Plant only filtration (why not popular in the hobby???)

[ITHURTZ]

Picked up 2 new plants at walmart for $3. They are both high water usage and require medium light.

I know the Dieffenbachia "compacta" will work. (Dieffenbachia maculata)

http://exoticangel.com/plant-library/species/dieffenbachia/item/192-compacta

But how about the Aralia "Gold Crest" (Dizygotheca elegantissima). Reading the specs, it says loves humidity. So I dont see a reason why it wouldnt work. I just dont want to waste a plant in water if it wont work. Id plant it it soil instead.
http://exoticangel.com/plant-library/species/aralia/item/103-gold-crest


I also found a site saying this "False Aralia is not very easy to cultivate. It requires a relative humidity of 50 per cent, but does not tolerate very wet compost. Always use tepid water for watering. It also does well in hydroponic cultivation."
http://www.houseplantsguru.com/dizygotheca-elegantissima

 

[basskid081990]

we did this in high school as a group efort between aquaculture classes and horticulture classes. we ran a hose powered by a submersible pummp out the window and constructed a grid outside made of rain gutters we grew all sorts of plants some in sun some shade the grid was quite large. we did impatiens lettuce cabbage alocasia colocasia banana trees tomatoes and papyrus. we still needed to run filtration but this was alsoon a 3000 gal tilapia tank we got outstanding growth and could see a dent in ammonia through water testings. because of the high density of fish tho bio iltration was a must

 

[Rivermud]

bio-filtration is always a must... plants alone do not convert ammonia as well as say a highly efficient bio-filter.. that bio-filter can be teh grow media your plants are raised in.. it sounds like your case had a media-less gutter system which is similar to a floating system. a True plant only configuration is not plausible as bio-filtration must be present in enough volume to convert the ammonia present in the system.

 

[ITHURTZ]

bah if you got tons of roots u got tons of bio media!

 

[ITHURTZ]

Women got me 80 sensitive plant seeds for vday! Im gonna have a field day with this. Ever since costa rica I saw them and wanted them.

Finally a plant you touch and it closes in a millisecond! WOOOOO

 

[JK47]

How do you add nitrates? Can I just increase the feed or leave decaying leaves in the tank to produce the nitrates to see if it changes the hornworts?

Jk47 what is DOC's? Have you tried anything to prevent the plants in your 125 gallon tank from dieing off? (If i understand correctly in your 125 gal tank you have a drip hydroponic system that is feeding plants and your submerged plants are slowly dying)

DOC = Disolved Organic Compounds. Nitrates are not the only biproduct of an established system. It is an indicator (easily measured) of when to perform a water change and at the same time, other DOC's are moved as well. That is why it's important you still do water changes even with a heavy plant load. This just makes the water perams pristine in between changes and less of an issue if you miss a few

JK might have a automatic water changer, hence drip.. maybe I am wrong?

You are correct, I have a "drip system" meaning a continuous supply of fresh water going into the tank and the same amount continuously leaving. The drip system has nothing to do with how the plant filtration is set up. Sorry I wasn't more clear guys.

 

[Mean and Green]

Old news it's called aquaponics! If anyone is interested in it just shoot me a message.

 

[Rivermud]

DOC = Disolved Organic Compounds. Nitrates are not the only biproduct of an established system. It is an indicator (easily measured) of when to perform a water change and at the same time, other DOC's are moved as well. That is why it's important you still do water changes even with a heavy plant load. This just makes the water perams pristine in between changes and less of an issue if you miss a few



You are correct, I have a "drip system" meaning a continuous supply of fresh water going into the tank and the same amount continuously leaving. The drip system has nothing to do with how the plant filtration is set up. Sorry I wasn't more clear guys.

Not entirely true or false. DOC's are generally addressed in nature by a complete ecosystem. In an aquaponics setup items other than those not used for plant life don't generally get to a point where they need to be addressed by water changes. This is not to say water changes might not sometimes be warranted, however they can also be detrimental depending on the setup or usage you have. In a setup inside the home where bio-loads may not be fully addressed by plant and or bio filters regular water changes may be quite appropriate. In a full fledged aquaponics system the plants require the "food" load and thus the system is "loaded" to address the plants needs. A healthy system requires a balanced load... plants however can compensate for a low load or deficient load. A system I am currently assisting with has been running non stop for 5 years without a water change, water is only added.. the plants and fish are all extremely healthy and have both been used as food for the entire life cycle of the system. The hardest part is when the plants or fish are harvested, at that point balance is hard to maintain.

So, like i was saying, in home systems where this balance is harder to maintain due to bio load or plant filtration it may be quite advisable to do water changes. Since most of the readers of this thread are focused on ornamental style plants you advice may be even more valid. If however people are going to teh more extreme measure of say a full on aquaponics system the info provided here is only the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Rivermud]

Old news it's called aquaponics! If anyone is interested in it just shoot me a message.

We have a thread here on vermiponics, I would appreciate you adding to it if you have information or experiences that may help others.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?448952-Vermiponics-Fish-Plants-and-Worms

 

[albertjavieraguilar]

we did this in high school as a group efort between aquaculture classes and horticulture classes. we ran a hose powered by a submersible pummp out the window and constructed a grid outside made of rain gutters we grew all sorts of plants some in sun some shade the grid was quite large. we did impatiens lettuce cabbage alocasia colocasia banana trees tomatoes and papyrus. we still needed to run filtration but this was alsoon a 3000 gal tilapia tank we got outstanding growth and could see a dent in ammonia through water testings. because of the high density of fish tho bio iltration was a must

I use gutter mesh that keeps leaves out of the gutter to grow my plants on the back side of my 20 gal aquarium. It was like 2 dollars and works great. Though it would be better if the mesh spacing was larger since i had a bad habit of pulling the plants up tp see there roots and then it was somewhat hard to geat all the roots back through the mesh. A 1/2" spaced egg crate diffuser would have works better but this works fine. lol