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

[Rivermud]

hmm some reason I am not getting emails of this anymore


river that looks excellent!

I am having the same issues with notifications on this thread. Thanks, I wish the pictures could do it justice considering the verbena is over 3 feet around and the palm have more than doubled in size in the 2 months it's been in there. and is growing at an incredible rate now. All over my tilapia are between 3 and 6/7 inches now. I am going to have to reduce stock. Hopefully I can sex them soon and keep a good breeding colony, the rest I will have to find new homes for as I doubt I can maintain the system with this heavy load.

 

[Rivermud]

scrolled to the top and clicked watch thread and changed the radio button .. issue solved.

 

[Rivermud]

Update:

The Lemon Balm refused to die and came back with a vengeance. I had an issue with out fast the Dracaena fragratissima 'Massangeana' is growing. It kept growing into the light. I turned off the light for a few days and that really affected the decorative sweet potato. It's coming back however. The Philodendron has 2 massive vines.

I needed my grow bed depth a little deeper as water was wicking all the way to the top and thus I have dealt with fungal growth. Nothing that is an issue, it's just unsightly. Make sure that you don't feel heavy dampness if you place your hand on the grow media.

The tilapia are still growing like mad. It looks like I have a hybrid or I have White and Blue Nile Tilapia. The whites are definitely growing WAY faster and larger.

 

[Rivermud]

Looks like I have a catfish....

 

[Mudfrog]

So what is the most practical way to set up a plant bed? I've done roots in the tank before, but I'd like to use an external bed. I have an area around 16" x 20" to the left of my tank. I could build a small shelf to place the bed on. I'm thinking of using a small pump to pull water in, then having a drain that will gravity feed the water back to the tank.

Last time I stuck the roots directly in the water the roots would deteriorate, I'm assuming you guys trim them often? I've used plants in a AC110 as well, there wasn't enough room for the roots though.

 

[ITHURTZ]

Make the bed as deep as possible, I never trim the roots. Some plants dont like getting wet themselves, just the roots. A simple small power head can fill then bed no problem.

In my daughters 29gal I have some pothos in a hob, the roots are starting to come out of the "waterfall" now into the tank.

 

[Rivermud]

Mudfrog, what is your idea in terms of using growbed? It's sounds like you want a medialess setup.

 

[souzie]

So I just bought some Maxicrop seaweed plus iron since my pothos keep turning yellow and dying on me.

Can anyone tell me how I should be dosing Rivermud ?

 

[Racersk]

Yellow Pothos...

Too much direct light?

Too Cold?

 

[Razzo]

It will work fine. Many reefkeepers do this on their tanks with a refulgium under their tank. Macro algae takes the place of tanks.
I've even seen some setups that had two aquariums stacked. The top one was cichlids, the bottom one a high light planted tank. The top tank overflowwed into the bottom and then was pumped back up to the top.

So glad I found this thread. I have only read through the first six pages so far and skimmed the rest for pictures. I had been dreaming up this concept for a, future, 300 gallon display tank built into a wall. On the unfinished side of the wall, there would be a 125 gallon planted tank used as a nitrogen scrubber. As I learned in this thread, it really wouldn't be a "nitrogen scrubber" as the plants consume ammonia before nitrogen is created.

The planted tank would be supplemental to normal mechanical filtration (a sump) and the goal would be for the plants to consume Phosphates and greatly reduce the amount of water changes needed (and help create a healthier tank).

I'll be coming back to this thread to continue reading where I left off.

Cheers,
Russ