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

[JamesF]

Don't forget that nitrate is just a guidline for most people to keep water healthy. There are many substances that build up in tanks that are not removed by plants at all. No water changes means they just continue to build. Hormones are one such substance. This can lead to the fish being stunted, even though your nitrates are zero.
But IMO, all tanks should have plants anyway, just for the nitrogen removal and the looks.

 

[JK47]

I agree. It's an extremely light bioload. I'd be curious to see a 'before and after' experiment, setting something like this on an established tank with a lot of fish, and then watching the nitrate levels over the next few weeks.

And I've been thinking of doing something similar in my discus tank. Since I have vertical pieces of driftwood, I was considering them attaching them to the wood up top, and let the roots hang in the tank. What do you think about that?

I don't consider it a light bioload, it's a 7" fish in a 10 gallon (shame on me) I think that is a killer idea on the test though. I am converting over my 120 gallon and could use it to test. You want in with your dicus tank? Between the two of us I would think we could get some good real world results for the community to share. The wood out of the water with roots exposed is exactly how this tank started (pothos only), it actually looks really cool. Like the edge of a riverbank. I just went a little crazy lolz..

I'd actually say that's a decent bioload for a ten gallon. Axolotl's get pretty big. If he's got no nitrates in there I'd say plants are doing the job.

^ agreed.

Don't forget that nitrate is just a guidline for most people to keep water healthy. There are many substances that build up in tanks that are not removed by plants at all. No water changes means they just continue to build. Hormones are one such substance. This can lead to the fish being stunted, even though your nitrates are zero.
But IMO, all tanks should have plants anyway, just for the nitrogen removal and the looks.

Yeah I should probably be clear if I wasn't above, this was not to avoid WC's, just to keep water cleaner between them. A 10 gallon can swing pretty hard so I was trying to avoid that.

 

[jcardona1]

I don't consider it a light bioload, it's a 7" fish in a 10 gallon (shame on me) I think that is a killer idea on the test though. I am converting over my 120 gallon and could use it to test. You want in with your dicus tank? Between the two of us I would think we could get some good real world results for the community to share. The wood out of the water with roots exposed is exactly how this tank started (pothos only), it actually looks really cool. Like the edge of a riverbank. I just went a little crazy lolz..



^ agreed.

What's the full name of this plant? I'm new to riparium plants, so I don't know what would grow and wouldn't grow in a setup like this...

 

[ceeej31]

I'm pretty sure it's a peace lily.
I think it's a pretty good idea, I'm trying it out on a ten gallon right now.

 

[GhostShrimpMan]

I like the look. Jungly

I'd do it also, but my anacharis is doing well at the moment. Need to find myself some duckweed somewhere.

 

[JamesF]

Spathiphyllum. The peace lily. The bane of all betta lovers as they saw their beloved fish sold under one of these plants in a little cup with the directions "the fish will eat off the roots so you don't have to feed them".
There have been some days in this hobby.

 

[JK47]

What's the full name of this plant? I'm new to riparium plants, so I don't know what would grow and wouldn't grow in a setup like this...

I am not sure, I PM Hydrphyte and see if he can tell me what I have again, I deleted the PM. I literally took get well plants I got back in July and stuffed them in the tank lol.. The main species in the 10 gallon flowers with the below white flowers about once a month or so.



This is where I am at on the 120 gallon. I just added the large species last week. I need to test the water perams on that tank and see where I am starting at and then we can figure out how we wanna go about putting it to the test in a thread. I can move all of the plants to another tank to get a non-plant baseline. It's stocked pretty well with SA cichlids/FX5.

Spathiphyllum. The peace lily. The bane of all betta lovers as they saw their beloved fish sold under one of these plants in a little cup with the directions "the fish will eat off the roots so you don't have to feed them".
There have been some days in this hobby.

Your the man James! I could not remember but that is what Hydrphyte said it was many many PM's ago. Thanks bro!

 

[aclockworkorange]

Yeah I get made fun of by clockwork for the top of the tank too haha! Well maybe I can just push the stems behind the blinds? They get sun and I don't see them. Everybody wins! Yeah it's just the Axolotl in there. Its a coldwater tank.

I'm not saying this sort of setup couldn't look great, but with you 10 gallon in particular the awkward part of it for me is how random and segmented it looks with big plants just stuck behind the background. I love the scape and BG and everything, but the GIANT plants growing out the back (hey, they are healthy at least!) reminds me of that giant plant in Little Shop of Horrors.

I agree. It's an extremely light bioload. I'd be curious to see a 'before and after' experiment, setting something like this on an established tank with a lot of fish, and then watching the nitrate levels over the next few weeks.

It's really not that light IMO. That axie is pretty big and I've seen his huge turds in person.

And I've been thinking of doing something similar in my discus tank. Since I have vertical pieces of driftwood, I was considering them attaching them to the wood up top, and let the roots hang in the tank. What do you think about that?

Now THERE is an idea! I think that has a lot of potential, but you are moving into paludarium or vivarium territory a bit. Why people don't have more interest in either of those types of tank setups is beyond me... I'm setting up my new 41 gallon to be a paludarium.

What's the full name of this plant? I'm new to riparium plants, so I don't know what would grow and wouldn't grow in a setup like this...

Justin just uses random house plants you can find at just about anywhere that sells plants... The main one he uses that would work for the application you mentioned is called pothos, and there are a few different species I think, but in general they should all work.



I think even more than your original question Justin of why people don't use this setup is why MFK seems to be plant shy in general? People seem to think plants are overly complicated or something, when they really aren't. Out of everyone who regularly posts, I can only think of maybe a dozen people I know of that run dedicated plant setup tanks with co2 and stuff.
I see guys that can plumb crazy huge filtration systems, build their own stands, talk about water chemistry and stuff for days, but when it comes to keeping a couple plants alive it's like a total mystery to them naughty.

I think the answer is that people are a bit hesitant to get involved with something that they don't know a lot about and don't think they really need. Kinda the same reason I haven't put solar panels on my house... You say there's basically cheap efficient filtration available from house plants... There's free energy from the sun (once you got your panels)! Am I going to research and install them? Probably not. It's easier to just pay my power bill, and I imagine that's a bit of the same attitude people have towards this... Just easier to keep doing what they're used to with big water changes and stuff.

Sorry for the derail, I didn't sleep well last night.

 

[jcardona1]

why MFK seems to be plant shy in general?

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.

 

[JK47]

I'm not saying this sort of setup couldn't look great, but with you 10 gallon in particular the awkward part of it for me is how random and segmented it looks with big plants just stuck behind the background. I love the scape and BG and everything, but the GIANT plants growing out the back (hey, they are healthy at least!) reminds me of that giant plant in Little Shop of Horrors.



It's really not that light IMO. That axie is pretty big and I've seen his huge turds in person.



Now THERE is an idea! I think that has a lot of potential, but you are moving into paludarium or vivarium territory a bit. Why people don't have more interest in either of those types of tank setups is beyond me... I'm setting up my new 41 gallon to be a paludarium.



Justin just uses random house plants you can find at just about anywhere that sells plants... The main one he uses that would work for the application you mentioned is called pothos, and there are a few different species I think, but in general they should all work.



I think even more than your original question Justin of why people don't use this setup is why MFK seems to be plant shy in general? People seem to think plants are overly complicated or something, when they really aren't. Out of everyone who regularly posts, I can only think of maybe a dozen people I know of that run dedicated plant setup tanks with co2 and stuff.
I see guys that can plumb crazy huge filtration systems, build their own stands, talk about water chemistry and stuff for days, but when it comes to keeping a couple plants alive it's like a total mystery to them naughty.

I think the answer is that people are a bit hesitant to get involved with something that they don't know a lot about and don't think they really need. Kinda the same reason I haven't put solar panels on my house... You say there's basically cheap efficient filtration available from house plants... There's free energy from the sun (once you got your panels)! Am I going to research and install them? Probably not. It's easier to just pay my power bill, and I imagine that's a bit of the same attitude people have towards this... Just easier to keep doing what they're used to with big water changes and stuff.

Sorry for the derail, I didn't sleep well last night.

I feel like your trying to tell me I am bad at plants...? What your saying makes total sense to me. I think the word "plant" here is a little different in this application than what most of us are used to. To me, plants go underwater. The effort and investment in enough plants (submerged) to mimic the same results I am getting is a little (lots) scary to me. But this is as easy as whiping your butt to get going..

Rinse, dunk go have beer.. <

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.

I am 90% sure every species I have would do fine on ambient (sp) light from the room, direct sunlight not being very important.