Aid Water Quality?

[LucienH]

Am I mad or what?
The reason I say that is, I had an idea to plant a land plant above my 200L tropical aquarium in such a way that the plant was out of the water and the roots in the water.
In that way hopefully to help remove nitrate from the water as well as other fish waste which the plant can use as a food sorce.
But, were there any plants which could take that kind of setup?
So, I looked on the web for plants which like their feet in water, and low and behold there are at least two which popped up right away.
One was a bamboo plant, but that would need a lot of head room and would not be easy to bend, the other was the common Spider plant, now that was a definite possibility.
So, I got myself the said Spider Plant and set about fixing it in place.
The way I did it was to cut out a one foot by 5 inch oblong of Medium - Betta Pond Pad, along the center of which I cut a slit long enough to insert the plant with the roots hanging through and out from under the pad.
I should point out, that before I put the plant in the pad I thoroughly but carefully washed the roots in water treated with aquaSafe, as untreated tap water is not good for the plant.
I then placed the pad above the water at the back of the tank making sure the pad did not touch the water, but the roots of the plant were fully in the water.
There is a fast water flow in the tank to ensure well oxygenated water.
It's been a week now and the plant is growing well with no ill effects at all.
Granted you do need some head room above the tank.
This could go some way to being a nitrate filter which never needs cleaning or changing, what do you think?

[jonstfrancis]

With the spider plant it will produce many plantlets on long runners that will drop into the water and root. I think that'd look really interesting and be rather distinct. Spider plants can grow under water for sometime but the plantlets would need clipping off after a certain period of time. I also believe that spider plants absorb pollutants (it is one reason they are popular house plants) so could have an additional use here.

[LucienH]

There are many Spider Plants, the one I'm using is (Chlorophytum comosum Ocean) but I dear say, they would all work in a similar way.

[jonstfrancis]

Acorus gramineus could be considered too. My local garden centre sells them rather cheaply, so you could check your one.

Also Anubias grows both under water (of course) but also is happy with its leaves above water.

[LucienH]

Thanks for that, I'll check it out.

[Diana]

I do this with almost all the house plants. Just stick the roots in the tank, allow the top to hang over the side. (Gotta anchor vertical plants upright)
The ones that work best for me are:
Golden Pothos (Epipremnum pinnatum)
Arrowhead (Nephthytis sp)

Another method that works is to set up a long, shallow box that you pump the aquarium water through. I set up a plastic window box sort of thing over the tank. Pump the water up, then allow gravity to drain it back into the tank via some tubing. I use lava rock as a soil substitute. I have Heart Leaf Philodendron in there now (P. scandens) but have also grown a really nice relative of the Prayer Plant (I think it was a Calathea, not a Maranta, but I have also had a Maranta in this situation).

Remember that any plants growing above the aquarium are not getting any light from the aquarium, so need to have their own light, or be near a window.

Most house plants do not thrive under water, so are not true aquatics. They do fine with their roots in MOVING water, so growing out of the top of an aquarium is fine.

True aquatic plants will grow under water in the aquarium. They need some thought toward the right lighting, and some supplemental fertilizers in case the fish food does not supply all they need.

[SammyH]

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[Babakapusta]

How are your plants doing now? I have never been successful with this because my fish would eat the roots. Philodendron does well, you can take cuttings and put them in the water to root them. They were my most successful plant.