# Watering house plants w/aquarium water



## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

Is aquarium water good for watering house plants. I keep my tank around 10ppm nitrogen. I have no idea whether that is a high amount for house plants or if it is even significant. Just curious.

Thanks, Bill


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Yes it works fine. Many many people on this site and elsewhere routinely use tank water during water changes for house plants. There was a 30-40 post thread a few months back about watering house plants with aquarium water.

Its 10 ppm nitrate is not particularly high, its actually pretty mild, might be in the right range for watering orchids.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Well I have to say I have a mild interest in planted tanks plus I worked for a disgusting crook and his demented plastic surgery exibit wife for... too long. The charming couple runs a successful interior plant business around here so I may have good advice about watering plants (with aquarium water included).

The first thing about aquarium water is that it hopefully contains less Fluoride than tap water. Fluoride damages the plants irreversibly. Chlorine doesn't do that much damage. 

The aquarium water is usually a mild fertilizer due to the Nitrates, Phosphates, Iron, Traces, Chelated whatnots and so on. I noticed that using dirty fish tank water indeed does best for the plants that are moved indoors during the winter. This winter I had a handful of leaves fall off, a negligible number compared to the buckets of leaves that I had to throw away the last 2 winters when watering with tap water. But the main thing is to not let the plants get too dry. We tend to think that since it's winter the plants need less water but that is not so.

The main mistake that people do with house plants is to not water them on a regular basis. It's a simple thing - in Nature the plants usually get dry before they get a nice drink of rainwater. Emulating this indoors is simple but requires consistency. Basically the same thing as running a planted tank - they seldom do well if we maintain them inconsistently.

Basically watering your plants with aquarium water is probably the best practice, better than using RO.

--Nikolay


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

niko said:


> We tend to think that since it's winter the plants need less water but that is not so.


Some plants do like a rest in the winter, but really the frequency of waterings doesn't go down that much considering the much dryer air in a house in the winter. Things like Cacti do need a break in the winter, so I do let them go longer than other plants.

The aquarium water is also great for some outdoor plants and veggies too. Tomatoes do especially well when watered with tank water.


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

Thanks for the replies. Guess I will start using aquarium water for the plants.

Zapins, I did a search for watering house plants and couldn't find the thread. Do you know which forum it was in or how I could find it?

Thanks, Bill


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Here it is

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ussions/45442-what-do-you-do-waste-water.html


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