only plants for filtration? anybody else?

i have a 55gal with no other help then the sponge out of a ac70 for filtration...the ac70 just moves the water passed my vine plant in it and the only airation other then the plant produced o2...i left the sponge in for something for the vine to grow into...

stock...

3x rahp payara
1x scomb payara
5x IT dat
1x jardini aro
1x peacock eel
1x jurunese catfish
1x spotted rapheal catfish

plants are

9x amazon sward
1x liily pad
1x wal-mart vine plant

all my fish are heathy and stable...i would post pics, but i can now when i can i will...
anyone else doing this kind of thing?

MDK500;4116678; said:

Plants can filter the water a little, but not much to sustain those monsters. Get a much bigger tank (250g+) with a lot of filtration.

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i know how big these fish get and the only ones that needs a monster tank is the jurunese and the jardinis...look at my tank setup for the fish is have this is not my first trip to the lfs...also in the wild there are no fx5s (witch i have), just plants...so explain to me how plants can filter some, but not sustain these fish...please

gazelle;4116700; said:

those are some massivre fish i'd say bigger tank but you dont have to right now it relaly depends on size of fish. i love payaras!!

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all the payaras are 6"...the jar is 5", dats are 3-4", jurnese is 7", peacock eel is 9"+...as do i on the payaras...

knifegill;4116731; said:

So, you have no ammonia, no nitrites and low nitrates?

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yes...10-20ppm on the nitrates, o nitrites, o ammonia... ph is 7.5...temp is 78-80f

i have had this set up going like this for a few months to test it out...all my dats are stable, cats, eel, payara are all healthy and eatting well and stable...i have had only an issuse with the rahps rubbing their noses due to it being a 55gal and the closterphobia kicking in, but i have seem to resolve this issuse with shinny aluminum foil as a background on 3 sides...

also i have had well above average growth rates on the dats and payaras so this is working and not just "it hasn't caught up to them yet"...around an inch a month on each...

sorry... i retested and my nitrates were different...they are 5ppm and not 10ppm like i originally posted...everything else is still at 0ppm...agian sorry

uncwnells;4116889; said:

You are correct in the wild there are no fx5s, but there are much larger bodies of water and much more complicated things going on with in the ecosystem than in your tank that is minimally planted. Also in streams and rivers there is a thing called flowing water which is constantly renewing and the water, which is what a filter does for our tanks. Yes an all planted tank is something that can be done, but it must be huge and lightly stocked. How long has your tank been up and running?

After reading your original post a little more carefully I see that you are actually filtering the tank with sponges, an ac 70 and creating artificial circulation with an airstone. I doubt the plants have anything to do with your filtration.

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this tank has been running for a year with vering stock and filtrations...the plant only way for about 4 months+-...the ONLY sponge is 3"x2"x2" and it is from the ac70...there is no airstone...tank has the ac70 with the 1 sponge it came with(no carbon, bio-balls, ceramics) and the vine plant in it, a heater, 50-60lbs of black sand, fish and plants...is also has about 4 sticks in different sizes...lakes don't have the flow you are talking about and i change the water every week to 2 weeks at 50-75% like i do on all my tanks...

i feed shrimp, night crawlers, and minnows daily...

just to clear it up the ac 70 is gutted...just has the sponge and the vine plant in it...there are no other sponges or air stones in the tank or filters...

i will try to get a camera to get avideo of the tank to prove what i am saying...