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

[souzie]

Are all of your new leaves turning Yellow or is old growth turning yellow? The distinction is important because certain deficiencies look similar but occur differently. For example, iron deficiency shows on new growth. Magnesium on old growth.

The new leaves just dry up before they die...no yellowing. See the areas where I circled

 

[Rivermud]

What kind of fish stocking do you have going on? One issue could be lack of nitrates, your plant might simply be starving. Otherwise if thats not the case, Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed + Iron should address most any deficiencies you are having.

 

[Stang725]

I need to post my pothos pics, I have a massive pothos plant in my 70G sump under my 8' 240G. Its basically a dense canopy over my sump, prob 6' x 2' in terms of canopy area from a single plant

I grow it under a 4' buildmyled plant light for nitrate reduction and have a dedicated dual air pump with stones under the roots. I was waiting til it grew out some more before I started to really start tracking my nitrate levels for how well it is doing in terms of filtration.

I don't have any issues with nutrient deficiency yet in terms of leaves yellowing or dying, but I did start it out with some superthrive for getting the roots to accept being submerged when I was cycling the tank and added some planted tank nutrient supplements for the 1st couple weeks. Since I have put livestock in there a month ago, I haven't put anything in there for the plant and have been doing 50-70G W/C every week. I use softened and filtered water for my tank, so prob getting enough nutrients from the tap water and decaying organics.

I'm hoping the electricity going to that light is worth the nitrate reduction and I will do some calculations for canopy area vs water volume vs W/C amount vs bioloading vs nitrate levels soon...

Anyone have suggestions for accurate and cheap (or expensive and really good) nitrate testing for this?

 

[Pomatomus]

The denitrification occurs at the roots because they are what is used to feed the plant itself. Nitrogen is the base chemical used for plant growth, the absences of it and plants do not grow. The bacteria work in a symbiotic relationship with the plant.

"The symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria invade the root hairs of host plants, where they multiply and stimulate formation of root nodules, enlargements of plant cells and bacteria in intimate association. Within the nodules the bacteria convert free nitrogen toammonia, which the host plant utilizes for its development. To ensure sufficient nodule formation and optimum growth of legumes (e.g., alfalfa, beans, clovers, peas, soybeans), seeds are usually inoculated with commercial cultures of appropriate Rhizobium species, especially in soils poor or lacking in the required bacterium."

I don't think you understand what I was saying. a mass balance takes the amount of nitrogen in the plants and compares it to the input. there was very little nitrogen in the plants themselves, meaning that much of it was gassed of as N2 from the denitrifying bacteria. Also, most plants are not nitrogen fixers like legumes. Those bacteria put the nitrogen into the soil itself, fixing it for other plants. that's why people use legumes for crop rotation. the process you are describing is not what is happening here. we use denitrification systems at work, where we pump water and molasses into an anoxic chamber. the result is water with very little nitrogen coming out. we have no plants in these systems. the rhizosphere simply provides a substrate for denitrifying bacteria, and little is taken into the plant itself. the OP has fine substrate, which provides anoxic zones. it's the same reason people use "deep sand beds" in reef aquariums

 

[souzie]

What kind of fish stocking do you have going on? One issue could be lack of nitrates, your plant might simply be starving. Otherwise if thats not the case, Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed + Iron should address most any deficiencies you are having.

Oh my...I think that may be the case.

I have 5 RBP's...about 5 inches in a 120g. The nitrates are about 20ppm when I do my weekly 70% WC.

That just totally defeats my purpose of keeping pothos in the first place. I will do less WC and see how it goes.

Thanks for your help!!

 

[Rivermud]

I don't think you understand what I was saying. a mass balance takes the amount of nitrogen in the plants and compares it to the input. there was very little nitrogen in the plants themselves, meaning that much of it was gassed of as N2 from the denitrifying bacteria. Also, most plants are not nitrogen fixers like legumes. Those bacteria put the nitrogen into the soil itself, fixing it for other plants. that's why people use legumes for crop rotation. the process you are describing is not what is happening here. we use denitrification systems at work, where we pump water and molasses into an anoxic chamber. the result is water with very little nitrogen coming out. we have no plants in these systems. the rhizosphere simply provides a substrate for denitrifying bacteria, and little is taken into the plant itself. the OP has fine substrate, which provides anoxic zones. it's the same reason people use "deep sand beds" in reef aquariums

I understand what you are talking about. I'm thinking that a better description of the process can be found here: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4021e/i4021e05.pdf

 

[Pomatomus]

I understand what you are talking about. I'm thinking that a better description of the process can be found here: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4021e/i4021e05.pdf

Yes that is a good description. Nitrifying bacteria (converting ammonia and nitrite into nitrate) provide food for plants and raise your nitrate. The denitrifying bacteria (they call "unwanted") remove nitrates, thus removing food for the plants at a high rate.

The nitrifying bacteria need oxygen and water flow. Denitrifying bacteria need water exchange with a lack of oxygen. Both reside on the surfaces in aquatic ecosystems.

 

[raubiy]

Du you like my jungle ?

 

[Rivermud]

Not too shabby.

 

[ITHURTZ]

hmm some reason I am not getting emails of this anymore


river that looks excellent!