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A few questions about plants

Duskburn

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I was thinking of getting a few fire bellied newts, not for sure yet, as I want to go and look at a few of the specialty pet stores downtown before I decide. Anyway, I was reading a few different topics on this board and a lot of people mentioned that with a good amount of plants that you wouldn't necessarily need a filter for the tank. It seemed like an interesting idea.

Are the plants easy to maintain? How well do they work for keeping the water clean? Would I need a large volume of plants for it to work? I'm assuming that they would get ripped up from time-to-time, but would the newts completely destroy them frequently?

Obviously I'm willing to do more frequent partial water changes/spot cleaning to keep everything working. Oh, and the tank I'd be using would be a 40 gallon breeder tank.

Again, I don't have any amphibians and am not about to rush out and get something anytime soon, just looking at various ideas first.
 

eldaldo

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My experience with this topic is this. Plants don't necessarily "filter" the tank. Filters usually have three purposes, to filter out animal waste (with plants you still have to worry about this), filter out chemicals and hard metals (you still have to worry about this), and to be a home for the beneficial bacteria that remove harmful forms of nitrogen from the system. I have noticed that when I add plants from an already cycled aquarium to a new uncycled one, it cycles alot faster, and I believe that the plants carry the bacteria with them, and if you think about a clump of java moss, there is alot of surface area there for bacteria to grow on. so in a way, plants may be a sort of biological filter, but this is a personal theory of mine and in no way a fact. You should hear what other people say about this. I imagine that a tank with plants would have to cycle to begin with before this is is possible anyway.

However, I have had at least one newt for many years now so I can tell you that I have gone months without using a filter on my tanks and the water chemistry and newts were fine. I feel like this is probably not something to recommend, but it has been my personal experience. There are alot of fallacies on the internet and I wouldn't want to start one just because of an opinion. I normally use an under gravel filter that has been cut in half to accommodate the shallow water.

I would recommend using live plants if only because they make the tank look so much nicer. But, you must choose your plants wisely. Plants require light and nutrients to grow which makes things complicated. Furthermore, newts are sensitive to heat and lights increase temperature so you will need to use plants that are low light plants.

I personally use a 20 watt fluorescent bulb, and grow java moss, java fern, salvinia minima, elodea (this slowly dies, I think because it needs more light than 20 watts), and above water cuttings of wandering jew, pothos, and philodendron. I hope this is helpful.

(I would also advise against buying pet store firebelly newts. I once bought two and they died within days. this is a very common story. there are many breeders on this site whose prices are higher, but animals are more likely to live. But, I don't know about regulations in Canada, it may not be legal to sell newts outside of pet stores.)
 

Duskburn

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Thank you for the reply.

I would love to get an alternative to a pet store animal, unfortunately, it just doesn't work out well where I am right now. I've found Manitoba to be extremely lacking in almost all amphibians in the pet trade, even the most common ones I found in almost all pet stores back in Alberta aren't available often here and are often housed in conditions that I wouldn't even consider purchasing one. A ton of fire bellied toads with a ton of fire bellied newts in something that looks suspiciously like a five gallon tank doesn't make me terribly excited to purchase something.

I've looked at a few local classifieds for anything, I've gone to the local reptile show (which had a few amphibians), and I'd really rather not have to ship anything since I live in a rural area with a post office that's open a grand total of 3 hours a day. I would be set if I wanted an army of tree frogs or a pac man frogs. I guess I can always take a second look at the last reptile show in a month. (conveniently placed the weekend directly before my birthday, hurray for being able to get people to buy me presents!)

I've been looking at low-light aquarium plants, and I plan to go out this weekend and look at a few fish/aquarium stores for the types they have. I'm not very confident I'll find much, but I'm trying a few stores I've never gone to before so I may find something interesting.
 

Duskburn

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I bought a small amount of java fern and java moss today. I really like the way they both look and hope to get a bit more later on.

I guess my newest question is, how long does it take for them to start growing? Or, more specifically, would I notice an obvious bit of growth in, say, a month? The information I read about both seems a bit contradictory, mostly for the moss, one says it grows very slowly another says it grows very quickly.
 

eldaldo

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Watching java moss grow is kind of watching a boiling pot. So it seems to grow really slowly, but before you know it, your tank will be overwhelmed with the stuff. I periodically have to "mow" my tanks of java moss and get rid of it. Java fern grows pretty quickly though. If you give it light, you should see new fronds start to pop up pretty quickly.
 

Nathan

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Plants absorb ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, so they behave as a biological filter. They do not behave as a mechanical or chemical filter. You need a fairly large and fast-growing mass of plants to handle animal waste. To get this you will need to pay special attention to the needs of the plants; essentially you will be maintaining the tank for the plants, and the animals will just be there incidentally. This can be fun, but if you are just looking for a low-maintenance filter, plants are probably not your best option.

A good source for information on setting up a well-planted, lightly-stocked, low-maintenance tank is Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad.
 

pugant06

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I have java moss on cork bark that i use as floating islands for my newts and java fern on some bog wood. Both are very effective once established though very slow growing. Both are very tolerant of lower temperatures and light levels that are required for newts.
You could chance having some newt eggs shipped Melissa and rear them yourself if you cant find a trusted source of adults where you are and having the satisfaction of knowing they were CB.
 
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