Riparium/Refugium Plant Filter for Ray Tank

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SCowboy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 12, 2010
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West Allis, WI
Hey All,

Been trolling the site for awhile and I've come up wth an idea I'd like some input on (good, bad or indifferent) ...

I have an old-style 110 gl that I would like to use to house 4 Reticulated Stingray pups. I know that that's barely adequate for the task, but it only has to hold them for a year or so. I plan to build or buy a larger show tank for them. Now, my idea is this...

I've been reading on here that many people have had success with riparium/refugiums as plant filters, so I thought why not set a series of them up to handle the heavy load from the rays? The tank will sit on the bottom shelf of a wrought-iron stand I have, so there is no room for a hidden sump or algae scrubber below. A Riparium/plant filter sounds like a good solution. It also has the added benefit of places to keep dwarf cichlids, dwarf plecos, shrimps, anything small, as well as being nice to look at in and of itself

You can get the basic set-up from the illustration. My questions are these:

Will something of this sort do the job of keeping the water crisp and clean enough for the rays?

And if so how much turnover do you think it will need to satisfy both the rays and the plants, etc.?

riparium1.jpg
 
The plants should help some with nutrient control, but don't section off your tank. From the diagram, it looks like you plan on using half of the length of the tank for plants; three feet of tank is not enough for your rays.
Floating plants would work better.
 
No, actually the right half of the diagram is four separate containers, effectively almost doubling the water volume. Packed with plants, both aquatic & terrestrial, I was hoping that they would filter the water even better than a sump or FX5 ...
 
Oh, I see it now. Might take some crafty plumbing to make it work.
 
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