Which Terrestrial Plant is Most Effective in Keeping a Clean Aquarium?

[JChristophersAdventures]

I am setting up a method of placing terrestrial plants along the back (and out the top, of course) of a 75 gallon tank. My plan is to make my own lid sections custom cutting clear Coroplast plastic. Then drilling holes along the back, each one big enough for a standard hydroponic net cup to suspend from the lid down into the water.

I would then line the cup with the same netting used for fish nets, so that even small fish/fry could not swim through the net cup vents and jump out of the tank (I like to keep water levels right at the bottom of the tank rim). Then I could just place a plant in each net cup to hold them securely in place and still allow the roots to grow down the back of the tank.

So far, I believe my plant of choice will be the Peace Lily... I have read that it is at the top of the list for processing waste (mainly nitrates?) and helping to keep the water quality higher. I have also looked into Pothos, Philodendrons, Monstera, Spider Grass and Lucky Bamboo. I will probably be avoiding the climbing, spreading plants for ease of keeping things under control (and Monstera seems like it will get way too large) but would like to hear others experiences... especially with (but not limited to) grass plants and Lucky Bamboo.

Any thoughts about the plan or the plants?

Thanks.

[Guppysnail]

Here is a fantastic thread that researched this topic a bit. I have actually found monstera to outperform lucky bamboo in my tanks. But just as the leaves are monster size so are the roots. Lucky bamboo has since been found to tolerate salt treatments by the @dasaltemelosguywhere pothos does not. 
Here are just a few of mine. I find peace lily to be most affective in HOBS. I like to play around so all my tanks do not look identical. 

[Guppysnail]

Here is also a YouTuber I found interesting. They do many videos trying all different types of plants and methods of riparian growth 

 

[JChristophersAdventures]

Thanks @Guppysnail ! I have already watched that video and am subscribed to his channel. I am planning on using mostly low light level, water column feeding plants in the new aquarium, so I am hoping the Peace Lilies (like Pothos, etc) will function well in a lower lighting environment. Of course, as always every situation is unique so it will likely take some time and fiddling to "dial it in". Your tank plants look really good btw... I suspect that the bamboo would generally be slower growing than the more standard house plants? Thanks, again.

[Guppysnail]

For me it is slower growing but @dasaltemelosguy had to move his ceiling fans because it grew to over 7 foot tall in I think a year. 

@Odd Duck also does lucky bamboo and pothos. 

[dasaltemelosguy]

On 7/7/2023 at 6:52 AM, JChristophersAdventures said:

I am setting up a method of placing terrestrial plants along the back (and out the top, of course) of a 75 gallon tank. My plan is to make my own lid sections custom cutting clear Coroplast plastic. Then drilling holes along the back, each one big enough for a standard hydroponic net cup to suspend from the lid down into the water.

I would then line the cup with the same netting used for fish nets, so that even small fish/fry could not swim through the net cup vents and jump out of the tank (I like to keep water levels right at the bottom of the tank rim). Then I could just place a plant in each net cup to hold them securely in place and still allow the roots to grow down the back of the tank.

So far, I believe my plant of choice will be the Peace Lily... I have read that it is at the top of the list for processing waste (mainly nitrates?) and helping to keep the water quality higher. I have also looked into Pothos, Philodendrons, Monstera, Spider Grass and Lucky Bamboo. I will probably be avoiding the climbing, spreading plants for ease of keeping things under control (and Monstera seems like it will get way too large) but would like to hear others experiences... especially with (but not limited to) grass plants and Lucky Bamboo.

Any thoughts about the plan or the plants?

Thanks.

Hi @JChristophersAdventures, this is the article and test @Guppysnail was referring to:

 

We used plastic lighting grids to replace the tank covers to support the stalks. The nitrate uptake of Lucky Bamboo was intense during the growth period but leveled off after they reached 5'-6' in height. As @Guppysnail mentioned, I had to move the stalks twice to avoid a ceiling fan:

After the tests were completed, the emergent plants ended up in these tanks:

Of course, Lucky Bamboo is Dracaena sanderiana but closely related is Dracaena compacta. Although I haven't measured the nitrate uptake on this plant, it is definitely a contender and seems to stay shorter and more manageable. It's marketed as "Lotus Bamboo". 

 

[Guppysnail]

Yes that is the thread. Seems I forgot to attach it. 🤣

[JChristophersAdventures]

@Guppysnail @dasaltemelosguy Wow! That's impressive, but also a plant I will be avoiding (at least with this tank). So far, I still think the Peace Lily is still my best bet. Although I need to look into the various grasses a bit more. Interesting about the toxins, though... I guess its nice to know that the plants are safe at any PH range the fish will be existing in. Thanks again to both of you.

[Tazalanche]

For about 6 months in 2013, I had pothos on top of my discus community tank. It helped with the nitrates, but the pothos grew so fast it tried to turn the room into a jungle. Back then, many of the forums claimed discus & planted tanks were a bad idea, so I was dead set to prove them wrong. I ended up going with just submerged plants, because of the discus, but they seemed to thrive for about 5 years in that setup, before I started cutting back on the breeding business & sold off all of my discus & other breeder fish.

Here's one from right after I started that process of a mix of pothos & submerged plants. I can't find any of my photos of the complete setup when it was covered up in pothos. Sorry for the quality. I normally took photos back then with a DSLR, but this is so fuzzy, it must have been something else.

[JChristophersAdventures]

Yes, that is the situation I want to avoid... terrestrial plants that take over... in a fish room I would be all for it, but not in the room where this tank will be, no way... so, I am sticking with the peace lily at this point. Thanks @Tazalanche !