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I have been growing Pothos out of my tanks with endless and snails, but I need something that will grow with a low light environment. If I put the tip of the plant in the filter, it will grow slower, but if I put it in the 48g community tank, my Buenos Aires tetras destroy it before it has time to grow. I’ve tried pothos and English ivy. So far I’m still waiting to see something on the ivy from both low light and high light situations. The pothos grows great straight into the tank water under high light and then once the root systems are established, I put them in the other tanks. I have a 48g, 2 ten gallons, and then a 2.6g. Because of how the tanks are set up, only the 2.6g fluval tank with a clear lid and clip on light has a high light setting. 
 

Any ideas on other trailing or growing plants to suck up nitrates? My nitrates are 40-80 on all tanks. I’m running filters maxed with sponges with established media. I don’t over fed send have cut back feedings. The largest tank is planted. I like my nitrates in the 20s. 

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I feel like pothos is probably one of the best equipped out of most of the grow-in-water plants I know to survive low light situations. It survives most situations. Happily is a different thing though. 

Lucky bamboo (actually a dracaena) will survive in very slim light. Probably best in a HOB due to the need for all leaves to be emerged. This would be my best bet.

I would also consider philodendron but I see a higher fail rate with propagating that in water. 
 

I have only grown sweet potato in higher light conditions but the others I’ve grown terrestrially or emerged in fairly low light  

If you could plant things you could look at maybe some type of fern or other low light happy-damp-roots plant but I’m not sure how much that would help your nitrates compared to a roots-in-water plant. 
 

 

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I have tons of indoor plants that are thriving but they are close to windows or indirect light. They are also planted in potting soul. I have plants in an aquarium that are doing fine. However it is all about trying to get plants to grow out of the aquarium without potting soil in just water. I don’t want pothos taking over if something else can come with it. 

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are you looking for plants that can grow just in water? if you can somehow add some substrate for the plants to root in you have quite a few options. i made little planters that suction cup to the back of the tank, you can also run a second hob but instead of filter media you just fill it with your choice of substrate (eco complete or another gravel would work well) and plant into that. it will double as filtration since bb will grow in the substrate in the filter but lots of options for you if you can get something for plants to root in. 

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That is amazing! I never thought of that HOB with substrate! I have a planted tank that is newly planted with pots as well. I am working on getting plants to grow out of filters with little light in the room or roots to grow in the tank under the tank lights. My HOB are above the tank lights is the whole issue except on one tank which is where I start all my potho root stems and once the roots are established, I move to a different tank. This way the fish won't nibble on the stems and the plant is established. 

6 hours ago, yannachka said:

are you looking for plants that can grow just in water? if you can somehow add some substrate for the plants to root in you have quite a few options. i made little planters that suction cup to the back of the tank, you can also run a second hob but instead of filter media you just fill it with your choice of substrate (eco complete or another gravel would work well) and plant into that. it will double as filtration since bb will grow in the substrate in the filter but lots of options for you if you can get something for plants to root in. 

 

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1 minute ago, Robin said:

I've got a spider plant started in one of my HOBs. Don't know how it will do long term but so far so good. I just ordered lights for that side of the room because like you most of the light is in the tank and not much above it.

As for lights, I have a fluval clip on light that didn't work with a timer but will work for plants out of the filter probably. What light did you order?

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This is odd but we have an outlet in the ceiling. It connects to a light switch but I'll most likely put a smart plug in. I was going to put in some track lighting that can be plugged in but decided it's too limiting so I ordered some lights that are on what looks like a long rope, 3 lights on 22ft so I can move them where ever I want to put a hook in the ceiling.  This way I can put lights above the tanks in select spots. I had to buy separate shades and they are cone like so they will act like spot lights and hopefully not add too much light to the tank itself. I don't need more hair algae.

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@siniardem there is a filter actually for this! It is called Elive AquaDuo. It is designed to be used as a 'normal' filter, OR used with plants 😊 I just learned about this filter myself (i found one on Facebook Marketplace and got it!) i have not gotten to try it out yet though!

They only come in sizes for a 10 and 20 gallon though I believe.

 

Anywho - 

To add onto the answers already posted - I have Lucky Bamboo and Hosta as well as Pothos in my HoBs. My best friend has spiderplants in hers.

Peace Lily is another popular one I have seen, as well

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While this might not work for you in the low light situation, halfman halfcichlid on youtube has a nice video on the plants he's using to attempt a low nitrate or no nitrate african cichlid tank. I've setup something very similar on two different tanks and love it. I'm using philodendron, pothos, lucky bamboo, spider plant, aquatic mint, cucumber plant, aloe vera and snake plant. I still need to cut off some of my monstera plant to try adding that aswell. I will try to upload a picture in a few minutes-picture should be up.. not the prettiest setup but it'll clean the water! Its also perfect to root out plant cuttings if you're into houseplants.

20200920_190127.jpg

Edited by Jeremy B
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2 hours ago, TifNee837 said:

@siniardem there is a filter actually for this! It is called Elive AquaDuo. It is designed to be used as a 'normal' filter, OR used with plants 😊 I just learned about this filter myself (i found one on Facebook Marketplace and got it!) i have not gotten to try it out yet though!

They only come in sizes for a 10 and 20 gallon though I believe.

 

Anywho - 

To add onto the answers already posted - I have Lucky Bamboo and Hosta as well as Pothos in my HoBs. My best friend has spiderplants in hers.

Peace Lily is another popular one I have seen, as well

Had no idea you could do Hosta like that, gonna give that a shot next! ty.

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5 hours ago, TifNee837 said:

@siniardem there is a filter actually for this! It is called Elive AquaDuo. It is designed to be used as a 'normal' filter, OR used with plants 😊 I just learned about this filter myself (i found one on Facebook Marketplace and got it!) i have not gotten to try it out yet though!

They only come in sizes for a 10 and 20 gallon though I believe.

 

Anywho - 

To add onto the answers already posted - I have Lucky Bamboo and Hosta as well as Pothos in my HoBs. My best friend has spiderplants in hers.

Peace Lily is another popular one I have seen, as well

Amazon has these. I may get one. this sounds interesting.

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16 hours ago, Ben_RF said:

If you are looking for a splash of color, wandering jew may be a good alternative.  Image shown here is not mine and found randomly on google. b3cdd65db00b8e6839d5e8a665dbe762.jpg.a102f2336875f7899087fedb1fbe0cdc.jpg

Very pretty! Is this something I can usually find pretty local in Georgia?

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15 hours ago, Jeremy B said:

While this might not work for you in the low light situation, halfman halfcichlid on youtube has a nice video on the plants he's using to attempt a low nitrate or no nitrate african cichlid tank. I've setup something very similar on two different tanks and love it. I'm using philodendron, pothos, lucky bamboo, spider plant, aquatic mint, cucumber plant, aloe vera and snake plant. I still need to cut off some of my monstera plant to try adding that aswell. I will try to upload a picture in a few minutes-picture should be up.. not the prettiest setup but it'll clean the water! Its also perfect to root out plant cuttings if you're into houseplants.

20200920_190127.jpg

Really love these ideas, but where would you get the plant light? I do have a shelf over the aquarium and an extra fluval light that is a screw on, but idk if that would be enough.

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18 hours ago, TifNee837 said:

@siniardem there is a filter actually for this! It is called Elive AquaDuo. It is designed to be used as a 'normal' filter, OR used with plants 😊 I just learned about this filter myself (i found one on Facebook Marketplace and got it!) i have not gotten to try it out yet though!

They only come in sizes for a 10 and 20 gallon though I believe.

 

Anywho - 

To add onto the answers already posted - I have Lucky Bamboo and Hosta as well as Pothos in my HoBs. My best friend has spiderplants in hers.

Peace Lily is another popular one I have seen, as well

I have a peace lily and christmas cactus, as well as potchos,Japanesee birdnest fern, and a smaller regular fern. I also am currently trying to get English trailing ivy to grow. I know the BB bacteria is not in the water colomn, but plants suck up the nitrates and use the light to grow. I know my filters do not get that light that the water does, so that is why I stick to putting them in the water to establish roots. How ever, that leaves the plants being able to trail over the hood and having to move a lot, and I would like to put them in the filter, but right now I think I need to address the light issue. 

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1 hour ago, siniardem said:

Really love these ideas, but where would you get the plant light? I do have a shelf over the aquarium and an extra fluval light that is a screw on, but idk if that would be enough.

I'm just using your standard t8 shoplight with T8 LED tubes for energy savings. Any light that throws a decent brightness should work. I'm not sure how bright the fluval you have is, but you could try it and if the plants aren't looking healthy just upgrade. If you want something branded for plants I know home depot has some in my local lighting section, even some on clearance right now.

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1 hour ago, siniardem said:

Very pretty! Is this something I can usually find pretty local in Georgia?

I'd imagine you'd be able to find it local. If you don't want to try running all around town check out Hirts Gardens. I've ordered _lots_ of plants from them during covid and all have shown up healthy! Shipping is based on weight so I always hunt out the 2.5" pots and grow the plants out myself.

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5 minutes ago, Jeremy B said:

I'd imagine you'd be able to find it local. If you don't want to try running all around town check out Hirts Gardens. I've ordered _lots_ of plants from them during covid and all have shown up healthy! Shipping is based on weight so I always hunt out the 2.5" pots and grow the plants out myself.

Seconds on Hirts. They are great. I also have ordered plants from them with good results.

My only comment on wandering jew is that in my experience if they don't get a lot of direct light they get leggy.

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