Want To Remove My Live Plants Questions

[oneblondebrow]

Hi all,

I am thinking of removing my Live plants and having a plant free environment (only leaving bogwood/stone and some resin ornaments.

Would this be ok? it is a lightly planted tank at the moment and it is mostly a tetra tank.

Would this be a mistake? should i add an air stone to the mix just to keep O2 levels up even though i have good surface movement?

 

[KittyKat]

Tetras generally benefit from plants, is there a particular reason you want to remove them?

Provisionally, you should be fine to take them out.. do post your water stats and set-up info just to be sure

 

[oneblondebrow]

Tetras generally benefit from plants, is there a particular reason you want to remove them?

Provisionally, you should be fine to take them out.. do post your water stats and set-up info just to be sure

I wanted to remove the live plants purely to reduce the amount of maintenance required.

Also tank has been running for nearly a year now all stats are low (Nitrite and Ammonia at 0ppm and Nitrate never of 40ppm).

 

[Timmy_Bee]

i think there are benefits to live plants, but are no means essential. I had a BiOrb running for 1 year + without plants and the fish were fine (well as fine as they could be in a BiOrb...)

 

[KittyKat]

Tetras generally benefit from plants, is there a particular reason you want to remove them?

Provisionally, you should be fine to take them out.. do post your water stats and set-up info just to be sure

I wanted to remove the live plants purely to reduce the amount of maintenance required.

Also tank has been running for nearly a year now all stats are low (Nitrite and Ammonia at 0ppm and Nitrate never of 40ppm).

You might find that you will actually have to do more maintenance because nitrate levels are quite likely to start rising with the removal of plants (given that plants use nitrate) so you may need to do larger water changes or do water changes more often. You will also need to be more careful with the stocking, plants can give a little extra tolerance to the setup as they will also use up ammonia and are, in a way, a buffer for the pH.

You shouldn't need an airstone if you have good surface movement. You might find that the fish will become more skittish, so if you have "incomplete" schools, it could be worth topping them up a bit if the tank can take it. You might also notice a change in pH, so do keep an eye on that.