clean your filter? how much are you feeding? what are the nitrates out of your tap. 

you have to becarefull as nitrates that get to high can start a cyano outbreak or algae outbreak.


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