Lucky Bamboo as nitrate filter

  • Do you use Lucky Bamboo? 4

    1. Yes (2) 50%
    2. No (1) 25%
    3. What's that plant? (1) 25%

    I've been reading about using 'Lucky Bamboo' (Dracaena sanderiana) for a nitrate filter. The only problem is that it is widely held that Dracaena sanderiana is highly toxic to cats. Do you know of another less/non-toxic but equally usable plant?

  • I've seen it used in many tanks, although from my understanding, it's not a true species of bamboo but instead is a species that has the appearance. These plants can live partial submerged into water, as long as their leaves are above the water line (or the top of the plant is), otherwise they will rot slowly from the inside out. I personally never knew that they were toxic to cats, but that is something to be noted for sure for those who have tanks with cats (or near possibly stray cats).

    Some other easily grown plants are any species of anubias, java ferns, and any species of moss. These don't have the stalky appearance that lucky bamboo has, but can do the job fully submerged without the risk of them rotting or dying under low light conditions.

  • I think there are far better plants that can be fully submerged that should be used, but I’ve seen plenty of tanks use them for aquascape reasons or because you can slowly bend the plant itself into unique shapes which look pretty cool.


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  • I have never heard of Lucky Bamboo. I'm glad that you've mentioned this because now I'm extremely curious about it. I may end up buying one for my tank because these look extremely neat and have several benefits to using them. Thank you for sharing.

  • I had no idea it was toxic to cats, which is weird because I am super cautious about that around my cat. Both of my tanks have lucky bamboo and it has been great!! I do have mine fully submerged and my cat has no way of getting to may tanks. However, if I didn't fully submerge it and my cat could get to my tanks, I definitely wouldn't have get it. Although most say you cannot fully submerge lucky bamboo I did a huge amount of research on it before doing it and came to the conclusion that it would be totally fine, and it has been in both of my tanks. It's also super cheap (at least where I got mine) and looks amazing. I'm curious if you decided to get some for your tanks.

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