# Health benefits of planted tanks?



## Mischka (Jan 17, 2009)

Hi all,

Strange question, I know, but does anyone think there are any health benefits to have a planted tank? I'm thinking of emergent plants and whether or not they have the ability to "clean" the air in our house. For instance, I've read that common houseplants like Golden Pothos do a good job removing pollutants from the air. Do aquatic plants have the same ability when they go emergent?

TIA,
Mike


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## RoseyD (Jul 9, 2009)

I know for myself and my recent hobby of gardening - both outdoors, and very recent, with my first npt - I find gardening, and the effort of taking care of the plants as a MAJOR stress relief. Yes, it's work too - repotting plants, or watering them daily, but then to sit among them and see them thrive - and you spend enough time with the plants, the peaceful nature of it, just rubs off on us. 

Can we relate to this calming effect as a health benefit - it may not be a tangible one, where you can do a medical study on it - but, surely it must be good for our blood pressure.


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## wkndracer (Mar 23, 2008)

All plants do to a degree by using CO2 but a planted tanks real benefit is what it does to ones mind *BUT*,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 
algae causes headaches LMAO:rofl:


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## Mischka (Jan 17, 2009)

Thanks for the heads up. My first planted tank in college was a NPT in an Eclipse 29. It was the cleanest and most beautiful tank I've ever set up; plants flowered, duckweed grew like crazy, platies were breeding like nuts, etc. That was 10 years ago, since then every tank I've had has been a bomb in one way or another; and they all cost me much, much more money than my first tank. I gotta get back to my roots.


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## brenmuk (Oct 7, 2008)

I read an article a few years back in New Scientist about the benefits of plants indoors especially in modern offices where there are apparently lots of what is termed VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
The main source was printer inks/chemicals, plastics, electrical equipement and even some cleaning chemicals which are thought to cause headaches and something called sick building syndrome (SBS). House plants are thought to absorb VOC's and improve the air quality so maybe ermergent plants will do something similar.


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## tug (Jul 23, 2009)

Mischka said:


> My first planted tank in college


My girl's fish tank memory from college, "It was so simple with mine in college." I would hear this all the time from my G when I started out my first tank.:lalala: 
What was the college tanks environment (lights, filter, water movement, water quality) back in the day? arty: She can never remember.


Mischka said:


> I've read that common houseplants like Golden Pothos do a good job removing pollutants from the air. Do aquatic plants have the same ability when they go emergent?


Gas exchange across the water surface, (absorption and volatilization) will take in pollutants and let some back into the air. It sort of breaths. The fish/plants will only filter some "semivolatile persistent bioaccumulative toxic pollutants."



wkndracer said:


> *BUT*,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
> algae causes headaches


Maybe;
BGA does stink! GL


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I think the biggest benefit is the relaxation that watching it provides. There have been blood pressure studies that have found that tanks bring it down. They began putting fish tanks in doctor's and dentist offices when the studies came out. I guess if you liked puttering in them like we all do that would also be a relaxation benefit.

Here's a link about the health benefits. This thread lists benefits for pain reduction and alzheimers and ADHD calming affects.
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/termsandtables/a/aquariumhealth.htm


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

Mischka said:


> Thanks for the heads up. My first planted tank in college was a NPT in an Eclipse 29. It was the cleanest and most beautiful tank I've ever set up; plants flowered, duckweed grew like crazy, platies were breeding like nuts, etc. That was 10 years ago, since then every tank I've had has been a bomb in one way or another; and they all cost me much, much more money than my first tank. I gotta get back to my roots.


Are you in the same area? I am wondering if quality of water is why some can get a great tank with no effort.


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## Mischka (Jan 17, 2009)

'fraid not, it was back in San Diego where the water quality is TERRIBLE.


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## tug (Jul 23, 2009)

:boink: Have you tried recreating the "TERRIBLE" water of San Diego?


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

Mischka said:


> 'fraid not, it was back in San Diego where the water quality is TERRIBLE.


By poor water quality I meant lack of minerals or excess of a few minerals. For example I have very soft water that has a ph of 8. This means that I have an excess of phosphates. Too much phosphate interferes with the metabolism of vital iron and disrupts the photosynthesis process, the result being poor plant growth.


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## jasondart (Aug 18, 2008)

Not quite a planted tank, but living walls work great for cleaning air.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Living-Wall

Basically air is drawn into the wall and the plant shoots/roots and water that flows down the wall clean this air of contaminates. I want to build one in my house eventually. You could use a product like ecoweb or epiweb as the rooting structure, create a drip wall and just use a fan to draw air in through the ecoweb.


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## tug (Jul 23, 2009)

Great living wall idea. The indoor Irrigation system can be tricky IME. I found this on the health benefits of aquariums: AQUARIUMS and the THERAPEUTIC VALUE
of our FISHY FRIENDS


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