best plant to hang on a tank with just roots?

[Leo2o915]

tried pathos but want to see if there Is a better one for nitrates ?

[Guppysnail]

I use a lot of plants for this. Here is a good article about lucky bamboo which is a bigger nitrate hog. Other suggestions for nitrate hogs were made throughout the thread as well. 

 

[Trish]

Pathos works for me in the 20 long... a little too well!  No fertilizer, low nitrates to speak of.  Six Cory's, 2 Rams, Hillstream loach. 

[Leo2o915]

On 10/29/2023 at 9:47 AM, Trish said:

Pathos works for me in the 20 long... a little too well!  No fertilizer, low nitrates to speak of.  Six Cory's, 2 Rams, Hillstream loach. 

So you let it get sun not light on it ? 

[Odd Duck]

My best growing pothos get sunlight.  It takes me about 30-45 minutes about every 3 months to hack back this jungle.  The vines do exactly what I wanted them to do and more.  The goal was for them to hang over the back of the tank to shade it to prevent overheating the tank and reduce algae along with pulling nitrates out of the water.  They do all that plus climb the window, climb the wall, crawl across the floor, etc, etc.  I worry they might start asking for Seymour, soon.

 

 

[Rose_Wolf]

I love pathos so much! I really want to add them to my tank but I have a cat that will eat them. 😭. Your pathos is beautiful!

[Odd Duck]

Cats almost never eat enough to get significantly ill.  They don’t taste good but they can cause mild GI upset and potentially oral irritation from the oxalates.  I’ve never once had to treat a cat for eating pothos in almost 30 years.  I’ve even had to treat a couple cats for eating chocolate which is very rare.  None for the “potential kidney issues” you’ll read about from eating pothos.  My cats mess with them sometimes, they’ve tasted them, but they don’t eat them.

I’ll never say there’s never been a cat treated for ingesting pothos, somebody’s always going to break the rules.  😆  Because, well, . . . cats.  But I’ve never seen anything other than 1-2 vomits and done.  We get the phone calls, but most owners don’t elect to bring them in because the symptoms don’t last.

[Kit Craft]

On 11/2/2023 at 10:10 PM, Odd Duck said:

Cats almost never eat enough to get significantly ill.  They don’t taste good but they can cause mild GI upset and potentially oral irritation from the oxalates.  I’ve never once had to treat a cat for eating pothos in almost 30 years.  I’ve even had to treat a couple cats for eating chocolate which is very rare.  None for the “potential kidney issues” you’ll read about from eating pothos.  My cats mess with them sometimes, they’ve tasted them, but they don’t eat them.

I’ll never say there’s never been a cat treated for ingesting pothos, somebody’s always going to break the rules.  😆  Because, well, . . . cats.  But I’ve never seen anything other than 1-2 vomits and done.  We get the phone calls, but most owners don’t elect to bring them in because the symptoms don’t last.

My cat is a goober and will chop on ANY plant and throw up 3 seconds later. Hosta, spider plant, you name it. Best way I have found to combat it, cat grass. When she has something that she is allowed to eat, she ignores it, and everything else...

[Odd Duck]

On 11/3/2023 at 10:46 AM, Kit Craft said:

When she has something that she is allowed to eat, she ignores it, and everything else

Cats.  What can you say?  They love to be contrary.  Just because.

[Trish]

I had a cat that I constantly had to keep away from my houseplants, I put up barricades, cages, hung them high, he still managed to get them... he became progressively more ill and never recovered.  I would n't take the chance.  I can only now have my houseplants in the open as my final cat doesn't have any interest in them.  

[Opie]

Peace Lilly. 
I put one in to see what it would do. Nothing for a few weeks, then root explosion. It sucked out all of my nitrates though. I had some plants that suffers for that. 

[Odd Duck]

On 11/5/2023 at 7:38 PM, Opie said:

Peace Lilly. 
I put one in to see what it would do. Nothing for a few weeks, then root explosion. It sucked out all of my nitrates though. I had some plants that suffers for that. 

It can be a trick to balance enough fertilizer for your aquatic plants vs excessive growth and stealing nutrients by the emerse plants.

[JoeQ]

I just got my hands on some parrots feather which I hear is rather invasive! Wondering if it'll put a duckweed level dent in nitrates!!!

 

[Kurt Brutting]

I grow out the top pothos, spider plants, and lucky bamboo and I float Pearl Weed. I swear by floating Pearl Weed, I rarely get algae in aquariums I float Pearl Weed (unless it’s a new setup)!