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The sequestration of nutrients from surface waters by aquatic macrophytes and sediments provides an important service to both natural and constructed wetlands. While emergent species take up nutrients from the sediment, submerged and floating macrophytes filter nutrients directly from the surface water, which may be more efficient in constructed wetlands. It remains unclear, however, whether their efficiency is sufficient for wastewater purification and how plant species and nutrient loading affects nutrient distribution over plants, water and sediment. We therefore determined nutrient removal efficiencies of different vegetation (Azolla filiculoides, Ceratophyllum demersum and Myriophyllum spicatum) and sediment types (clay, peaty clay and peat) at three nutrient input rates, in a full factorial, outdoor mesocosm experiment. At low loading (0.43 mg P m⁻² d⁻¹), plant uptake was the main pathway (100 %) for phosphorus (P) removal, while sediments showed a net P release. A. filiculoides and M. spicatum showed the highest biomass production and could be harvested regularly for nutrient recycling, whereas C. demersum was outcompeted by spontaneously developing macrophytes and algae. Higher nutrient loading only stimulated A. filiculoides growth. At higher rates ( ≥  21.4 mg P m⁻² d⁻¹), 50–90 % of added P ended up in sediments, with peat sediments becoming more easily saturated. For nitrogen (N), 45–90 % was either taken up by the sediment or lost to the atmosphere at loadings  ≥  62 mg N m⁻² d⁻¹. This shows that aquatic macrophytes can indeed function as an efficient nutrient filter but only for low loading …