Re: Filtration
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 12:00 pm
Loachloach makes several very good points in the post of Jan 8.
Worth reading through a couple of times and seeing how you can incorporate those concepts:
Good water flow, good filtration, good oxygenation.
I have grown a lot of house plants in aquariums.
In general, the ones that grow upright have a hard time staying upright unless they are grown in some sort of media. I have used 3/8" lava. I have grown: Maranta (one of those really exotic ones that look like peacock feathers), Dracaena (several sorts), Spathiphyllum, Chlorophytum (needs really good light, I don't think it really likes wet roots) and several more.
The trailing house plants can be grown in the tank, roots in the water, stems and leaves out of the water. Then I attach them to the walls (nail into the wall and plant tie). Best results were with Epipremnum (Golden Pothos). I had several tanks around a room and the Pothos went from one tank to the next, up and down the walls, and in and out of windows onto an enclosed porch (more tanks out there). Leaves were almost a foot in diameter. Also very successful is a green form of Syngonium. It grew out of the top of a tank on a high stand, reached the floor, then grew back up as high as the tank. When I moved that tank I made a lot of smaller plants out of the Syngonium, and some of them grew so fast I have needed to trim them, too.) A smaller plant that also did well was Philodendron cordatum (It has had several botanical names over the years).
Some of the tricks to growing plants like this in an aquarium: Plants need good water circulation around their roots. I kept them really close to the filter outlet. Not directly in the stream, but in the part of the tank where the upwelling created by the flow would constantly renew the water around the roots, bringing them oxygen, and all the other elements they need. Plants growing above the tank need light. If the tank is near a bright window this might be enough, but if not, then add a grow light aimed at the plants. Note that I had the best success with plants noted as 'low light' house plants.
If you do not want to grow plants in or out of the tank to help with nutrient removal, then fewer fish might end up being the answer.
Worth reading through a couple of times and seeing how you can incorporate those concepts:
Good water flow, good filtration, good oxygenation.
I have grown a lot of house plants in aquariums.
In general, the ones that grow upright have a hard time staying upright unless they are grown in some sort of media. I have used 3/8" lava. I have grown: Maranta (one of those really exotic ones that look like peacock feathers), Dracaena (several sorts), Spathiphyllum, Chlorophytum (needs really good light, I don't think it really likes wet roots) and several more.
The trailing house plants can be grown in the tank, roots in the water, stems and leaves out of the water. Then I attach them to the walls (nail into the wall and plant tie). Best results were with Epipremnum (Golden Pothos). I had several tanks around a room and the Pothos went from one tank to the next, up and down the walls, and in and out of windows onto an enclosed porch (more tanks out there). Leaves were almost a foot in diameter. Also very successful is a green form of Syngonium. It grew out of the top of a tank on a high stand, reached the floor, then grew back up as high as the tank. When I moved that tank I made a lot of smaller plants out of the Syngonium, and some of them grew so fast I have needed to trim them, too.) A smaller plant that also did well was Philodendron cordatum (It has had several botanical names over the years).
Some of the tricks to growing plants like this in an aquarium: Plants need good water circulation around their roots. I kept them really close to the filter outlet. Not directly in the stream, but in the part of the tank where the upwelling created by the flow would constantly renew the water around the roots, bringing them oxygen, and all the other elements they need. Plants growing above the tank need light. If the tank is near a bright window this might be enough, but if not, then add a grow light aimed at the plants. Note that I had the best success with plants noted as 'low light' house plants.
If you do not want to grow plants in or out of the tank to help with nutrient removal, then fewer fish might end up being the answer.