moss tank vs nitrates

[prec]

will a heavily planted moss tank take in alot of nitrate and ammonia?

[budak]

Moss, like other plants, will take in nitrate and ammonia (probably) as food, but bryophytes (mosses, liverworts) seem to be happier with much less fertilisation than flowering plants..... in the wild, aquatic mosses tend to be found where it is least polluted (with nitrogenous compounds). So a moss-only tank will soak up nitrogen (probably at a higher rate if CO2/strong light is provided), but you will probably need to control your stocking to avoid ammonia spikes (bad for fish, good for algae).

[prec]

its a strictly moss shrimp tank. so i guess the bioload is relatively low compared to a fish tank. i dont pour in any fertilisers now. so should be fine rite?

[budak]

I don't bother with water changes/fert for my own shrimp tank and the plants (moss, Monosolenium, ferns, nana) are fine. If you are not adding CO2 or high light, it becomes in effect a low-energy system. The plants will just grow at a slower pace compared to high tech tanks.

[prec]

mine is just a 11W light with no co2 injection and 1.5ft tank. u dun change water at all? wont the water become unbalanced? how long do u wash or change ur filter's sponge? mine's pretty dirty and semi-torn already.

[budak]

My shrimp tank (20x15x15 cm) doesn't use a filter or CO2/fert. Just 11W of light. The plants are slow growing types so they probably do fine with the shrim/fish poo and the occasional water top-up. I stocked the tank very lightly in the first few months and it's also heavily planted.

[prec]

my 1.5ft display tank consists of ard 30 cherries, 7 diamonds and 7 crs with uncountable amounts of baby shrimps hiding somewhere. is this considered high bioload? half of my tank is currently filled with mosses.

[bclee]

Bioload...?

Ok... let's put it this way for better understanding.

Bioload is the waste from the fauna that the system need to deal with.

By the principle of conservation of mass,

Food added = food eaten + food uneaten = animal growth + rotting uneaten food + animal wastes

rotting uneaten food + animal wastes are the bioload that the system need to take care of, either by plants or bacteria.

BTW, do you feed the shrimps or add fertilisers to your tank? If not the only source of nutrients will be from the tap water you add at water changes.

Nutrients ---> moss ----> shrimps

BC

[prec]

i feed them alternate days. i dont add any fertilisers. trying to limit my water change routine to let the water stabilise.