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

[aclockworkorange]

I think most of MFK is shy towards anything that makes the tank look nice. Too many ugly bare tanks here

Thanks for the info, I'll have to toss around the idea of adding some plants. My problem will be sunlight, since the tank won't be close to a window. I'd have to rely on the suspended light fixture providing enough light for the plants.

What makes pothos great house plants is that they need hardly any light at all to live. I'd bet cash money your LEDs would do just fine with them!

 

[GhostShrimpMan]

I think most of MFK is shy towards anything that makes the tank look nice. Too many ugly bare tanks here

Horrid bare-bottom tanks. Don't even get me started on tile..

 

[Zfishies]

honestly i respect you man! people thought i was crazy running my current pond just off a couple pond plants an lilys for 2 Florida gars.... its working out great!! prefect water (tested+lots of flow). I DID have filtes but am not using them atm as am doing major renovations for the pond. So i used a plant only idea and packed away the filters.

 

[JK47]

honestly i respect you man! people thought i was crazy running my current pond just off a couple pond plants an lilys for 2 Florida gars.... its working out great!! prefect water (tested+lots of flow). I DID have filtes but am not using them atm as am doing major renovations for the pond. So i used a plant only idea and packed away the filters.

Thanks Adam! My father used nothing but plants on his ponds for years and had the same results you mention.

 

[js302]

Im all for plants. i think they're a great addition and i'm loving what your doing.
For a light or moderate bioload they can undoubtedly work wonders.

For the guys with aro's tig's rtc's or even large cichlids etc, and those regularly feeding live or frozen, i think u'll need a helluva lot of plants to eat up that nitrogenous waste.

I also think plants wont be as fast at securing nitrogenous waste as a tank turning over 3x or 4x with a healthy aerated bb colony.

With all the transpiration going on, I'd also think that u'd need to top off the tank pretty often and may often get than annoying gap between the hood and the water level.
U know the one!

Plants will be a great addition to many tanks, but unless ur gonna have a massive planted sump, u wont be able to rely on them for sole filtration.

Imagine feeding the potted pothos plant (however many u may have) silversides, mussels and massivore and expecting them to absorb all that (a crude comparison i know) ?!?!

 

[JamesF]

A heavily planted high light tank will have no problems keeping up with almost any bioload you can throw at it. You'll actually have to add large amounts of nitrates for the plants on top of what the fish produce.
A planted tank is actually never cycled as there is little nitrifying bacteria present. The plants beat them to it.
Another thing people seem to misunderstand is where the ammonia in a tank comes from. Very little comes from fish waste via their food. It mostly comes from their breathing.

 

[Zfishies]

^Thus heavily stock your tanks

 

[TheRussian]

cant believe you are groing any plants with that led it has like 6 watts for a ten gallon

 

[erk419]

I got a question, would the same setup work with the same effects if you had the plants in a sump instead of the main tank?

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[JamesF]

I got a question, would the same setup work with the same effects if you had the plants in a sump instead of the main tank?

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com

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.