I've been dragging my feet on completing a tank project of converting my ten gallon dwarf puffer tank into a planted tank because i can't decide exactly how I want to filter my tank. I really wanted to make a sump because I love the concept of it, but the more I think about it the more I realize it makes no sense for what I need. I've been extremely lazy with my tank, I havn't changed the water in over 3 weeks, but my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates are all still at zero because of all my plants. I was thinking about removing my hob filter, and adding a powerhead to the tank, and letting the plants filter out the tank. I'm confident the plants will work for chemical filtration, but i'm worried about mechanical. Do you think the absence of a real filter will make a big difference in the tank?
Planted filter
- Thread starter carsona246
- Start date
I think you need to keep some type of mechanical filtration, but you can always give it a try and see how it works.
plants are fine for controlling ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, but you will still want some mechanical filtration on your tanks if you want to keep your water looking crisp
Any ideas for an attractive way to do that? I'm trying to do an open tank, and a HOB filter will not look good. I was thinking about going canister filter, because it wouldn't add too much to the water volume, and co2 wouldn't escape that way, but canisters are expensive.
on a 10G tank, you could try one of these
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16742
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16742