I am planning on making a 75gal sump for my new 280gal tank. I am thinking about making one section of the sump have plants in it for nitrate reduction. Is there anything I need to worry about with this set-up, and how beneficial is it. And does anyone have pictures of a similar set-up so I can get some ideas on how to make it. I already have a general idea of what I am going to do. I just want to see some examples.
Plants in sump?
- Thread starter TheFishWrestler
- Start date
great idea to do, you won't see a heck of a lot of nitrate reduction, but it will still be noticable. I'd probably rather have a refugium made of a 33 long full of fast growing, nitrate removing plants that way you can have less flow through it, and it makes it easier to manage, plus it gives you more bio filtration room, which you are going to need almost all of that 75 gallons of to be sufficient for your 280.
yeah, it's a refugium. I had a 55g with a 20gL refugium full of anachris... worked like a charm. You can actually buy premade ones that hang on the back of the tank.
You can remove ALL your ammonia, nitrite and nitrates by using plants. You will need enough of the right kind of plants and enough light to make the plants grow well to do it though. Do a search for 'aquaponics'. I think you'll enough what you see.
The number of plants, light, etc. depends on the bioload of the tank, not necessarly the size of the tank or how much water is present. 1 fish, 2 fish doesn't matter... how many lbs. of fish vs bacteria converting nitrogen vs number, size, growth rate of plants taking up nutrients. Heck, you could run your tanks water through a bunch of gravel, bacteria in the gravel would turn the ammonia to nitrite, then other bacteria turn the nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate is the least dangerous to fish... I've had my nitrate EXTREMELY high in a tank and haven't had any problems with losing fish. I don't think it's a nice thing to do though and I'm sure long term exposure would be bad for fish.
sorry kinda rambled that all out.. hope it makes sense
The number of plants, light, etc. depends on the bioload of the tank, not necessarly the size of the tank or how much water is present. 1 fish, 2 fish doesn't matter... how many lbs. of fish vs bacteria converting nitrogen vs number, size, growth rate of plants taking up nutrients. Heck, you could run your tanks water through a bunch of gravel, bacteria in the gravel would turn the ammonia to nitrite, then other bacteria turn the nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate is the least dangerous to fish... I've had my nitrate EXTREMELY high in a tank and haven't had any problems with losing fish. I don't think it's a nice thing to do though and I'm sure long term exposure would be bad for fish.
sorry kinda rambled that all out.. hope it makes sense