add oxygen using plants?

[Angsua]

read that airpumps? and wavemaker adds oxygen to water.
how about live plants and any other alternatives?

tks

live plants will only photosynthesize (that is give out oxygen) in the presence of light/sunlight.

Without sunlight, they will respire (take in oxygen, give out carbon dioxide).

[sk`ahxiong]

Does it means we have to on the lights 24/7 ?

[Young Man]

it is not an active process to produce oxygen by the plants, their main objective is to take in carbon dioxide for processing to make their own food. so if you want to use plants to supply the oxygen required for your fish then you would need alot of plants that are more "active" and provide them with more carbon dioxide and light.
you need to take into consideration alot of factors like what fish are you keeping, tank size, water surface area, plant growth, fish etc etc..
keeping plants and fish together is acheived by many bros here even for arowanas, but to use the plants to supply the oxygen required, you would need a very very very well balanced and stable tank..

[bennyliv]

All living things will respire. Plants still respire when they photosyntheses. Having to say that, the oxygen they produce is still sufficient for the benefits for other living things in their environment.

I personally have doubt that turning lights on for 24/7 will be beneficial. When plant photosyntheses, they produce nutrients and oxygen is only another by product of the process. I personally there are limit to the upkeep of nutrients for the plant. Instead of lights on for 24/7. A 15 light hours will be sufficient and plants should survive longer too.

[wei_yuan86]

Using plants to supply oxygen, in theory, yes it will happen. But for this to occur, there needs to be an immense number of plants to produce it– putting into consideration the amount of fishes you intend to keep.
But in contrast, plants giving out oxygen will also take in oxygen and give out CO2 during the photosynthesis process. Meaning the fishes might suffocate or have insufficient oxygen to take in during this period.
Just my 2cents brothers..

[Angsua]

seems plants not an good option

[EvolutionZ]

You are better off using air pump.. and yes, plants is indeed not a good idea to provide more o2 for your fishes.

[wei_yuan86]

Originally Posted by EvolutionZ

You are better off using air pump.. and yes, plants is indeed not a good idea to provide more o2 for your fishes.

Agreed. If the purpose of putting in plants is for purely supplying O2 purpose then it may not be a good idea. Unless you want to beautify the tank set up etc.


I know of oxygen crystals that used to be quite popular in the past. They're brightly colored and are quite nice to look it. They come in small bottles with yellow caps. Downside is that they have a lifespan. Need to replace every now and then. Air pump la

In the past, there were threads on using plants to remove nitrate from the tank. I have not tried it, still using water change to do this.