This is my 100 gallon mbuna I'm setting up now.
Cheap plants, less nitrate! POTHOS
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Chris, with this bio load, this sounds impossible. What test kit are you using? If it's the API master test kit, are you following the nitrate test instructions to a "T"?
We do primarily change water to manage nitrates, but not doing a WC in almost a year, while topping up the tank level is going to mess with the water's KH and GH (among other things), that eventually you're going to have a pH crash that will do in the tank.
I'm another pothos keeper and have a big one in my 75g where I keep an adult oscar and green severum. My pothos is big and constantly growing with a huge root mass. I notice zero nitrate reduction with this plant in the tank. I keep my nitrate creep below 20ppm by doing a weekly fin-level water change on this tank.
This isn't the most recent pic of my pothos. It's got 4-5 large runners that hang 2-3 feet from the back of the tank that you can't see from the pic.
I follow instructions to the t and do know what ph,gh,and kh are, how to test for them, how they work, and how to lower and raise them. I like to think I'm a little knowledgeable in fish but definitely not an expert. I've done countless hours of research in my free time to make sure my fish and zoo full of animals in my house are happy and healthy but I do appreciate the concern for my buddies water parameters.
Will update with water tests on the mbuna after fish are added, just finished cycling it and doing a 50% change. Only 3 1 and a half inch feather fins right now. Have to travel hours for fish or get them online plus wanna let the feather fins grow out a few inches before I put in the mbuna, so unfortunately it's going to be a few months before fully stocked
I figured as much, but just wanted to rule that out! I wasn't in any way trying to be a smart-azz. Over the years I've heard of similar claims and they're either not doing the test right, they're using test strips, or they never post back to back-up their claims.
As I'm sure you have, I've read of the Walstad method over the years where your plants are matched perfectly to your bio load to maintain water parameters. I don't know that I've ever heard of a fairly heavily stocked cichlid tank basically do the same thing. What ever you're doing, it's working for you!
I too have been in/out of the hobby for a long time. Since the late 1970s. I've only been doing it "right" for the past ~4yrs however, thanks to the power of the interwebs.
Yup, it's been about the same for me but internet and trial by error for years has been very beneficial to my animal husbandry. Unfortunately I am like most people and buy on impulse alot then research what I bought. Mistakes have definitely been made but fortunately I do have alot of experience building things and the patience to deal with mistakes. I have a had a crash in a planted tank about 5 years ago which prompted alot of research on pothos and Java fern and a good bit of money to fix it. Replacing a dozen adult male peacock cichlids about took me out of the hobby. Back to topic, I started doing lots of research on what minerals the plants and fish were absorbing and found alot of great stuff. I was actually looking into soon possibly making a vegetable aquaponics grow room and scrap most of the pothos on my 100 and 75 but leave it in 125 since its already pretty much self sufficient, but that's gonna be a bunch of plant research
One week update on my auxilliary refugium: I took a sweetpotato vine from a hanging basket and stuck it in there too, a few leaves died right away but the rest are doing great. New leaves on the sweetpotato and pothos and seems to be taking off!
New pic, at night with bad lighting:
A quick peek at the roots, tough since most are covered up. These were absolutely not there a week ago! New shoots all over:
New pic, at night with bad lighting:
A quick peek at the roots, tough since most are covered up. These were absolutely not there a week ago! New shoots all over:
Beer- How much water flow to figure you've got going through your aux. refugium?
The pump is 180gph, it's going up about 3 feet and filling a 7 gallon vase mostly full of lava rocks. I'm guessing about 150 to 160-ish gph at the low end. My tank is a 150 that has about 12 gallons in the sump(holds 30). Plants are really picking up! I was just gone for 4 days, and all the leaves are up and facing the window now. Should I consider a stronger pump? I'm not sure as to the amount of gph they need, but mine are doing well instantly.
ETA: it's completely silent! No gurgling.
ETA: it's completely silent! No gurgling.
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I am not sure more flow would benefit the plant. I know with my main pothos setup shown a page or 3 up in this thread, the water flow through it is literally a trickle and yet you can still nearly watch the plant grow.
The other pothos I have sits in a basket submerged in the display tank. It's roots get exposed to air for 30min or so per week during weekly water changes. I've heard people claim this will kill or stunt a plant with aquatic roots. It certainly has not killed this pothos.
The other pothos I have sits in a basket submerged in the display tank. It's roots get exposed to air for 30min or so per week during weekly water changes. I've heard people claim this will kill or stunt a plant with aquatic roots. It certainly has not killed this pothos.
The flow seems to be working well.
2 weeks in and everything is thriving:
New leaves on all the plants, even after only 1 week:
2 weeks in and everything is thriving:
New leaves on all the plants, even after only 1 week: