has there ever been any studies that show plant nutrient use, specifically around aquariums???

[Magnum Man]

I think the general consensus is, the faster growing plants need more nutrients, but I don’t believe that is specifically true, after watching some plants growing well in just tap water, ( like my celery experiment ) from watching this, one would guess varying plants have different needs…

looking at plants as filter assistants, aquatic plants, and terrestrial plants are normally put in different classes I would suspect slow growers like anubias, while pretty, probably remove less from the water than faster growing aquatics…

as far as terrestrial plants, it seems as pothos vines are king, and while they are one of the more aggressive growing, do they really remove more from the water, than other occasionally used plants like peace lillie’s???

Oh, to be a college kid today, with all the tools they have available to them… a real world thesis on which plants remove more impurities from water sources…

 

[GaryE]

Forget the idea of plants. Species by species... all are different, many have different needs, nutrient uptakes, etc. I suspect the real hardcore plant people have species studies about what nutrients they need to grow plant A or plant B best, but then you'd need to know what nutrients are in your water to compare.

 

[Magnum Man]

Google Search

plants that help purify water

a little www. dive… revealed a plant I had never heard of…

water mint… ( Mentha aquatica )

 

[GaryE]

If the mint is actually anti bacterial, would that be a good thing? What would it do to the cycle in the tank? If it did nothing, I'd question the source that says it's anti-bacterial.

I looked online and see it as mainly a pond plant. That often says its light nights are beyond what we can manage indoors. Again though, a general statement with no direct experience.

It seems like a potential invasive in North America too. But lots of plants take up nutrients. Duckweed, the dreaded duckweed, is a great one for that.

 

[Magnum Man]

I agree on anti microbial… is it pulling it from the water, or the soil… and what kind of bacteria, as there is also a wide variety both beneficial and detrimental…