# Nutrient Hogs



## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

Like the title said, can the experts please list plants that are known to suck up particular nutrients?
Since my short time into the hoby, I had the opportunity to go through alot of different types of plants. With certain types of plants it seems that my nitrate, iron, and phosphate levels had fluctuate tremendously.
So would you experts please provide a list of plants that are notorious for taking in such nutrients?
1. Micro Trace Mix (CSM)
2. Iron
3. Nitrate
4. Phosphate
5. Sulfate

Thanks


----------



## evercl92 (Aug 14, 2006)

I don't know specifics but: anacharis, hornwort, sunset hygro, hygrophilia polysperma, java moss, algae


----------



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

The best way to measure this is to examine the growth rate of the plant. Certain species of hygro and many other stem plants can grow several inches per week. The dry weight of the plant increases substantially over this period of time, effectively removing nutrients from the system. If you look at algae, the dry weight is actually miniscule compared to our desired species. Their visual effect is disturbing, but they generally don't deplete the water of much.

My fastest growers are Bacopa carolinana (with a thick, massive structure), Ludwigia ... 'cuba', and Hydrocotyle leukocephala. I expect that these are nutrient hogs. A tank full of moss, anubias, and java ferns will require very little fertilization. Echinodorus grow quite rapidly viewed from a dry weight point of view. "Frilly" plants such as Myriophyllum mattogrossense grow rapidly but probably don't remove much from the water since their is very little structure or mass in their makeup.

The dry composition of most plants is _roughly_ similar with regards to carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and trace elements. You could therefore assume that there isn't that much difference between species with regards to uptake ratios of particular nutrients. Floating plants may obtain a significant proportion of thier nutrients (especially carbon) from the atmosphere, so keep that in mind.


----------



## Wö£fëñxXx1 (Feb 10, 2005)

All plants are nutrient hogs depending on the amount of light one is pushing over the tank.

More light=more nutrients up to a certain degree, you really can't split hairs with these test kits we have available.

Dose a set amount of nutrients to a known volume of water that is the easy part, the tricky part is the light and C02.
It really is that simple.
KISS
:mrgreen:


----------



## fredyk (Jun 21, 2004)

hornwort


----------



## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

I've found floating plants superb 'Nutrient Hogs'. Amazon Frogbit grows huge leaves when there's nutrients and much smaller when it's low. It's dead easy to remove them regularly to remove the nutrients too.


----------



## bijoon (Nov 20, 2006)

Wisteria


----------



## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Stem plants at:

- Higher temperature
- Longer lighting period
- More dissolved CO2

Note
Chasing each individual nutrient doesn't do much good. All plants take about the same ratio. If you have 100% planted aquarium and dosing daily a good fertilizer product and still have a problem then you should look for other causes. 

Edward


----------



## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Edward said:


> Stem plants at:
> 
> - Higher temperature
> - Longer lighting period
> - More dissolved CO2


As Edward says, dissolved CO2 can limit growth - another advantage of using floating plants that take their CO2 from the atmosphere!!!! I'm actually going to remove my Amazon Frogbit from my main tank as there are hardly any nutrients left for the submerse plants!!


----------

