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

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
albertjavieraguilar said:
oh show's you my lack of knowledge thought it was a a support to set the plants in the tank, placed a ivy vine in my tank yesterday hope it takes root.
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it is.. lemme see if I can find a few pictures from the old tank..
hmm seems they've been deleted. At any rate, it is used as a support for plants. It is a square grid made of plastic. It's original use is as a light diffuser however we aquariasts repurpose it for all sorts of things.. I cut a length of it that went from one end of my tank to the other and was about 4 inches wide. i then fed the roots through the holes and let them sit in the water while the plant stayed out. It works, I'm not a big fan of massive dangling roots in the tank though.
 
Now i got you, I have a diffuser over my head right now under the florescent lights at work, The lattice squares are about 1/2 " by 1/2" that would work great for most plants. Thanks for your patience with me. lol
I have alot of a grassy vine in one my tanks that mostly floats along with hornwart and water lettuce. the lettuce and grass have very long roots and my baby shrimps love it but i will need to weed them out cause they are taking over.
Since the out of tank plants are all in the back the long roots will be more of a background system. no?
 
I love this thread, lots of good ideas. I'm trying to keep my tank more natural looking. Perhaps I could go rip some plants out of a pond and use your method of putting some sort of backboard up to hold them.
 
albertjavieraguilar said:
oh show's you my lack of knowledge thought it was a a support to set the plants in the tank, placed a ivy vine in my tank yesterday hope it takes root.
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What kinda of ivy? I had the ivy plant you could buy from home depot. I had it planted for 2 years then decided to drop it in the tank. I threw it out after a year because it got everywhere haha. I should have bought a trellis.

Here is when I very first started using plants in the tank. My good ol 330gallon i had to reitre. Used egg crate.



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I kept adding plants and ran out of room so I bought a 3' plastic planter box and screwed it into the back on the tank (diy plywood 330)



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This might be the only pic I took of the ivy (both sides of the tank) that I used on my 330. Imo this ivy looooves light. The more you give it the crazier it gets. I might use it again eventually, but a trellis is on that list.



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Man do I miss my 330gal, this 160 i built is nothing compared to that monster.
 
wow great pics! i see how the egg crate light diff users work. great setup you have. I don't know what kind of ivy it is just one i keep in partial sunlight at work. In my tank it will be very dark so i am hoping it grows a little so it can get to more light
 
If ur short on light, put a table/floor lamp by it. FOr $10 at wally mart or homedepot u can pick up a shop light. Diy is limitless. I was once running bathroom 3-5bulb vanity lights with spiral bulbs and reflectors from 1000bulbs.com Right now the 3 bulb is over 3 palm trees in the kitchen to keep them alive over winter.
 
i got a shop light in my bathroom because the fan comes on with the overhead light an i hate the noise lol i will but a lamp near the plants and am considering moving the tank closer to the patio door (it faces north but would atleast get some natural light. i went to home depot today and bought a wire galvanize mesh for $2 to but the pants on it seems to be working good if it doesn't . rust bad
 
This is a fascinating thread. I have always known that plants would eat the nitrates but didn't know they would work directly on the ammonia.... and I am still not totally sure that is what you are all saying.

Has anyone done any work on its effectiveness with different water types, hard and alkaline against soft and acid ?
 
What dont you understand in the 33 pages haha.

Most plants will do fine in all water types if fish can live in it. I have well water, but with a water softener. Previous house i was on public water. No difference between growth plant wise.
 
Clown House said:
This is a fascinating thread. I have always known that plants would eat the nitrates but didn't know they would work directly on the ammonia.... and I am still not totally sure that is what you are all saying.

Has anyone done any work on its effectiveness with different water types, hard and alkaline against soft and acid ?
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They don't, the bio-media in the system does. The plants work as a filter removing nitrates. Imagine it as if it were a regular trickle filter; first you have waste from feeding, poop, etc., that gets introduced to the tank. A trickle filter first catches the solids with a mat or sock or some other mechanical filter. The water then continues on down through the biomedia, generally this is kept as a wet/dry area but doesn't have to be as all surfaces in the system can grow bacteria. These bacteria break down the ammonia and nitrites into nitrates. These nitrates stay in your system unless removed with a denitrator, water change, or plants. This is the reason why plants should be more popular in the hobby.

Imagine setting up a place to grow your own food in you house that is both beautiful and makes your fish keeping experience more enjoyable! There are limitless applications and designs. I know of people using their normal house plants as the filters with multiple lines secretly running to each of them. Some people are growing TREES.. not lying, they are. I'd like to grow beautiful flowers and some of my favorite veggies. I can do all of this and raise happier healthier fish and change my maintenance from water changes and filter washing/replacing to picking flowers and harvesting crops and occasionally topping the water off.
 
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