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

Spiritofthesoul

Spiritofthesoul

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Dec 3, 2010
4,692
18
38
32
Singapore
I went darkside Justin. Added some water hyacinth to my sump.
Water change frequency remains the same.



Before plants


After plants


So far I can say that I'm very please with the results as I have never been able to keep nitrates below 20ppm ever since I added new fishes. Now it is only 5ppm. Will gonna get more plants and lightings, Target: 0ppm nitrate!

Thinking of duckweed, mossball and more hyacinth
 
I

ITHURTZ

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2007
1,843
33
81
Antioch IL
I dont know what kind of pics you want, I have pics from 6 months ago when i first did it, then the current root system before I replanted it into the 55"long container its in now. Im on the g/f's computer right now, I think mine killed itself so until that gets up and running i cant post much.
eleive
For 6 months I had all those plants (minus the hosta) in a 36" flower box hanging in the water being fed by the cascade 1000.

I went to menardds bought a 5$ mildew free shower curtain and built myself a 55x11x5" I beleive box. It is still fed by the cascade 1000 on 1 side and then "waterfalls" into the tank on the other side. Its pretty cool, it looks like a creek flowing through. I use a sponge filter for mech, the canister is all bio media, probably not getting used since the container is full of lava rock and the plants helping out.

Let me know what else info you want to know, hopeefully the computer will be fixed tonight. This lap top thing is a pita to type on when ur 6' 2" haha

This is the arrowheads root system after 6 months. They are over 24" long


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"waterfall" excuse the bioballs i had no where to put them, seeding them for other tanks


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I

ITHURTZ

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2007
1,843
33
81
Antioch IL
After 6 months of growing in the tank the roots look like this.

The pothos took 4.5months to get out of "shock" it didnt start growing again until 6-8weeks ago


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Silver tree, Mint plant (plucked it out of the dirt outside, washed it off and stuck it in, yes they work in wet conditions) and spider plant


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Arrowheads, grows 10x faster than the pothos could dream off, Come on look at the root system over 24" long, was only a few inches when I first put it in the aquarium


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This is what they all grow in for 6 months until it got way crowed from the crazy arrowheads


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I

ITHURTZ

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2007
1,843
33
81
Antioch IL
ANd what it looks like right now



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None of these plants died in the 6 months (minus the hosta, its a new addition as well as the mint plant)

If you want a nitrate sucker, from my opinion of the last 6 months, arrowheads, throw the pothos out they cant compare to the arrowheads growth. Pothos do come in 2nd place compared to the rest of my stock. Spider plants they dont grow fast enough, you would need way to many plants. I am more excited to see how the hostas respond. SO far its staying perking and d oing fine. If the hosta grows like it does in part sun outside, then its a no contest on who the king nitrate sucker is. Im trying to grow a maple tree in there as well, but first 3 seeds got moldy, so I am gonna try and sprout it in a wet napkin first then stick it in.

The lighting has been and still is being supplied by a 4' shop light with 2 t8 daylight bulbs on for 8.5hrs a day
 
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