Kogo's fresh water refugium project
- Thread starter Kogo
- Start date
I wonder how significantly the humidity affects the curring, the baffles feel solid now, but waiting longer couldn't hurt.
I just finished reading over the restricted water plants list for Florida, and water lettuce was on the list, so I guess i just decided to use hornwart.
The water test was a success. I filled the sump from one side, so that all baffles would have to stand up to maximum water pressure and nothing budged
next, I added a handful of hornwart to see how it would settle in the water flow.
here I used 2 X Rio 2100's rated at 600+ GPH each. The final display will have two Mag 9.5's, but with the rise of the plumbing the flow should be comparable.
as you can see from the next picture the plants are almost falling over the last baffle so I needed some sort of strainer.
I want to keep the costs from getting crazy so I used something I had on hand. What I found was an old piece of plastic from the backside of a glass top. I drilled a honeycomb pattern in the plastic.
being made for glass tops, the piece fit perfectly on the glass baffle
Ill let in run over night, to see how it holds up.
next, I added a handful of hornwart to see how it would settle in the water flow.
here I used 2 X Rio 2100's rated at 600+ GPH each. The final display will have two Mag 9.5's, but with the rise of the plumbing the flow should be comparable.
as you can see from the next picture the plants are almost falling over the last baffle so I needed some sort of strainer.
I want to keep the costs from getting crazy so I used something I had on hand. What I found was an old piece of plastic from the backside of a glass top. I drilled a honeycomb pattern in the plastic.
being made for glass tops, the piece fit perfectly on the glass baffle
Ill let in run over night, to see how it holds up.
Before I found mangroves, I had tried floating hornwort in my sump. It grew excellent even under regular florescent lighting. What I didn't like was how it would shed "leaves" and they would end up in the tank floating around looking horrible. You may not have the same problem though.
Aside from that, I like what you've got going so far. Keep us updated.
Aside from that, I like what you've got going so far. Keep us updated.
thanks terd,
The hornwart castoff is a big concern for me and the only reason I hesitated to use it.
The hornwart castoff is a big concern for me and the only reason I hesitated to use it.
I agree with Joe. Anacharis would be a better choice.Dr Joe;1936505; said:Good start.
You didn't specify where this had to fit, so...
You need to pre-filter the incoming water or detritus buildup will be the downfall of the filter (the plants don't need it). Filter socks will work in your system without modification.
Place Anacharis in the refugium waterand place a light on the side of the tank and float water lettuce and/or water hyacinth with a light on top. Use screw-in compact fluorescents in a circular clamp light fixture to limit the area exposed to limit algae growth.
Depending on the water flow rate the floater's roots will filter most particulates before they hit the pump.
Dr Joe
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watch out for the possibility of parasites in the pond plants...desinfect them..
keep us posted, please
keep us posted, please
