I use my water garden water change water on my plants (where I have 2 Comets and 2 Shibunkins in there) - particularly the muck/detrius, which is essentially nitrates. If you have potassium stuff in the water, that should be okay for the plants, particulary since it's rare to find a high-potassium (the "K" in the "N-P-K" designation) source by itself other than the oft-recommend seaweed, etc.

Bit of a bump (felt that extra info wouldn't hurt): In response to the aquarium salt question, it is not necessary. It 'can' help with disease and some fish-keepers use it as general maintenance (1tbs per 5 gallons). I wouldn't bother, I've used it a few times for 'aiding in treatment' with no confirmed results. Certainly don't use a 1tbs/5gal mixture of aquarium water to water you plants. Most aquatic plants thrive on NitrAte, which is only present in an established (and HEALTHY) aquarium after it has become cycled. Fish waste (Ammonia) is eventually converted to NitrIte after beneficial bacteria has established in the filter. Both are poisonous to fish and some plants help in absorbing these harmful chemicals (java moss to name one). After a bit more time, another type of beneficial bacteria will establish itself in the filter converting NitrIte in NitrAte. Nitrate is what aquarium plants thrive on (as well as most common forms of algae). Given this, well established aquariums should ONLY have NitrAte present. As with aquarium plants, house plants tend to thrive off of this nutrient. I can only speak for aquarium plants, but I would suspect that some "easy to care for house plants" would only need aquarium water as a fertilizer if the nitrate levels are at a moderate level. As far as backing up the "propagating plants in fish tanks", I've started a few spider plants by floating the roots in my aquarium water with VERY accelerated results. The roots are present within 24 hours and within a couple of days the roots are around 2" long. Plant in soil watch em grow. I water all of my plants with aquarium water.

I tend to feel that just because aquarium water has some nutrients is not a good indicator it's necessarily good for your plants. Here's why: We know it's not complete and that it doesn't contain nutrients in a ratio that's favorable for plants. That means that using fish emulsion alone as a nutrient source will definitely limit growth (Liebig's Law of the Minimum). To prevent growth from being limited due to nutritional deficiencies, you'll need to supply either a soluble fertilizer or organic soil amendments, with the former being an easier and more reliable way of delivering nutrients. So here the aquarium water user is - wondering what nutrients he's supplied and what nutrients are lacking. With no way of knowing, he reaches for his fertilizer and applies it according to directions. This should deliver a dose of all the nutrients necessary for growth in a favorable ratio (if it doesn't you used the wrong fertilizer). This application makes the nutrients in the soil solution derived from the aquarium water redundant. They actually serve no purpose, and in fact, unnecessarily raise the the level of EC/TDS higher than if they were not present, making it more difficult (though marginally) for the plant to take up water and the nutrients dissolved in water, so you would have been better off w/o it - with sticking to a fertilizer plan you KNOW provides all the necessary nutrients at a favorable concentration and in a favorable ratio to each other. RG - your plant has obvious nutritional deficiencies. My guess, because of the interveinal chlorosis AND the cupping of the leaf margins is that it's short at least Mg, and very probably N and others. If you're willing to answer a few questions, I'm pretty sure we can narrow things down and get your tree back on track. Al

Hi, I currently have a 29 gallon aquarium and a newly establish 75 gallon aquarium. My shubunkins goldfish spawned with Comet goldfish in Dec. 2007 and the eggs hatched the day after Christmas. Now, I have a ton of baby goldfish that are apart of the family. The problem is that the parent fish are 6'' in length and dig and eat all of the plants that I have purchased for the tank. The only lasting plant is the lucky bamboo. Which is not really meant for aquariums. I would prefer to have live plants verse having artificial. However, it is getting quite costly to keep purchasing plants that the fish use as food. It's not that they are not getting any food, believe me they are, it seems that they are just greedy. It beats me how they seem to destroy them in as little as two weeks. Would anyone be willing to help me out with some aquarium plants? I have a nice establish garden and am willing to trade for durable, quality, low light aquariums (see my tradelist). In my request for low light, I do not have a grow light bulb on the tanks, just the standard florescent. Thanks for reading and providing any