Alternatives to Pothos
- Thread starter duanes
- Start date
I never really tested a duration. Just know that as long as it is growing, it is doing it's job. You can't rely on it like a miracle cure, but it noticeably lengthens the time you can go between water changes without the nitrates getting to negative levels. You still gotta do your job, especially with big cichlids, but a heavily planted tank with small fish can keep shockingly low levels of nitrates at all times. All depends in the set up.
No idea, but all you need to know is if they can propagate well in water. It's a common method of propagating plant cuttings until they grow some roots. Any that take to this method seem to do well in aquariums. Also take into consideration if a plant is toxic to pets or not.
In most cases it depends on the amount of Pothos growing in the tank compared to the amount of fish.
If you have a well stocked tank 50 or 100 gallon tank with only one or two small stems of Pothos in it, I don't think you will ever see a significant reduction in nitrate.
The amount of plants that will make a noticeable difference, will need to be minimally double or triple that of the weight by volume of fish.
The word overkill, does not does apply when attempting nitrate reduction.
If you look to nature, the amount of vegetation weight compared to animal weight indicates the way.
The shot above was taken on a small tributary of the Magdalena river in Colombia.
Below vegetation surrounding a small pristine steam in Panama.
Even with my 6 ft tank planted like this, I still do every other day 30%+water changes to achieve my nitrate goal of 5 ppm or less..
If you have a well stocked tank 50 or 100 gallon tank with only one or two small stems of Pothos in it, I don't think you will ever see a significant reduction in nitrate.
The amount of plants that will make a noticeable difference, will need to be minimally double or triple that of the weight by volume of fish.
The word overkill, does not does apply when attempting nitrate reduction.
If you look to nature, the amount of vegetation weight compared to animal weight indicates the way.
The shot above was taken on a small tributary of the Magdalena river in Colombia.
Below vegetation surrounding a small pristine steam in Panama.
Even with my 6 ft tank planted like this, I still do every other day 30%+water changes to achieve my nitrate goal of 5 ppm or less..
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Since it is an epiphyte, where the aerial roots get moisture from surrounding humid air, submerging the roots of the plant for any length of time may tend to make it rot.
In nature (in the highlands of south-eastern BrazilL, it grows in rocky areas, or attached to trees, in a similar way to the way orchids grow
Attached to a floating, or semi submerged log may work as long as it isn't inundated, it will appreciate the humidity of the tanks surrounding air.
Yes, see my post with the pics above. That's T. Zebrina (WJ), and snow queen pothos mixed together. T. pallida works well also, I've tried a couple stems since that pic was taken.
After years of having pothos growing out of my 75gal and basically allowing it to grow around the room, I eventually trimmed it all back to the tank. One thing to consider is pothos will weep some water onto everything and it makes a mess of your walls, trim and paint the way it clings itself to stuff. It was starting to form rust spots on my metal tank stand as well. My water supply is relatively hard, so where ever it weeped, it left hard water stalagmites LOL.
