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

[wrslrcichlid]

Hey guys, I have a 125g african cichlid tank (mbuna and haps) and have tried keeping real plants in the tank (even though most don't suggest it since cichlids will dig them up and just destroy them). Interestingly I haven't really had any trouble with the cichlids killing the plants, it was more just after a few months the plants started to basically melt or the leaves just slowly turned brown and died. My guess is that the plants I bought (from my LFS) were not actually aquatic plants - oh well.

After reading through the 50 pages on here (whew, took some time but was worth it) I have decided to add some plants that grow out of the top - like you guys. I bought a pothos today - kind of small but want to do this gradually. I have a wet/dry that is fed by an overflow box and was wondering if it would be a problem to put the pothos in there? My fear is that as the roots start growing they will grow into the syphon tubes cutting flow or if I put it in the outer box (the one directly feeds the wet/dry) the roots will clog up the tubing - and again cut flow. Is this a legitimate fear, or does this not happen from people's experience? I am thinking about eventually building something similar to ithurtz's eggcrate contraption but until then what should I do? Put the pothos in the overflow box or just let it float in the tank? Also, will my fish eat the roots, especially the new ones that grow in the water? If so, then I may just wait to put it in until I build the planter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[wrslrcichlid]

Oh yeah, I also meant to ask - is it problem to plant the pothos in the substrate (I have sand) as long as I make sure that at least some leaves are out of the water? Not trying to restart the argument from a while back, just like the idea of having stems fill the tank than roots. The roots probably don't look as bad as I am envisioning, but I guess I'll find out.

 

[ITHURTZ]

Sand might compact to much on the roots making less oxygen available. Rocks would be ok.

The pothos are not related to jumagi (sp?) the movie the roots dont go insane. The only thing the roots will dig into is if you have a sponge or any other filter pad thing related it can touch. The fish will eat the roots, so the sump is the best bet, just stick a light up above and keep the leaves out of the water and ur golden.

 

[Draco Hugo]

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

all your plants do not thrive well with water. and be careful with Dieffenbachia maculata... it is very dangerous and can cause irritation and allergic reaction.

for running water or partially submerge plants, i suggest to use phothos, arrowhead, or lucky bamboo.

 

[Draco Hugo]

lets get a full view of the tank and all your plants. I can maintain a biweekly water change right now, 10ppm per week. This tells me I need double, and thats alot of plant!

this is howmy plants looks like on top of my tank:

 

[albertjavieraguilar]

Oh yeah, I also meant to ask - is it problem to plant the pothos in the substrate (I have sand) as long as I make sure that at least some leaves are out of the water? Not trying to restart the argument from a while back, just like the idea of having stems fill the tank than roots. The roots probably don't look as bad as I am envisioning, but I guess I'll find out.

I would place the pothos in your sump and/or in the back floating now to give them a chance to root. Once you have them rooted you can try and place them in the substrate or you will have a head start on placing them in the tray. My experience with pothos is it takes weeks before you get much root growth, unlike the green thumbs around here so you need not be worried about root monsters for a long time if you have a brown thumb like me. lol

 

[wrslrcichlid]

Well, I have introduced two pothos plants to my aquarium. As I mentioned I got a small one yesterday and put it in, but that night the wife liked the idea of doing the same thing with her turtles so we went to HD to get some supplies. She is really pushing me to experiment with building a shelf planter in my tank and then do something similar for her turtles. She is not a big fan of doing water changes and cleaning their filter (but she does it since she knows the turtles need it) so if plants can make that easier she is all for it!!!

While at HD I got another larger pothos and put it in the 125 last night. I will say that there is no new leaf growth, but there is some growth in the roots (not tons, but definitely some). I did not put the plants in my sump because I don't want to have to get a better light down there (have a really small LED just so I can see what I am doing). Currently I am just floating them in the from of the tank loosely tied together so they don't sink or float all over the place. I plan to build my shelf planter this weekend, so no point in really putting them in the overflow boxes.

One question is how quickly did you guys see any effects on your nitrates after adding the plants? I did a water test yesterday and my nitrates were about 10ppm. It was time for a water change, but since I am adding plants I didn't want to remove all of my nitrates. I know I will need to continue doing water changes - even if I get enough plants to keep nitrates at 0, but as the plants get established I would think it would be better to have a little higher concentration of nitrates (obviously not letting them get too high). Is this correct thinking?

Also, I have not been able to find any arrowhead plants (that you guys say work GREAT). Any suggestions on where to look? I didn't see any at HD, but may have missed them since I wasn't there that long.

 

[aquaponicpaw]

Oh yeah, I also meant to ask - is it problem to plant the pothos in the substrate (I have sand) as long as I make sure that at least some leaves are out of the water? Not trying to restart the argument from a while back, just like the idea of having stems fill the tank than roots. The roots probably don't look as bad as I am envisioning, but I guess I'll find out.

If you view the pics I posted you will see that the roots did indeed take hold into the substrate. they did this for me on their own accord. While they are still visible it did dig down enough where if I were to try to remove it, It would damage the roots.

 

[anarekist]

prolly said before but bares repeating, the pathos does well with occasional misting of the leaves.

 

[JamesF]

wrslrcichlid, depending on the type of turtle, they may completely destroy any plant that is within their reach.