Mine does a great job, I missed a week doing water changes and nitrates were 20. Coffee cup for size reference
Good plant for my sump?
- Thread starter Alexxxxsv14
- Start date
I believe it reduced nitrate by about 20-25% but it eliminated phosphate almost completely. Pothos might be helpful to anyone trying to limit certain types of algae.
Recently I've been experimenting growing the pothos hydroponically in order to determine how different nutrient levels affect its growth. It removes significantly more nitrate and grows much faster when phosphate, potassium, calcium and magnesium are added. My tap water only has 6.28 ppm calcium and 2.9 ppm magnesium. Those low levels with low levels of potassium and phosphorus can limit the uptake of nitrogen.
Today, I reset the nutrient levels in the pothos filter/container: nitrate 40 ppm, phosphate ~4 ppm, potassium ~25 ppm, calcium 25 ppm, magnesium ~10 ppm, iron and manganese 0.02 ppm with other micro nutrients/trace elements. I'll see how long it takes for nitrate to drop from 40 to 10 ppm and I'll post it here.
I am planning a giant aquaponic greenhouse right now, 7500lbs/yr output, and had the same question. I think the answer is mushrooms. No, they are not plants, but they do suck up the nutrients you want out of the water. If you want to eat them, you will need some light for them to fruit, but it is minimal.
I keep mts also. they are always buried in my sand, so I never see them. I was wondering because you have silver dollars in that planted tank. I want them, but didn't get them because I wanted plants more. How do you do it? Most people say such a tank is physically impossible! Awesome tank.
Java fern is not very tasty apparently
Thanks, Most of my live plants are in the sump but I recently introduced hornwort to the main tank and they seem to be leaving it alone. I think not having tasty plants (most of them are silk ) in there initially has kind of trained them that they are not food
I added quite a few recently, with the led lamp at 6hrs a day.
Water Lettuce were dying, hornwort didnt seems thriving, Water sprite doing okay, bamboo i see alot of new roots.
Pothos seems not growing only but still looks healthy. (blocked by the ph meter)
Trying another new thing, (see if u guys can spot it) dunno if it works
Water Lettuce were dying, hornwort didnt seems thriving, Water sprite doing okay, bamboo i see alot of new roots.
Pothos seems not growing only but still looks healthy. (blocked by the ph meter)
Trying another new thing, (see if u guys can spot it) dunno if it works
Perfect ! Thanks I'm going to go get me a screw in led light bulb n get me some plants I will update when I get themThat lamp could work especially if you used a screw in LED grow bulb. The plants will grow better with a red/blue LED grow light and it'll be much more energy efficient than a CFL bulb.
I use two modified clamp on lamps like that to grow this pothos. I've used regular CFL bulbs on this most of the time. I'm going to use the filter for anaerobic denitrifying bacteria so this pothos experiment is coming to an end soon.
I have found that floating plants such as water lettuce, and water hyacinth don't last long under artificial light in my tanks, they only did well in a sump in a sunlit window, and even then, withered and died in winter.
outside they would cover the surface of a 300 gallon trough in weeks
outside they would cover the surface of a 300 gallon trough in weeks
Thanks
duanes
- I've been wondering about that. Twice, I brought in some Water Hyacinth from an outdoor pond to try in an aquarium but the plants died both times. I'd think they'd grow if they recieved enough light at the right wavelengths ... and floating on the surface close to the lights it seems like they'd get enough. Any idea why artificial light doesn't seem to work with WL or WH?
The WH was healthy at first but after a few days I noticed the tips of the roots starting to die.
duanes
- I've been wondering about that. Twice, I brought in some Water Hyacinth from an outdoor pond to try in an aquarium but the plants died both times. I'd think they'd grow if they recieved enough light at the right wavelengths ... and floating on the surface close to the lights it seems like they'd get enough. Any idea why artificial light doesn't seem to work with WL or WH?The WH was healthy at first but after a few days I noticed the tips of the roots starting to die.
jaws7777 said:
tarheel96 said:
I just checked and it's reading virtually 0 nitrate ... maybe 2 ppm.
So this pothos removed 40 ppm nitrate in only 20 days! In comparison, my Oscar tank accumulates 30 ppm nitrate per month. Does that mean this pothos would keep my nitrate low on my oscar tank? How do they compare?
The pothos removed 40 ppm or mg/L in a 7.5 gallon container with ~3.5 gallons of water. 40 x 3.785 x 3.5 is ~530 mg for 20 days or nearly 800 mg nitrate per month.
My oscar tank accumulates ~30 ppm or mg/L in 75 gallons per month. 30 x 3.785 x 75 is over 8,500 mg nitrate per month.
The pothos would remove about 10% of the nitrate in my oscar tank under the same growing conditions.
