Hi, all. I'm not new to fishkeeping, but I can't make up my mind as to what's best and I'm honestly terrible with plants, so I'd love any comments, suggestions, or advice.
I have a three inch (I measured!) common goldfish in a 40 gallon breeder. She's already eaten my previous half-hearted attempts to introduce plants to her aquarium, although she's left the marimo ball algae alone. I did have a setup where I was growing duckweed for her to eat as a snack, but I had a bit of a plumbing issue wherein the duckweed escaped into her tank, and she ate it all.
Currently, mint is growing in the top of the tank using inert hydroponic media and an LED plant grow light. Tank water circulates through it (there's a trickle diverted from the outflow of the power filter). However, growth is pretty slow. There's definitely some nitrogen uptake, because once I let the tank maintenance get away from me for three weeks and the nitrate didn't rise above 40 ppm - but not nearly as much as I would like. I knocked it down to 10 ppm with water changes and it's back to 40 ppm within a week. I find this slightly mind-boggling, because I didn't have this much trouble maintaining water quality when I had a 20 gallon tropical community tank. I know they say goldfish are huge waste producers, but this is kind of ridiculous. I only feed twice a day, and only as much as she will eat in 30 seconds, not even two minutes.
I wanted to get her some companions, since goldfish are social, but I'm not sure I can reasonably maintain water quality with a higher bioload. My schedule doesn't lend itself to twice weekly water changes. I definitely don't want to get her a friend and then lose both to nitrate toxicity. This is why I was hoping to use plants to consume the nitrogenous wastes.
So I'm trying to fertilize the plants to encourage better growth. I've started adding Flourish potassium (5 ml) every other day, and API Leaf Zone once a week for iron (15 ml). I already add calcium carbonate and magnesium sulfate since my tap water is extremely soft and thus not ideal for goldfish. Should I increase frequency and/or amounts? I don't usually do huge water changes (20% weekly or every other week), so I've been aiming for dosing according to PPS-Pro, the low end of Estimative Index, or somewhere in between. I assume it's silly to add nitrate since I already have an excess of it in the tank water. I haven't added phosphorus as I read that fish waste contains a decent amount of that nutrient, and boy do I have plenty of fish poop.
Do I try adding more plants? I could get more marimo balls. I've read that goldfish usually leave hornwort alone, and it's not illegal to own in my state (several other popular floating plants are, and she'll uproot anything that needs to be planted). Or do I try to rig up another bin of hydroponic media? Or is it silly since the plants I already have aren't using up the nitrates anyway?
Do I give up on plants and use zeolite or another nitrogen-absorbing chemical media to bring down the nitrate levels? Attempt a freshwater deep sand bed? Throw my hands up in the air and say that 40 ppm nitrates isn't that bad?
Help is much appreciated!
I have a three inch (I measured!) common goldfish in a 40 gallon breeder. She's already eaten my previous half-hearted attempts to introduce plants to her aquarium, although she's left the marimo ball algae alone. I did have a setup where I was growing duckweed for her to eat as a snack, but I had a bit of a plumbing issue wherein the duckweed escaped into her tank, and she ate it all.
Currently, mint is growing in the top of the tank using inert hydroponic media and an LED plant grow light. Tank water circulates through it (there's a trickle diverted from the outflow of the power filter). However, growth is pretty slow. There's definitely some nitrogen uptake, because once I let the tank maintenance get away from me for three weeks and the nitrate didn't rise above 40 ppm - but not nearly as much as I would like. I knocked it down to 10 ppm with water changes and it's back to 40 ppm within a week. I find this slightly mind-boggling, because I didn't have this much trouble maintaining water quality when I had a 20 gallon tropical community tank. I know they say goldfish are huge waste producers, but this is kind of ridiculous. I only feed twice a day, and only as much as she will eat in 30 seconds, not even two minutes.
I wanted to get her some companions, since goldfish are social, but I'm not sure I can reasonably maintain water quality with a higher bioload. My schedule doesn't lend itself to twice weekly water changes. I definitely don't want to get her a friend and then lose both to nitrate toxicity. This is why I was hoping to use plants to consume the nitrogenous wastes.
So I'm trying to fertilize the plants to encourage better growth. I've started adding Flourish potassium (5 ml) every other day, and API Leaf Zone once a week for iron (15 ml). I already add calcium carbonate and magnesium sulfate since my tap water is extremely soft and thus not ideal for goldfish. Should I increase frequency and/or amounts? I don't usually do huge water changes (20% weekly or every other week), so I've been aiming for dosing according to PPS-Pro, the low end of Estimative Index, or somewhere in between. I assume it's silly to add nitrate since I already have an excess of it in the tank water. I haven't added phosphorus as I read that fish waste contains a decent amount of that nutrient, and boy do I have plenty of fish poop.
Do I try adding more plants? I could get more marimo balls. I've read that goldfish usually leave hornwort alone, and it's not illegal to own in my state (several other popular floating plants are, and she'll uproot anything that needs to be planted). Or do I try to rig up another bin of hydroponic media? Or is it silly since the plants I already have aren't using up the nitrates anyway?
Do I give up on plants and use zeolite or another nitrogen-absorbing chemical media to bring down the nitrate levels? Attempt a freshwater deep sand bed? Throw my hands up in the air and say that 40 ppm nitrates isn't that bad?
Help is much appreciated!
