Plant only filtration (why not popular in the hobby???)
- Thread starter JK47
- Start date
Has anyone ever determined the # of plants/bamboo to reach a result of very low nitrates ? You would think if plants make such a great filtration that it would be a top study/practice. I'm unexperienced with plants but the ones I tried out didn't do squat. I remember seeing a video where a guy had a bucket of like 100's of bamboo only and the nitrates were zero. Guess you need a ton of plants to make it work, is it worth it ?
The problem is, different setups will see the plants growing faster or slower. You can only really say that plant X will remove so much under ideal conditions. If you don't have enough light, not enough/too much water flow, or are missing a certain nutrient, your plants growth will slow. There's not a standard growth rate.
I personally just plant all my tanks. I have to add nitrates on a daily basis to keep the plants growing, otherwise they strip it right out and start to suffer. The same goes for phosphates, calcium, iron and several other nutrients.
I personally just plant all my tanks. I have to add nitrates on a daily basis to keep the plants growing, otherwise they strip it right out and start to suffer. The same goes for phosphates, calcium, iron and several other nutrients.
Has anyone here considered growing Loofahs? I just started some seeds so that I can use the loofahs for either grow media or something to place in my filter for bacteria to colonize on. I haven't heard to much about it being used as far as Aquaria matters.
@rivermud. why did you decide to go with a fill and drain instead of continuous flow. any benefits to either or that you care to share?
@rivermud. why did you decide to go with a fill and drain instead of continuous flow. any benefits to either or that you care to share?
The people with the answers closest to what you are looking for are involved in aquaponics. If you had plants growing in your tank they were definitely doing more than squat. I can grow plants in a 4'x4' grow bed with my 100 gallon and not stress the system greatly. It's all a matter of bio load vs bio-media and plants. In aquaponics they measure the growbed in litres and measure load by calculating the tank volume vs the total grow area. In something as small as household aquaria the formula doesn't generally fit. However, with most of us owning monster tanks we could theoretically work an indoor vermiponic/aquaponis setup very similar to whats being done very successfully by many people.
I don't think loofahs would be a good grow medium. The reason to use good size (larger than pea) gravel, expanded clay, lava rock, etc. is because the media allows for easy release of roots while still providing a solid anchor for the plant itself. I don't think loofahs would be solid and steady enough for the plants and the plants roots would entangle in the loofah making it impossible to remove without removing your loofahs and thus damaging your bacteria colony.
I chose the fill/drain setup because it offers the best oxygenation for the bacteria on my expanding clay. As the water drains (quite rapidly I must add) oxygen gets pulled down into the grow medium. The beneficial bacteria thrive in this high oxygen environment. The roots of the plants do as well. Nothing in my system ever dries out, it just gets flooded then drained and re-filled before it dries out. IMO this is a better environment for fish as a whole; since my focus is on fish rather than plants I would rather give the fish the best possible scenario. This isn't to say constant flow systems don't work they just aren't as efficient and in certain situations can run on the razors edge of safety. Generally here we won't ever run that razors edge because we aren't dealing with the heavy bio loads of aquaponics, also in AP they have a whole lot more media, filtration(plants) and volume overall as compared to what we do. Both setups work, I just went with efficiency for my fish.
I was looking around today, and well...has anyone considered doing this?
[video=youtube_share;t6V6sXqNWRs]http://youtu.be/t6V6sXqNWRs[/video]
Here's how it's done:
[video=youtube_share;EkVj6QN0MCY]http://youtu.be/EkVj6QN0MCY[/video]
Being that it goes up into a soaker hose, I'm going to say you'd likely want some form of prefilter on the pump (so you don't clog the hose over time)...but you can have it all collect into a basic tray above the tank...and siphon into the tank like normal. It would maximize the amount of plants you could use (ITHURTZ, I'm lookin' at you!). Especially on limited space. I figure you could mount it up over the tank on chains into the ceiling beams? Just a wild idea I had.
Thoughts?
*note: I had also noticed that some people were using that material (in rolls) that's used to make hanging baskets...So felt isn't the only thing you could use.*
[video=youtube_share;t6V6sXqNWRs]http://youtu.be/t6V6sXqNWRs[/video]
Here's how it's done:
[video=youtube_share;EkVj6QN0MCY]http://youtu.be/EkVj6QN0MCY[/video]
Being that it goes up into a soaker hose, I'm going to say you'd likely want some form of prefilter on the pump (so you don't clog the hose over time)...but you can have it all collect into a basic tray above the tank...and siphon into the tank like normal. It would maximize the amount of plants you could use (ITHURTZ, I'm lookin' at you!). Especially on limited space. I figure you could mount it up over the tank on chains into the ceiling beams? Just a wild idea I had.
Thoughts?
*note: I had also noticed that some people were using that material (in rolls) that's used to make hanging baskets...So felt isn't the only thing you could use.*
