OMG! I am so happy that I found this thread! probably gonna empty out my AC70 in the next few days and throw a few plants in it. My question is this, I have a 90g(long) Festae grow-out and will get a 180g in a year or so when the pair forms and gets a bit bigger. How many porthos, arrowheads, or so on is a good starting point for a 90g tank with 7 Red Terror fry and a Synodontis? I'm looking to rid my system of Nitrates and Phosphate. My current Filtration is a AC70, AC110, Xp3. Would I need both HOB's for plants? If this established well could I just set up the Xp3 with straight mechanical? Don't I still need BB to break down solid waste in the tank? If I'm reading 0's across the board what should my WC schedule be? 50% a week still? I have so many questions I just want to get this right! Also is there ANY plant that can be kept underwater in tank with Festae? I hate how people say that NO plant ever works with Cichlids EVER! I run two 3' Coralife t5 dual bulb with 10k+actinic.
Plant only filtration (why not popular in the hobby???)
- Thread starter JK47
- Start date
No one can tell you how many of what will work. You say fry, so each week more nitrates will come. You could have 2 sq ft of plants and keep the nitrate at 0, then in a month as the fish grow you end up with 10 nitrate etc. Its a shoot and trial thing, also depends on how much you feed. Feeding everyday vs 3 times a week will require much more plants. Ideally yes, if you have enough plants you avoid the cycle alll together and would only need a mech for filatration. The BB dont eliminate the solids associated with fish poo, just the "chemicals" associated with it.
As for both HOB filters, the more space you cn provide the more plants you can use. Plants can only get so big before there is no more room to provide equal lighting to all the leafs (pothos excluded as is vines out more). Jk's tank i beleive has all those super market plants for 1 guy in a tank so that kinda gives you a idea of much much plant is needed to seriously knock out nitrates in a stocked tank.
As for water changes if all is 0, a top off once a week and perhaps a 25-50% once a month to replace nutrients the plants used up in the water.
The trial and error though is fun, eventually I beleive we will be able to narrow it out to give people a idea of per inch of fish to 15 leafs = 0 nitrates kinda thing. Atleast I hope. All I know is I need alot. So I am thinking a 2/3 tier level above the tank to give me the proper amount of plants without having a 8x8 grid hanging above hahaha.
Also, if you can dont skimp out of plants, dont just buy 1 little pot (7 leafs) and expect big results. Spring for 30+ leafs if you can. I say shoot for arrow heads if you got the space (they are not small) or pothos if you can room for them to sprawl out.
As for both HOB filters, the more space you cn provide the more plants you can use. Plants can only get so big before there is no more room to provide equal lighting to all the leafs (pothos excluded as is vines out more). Jk's tank i beleive has all those super market plants for 1 guy in a tank so that kinda gives you a idea of much much plant is needed to seriously knock out nitrates in a stocked tank.
As for water changes if all is 0, a top off once a week and perhaps a 25-50% once a month to replace nutrients the plants used up in the water.
The trial and error though is fun, eventually I beleive we will be able to narrow it out to give people a idea of per inch of fish to 15 leafs = 0 nitrates kinda thing. Atleast I hope. All I know is I need alot. So I am thinking a 2/3 tier level above the tank to give me the proper amount of plants without having a 8x8 grid hanging above hahaha.
Also, if you can dont skimp out of plants, dont just buy 1 little pot (7 leafs) and expect big results. Spring for 30+ leafs if you can. I say shoot for arrow heads if you got the space (they are not small) or pothos if you can room for them to sprawl out.
I ended up putting egg crate in my fish tank, and letting my plants rest on the eggcrate with their roots in the water. Extremely cheap and easy way to setup plants. I have plants in my 40 breeder with 1 pot of pothos, 1 pot of peace lilly, and 1 pot of a mystery plant called ginger that looks like a bog plant,and my nitrates are at 0. I have 2 axolotls in there. I'd watch the hob filter for roots getting in your impeller, as I hear that's a regular problem for people keeping plants in hob filters, but I haven't had any problems in mine. The peace lillies in my tank have been amazing, and the roots are completely taking over the bottom of my tank. They also flower, I'd highly recommend peace lillies.
i like your idea.. i believe i'm going to steal it.. i have some precut pieces of pvc pipe and some spare egg crate. i can make a stand for some egg crate and put plants on top of it so the come out the top of the tank.
might even work better than drilling holes in containers to fit the holes in the top of the tank.. and i don't have to buy anything i don't already have.
yea i initially had a window planter with holes, but the roots got way too big, and I wasn't a fan of the box resting on the top of the tank. I got some pictures to show how I set it up better
i have a question.. how does adding plants affect algae already established in the tank? i still have a little bit of that fuzzy stuff on my driftwood and i have algae on the front acrylic panel so it's getting tough to watch the fish.
the ideal answer for me would be that the plants will make the other algae go away.. lol. but i actually want the truth.
the ideal answer for me would be that the plants will make the other algae go away.. lol. but i actually want the truth.
egg crate been there done that! I cant let my roots dangle in the water, as much as i would LOVE the wild look. The fish would eat them all
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I wouldnt mind trying those lillies, to compare to the arrowheads for growth. but right now I am seeing how the hosta goes. I have gotten a few new leafs so its working so far. I need to split my outlet into a dual to even out the flow, I see a few dead spots where the flow isnt what I want. Love lava rock, lets me able to see whats flowing great and whats not.
