I'm new to this site. I have a 75 gallon tank and I want to put a single oscar in it. I know live plants are hard to have in the tank with an oscar but ive heard it done. I want them to keep the nitrates low. I have 2 penguin hang filters rated at 75 gallons apiece. What are the best kits for testing levels of water also.

P.S. - I'm in Iraq right now and government computers wont let me see any pictures from other posts on this site. If anyone has pictures of there tank setup with oscars could you send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it so i can get ideas. One's with plants preferably. Thanks again and God bless.

hello and welcome to ofl. a few members have got away with a few plants in there oscar tank. These are only going to be for looks as the number of plants needed to help maintain nitrates are 3x the size of the tank. so even if you packed your tank full of plants giving the fish no room to swim it still would not help maintain nitrates on a oscar tank. your only solution is water changes.

as for testing kits avoid paper strip kits and go for a liquid kit Aquarium Pharmaceuticals inc are recommended. checkout the link below for more info.
www.oscarfishlover.com/oscar-fish-advice...it-master-freshwater

well, marcus had given the idea...and i can not give inputs because
all my tanks are bare...

welcome to ofl
i have one plant my O dont mind it to much
he has his little moments and attacks it but other then that
its fine.. you know about cycling the tank?

I'm not too familiar with cycling a tank. I found out the hard way with my first oscars (R.I.P. Kane and Abel)

welcome to the site
this will help you in cycling your tank
oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium

Welcome,

Plants willin fact not last dude. I hate to tell ya. I had the same hopes you did. My plants got eaten, pulled up, mangled and destroyed.

The only want to keep nitrates lower by plants is to maintain a freshwater refugium with plants in it. I am building a refugium in my next filter as a test to see how low I can keep the nitrates with a bunch of plants elsewhere in the water chain.

The only true way to keep nitrates low are scheduled, timely, dependable water changes.

forget using plants to keep nitrates low. You would need a huge amount of them to offset the waste from an oscar. Also oscars love ripping and pulling up plants

Water changes are the best way to reduce nitrates

First off, welcome to the site tupaccshacka. Your little chihuahua looks fierce.
As for the plants:
The videos of tanks with plants that I have seen that have worked with Oscars and other larger cichlids had larger round rocks around the base of the plant. It seemed to help the plant stay routed and the base more protected. I don't have much experience with live plants myself, but have had thoughts of giving it an honest try.