Nutrients – Planted Aquarium Water Parameters
Every healthy ecosystem requires a balanced environment, including the environment we lived in. Just like we humans and land animals cannot survive breathing polluted air or drinking contaminated water, aquatic life (faunas and plants) will have a difficult time living in sub-optimal water. Of all the balanced factors that go into a successful planted aquarium – the filtration, lighting, CO2 injection, fertilization, substrate – I would insist that the quality of the water used in our planted aquariums may be the most important. In this article, we will be discussing the nutrients part of planted aquarium water parameters.
Table of Contents
The Planted Aquarium Water Parameters
Water Parameters Categories
Nutrients
Ammonia/Ammonium
Too Much?
Ways to Decrease
Too Low?
How to Test?
Nitrite
Too Much?
Ways to Decrease
Too Low?
How to Test?
Nitrate
Too Much?
Ways to Decrease
Too Low?
How to Test?
Phosphate
Too Much?
Ways to Decrease
Too Low?
How to Test?
Stressing This Out Again
Conclusion
Closing Remarks
The Planted Aquarium Water Parameters
Weekly water parameters tests from the beginning weeks to months of your planted aquarium are critical to making sure that your parameters are in check, don’t let others say otherwise. The way co-hobbyists talk about good water parameters can be confusing at times. Add that to the fact that you may have different water sources and parameters due to your differing location/city, and you may not be able to replicate what works for him/her. That is why every planted aquarium is unique, and you have to find the balance of what you’ve got in hand.
Water Parameters
Knowing what makes ‘good water’ for your planted aquarium is critical for maintaining a healthy environment for your fish and plants. It will help us understand the intricacies of a planted aquarium and will arm you with valuable insights on what to do if you notice any problems. Knowing good water parameters even helped me think outside the box, formulate theories, and tested it to see what works and what doesn’t, which I will explain later below.
The planted aquarium water parameters can be further broken down into categories, namely:
Don’t be intimidated by some of these terms. We already discussed some of these parameters in the Nitrogen Cycle for Planted Aquariums article. We will review them again here and introduce new critical parameters, their effects, what happens if you have too much or too low, what can you do if you have too much or too low, how to test them, etc. We will also provide the acceptable water parameter ranges for different types of freshwater planted aquariums near the end of these articles.
Nutrients
Ammonia/Ammonium
Our aquarium is very much like a septic tank for our faunas (fish/es, snails, and shrimps). Whenever they excrete, or you are overfeeding, and those organics started to decay, or when dead plant matter decays, Ammonia is produced. When faunas die and decay, they will also produce Ammonia, lots of it actually, until they are removed. This causes ammonia levels in our tank to spike.
Ammonia is a Nitrogenous compound produced when anything organic decays, which is deadly to our faunas. Once detected, beneficial Nitrosomonas Bacteria will start to colonize in our aquarium and filter media and will breakdown Ammonia into Nitrites.
The term Ammonia actually refers to two compounds which are held in equilibrium with each other in our aquarium water: Ammonia un-ionized (NH3) and ionized Ammonium (NH4+). The toxicity to Ammonia for our faunas is primarily attributed to the NH3 part. When you measure Ammonia with a test kit like the API Test Kit, you are measuring the total of both. Whenever you have Ammonia in your aquarium water, you also have Ammonium.
Their equilibrium ratio depends on the pH and temperature of your water. The higher your water pH than 7 (alkaline) and temperature, the more NH3 and vice versa.
Don’t worry about these chemical symbols and scientific terms. The important bits are:
- Both Ammonia and Ammonium are always present in our aquariums. If there are decaying matters, they are there. Ammonia is the toxic one, while Ammonium is less toxic.
- Ammonia will be breakdown by beneficial bacteria into Nitrites and then Nitrates, while Ammonium will be consumed by your plants directly with no byproducts.
- This is why Tank Cycling is faster if you have plants.
Nature Style After Water Change Aquascaped by Ken Santos Philippines
Too Much?
When Ammonia levels spiked in our planted aquariums, most especially when you didn’t perform any cycling, or there is too much waste accumulating and your beneficial bacteria could not keep up due to overstocking or overfeeding, it can severely stress our faunas (fish, snails, shrimps). It may lead to their slow death or outright demise, depending on the species and their current health.
Toxic Ammonia levels can cause burned gills, eyes, skin, fins, etc. In the case of burned gills, fish will have difficulty breathing. You will see your fish heavily breathing, lethargic, or darting. In the case of skin burns, the ammonia will increase the mucus on their skin and will make them look pale in colors. Ammonia will also make our faunas susceptible to diseases.
As for plants, depending on the species, elevated Ammonia levels higher than 1 ppm can cause ammonia burns on their leaves. But with the help of your sufficient beneficial bacteria after tank cycling, plants can help and readily absorbs Ammonia and Ammonium to be converted to food in their cells with no byproducts at all.
There are also some situations that spiking Ammonia levels can induce algae growth. Some algae can also use Ammonia as nutrients.
Nature Style Aquascaped by Pitch Gerald Gingco Loyola Philippines
Ways to Decrease:
- Water change from 25 to 50%. Clean your substrate and carpeting plants by vacuuming it to remove accumulated waste, detritus, etc., don’t worry if your carpet plants are deeply rooted already. They will not be uprooted.
- Use Ammonia neutralizers like Seachem Prime if your water source adds additional Ammonia/ammonium to your tank.
- Make sure your tank is cycled before adding faunas so you have the beneficial bacteria to consume Ammonia faster than they can be produced.
- Do not overstock or overfeed to avoid an ammonia spike in the first place.
- Remove corpses of faunas if visible as much as possible.
- Start with a heavily planted tank
Hardscape Diorama Style Aquascaped by San Mig Chad Philippines
Are there any negative effects if we have too low Ammonia levels?
If you are still tank cycling, zero Ammonia levels will not start the Nitrogen Cycle in our planted aquariums, so we have to trigger it as discussed in the Tank Cycling Section. Once your tank has finished cycling onwards, you should strive for zero Ammonia levels always.
How to Test?
I personally use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, which includes the Total Ammonia Test. For my needs, it is cost-effective and accurate enough. Color charts can be somewhat subjective, so I advise you to compare the mixture color to the color chart under the light of your planted aquarium (and be honest to yourself).
Nitrite
Ammonia, once detected, beneficial Nitrosomonas Bacteria will start to colonize in our aquarium, hardscapes, and filter media and will breakdown Ammonia into Nitrites. Nitrites are another toxic nitrogenous compound as part of the Nitrogen Cycle.
Nitrites (NO2–), once detected, beneficial Nitrobacter Bacteria will start to colonize in our aquarium hardscapes and filter media and will breakdown Nitrites into Nitrates.
Nitrite’s biggest effect is that it changes fishes’ hemoglobin into methemoglobin, which does not carry oxygen. Thus, nitrites may cause anoxia (an absence or deficiency of oxygen reaching the tissues) in fish and other faunas (shrimps, snails).
For plants, they can also use nitrites to produce their own food, albeit slow. They need to convert it first to Ammonium before it can be beneficial to them, which means they need more energy to use Nitrites.
Too Much?
As I mentioned before, prolonged nitrite exposure to your faunas may cause irreversible anoxia damage and can lead to their sudden demise.
Ways to Decrease:
- Water change from 25 to 50%. Clean your substrate and carpeting plants by vacuuming it to remove accumulated waste, detritus, etc., don’t worry if your carpet plants are deeply rooted already. They will not be uprooted.
- Use Nitrite neutralizers like Seachem Prime if your water source adds additional Nitrite to your tank.
- Make sure your tank is cycled before adding faunas to have the beneficial bacteria consume Nitrites faster than they can be produced.
- Do not overstock or overfeed to avoid Ammonia and Nitrite spikes in the first place.
- Remove corpses of faunas if visible as much as possible.
- Start with a heavily planted tank
Are there any negative effects if we have too low Nitrite levels?
If you are still tank cycling, zero Ammonia levels will not start the Nitrogen Cycle in our planted aquariums, so we have to trigger it as discussed in the Tank Cycling Section. It will then be converted to Nitrites and then into less toxic Nitrates by beneficial bacteria. Once your tank has finished cycling onwards, you should strive for zero Nitrite levels always.
How to Test?
I personally use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, which includes the Nitrite Test. For my needs, it is cost-effective and accurate enough. Color charts can be somewhat subjective, so I advise you to compare the mixture color in the test tube to the color chart under the light of your planted aquarium (and be honest to yourself).
Nitrate
Nitrites (NO3–), once detected, beneficial Nitrobacter Bacteria will start to colonize in our aquarium hardscapes and filter media and will breakdown Nitrites into Nitrates. The last and less toxic of the Nitrogenous compounds. Keep Nitrate levels in a planted aquarium from 10 to 40 ppm. Elevated Nitrates levels in our planted aquarium from 80 ppm and above, depending on the species, may stress and even kill our faunas gradually (nitrate poisoning) or abruptly (nitrate shock).
Nitrate poisoning happens when Nitrate levels gradually increased into dangerous levels in our planted aquariums, and the hobbyist neglected more maintenance schedules.
Hardscape Diorama Style Aquascaped by Matthew Manes Philippines
Nitrate shock happens when faunas are subjected to too large different nitrate levels (from pet shops to our tanks or from a friend’s tank to our tank) even with drip acclimation. Dangerous Nitrate levels will also make our faunas susceptible to diseases. Properly acclimating your newly bought fish is discussed in this article.
Nitrates are one of the macronutrients [NPK, Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K)] needed by plants for their optimal growth. They can consume Nitrates, albeit slow due to the energy needed to convert it back to Nitrites, then to Ammonium before it can be beneficial to them to produce their own food.
Semi-aquatic and aquatic plants prefer Ammonia/Ammonium because it can be readily converted within their cells into food/proteins for their growth. But there are plants called Nitrate suckers, in which they absorb more Nitrates like Hygrophila Difformis, Hygrophila Polysperma, Hygrophila Corymbosa, Angustifolia, and Stricta, Anacharis, Hornwort, Ambulia, Pogostemon Stellata, etc. to name a few.
There are also terrestrial plants that you can utilize in your planted aquarium to absorb those excess nitrates out in the water column like Golden Pothos (Devil’s Ivy, just submerged their roots) and Sweet Potato (submerged half of the tube in the water and they will grow roots underwater). You can also employ floating plants to make short work of your excess nitrates. Just be reminded that most floating plants used in the hobby grow so fast that they may block the light for your plants inside the tank (invasive – to spread prolifically and undesirably or harmfully). Also, you should be careful not to introduce your non-native plants when disposing of your excess to your local bodies of water as they may get invasive and can destroy or disrupt the balance of a local ecosystem.
Using Sweet Potato to absorb excess Nitrates in His Tank by Herwin Alviz Laguindanum Philippines
My Pothos Plant at the Top of my Tank with only the Roots Submerged
Too Much?
Symptoms of Nitrate poisoning to our faunas include being lethargic, heavily breathing, loss of appetite, disorientation (swimming upside down or on its side), resting on the tank bottom or on a plant’s leaf, convulsions, or intermittent twisting body (which could be in advance stage already, better to euthanize the fish when you can still see it).
At the time of this writing, I came from 40 to 80 ppm Nitrate levels due to the uncontrollable breeding of my Mickey Mouse Platies. Luckily, I have a friend who is willing to adopt them (all of them) and made sure their new home will be conducive for them. After giving them away, I performed two 50 % water changes within that week, vacuumed my carpet as well, and my Nitrate levels went back to 10-20 ppm.
I still have about 10+ baby Mickey Mouse Platies that are too small to catch. The rest are Tetra varieties. Tetras don’t excrete wastes too much, and I am just feeding lightly once a day.
There are also some situations that elevated Nitrate levels can induce algae growth. Some algae can also use Nitrate as nutrients and cause them to bloom.
Dutch Style Aquascaped by Davy de Borja Philippines
Ways to Decrease:
- Water change from 25 to 50%. Clean your substrate and carpeting plants by vacuuming it to remove accumulated waste, detritus, etc., don’t worry if your carpet plants are deeply rooted already. They will not be uprooted.
- Use Nitrate neutralizers like Seachem Prime if your water source adds additional Nitrates to your tank.
- Do not overstock or overfeed to avoid Nitrates accumulating into dangerous levels in the first place.
- Remove corpses of faunas if visible as much as possible.
- Start with a heavily planted tank or use terrestrial plants I mentioned above to absorb excess nitrates.
- If you have a deep substrate, it provides an anaerobic environment for a specific kind of bacteria to convert nitrates into inorganic Nitrogen gas (N2).
Hardscape Diorama Style Aquascaped by Edrian Corpuz Espiritu Philippines
Are there any negative effects if we have too low Nitrate levels?
Zero or too low nitrate levels (1-5 ppm) may stunt plant growth. It also indicates that your water quality is excellent (assuming that you cycled your tank successfully beforehand), and your plants are coping up and absorbing your Nitrates. It also means you are not overstocked and not overfeeding (do not use this as reasons to overfeed or overstock, though). These are positive indications, so you can dose additional macro fertilizers (NPK) if your Nitrate levels dip too low.
How to Test?
I personally use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, which includes the Nitrate Test. For my needs, it is cost-effective and accurate enough. Color charts can be somewhat subjective, so I advise you to compare the mixture color in the test tube to the color chart under the light of your planted aquarium (and be honest to yourself).
When testing Nitrates using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, please make sure that you shake the 2nd plastic bottle vigorously for 1 to 1.5 minutes and occasionally throwing it against a wall or floor before using it. This is to ensure that whatever compound that solidified/crystallize inside the bottle will get back to liquid form. This will make the test accurate. It is also in the paper instruction along with the kit, but it is easy to miss.
Phosphate
Phosphate (PO4) is among the nutrients used by plants for growth as part of several key plant structure compounds and for its role in capturing and converting the light energy into useful compounds used by plants to grow and create food. Part of the macronutrients NPK, in our aquarium water, Phosphorus (K) mostly solely exists in the form of phosphate.
Phosphate in our planted aquarium naturally comes from the breakdown of waste (uneaten food, excrement, organic plant decay, corpses, dying algae, etc.). It can also come from external sources such as the fish food we are giving to our faunas, water sources (tap and deep-well) can contain a certain amount of Phosphate, and even buffering compounds (to increase KH – to avoid pH swings) we use contains phosphate buffers.
Again overstocking, overfeeding, and not keeping up with regular maintenance and water changes will elevate the Phosphate levels in our planted aquariums.
Ceratophyllum
Myriophillum
Too Much?
While too much Phosphate does not directly harm our faunas, it is generally not much of a concern, but it can cause algae blooms in some situations. It depends if you started heavily planted or scarcely planted, if you are overfeeding or overstocked, and it also depends on your water parameters and the source of your water.
Ways to Decrease:
- Water change from 25 to 50%. Clean your substrate and carpeting plants by vacuuming it to remove accumulated waste, detritus, etc., don’t worry if your carpet plants are deeply rooted already. They will not be uprooted.
- Use Phosphate absorbers like Seachem Phosbond, which is a filter media that you can put in your filter.
- Do not overstock or overfeed to avoid Phosphate accumulating in the first place.
- Remove corpses of faunas if visible as much as possible.
- Start with a heavily planted tank
Are there any negative effects if we have too low Phosphate levels?
Phosphate supports photosynthesis for your plants, as I mentioned above, and a lack of phosphate will inhibit plant growth. Phosphates are naturally produced in your tank, but you can also dose Phosphorus macronutrient alone or along with dosing NPK macro fertilizers.
How to Test?
You can use the API Phosphate Test Kit to test the Phosphate levels in your planted aquarium. I honestly haven’t tested for Phosphate levels in my tank. At one point, I knew I had high Phosphate levels due to unintentional overstocking. I just started with 3 Platies and different Tetras species, and the 3 Platies became 50+ due to uncontrolled breeding.
Stressing This Out Again
I want to stress again. Every planted aquarium is unique. What worked for others may or may not work for you. We all have a differing degree of planting, tank sizes, water parameters, water sources, stocking, maintenance schedules, lighting (intensity and spectrum), injecting co2 or not, filtration, aeration, substrates, even external factors like extreme weather conditions and ambient temperatures, etc. it is up for the hobbyist to find the balance of all these factors.
You can also ask for help from others who are willing to help and have the experience. A sensible co-hobbyist will ask some questions first before jumping to conclusions (even if he had the same symptoms before) like what is your water parameters, how old is your tank, did you perform any tank cycling, or do you even know what tank cycling is, what did you changed before the problem happens, what is the size of your tank, filtration used, the substrate used, how is your stocking, your feeding schedule, and maintenance, to name a few.
From your answers, he may be able to create a hypothesis and test it. He may ask additional questions to prove his theory further until you both reach a conclusion and resolve the problem.
Conclusion
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Phosphate all fall under the Nutrient part of knowing good water parameters. While Ammonia and Nitrite are lethal to our faunas even at low levels, Nitrates are less toxic within normal levels but can become dangerous at elevated levels. Phosphates do not pose any danger to our faunas even at high levels but may induce algae blooms if kept unchecked.
These nutrients will be used by plants to make their own food and for their optimal growth. That is why plants act as biological filtration in our planted aquarium and aid in naturally cleaning the water quality.
Want to Explore More?
Closing Remarks
I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have additional questions or want to share your experiences with these nutrients in your planted aquarium, please leave a comment below. Next, we will be discussing the Minerals part of water parameters in our planted aquariums.
Hello there!
I thank you for this enlightening article on The planted aquarium water parameter. I was a bit curious as to if the nutrients that was mentioned on this article are all that is required for a successful plantation of an aquarium water parameter? indeed knowing good water parameters is a vital key for successfully keeping a planted aquarium at home.
Hello Layefa,
Thank you for appreciating my article. No, that is not all, if you remember I categorize the water parameters into three subcategories, what you just read is the nutrient part, there will be the mineral part and environmental indicators part coming soon. I just felt that I need to separate them to avoid one long article.
Hi Lemuel,
Thanks for putting together this very informative post.
I am thinking about getting a few fish for my daughter, and wanted to get a sense of what kind of maintenance might be required, so I checked out your site.
There certainly is a lot involved in keeping the water clean, and preventing ammonia and other waste bi-products from building up.
Thanks once again. I am going to refer back to your site often if I do end up getting an aquarium for my little girl.
Michael
Hello Michael,
Thank you for the appreciation about my article. I am glad you are starting your daughter early on the responsibility of keeping a pet at home and caring for it.
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Thank you for appreciating my article and my website as a whole. Please come back for more articles coming soon.
Hey nice article you have there, your thoughts are indeed invaluable. It is very important to maintain an adequate Ammonia level because Ammonia is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic animals. The only safe level of ammonia is 0 parts per million (ppm). Even concentrations of just 2 ppm can cause fish to die in your tank. Keep the good work, warm regards
Hi Edah,
Thanks for appreciating my article. Even Ammonia levels at 0.25-0.5 ppm may cause permanent damage, even if they survived it, it will reduce their life expectancy. Please come back for more articles coming soon.
Hi,
It’s amazing to know that not all plants in aquaruim is good in maintaining the water. I didn’t know that some plants producing bi-products that is not good for the fish. Simple thoughts but matters most for our pets in aquaruim. Some ideas to look attractive, relaxing and safe aquaruim in our home. Looking forward to learned more about your article.
Hi Lyn,
While I didn’t mentioned that, all aquatic and semi-aquatic plants used in an aquarium will always have positive benefits. They may shed leaves, or may not thrive (very demanding plants), or will melt, and they will add to the ammonia when plant matter decays, their benefits outweight the negatives. Unless you are talking about terrestrial plants? If yes, then yes terrestrial plants will not be able to live under water for long and will die and melt, thus adding to ammonia spikes.
Great article! What I did not know how much go into maintaining a planted Aquariums. In this article you broke it down step by step and the most important thing and maintaining a planted Aquariums is water parameters. Also The planted aquarium water parameters can be futher broken down into categories namely nutrients, minerals, environmental indicators which should help!
Thanks Darnell for the appreciation of my article. Please come back for more articles coming soon.
Hi, I have always been a fun of aquarium wallpapers, not Hi, I have always been a fun of aquarium wallpapers, not knowing the amount of work behind the scenes. Thank you for your informative article.
Best wishes
Hello James,
Thank you that you found my site and for appreciating this article. I hope in one way or two, I was able to help you decide to start your own planted aquarium at your own home.
Hello, Nice information there about the aquarium, I have learned a lot about nutrients and toxicity parameters there.
Just wondering, you mentioned that one should not overfeed the fish. What is the right quantity for feeding?
Best wishes
Hi James thank for visiting my site. It depends on the number of your fish and their size. For example I only have nano fishes (tetras mainly) in my 35 gallons aquarium, and I only feed once a day, just a small pinch of powder fish food is enough. It is actually a trial and error process, if your fish cannot consume the food within 3 minutes, then you are overfeeding.
Hey,
This is a really informative and insightful article, I found it very interesting. My friend has his own aquarium and he would find your article and your site so interesting and helpful.
I have forwarded your article onto him and advised him to comment. If he has any questions then he will get in touch.
Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work.
All the best,
Tom
Hello Tom and thank you for appreciating my article and sharing it to your friend. Looking forward to what he thinks about my site.
Great article with useful information on how to keep your aquarium healthy at home. I shall share these information with my mother in law who is into this.
Many Thanks for this amazing post. Great website by the way.
Best wishes
Habib
Hello Habib and thank you for visiting my site and appreciating my article. Please come back for more articles coming soon. And thank you for sharing my site to your family.
Hi
This is a very informative and detailed article. It sounds like a tricky task to keep the right balance. I have had small aquaria in the past and some of the fauna sicknesses you describe I am quite sure I have seen. We have been thinking of getting a small aquarium for our daughter with just goldfish. Would you advise a planted aquarium or a simpler one to start out.
Thanks ane best regards
Andy
Hi Andy and thank you for appreciating my article.
I would advise against a goldfish for a planted aquarium, as they are always hungry and can uproot plants. There are many benefits to a planted aquarium. If you checked the whole site, it may seem a lot to consider maintaining a planted aquarium but once you got through everything, a planted aquarium is a very rewarding experience.