Emersed plants for nitrate control

[Lexi B]

My tap water contains 20 ppm nitrate, and I want to optimize my nitrate consumption. 

Originally I wanted to add pothos to my aquariums, but since it's toxic to cats I just don't want to risk it. (My door is always closed, but it's not worth it to me)

I'd like to avoid duckweed/water lettuce since it just takes over faster than I can manage. What would a good plant be that wouldn't be a danger to my terrestrial pets?

[Guppysnail]

Mine has 20 as well ☹️  I use pothos and lucky bamboo. Here is a great thread on lucky bamboo as emergent growth. Frogbit is the all time floating nitrate hog in my experience 

 

[Lexi B]

On 12/11/2021 at 6:10 PM, Guppysnail said:

Mine has 20 as well ☹️  I use pothos and lucky bamboo. Here is a great thread on lucky bamboo as emergent growth. Frogbit is the all time floating nitrate hog in my experience 

 

My mans really hooking me up with these posts 

[gardenman]

You're all a bad influence on me. After reading this I've ordered 10 4" lucky bamboo stalks from Amazon. Two will go in each tank and we'll see what happens. The old "It can't hurt and might help" approach seems to be in play here. We'll see what happens with them.

[KBOzzie59]

One of my tanks has a Peace Lilly, nice if you are looking for something that blooms.  Also Spider Plant.

[StockEwe49]

I can definitely agree about Frogbit, it can grow very fast but it isn't hard to get out of your tank if you want to get rid of it.

[Lexi B]

On 12/12/2021 at 1:02 PM, KBOzzie59 said:

One of my tanks has a Peace Lilly, nice if you are looking for something that blooms.  Also Spider Plant.

Peace lilies are my dream plant for a future guppy pond project!

 

 

 

 

[Fonske]

Has anyone tried Umbrella Grass (Cyperus Papyrus or other species) in their tanks/ponds? 

It's listed as "slightly toxic" for pets, but since it has to be planted inside the tank, it's potentially harder for land animals to reach than vines like pothos...maybe. 

[Various Vivaria]

Ivy works well but beware spider mites.

[gardenman]

On 12/12/2021 at 10:12 PM, Fonske said:

Has anyone tried Umbrella Grass (Cyperus Papyrus or other species) in their tanks/ponds? 

It's listed as "slightly toxic" for pets, but since it has to be planted inside the tank, it's potentially harder for land animals to reach than vines like pothos...maybe. 

I've grown Cyperus Alternifolius in my pond before. It's a nice plant and easy to grow from seed. It tends to get pretty big though. Four feet tall is not uncommon. The seeds are cheap and readily available.

I tend to ignore the toxicity ratings as nearly every plant gets listed as toxic on one site or another. If every plant listed as being toxic was truly toxic, no animal or human on the planet would be alive. I have a suspicion that if someone's cat ate a leaf on a plant anytime within a week and then vomited, that plant gets labeled as being toxic. There are some truly toxic plants where there's no debate about it, but they're few and far between (datura, brugmansias etc.) Mostly plants in the nightshade family, which oddly enough includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants. (The fruits are safe, the foliage, not so much.) If you avoid the truly toxic stuff, you should be okay. I've spent my life visiting greenhouses and many greenhouses are filled with "toxic" plants but also cats who somehow manage to live long, happy lives despite being surrounded by those horrible toxic plants. Toxicity is more than a little over exaggerated. 

[Guppysnail]

On 12/13/2021 at 9:58 AM, gardenman said:

I've grown Cyperus Alternifolius in my pond before. It's a nice plant and easy to grow from seed. It tends to get pretty big though. Four feet tall is not uncommon. The seeds are cheap and readily available.

I tend to ignore the toxicity ratings as nearly every plant gets listed as toxic on one site or another. If every plant listed as being toxic was truly toxic, no animal or human on the planet would be alive. I have a suspicion that if someone's cat ate a leaf on a plant anytime within a week and then vomited, that plant gets labeled as being toxic. There are some truly toxic plants where there's no debate about it, but they're few and far between (datura, brugmansias etc.) Mostly plants in the nightshade family, which oddly enough includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants. (The fruits are safe, the foliage, not so much.) If you avoid the truly toxic stuff, you should be okay. I've spent my life visiting greenhouses and many greenhouses are filled with "toxic" plants but also cats who somehow manage to live long, happy lives despite being surrounded by those horrible toxic plants. Toxicity is more than a little over exaggerated. 

I agree with the low toxicity of pothos. I should have included in my original reply I have pothos all over my house not just aquariums. I also have cats. I had 3 prior lived 17 -18 years each my one now just passed at 16 and my other is 17. They all occasionally would nip the pothos. None ever got sick or showed I’ll affects. One when it was younger had a thing for laying in the potted pothos and nipping the tips off all the leaves. I did not at the time know it was toxic. I “think” I read somewhere a few years back (don’t take this as gospel) that the toxic crystal in the plant is mainly concentrated in the roots. @Biotope Biologist am I misremembering what I read?

Edited December 13, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Biotope Biologist]

On 12/13/2021 at 8:03 AM, Guppysnail said:

I agree with the low toxicity of pothos. I should have included in my original reply I have pothos all over my house not just aquariums. I also have cats. I had 3 prior lived 17 -18 years each my one now just passed at 16 and my other is 17. They all occasionally would nip the pothos. None ever got sick or showed I’ll affects. One when it was younger had a thing for laying in the potted pothos and nipping the tips off all the leaves. I did not at the time know it was toxic. I “think” I read somewhere a few years back (don’t take this as gospel) that the toxic crystal in the plant is mainly concentrated in the roots. @Biotope Biologist am I misremembering what I read?

Calcium oxalate is indeed toxic to human and animals when ingested in large quantities. It is produced by many plants in the stems, roots, and leaves in the process of calcium detoxification. 

 

I'm not sure if that is what is being referenced when pothos is listed as toxic. I had to ask my brother on that one as I'm not super well versed on plant biology.

[gardenman]

Frogbit's an interesting plant. I bought some maybe two years ago that came with dime-sized leaves. It grew nicely in my tanks but maintained dime-sized leaves. Then watching Simply Bettas YouTube channel one day I saw her harvesting Frogbit that was huge compared to mine. Hers also had roots that went to the bottom of her tanks while mine have maybe inch-long roots. I assumed I'd somehow bought dwarf Frogbit. Last spring I moved some of my abundance of floaters out to my water garden and rain barrels. Surprise! My dwarf Frogbit was no longer dwarf. The leaves were now silver dollar size and the roots were ten to twelve inches long. My swordtails root prune the Frogbit in my tanks and dwarf it. Some I moved to a swordtail-free storage container also grew very large, so it's the swordtails who are dwarfing my Frogbit. It's a neat plant though.

[dasaltemelosguy]

I believe you're both right. My cats also chew on the leaves occasionally and I've never had an incident. My severums eat the roots to no effect. I believe the oxalates are insoluble above a PH of 4 so they don't enter the water column. But the crystals are irritants if chewed. Also, even if the oxalates could enter solution, they would do so as oxalic acid which isn't toxic and is common to many greens.  I've used urinalysis tests to test for oxalates but I haven't yet seen it leach into an aquarium. It does leach oxalates if you boil it, though, Potho's Tea!😝 

 

[Biotope Biologist]

I was curious so I read some toxicology reports on oxalic acid and calcium oxalate.

 

Calcium oxalate appears to be insoluble and is not absorbed, but causes localized sores and pain when in contact with mucous membranes. If large quantities are ingested they can accumulate in fatty tissue such as kidneys and the brain. 

 

Ingestion of 5-15g of oxalic acid has caused death however ingestion from plant products that contain oxalic acid has never yielded it in this high of quantities and only leads to mild food poisoning. Causing diarrhea and stomach pains. Cases of death have only emerged from detergent products containing the substance in it's crystalline solid form that were accidentally ingested or made contact with mucous membranes (ie nose and mouth). Cause of death is usually hypocalcemia resulting in cardiac arrest.

 

Anyway I am sure OP didn't want to go down this rabbit hole, so TLDR of it is that pothos and other household plants that produce calcium oxalate should not pose a threat. Unless your cat or dog ate the entire adult plant from leaf to root. Even then probably have to eat several plants.

[CalmedByFish]

On 12/13/2021 at 11:25 AM, Biotope Biologist said:

fatty tissue such as kidneys and the brain. 

This led me straight to Google. The brain is more than half fat! What! 

Anybody else feel like that explains some things? 🤣 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 12/13/2021 at 11:25 AM, Biotope Biologist said:

pothos and other household plants that produce calcium oxalate should not pose a threat.

Correct.  Even the famed and feared "dumb cane" or Dieffenbachia, though highly unpleasant if consumed, is not life threatening.  Although I am sure there are some very sensitive individuals where it might be a serious issue.  Wouldn't it be surprising if the most popular houseplants were actually serious hazards causing death to many?!  I suspect they might become unpopular items to keep around your family quite quickly.  Unless you really don't like your family, of course. 

[Matt_AKA_Poth-O-Carry]

On 12/12/2021 at 11:14 AM, gardenman said:

You're all a bad influence on me. After reading this I've ordered 10 4" lucky bamboo stalks from Amazon. Two will go in each tank and we'll see what happens. The old "It can't hurt and might help" approach seems to be in play here. We'll see what happens with them.

I added some lucky bamboo to my tank as well. So far they seem to be doing well. I did put a grow light above my tank hood to help my pothos reach its full potential. that's starting to branch out, I'm so excited. the bamboo is so fun also! I'd be all over peace lilies too but my wife isn't a fan for some reason.

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

Spider plant is not toxic to pets, nor are banana plants. Bananas are absolute nitrate HOGS. Get a tiny cultivar though...

[gardenman]

My ten Lucky Bamboo plants came Saturday and I made Styrofoam rafts (photo below) for them and they're looking good so far. My tanks all have my homemade hoods with about 8"-12" of jumping space for fish, so there's a decent amount of room for the bamboo to grow while under the aquarium lights. Two went in my ten-gallon, twenty-gallon, and thirty-gallon tanks, with four in the fifty. They just float around with their roots in the water and their leaves in the air.