Any fishkeepers here? Saltwater or freshwater

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Silock

I was under the impression that I wouldn't really need that since the plants will soak up the ammonia and keep it from killing the fish. Am I wrong?

Plants don't absorb ammonia. Plants absorb nitrates. The bacteria you need convert ammonia to nitrates.

You either need live media, like Lumpy offered to send you, or you need to get something like Fritz Zyme Turbo Start.

If you go the Turbo Start route, it MUST be bought at a local LFS and it MUST be refrigerated. If you buy Bio Spira off the shelf somewhere, chances are it's useless because the bacteria are dead.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Plants don't absorb ammonia. Plants absorb nitrates. The bacteria you need convert ammonia to nitrates.

And are you sure about plants not absorbing ammonia? Everything I've read says they can absorb both ammonia and nitrates.

http://thegab.org/Plants/setting-up-...nted-tank.html

http://www.rexgrigg.com/cycle.htm

[Lumpy]

Originally Posted by Silock

And are you sure about plants not absorbing ammonia? Everything I've read says they can absorb both ammonia and nitrates.

http://thegab.org/Plants/setting-up-...nted-tank.html

http://www.rexgrigg.com/cycle.htm

I've only known about plants reducing Nitrates, not Ammonia. In fact, that's the main reason why I went w/ a planted tank. Thanks to someone at the pet store telling me that I only needed to do a water change once a month, my Nitrates reached a whopping 160ppm! How my fishes didn't croak is beyond me!

But since then, I have been maintaining a strict 50% water change once a week and my Nitrates stay around 40ppm. The plants have helped quite a bit in maintaining the level, but IME, they are not lowering the Nitrate level like I had hoped. In short, I wouldn't put too much faith in live plants helping w/ your cycle.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Lumpy

I've only known about plants reducing Nitrates, not Ammonia. In fact, that's the main reason why I went w/ a planted tank. Thanks to someone at the pet store telling me that I only needed to do a water change once a month, my Nitrates reached a whopping 160ppm! How my fishes didn't croak is beyond me!

But since then, I have been maintaining a strict 50% water change once a week and my Nitrates stay around 40ppm. The plants have helped quite a bit in maintaining the level, but IME, they are not lowering the Nitrate level like I had hoped. In short, I wouldn't put too much faith in live plants helping w/ your cycle.

I've got so many plants I only do a water change every 6 weeks or so and my nitrates rarely get over 25 ppm.

[Lumpy]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I've got so many plants I only do a water change every 6 weeks or so and my nitrates rarely get over 25 ppm.

Must be nice, but remember that I have a foot-long Pleco crapping all over the place. If I could find a home for that guy, it would decrease my bio-load so I wouldn't need to do so many water changes.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Lumpy

Must be nice, but remember that I have a foot-long Pleco crapping all over the place. If I could find a home for that guy, it would decrease my bio-load so I wouldn't need to do so many water changes.

I have about 40 fish ranging in size from 1" otocinclus to 3.5" mollies and false Siamese algae eaters in a 55G tank.

[Lumpy]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I have about 40 fish ranging in size from 1" otocinclus to 3.5" mollies and false Siamese algae eaters in a 55G tank.

Translation: I has a lot of teh poopz too.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Silock

And are you sure about plants not absorbing ammonia? Everything I've read says they can absorb both ammonia and nitrates.

http://thegab.org/Plants/setting-up-...nted-tank.html

http://www.rexgrigg.com/cycle.htm

I'm not sure how plants could absorb ammonia.

Everything I've ever known about marine plants anyway is that they only work with Nitrates. Things like chaeto algae, calupra and mangrove plants all serve to knock your nitrates down but they don't do anything for ammonia.

Nitrates aren't really that big a worry though, especially not for fish. Nitrate levels can get insanely high without having an impact on your fish, especially if you keep everything else within acceptable limits.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'm not sure how plants could absorb ammonia.

Technically, they use ammonium (NH4+) more readily, but ammonia (NH3) has no charge, so it passes through plant cells easily, where it bonds with free H+ to become easily digested NH4+.

But I'm only going to be putting 1-2 fish in there to begin with, and cheap ones at that, so if this experiment doesn't work, then no biggie.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Everything I've ever known about marine plants anyway is that they only work with Nitrates. Things like chaeto algae, calupra and mangrove plants all serve to knock your nitrates down but they don't do anything for ammonia.

It's the same with FW plants as far as I know. I don't ever have any free NH3 so I don't know...