Well,
Been rolling this idea around for a few months and finally convinced my girlfriend to let me have her 40G-Breeder tank to test my freshwater plant refugium.
Little history
Im a huge fan of aquatic life, more so about plants, corals and inverts than I ever will be with fish. There are a few fish I adore such as my Silver Aro and TSN and oddball bichirs, but my real facination is with plant life, corals and little critters (crustaceans, cephalopods, molluscs etc.). So when i saw a few articles in magazines about plants being used as filtration for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, phosphates, basically anything you don't want in your water I had a series of emotions first
then 
then 
then 
then 
.
I have been working my way up with bigger and bigger tanks for my silver and TSN currently at a 125 and designing my 500 gal amazonian biome for building to begin in the next year after I transfer to my final university for my last degree...hopefully.
Back to present
I have been working on the refugium for a couple days now and this is a progression of what I have gotten so far.
The 40Gal Breeder tank sitting there bone dry and having no use except for hoggin' up good desk space for a laptop or "fiddling with computer parts" station.
The tank with the cut pieces of plexiglass
The materials I am using on the tank
The project halfway through the building process
A little idea I have for catching large matter coming through the overflow piping
And finally the tank with the walls up
So there you have the tank, but now the real work begins.
Where what and how many plants to use in this tank?
Of course the red/black mangroves are the first thing anyone thinks of when considering filtration as they THRIVE on nitr*tes. But I am not really ready to commit to a full on bush/tree with an exponential growth rate for a first time freshwater refugium.
So what else is there?
#1 Plant - Hornwort - Fast growing, floating and non rooted plant. Easily managable, however, it is floating...which means it can easily disrupt flow of water to the return pumps...countering this is with this:
Obviously I am missing the holes to allow water through but this came with a glass top I had to purchase after i stepped on the glass top a previous tank came with. So it easily fits on the plexiglass with a snug fit to ensure it wont float away even with the force of the horwort pushing on it.
Any of the sword family of plants, moss balls, black willow, najas grass, anacharis and so on. The list is endless, I actually will have to talk to the botany prof at the Univeristy here to find out more about the anatomy of certain plants that the aquarium would benefit most from.
How I have it planned now is to have this running on the 125 with the Silver and TSN with minimal plants in the tank itself and have all the action going through the refugium. with dual overflow tubes -> down into the refugium where the water is first passed over the gutter guard I have pictured to cut down the amount of floating food that is caught in the overflow box that the Aro cannot get to in time, down into bioballs, then through the center of the filtration, the plants with small FW clams, ghost shrimp, and other inverts that will not attack the plants or each other to further help the amount of debris that passes through. Possibly an OTB skimmer to help out. The into the return housing and up and out into the tank.
So after that long winded sentence I would like to hear the opinions of the forum. Plants or other DIY setups that you have come across on the net or in person, or just to laugh at me. Whichever way it goes, I'd like some sort of feedback.
Been rolling this idea around for a few months and finally convinced my girlfriend to let me have her 40G-Breeder tank to test my freshwater plant refugium.
Little history
Im a huge fan of aquatic life, more so about plants, corals and inverts than I ever will be with fish. There are a few fish I adore such as my Silver Aro and TSN and oddball bichirs, but my real facination is with plant life, corals and little critters (crustaceans, cephalopods, molluscs etc.). So when i saw a few articles in magazines about plants being used as filtration for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, phosphates, basically anything you don't want in your water I had a series of emotions first
then then then then . I have been working my way up with bigger and bigger tanks for my silver and TSN currently at a 125 and designing my 500 gal amazonian biome for building to begin in the next year after I transfer to my final university for my last degree...hopefully.
Back to present
I have been working on the refugium for a couple days now and this is a progression of what I have gotten so far.
The 40Gal Breeder tank sitting there bone dry and having no use except for hoggin' up good desk space for a laptop or "fiddling with computer parts" station.
The tank with the cut pieces of plexiglass
The materials I am using on the tank
The project halfway through the building process
A little idea I have for catching large matter coming through the overflow piping
And finally the tank with the walls up
So there you have the tank, but now the real work begins.
Where what and how many plants to use in this tank?
Of course the red/black mangroves are the first thing anyone thinks of when considering filtration as they THRIVE on nitr*tes. But I am not really ready to commit to a full on bush/tree with an exponential growth rate for a first time freshwater refugium.
So what else is there?
#1 Plant - Hornwort - Fast growing, floating and non rooted plant. Easily managable, however, it is floating...which means it can easily disrupt flow of water to the return pumps...countering this is with this:
Obviously I am missing the holes to allow water through but this came with a glass top I had to purchase after i stepped on the glass top a previous tank came with. So it easily fits on the plexiglass with a snug fit to ensure it wont float away even with the force of the horwort pushing on it.
Any of the sword family of plants, moss balls, black willow, najas grass, anacharis and so on. The list is endless, I actually will have to talk to the botany prof at the Univeristy here to find out more about the anatomy of certain plants that the aquarium would benefit most from.
How I have it planned now is to have this running on the 125 with the Silver and TSN with minimal plants in the tank itself and have all the action going through the refugium. with dual overflow tubes -> down into the refugium where the water is first passed over the gutter guard I have pictured to cut down the amount of floating food that is caught in the overflow box that the Aro cannot get to in time, down into bioballs, then through the center of the filtration, the plants with small FW clams, ghost shrimp, and other inverts that will not attack the plants or each other to further help the amount of debris that passes through. Possibly an OTB skimmer to help out. The into the return housing and up and out into the tank.
So after that long winded sentence I would like to hear the opinions of the forum. Plants or other DIY setups that you have come across on the net or in person, or just to laugh at me. Whichever way it goes, I'd like some sort of feedback.
News to me... 