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Plants to help lower nitrate (1 Viewer)

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Tangs

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Now that I have been retired for 6 months now I have the time to take this hobby bit more seriously. I am looking at ways to lower my nitrate level. I am now doing using Rodi water to do my partial water changes. I saved a 5 gallon bucket of water to do an experement. I have those super hardy light orange Lillie's all over my property. I use them to help clarify my pond water which is not even filtered. So will see is they can survive in a bucket of dirty used marine aquarium water.
 
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(phone call) I have limited sunlight cus my aquarium is next to a big north window. But see how it survives in a 5 gallon bucket in the shade first.
 

steveb

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Doubtful and why try when so many marine macro algae are available? In addition there are marine grasses and mangroves that also live natively in saltwater.
 
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Ya i tried the mangrove thing and did not last long. I think they need a lot of sunlight. Bamboo supposed to be the best to remove nitrate but they probably need lots of sunlight too. Might try it. What is a good brand of marine micro algae? Can I get it on Amazon? Thanks for the info.
 
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Amazon just seems to have pricy books on micro marine algae. All we have in my City is a Pet Smart ...pricy and not much selection for the marine hobbyist. I am going out of town next Friday for pleasure and will see what big aquarium stores have in much bigger cities for micro marine algae. Ya.
 

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I have lots of live rock plus a lava rock pre filter that I designed. K will look for macro algae . I am only feeding my fish flakes once a day now... see how that goes
 
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Might of lucked out. There is a guy selling Macro Algae plants here in Sarnia on Kijiji. ..just messaged him and see how it goes. Thanks for the help.
 
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But do I really want plants. My 2 tangs will just gobble them up ...I was hoping for just roots under the water ..with a plant not needing much sun.
 

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You might do ok with the macro algae Halimeda. It uptakes calcium in its tissue so doesn't seem to appeal to tangs as much as the softer macro algae does. Between that and the deep sand in my 150, the nitrate is always 0 and the water is crystal clear.
 

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My mangrove doesn’t seem to want too much light, I actually had to move it out of the light last week. It’s doing just fine with some light spillage from the AI Primes and some sunlight through a nearby window
 
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I tried mangrove twice and both times they died in no time. Doing research Pathos plants apparently take nitrates out of salt water tanks. ?? Fresh water for sure from my research online. I am going to try my Lillie's in a weeks time ...keep an eye out for pathos plant to purchase. The top of my tank is covered to reduce evaporation and insulated to cut down on heating costs. I like to keep my home on the cool side. I dress for winter and makes it more tolerabe
 
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Why wait a week will try a small Lilly today. Just hope it is not toxic. I do not think so. They are one of the hardiest plants I have ever come across
 
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I will.let it sit out in the sun for a day or 2 on a plastic lawn chair. Who knows what contaminants I am introducing into the aquarium
 
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As I thought would happen is happening. The guy at an awesome aquarium store assured me the Chaeto would not be eaten by the tangs. But they are so today I put the Chaeto into an empty grocery strawberry container. See how it goes
 
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