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

[GhostShrimpMan]

Are they arrow plants or something?

Add cabbage to the list of good emergent aquarium/riparium plants. Got one in my 55g and it's going nuts and getting big.

TBH I have no idea what species they are but the leaf is arrow-shaped.

Cabbage sounds cool, how do you plant it? Just toss it in the aquarium?

 

[calioutlaw1a]

The bulk of your plants are Spathiphyllum or commonly called "Peace Lily."

The green and white leaved plant is a Dieffenbachia or commonly called "Dumb Cane." This is the one that could cause a major upset in your tank and kill your aquatic life. If any part of the plant is scratched, broken or decaying, the plant has a liquid like sap that is toxic to animals, children and a skin irritant.

Are you serious? I'll gut it out of there tonight, not willing to risk it. You sound knowledgable, what resources do you use to learn what plants can cause issues or not? Any good links or books? Thanks so much for your post.

This is not true. Both of these plants contain calcium oxalate crystals that are basically little needles that can cause mild oral and gastrointestinal irritation in most cases. Pothos, the popular house ivy plant that many members have in their tanks, also contains these calcium oxalate crystals.
These crystals cause physical irritation upon ingestion of the roots, stems, or leaves, but unless your fish (or any animal for that matter) are consuming large amounts of these plants there shouldn't be any issues. As mentioned, tons of people have pothos in their tanks and there doesn't seem to be any issues. Although it is possible to have a problem if these are broken or scratched releasing some of these crystals, you would need to really smash them up before enough would be released to see skin irritation.

Here are some nice online resources for plant toxicology:

ASPCA's website

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's Website

USDA's Website
*
Canadian Poisonous Plants Website


As far as texts go, I'm not too familiar with laymen texts, but [FONT=&quot]A Guide to Plant Poisoning of Animals in North America[/FONT] by Anthony Knight and Richard Walter is a nice reference.

 

[JK47]

This is not true. Both of these plants contain calcium oxalate crystals that are basically little needles that can cause mild oral and gastrointestinal irritation in most cases. Pothos, the popular house ivy plant that many members have in their tanks, also contains these calcium oxalate crystals.
These crystals cause physical irritation upon ingestion of the roots, stems, or leaves, but unless your fish (or any animal for that matter) are consuming large amounts of these plants there shouldn't be any issues. As mentioned, tons of people have pothos in their tanks and there doesn't seem to be any issues. Although it is possible to have a problem if these are broken or scratched releasing some of these crystals, you would need to really smash them up before enough would be released to see skin irritation.

Here are some nice online resources for plant toxicology:

ASPCA's website

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's Website

USDA's Website
*
Canadian Poisonous Plants Website


As far as texts go, I'm not too familiar with laymen texts, but [FONT=&quot]A Guide to Plant Poisoning of Animals in North America[/FONT] by Anthony Knight and Richard Walter is a nice reference.

Not that is a welcome post, thanks man. I respect people who can back things up/take the time to provide reference to their comments. I will read through for sure, thanks again! More to come on this tank(s) soon. Been working on them pretty hard behind the scenes.

 

[calioutlaw1a]

Not that is a welcome post, thanks man. I respect people who can back things up/take the time to provide reference to their comments. I will read through for sure, thanks again! More to come on this tank(s) soon. Been working on them pretty hard behind the scenes.

No problem, you're welcome!

 

[knifegill]

Cabbage sounds cool, how do you plant it? Just toss it in the aquarium?

The cabbage had already been started in a little soil pot. I rinsed off the soil and put it in water. Once it grew roots in the water I moved into a shower caddy in my tank. It's really taking off now. Roots grow an inch per day.

 

[Anubisscott]

Damn it, one side of my tank has some of those Dieffenbachia I beleive. Guess I better remove them. Checked the other two but nothing.

Figured I would put these in as they were not doing well due to the soil my wife used to pot them. Saw this thread and figured it was worth a shot. So far no issues, but don't want to take any chances. Put one on each side of my Aquatec60's(2 plants per HOB) and can't fit the filter pads in with them in there.

 

[calioutlaw1a]

Damn it, one side of my tank has some of those Dieffenbachia I beleive. Guess I better remove them. Checked the other two but nothing.

Figured I would put these in as they were not doing well due to the soil my wife used to pot them. Saw this thread and figured it was worth a shot. So far no issues, but don't want to take any chances. Put one on each side of my Aquatec60's(2 plants per HOB) and can't fit the filter pads in with them in there.

Refer to my post above. They are fine.

 

[Anubisscott]

Refer to my post above. They are fine.

Yeah, but not going to take any chances. Got my filtration pads to fit, but I am still going to replace them.

 

[treldib]

Would this work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pothos-Basket-F...454?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f09429656

 

[carsona246]

just go to krogers, or walmart, or home depot and buy a pot. You'll save some cash on shipping. I think the pot I bought was less than 8 bucks and there were no shipping charges