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

[Ickey09]

After reading through this and think , I read through a hydroponic website, great info there. What everyone is doing is very close to a hydroponic setup. I read that in order for plants to grow efficiently they need oxygen with the minerals to absorb through the roots. So I plan on adding an air-stone and to hang the plants above the water to cause a little waterfall. This should allow for constant oxygen flow (I read in the middle of the thread about someone putting air-stone under there roots, this is key I think). I have the seeds grow in paper towels right now and getting close to plant. I'll let you know how it goes.

I also realized that the LED wouldn't cut it so I got a MH off craigslist for 60 bucks last night. I think this will work over all.

 

[Oughtsix]

I have been throwing away my pothos prunings for years. 6 months ago I decided to stick some in my 110g. They have taken off and are doing great. Lots of leaves and lots of roots. Some mint trimmings are growing on top of the pothos roots. My parent potted pothos have very deep rich green leaves. My aquarium pothos have very yellowish green leaves. Even the mint leaves are very yellow. What gives? Not enough iron in the tank water?

 

[Ickey09]

As I stated above, I have read that plants need oxygen to take in nutrients in there roots. In hydroponics you're drowning the plants in water. Your tanks water might not have enough oxygen in it. As an experiment try placing an air-stone under the root system to see if this might be the cause. here is a link to why plants leaves generally turn yellow. http://houseplants.about.com/od/diseases/f/YellowLeaves.htm

 

[Draco Hugo]

whether you believe this or not, i going to share how i do it... this set up gives me good water quality even without water change in 8 weeks... just top the tank with new water to replenish whatever lost due to evaporation:
series of 3 DIY canister= prefilter, biofilter, and the plants bucket

series of two DIY canister:

and this is how my 6 liters DIY jug is filled with roots inside... taking care of all the nitrates from the waste of my overstock tank:

 

[ITHURTZ]

I have been throwing away my pothos prunings for years. 6 months ago I decided to stick some in my 110g. They have taken off and are doing great. Lots of leaves and lots of roots. Some mint trimmings are growing on top of the pothos roots. My parent potted pothos have very deep rich green leaves. My aquarium pothos have very yellowish green leaves. Even the mint leaves are very yellow. What gives? Not enough iron in the tank water?

Could be a number of things. Ill point the most obvious, light. I run dual t8 48" above mine. 8-10hrs a day. What do you run? After that fact it leads to bugs, over crowded roots etc. Google helps.




Thats a insane amount of roots.

 

[Draco Hugo]

Could be a number of things. Ill point the most obvious, light. I run dual t8 48" above mine. 8-10hrs a day. What do you run? After that fact it leads to bugs, over crowded roots etc. Google helps.




Thats a insane amount of roots.

on the 12th weeks, i am ready with the next canister with new plants and new roots, dismantle the old one and re-use all new sprout for the next cycle.... it is easy to set up the plants canister than doing water change 2X a week.. LOL!

check those new buds inside the canister, they are finding way out!

 

[Oughtsix]

I did not give enough information about my setup.

My tank is 110gallon and it sits in a window that gets light most of the day. It is an African Cichlid tank with the expensive Cichlid sand.

The Pothos hang over the rim of the tank and shade the back of the tank from the light. The tank Pothos get considerably more light than their potted parents (maybe too much light). But the shaded tank Pothos that have grown out of direct sunlight are equally yellow

I run a sump and the return stream from the sump is pointed at the roots of the Pothos. The spray bar from the canister is also pointed at the roots. This is much better than when the Pothos roots were not in the water stream and I credit this thread for the idea!

I am pretty confident that I have plenty of oxygen in the water from my wet dry sump.

When I buy fertilizer for my lawn it gets much greener if I buy fertilizer with Iron in it... I am thinking I have a element deficiency in my tank water?

My Pothos parents are potted in good quality potting soil and get Miracle grow fertilizer every few months.

I was thinking of adding some aquarium plant fertilizer to my tank even though I only have one surviving aquatic plant. (African Cichlids). I was thinking of picking up a bottle of Seachem Flourish Excel... what do you guys think?

The pothos are growing and doing their job they just look rather sickly being so yellow. The newest leaves on the mint are pretty yellow also! I also owe thanks to this thread for the mint idea!

When I google Yellow Pothos leaves the results say "over watering"... hahaha!!!!

 

[JamesF]

Excel is a carbon supplement. Your plants are out of the water, so it will do nothing for them. They get all their carbon from the air.
Try Flourish Iron. That should give them some help.

 

[Oughtsix]

Thanks! That is what I was looking for.



ED: After Googling and and reading up on Flourish Iron... I think I might try just the straight Flourish product since it includes iron if my local pet smart carries it. Thank you for the bump in the right direction.

ED2: Ugh! Straight Flourish also adds Nitrogen compounds!!!! I would guess these eventually end up as Nitrates :-( Just a guess though! Any Bio-Chem's want to chime in?

Flourish:
Total Nitrogen 0.07%
Available Phosphate ( P2O5) 0.01%
Soluble Potash 0.37%
Calcium (Ca) 0.14%
Magnesium (Mg) 0.11%
Sulfur (S) 0.2773%
Boron (B) 0.009%
Chlorine (Cl) 1.15%
Cobalt (Co) 0.0004%
Copper (Cu) 0.0001%
Iron (Fe) 0.32%
Manganese (Mn) 0.0118%
Molybdenum (Mo) 0.0009%
Sodium (Na) 0.13%
Zinc (Zn) 0.0007%

Derived from: Potassium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Copper Sulfate, Magnesium Chloride, Ferrous Gluconate, Cobalt Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Boric Acid, Sodium Molybdate, Zinc Sulfate, Protein Hydrolysates.

 

[JamesF]

That amount of nitrogen is neglible. As is the iron.