do water hyacynths aerate water???

[Tr1G3rX1]

yup its a tuffy,
ive been trying to keep my fish'es water clean for ages now so i went out and baught a water hiacynth hearing that they like to soak up some of the impurities ...
anyways i was wondeing if this plant has any other benefits to the fishbowl
as well as if it can provide a renewable h2o oxygen aeration supply
not sure that makes sence but i am concerned,
gimme ur thoughts please :
thx

[grandpasrose]

Hi Tr1G3Rx1!! Welcome to the forum!!

In water plants there are certain groups that provide specific benefits to the body of water. Water Hyacinth belongs to a sub group of the "Floating Plants" - those whose roots dangle in the water, and are not attached to anything.
Water Hyacinth is considered an excellent purifier,and soaks up ammonia and other toxins.
It is not what you are calling an "aerator", known in the water plant groups as "Oxygenating Plants". These plants actually grow submerged beneath the surface of the water. They do not bloom, and really are not seen. They take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen to other plants and your fish. They also provide spawning areas for fish.

I am getting the impression that this might be a fish tank, not a pond you are referring to? If so, the best oxygenating plant to get for a fish tank is called Anacharis.

Hope this helps with your question. If not, feel free to come back and we'll go into this further. Also feel free to come back anytime at all!!

Val

[aqh88]

All plants will oxygenate the water somewhat and duckweed despite being a floating plant is actually great at helping to provide oxygen. An even better plant for both oxygen and removing nitrates or pollutants is hornwort but hornwort can grow into 10' strands if you don't trim it very frequently and you need better light than the duckweed or it will drop it's needles. All plants also remove nutrients and pollutants to some degree. My tanks never have water quality problems and I often have to add things like ammonia and nitrates to keep the plants fed. Here is my less heavily planted tank which relies mostly on the hornwort covering the top. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/fish/90g/?action=view&current=P1010010.jpg I don't have pics of the 55g up yet but it has faster growing and more plants so I didn't use any hornwort. Nitrates in my tanks never top 10ppm.

[grandpasrose]

Thanks for the great info aqh88!

Val

[Tr1G3rX1]

this is very helpful thank you alot for this info:
we have a beta in a flower vase as our dinner table center peice he is very fun to watch but when the water got cloudy it was an eye soar
well anyways another question...
do hyachynths do well with other "oxygenating" plants?
cuz i think i may be compelled to stick one in with the hyacynth if they wont bother each other

[grandpasrose]

Yep! They'll do fine together. Ponds usually have all different kinds of plants in them and they all survive together. Go right ahead. Hope your water clears!

Val

[aqh88]

You can mix together most any aquatic plant. The only thing to watch for is if you put in alot of fast growing plants like most floating plants they can actually use up all the nutrients provided by the fish and then some of your other plants, especially slow growing ones, may suffer. Here's a site on nutrient deficiency although it mostly concentrates on rooted stem plants and not floating plants:http://badmanstropicalfish.com/plant_problems.html. Also the krib has a good planted tank section http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/.

As for bettas in plant vases it can be done well and it can be done very poorly. For maintenance the water should be changed at least 25% every 2-3days or 100% every week and the gravel should be rinsed in a bucket of dechlorinated water(not directly from the tap) every few weeks. That will get rid of the fish waste and plant material that causes cloudy water as well as keeping the water much cleaner for the betta. Make sure when filling with new water you dechlorinate with a water conditioner because chlorine will kill your betta and the useful microscopic critters that live in the gravel and help keep the water clean. Also make sure if you have a plant on the top the betta can reach the surface. Bettas can live without filtration because they breathe from the surface but they will drown if they can't get to the top. Last you need to feed your betta. Some people think they live on the plant matter but bettas are carnivorous. They need around 3betta pellets or a tiny pinch of flakes daily to every other day. A fish that's well fed can survive a week or 2 without food if necessary and over feeding causes bad water quality so feed sparingly and don't worry too much if you take a vacation or forget a day or 2.