Cheap plants, less nitrate! POTHOS

[JK47]

Pothoes do great things in a lot of setups. Having them in both my ray setups and in my other tanks I can say that yeah, they do nothing for rays. You need crazy amounts. It would be easier to make an algae reactor then to build a big enough filter to house enough plants to make a dent on ray waste.

I have not been able to stop messing with my filtration since having rays. Always looking to build and improve on it.

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Same here. And I still love my plants as part of my filtration but on rays tanks it just looks pretty which I like as well.

I dont don't want to see any less experienced members thinking that their filtration may not be adequate for rays but the plants would help and convince themselves to get one. That would be no bueno

 

[stempy]

I'm a firm believer in these plants now as well. After reading some of this thread and struggling with nitrates on my 500 gallon african tank that has over 100 fish in it I decided why not try it. I run a drip system changing out 100% of the volume every week and still ran nitrates in the 60-80ppm range (api test kit). After adding a single pothos plant and allowing it to grow and get established (which it is growing at an alarming rate!) I now never go over 5 ppm nitrates, couldn't be happier

 

[cdrake261]

So how do you get your pothos established? Mine seems to be withering away. My nitrates is 10-20ppm

 

[stempy]

I just placed it in one of my sumps so that the roots were submerged but none of the plant and hung a basic CFL bulb over it. It took over a month to start growing, it seemed to replace its existing roots with a new set and once that happened it exploded in growth. It's now well over 4 ft long by about 3 ft wide and still shooting out new sprouts

 

[predatorkeeper87]

Someone mentioned to me awhile back there's a lot of orchids that can do water too. I haven't tried it yet though. Oddly enough I do have wild roses growing in the pot with my arrowhead plants in the pond....I didn't put them there, and they seem to be growing well. It's just a regular pot with sand, sitting on a 5g bucket.

Re: crawdads destroying plants - That's why my 90g has none of the mosses and plants I brought from the river. He got to 'em quick lol. He was carrying around a whole vallisneria at one point, like some kind of prize. :\

My wild caught crayfish climb, snip, and ride the parrots feather I have in the tank like their own personal hot air balloons...devilish little fellas.

 

[cdrake261]

I just placed it in one of my sumps so that the roots were submerged but none of the plant and hung a basic CFL bulb over it. It took over a month to start growing, it seemed to replace its existing roots with a new set and once that happened it exploded in growth. It's now well over 4 ft long by about 3 ft wide and still shooting out new sprouts

I wonder if I need more more light on mine

 

[Yodins]

My roots are growing like wow and I have no supplemental light
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[F1 VET]

Please don't give advice about rays and pothos/plant filtration unless you have both. I understand the intention is good but lets not perpetuate poor or assumed info by dropping numbers in an equation that does not apply with conventional fish and common MFK setups. 4-6 plants would do nothing for any ray tank that is well/properly fed. The members who posted this does run a drip system as do most of us and are very experienced members. Plants in a ray tank are useless unless done in an extreme way. None of which i have seen in this thread. If you don't own rays leave that for those of us who do please. I have many pothos plants and other plants that I have worked with in my rays tanks and still keep to this day.

We are lucky if drip systems keep up with rays lol.. plants are for looks for ray keepers.

Forgive me if my post made that reference but it wasn't meant to. I was simply stating that the enormous bio load isn't worth the huge investment needed for the appropriate amount of pothos compared to a drip. Even tho they may make a small dent with rays there's still other benefits and that was my point. I even stated a drip is obviously more effective

If someone post's here and they have rays/guppies/etc I feel obligated to share my and others experiences to if nothing else try and help.

I never gave advice about rays but reducing nitrates in efficient ways is great for any fish. And that is what this topic is about.

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* http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?504763-Cheap-plants-less-nitrate!-POTHOS

 

[F1 VET]

I'm a firm believer in these plants now as well. After reading some of this thread and struggling with nitrates on my 500 gallon african tank that has over 100 fish in it I decided why not try it. I run a drip system changing out 100% of the volume every week and still ran nitrates in the 60-80ppm range (api test kit). After adding a single pothos plant and allowing it to grow and get established (which it is growing at an alarming rate!) I now never go over 5 ppm nitrates, couldn't be happier

Wow that is a GIANT TANK and great results! Glad you found an effective solution! Pics would be awesome.

So how do you get your pothos established? Mine seems to be withering away. My nitrates is 10-20ppm

Did you snip the roots an inch or 2 before placing in the water? Do the roots have current? Is your light 5000-7000kelvin? It usually takes 3-4 weeks to acclimate, depending on the condition/stress of the plant possibly more or never at all. Just pull off yellow and dead leafs to focus growth on New ones. Pothos are tropical and appreciate warmth so if yours are by a cold area that will slow things down.


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[F1 VET]

I dont don't want to see any less experienced members thinking that their filtration may not be adequate for rays but the plants would help and convince themselves to get one. That would be no bueno

×1000000 and that's what I was trying to get across. I think it got blurry when I said it would still be a good idea because it's an awesome plant and if nothing else would help a smidge.

I'm very passionate about husbandry and properly caring for animals, especially the specific species I have so I can only imagine the obscene things you have seen people attempt with Ray keeping and I'm sure it makes you frustrated and disgusted.


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* http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?504763-Cheap-plants-less-nitrate!-POTHOS