check it out...and the following videos
20 Houseplants that Help Filter Your Aquarium!
(youtube.com)
20 Houseplants that Help Filter Your Aquarium! (youtube.com)Really cool videos for adapting plants underwater by PlantLife Project
- Thread starter FINWIN
- Start date
Great info.
I'm using about a half dozen of these terrestrial plants at at the moment, for aesthetics and nitrate control, all my tanks are at least 6 ft long, so some of these plants can overwhelm, smaller tanks, if not regularly pruned
Mangrove above, I grow in sand filled hollow bamboo branches.
Below, a variant of a Peace Lily
Below Monstera
Umbrella palm, or AKA Papyrus below, the biggest problem I had with Papyrus was that the root ball took over a large section of space, in a 6 ft tank, and I had to use a saw to divide it
Finally removed Papyrus altogether, and planted it in te yard where my washing machine drains, it is now over 6 ft tall, (below), it was also great used in ponds
Another my favorites not mentioned in the video, is Dieffenbachia
It gets quite tall (the one above is about 5 ft tall), and the stem (trunk also gets thick)
Below is a dieffenbacis root system, taking up almost a 3rd of my 180 gal
But those roots are great habitat for fish to hang out in and around.
I'm using about a half dozen of these terrestrial plants at at the moment, for aesthetics and nitrate control, all my tanks are at least 6 ft long, so some of these plants can overwhelm, smaller tanks, if not regularly pruned
Mangrove above, I grow in sand filled hollow bamboo branches.
Below, a variant of a Peace Lily
Below Monstera
Umbrella palm, or AKA Papyrus below, the biggest problem I had with Papyrus was that the root ball took over a large section of space, in a 6 ft tank, and I had to use a saw to divide it
Finally removed Papyrus altogether, and planted it in te yard where my washing machine drains, it is now over 6 ft tall, (below), it was also great used in ponds
Another my favorites not mentioned in the video, is Dieffenbachia
It gets quite tall (the one above is about 5 ft tall), and the stem (trunk also gets thick)
Below is a dieffenbacis root system, taking up almost a 3rd of my 180 gal
But those roots are great habitat for fish to hang out in and around.
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FINWIN
, thank you, thank you, thank you for posting that link. It is exactly the sort of guide for which I have been searching, better than any others I have found. It got a bit tiresome when many videos were produced by people who simply love attention, but don't even bother learning the names of the plants they are pushing. I have just finished building a rack on my 360 to grow emersed plants, and that video gives me a few ideas for other projects on other tanks. Right now the only emersed plants I have are 2 species overwintering in my basement in a stock tank. They're just in pots, standing on concrete blocks that keep the pot halfway submerged. One is the "dwarf" Papyrus, which is just biding its time waiting to go outside when the weather warms up. I laughed when that guy admitted that this thing gets four feet tall; I keep buying it whenever I see a Papyrus being sold as "dwarf" because the care tag always says 18-inch heights...and they always get to be four feet tall. Liars!
The other one doing well for me is Garlic. I got some from a friend, and treated it the same way, just half submerged the pot. It goes outside into the pond and produces beautiful pink flowers on 2-foot stems. It does really well all winter in the basement, thriving rather than just "hanging on" like the Papyrus does. It only smells of garlic if you crush a leaf, there's no noticeable garlic smell otherwise unless you stick your snoot right down into the crown.
We have a safari into the Big City planned for this week; my main goal is a trip to an excellent greenhouse for some plants. Maybe some will even live!
Did I mention...thank you!
Most welcome!
I'm mentally still looking at renewing and refreshing my approach on things...so I've been looking more into the uses of real plants. Growing up I always assumed aquarium plants were only submerged! So I too was looking for a 'list'. The first thing I noticed was no odor during water changes with real plants. Normally the water pumped out would smell like a swamp but that vanished! I was amazed.
Also plants aid in the overall condition of the water. Another effect I've noticed is that the fish love nesting in the natural stuff a lot more. Does it feel better, smell better? Roots must make tasty garnish too, because everyone likes eating them along with the pothos leaves. Because of this I'm looking at bolstering with semi aquatic or terrestrial plants with wet feet. My pothos has done pretty good submerged overall. For some reason its just kinda meh in the 125. In the parrot tanks and 225 its taken off nicely. The other tanks are somewhere in between
A certain fat parrot was pulling out roots today and eating them like spaghetti. Guess who (see avatar).
duanes
mentioned some of the plants with giant root balls...now those I might not want taking up too much space. The peace lily looks like a good option. The fish room only gets indirect light though it faces south because shrubs are in front of the window. I do like the look of roots, though.
I like the way this guy spoke of conditioning the plants, not just "stick 'em in the water and hope."
I'm mentally still looking at renewing and refreshing my approach on things...so I've been looking more into the uses of real plants. Growing up I always assumed aquarium plants were only submerged! So I too was looking for a 'list'. The first thing I noticed was no odor during water changes with real plants. Normally the water pumped out would smell like a swamp but that vanished! I was amazed.
Also plants aid in the overall condition of the water. Another effect I've noticed is that the fish love nesting in the natural stuff a lot more. Does it feel better, smell better? Roots must make tasty garnish too, because everyone likes eating them along with the pothos leaves. Because of this I'm looking at bolstering with semi aquatic or terrestrial plants with wet feet. My pothos has done pretty good submerged overall. For some reason its just kinda meh in the 125. In the parrot tanks and 225 its taken off nicely. The other tanks are somewhere in between
A certain fat parrot was pulling out roots today and eating them like spaghetti. Guess who (see avatar).
duanes
mentioned some of the plants with giant root balls...now those I might not want taking up too much space. The peace lily looks like a good option. The fish room only gets indirect light though it faces south because shrubs are in front of the window. I do like the look of roots, though.I like the way this guy spoke of conditioning the plants, not just "stick 'em in the water and hope."
Kitty litter as substrate for plants???? Whut. Back it on up!!!
Dirt with high nutrients vs. kitty litter with flourish iron test; let’s see which plant does best (youtube.com)
Dr.Novak...think I'm gonna get some popcorn
YouTube some are claiming the use of kitty litter as a substrate sucks out nutrients and minerals - YouTube
Building A Plenum in the SCA Aquarium with Fluval Stratum : Kevin Novak Ph.D. (youtube.com)
Dirt with high nutrients vs. kitty litter with flourish iron test; let’s see which plant does best (youtube.com)
Dr.Novak...think I'm gonna get some popcorn
YouTube some are claiming the use of kitty litter as a substrate sucks out nutrients and minerals - YouTube
Building A Plenum in the SCA Aquarium with Fluval Stratum : Kevin Novak Ph.D. (youtube.com)
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