Tiny discovery that is definately worth sharing.
- Thread starter FireMedic
- Start date
Let me start by saying Thanks to FireMedic fore starting this thd. I believe this is an excellent way of adding part or a whole filter system depending on your app.
Now for my experiment, a few weeks ago I needed to separate 3 black aro's that were doing qt. and I had to come up with something quick. This system is 2 10 gl. tanks piggy backed togather for the added volume of water and a place for the plants. Lighting is 2 25 w. spiral compacts at the 6500k specktrum. On one end there is a tom rapids mini canister that pulls from one tank and discharges into the other, to keep the tank from overflowing I added a 1" U tube at the other end with a sponge filter base and half of the strainer slid into the u tube a small hob filter with filter stars and a sponge filter the sponge filter has been cycled for about 5 years and the hob and canister have been cycled for a year.
The plants in the tanks are a massive [for the tank] mat of red root floaters, frogbit, duckweed and a large wad of fissiden f. moss and a small java fern.The tank that is the planted side has an inch deep bed of ada amazon #1 substrate that has also been cycled over a year.
Now for the results, While the red root floating plants have gone through explosive growth there is really no difference between this tank and the other tanks. I am still having to do about 75% or 3 times 5 gl. w/c a week to keep the nitrates at 10 ppm.
I am planning to continue this while adding a few pofos cuttings to see if they can lower the nitrates.
Now for my experiment, a few weeks ago I needed to separate 3 black aro's that were doing qt. and I had to come up with something quick. This system is 2 10 gl. tanks piggy backed togather for the added volume of water and a place for the plants. Lighting is 2 25 w. spiral compacts at the 6500k specktrum. On one end there is a tom rapids mini canister that pulls from one tank and discharges into the other, to keep the tank from overflowing I added a 1" U tube at the other end with a sponge filter base and half of the strainer slid into the u tube a small hob filter with filter stars and a sponge filter the sponge filter has been cycled for about 5 years and the hob and canister have been cycled for a year.
The plants in the tanks are a massive [for the tank] mat of red root floaters, frogbit, duckweed and a large wad of fissiden f. moss and a small java fern.The tank that is the planted side has an inch deep bed of ada amazon #1 substrate that has also been cycled over a year.
Now for the results, While the red root floating plants have gone through explosive growth there is really no difference between this tank and the other tanks. I am still having to do about 75% or 3 times 5 gl. w/c a week to keep the nitrates at 10 ppm.
I am planning to continue this while adding a few pofos cuttings to see if they can lower the nitrates.
Very nice, very creative and thoughtful. But it requires a lot of work as well. Will show this to my dad.BTW , is this the plant that u use? Eichhornia crassipes
In here we call them enceng gondok. Please have a look here for pics for clarification. http://www.google.co.id/search?hl=i...q=eceng+gondok&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
In here we call them enceng gondok. Please have a look here for pics for clarification. http://www.google.co.id/search?hl=i...q=eceng+gondok&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
Greetings friends. In the following photos you will see a much updated and efficient alteration to my initial project. I have significantly insulated my tanks (350 gallon HDPE stock tanks), insulated my sump (90 gallon acrylic aquarium with 78 gallons of bio-media) and relocated my plants to the top of the sump.
The plants live on an egg crate mat buoyed by some pieces of foam. The blue tray receives "cleaned" water from the sump side of the Wet/Dry filter. This water is pumped into the rear (deep end) of the blue tray. This deep end is approx 8 inches deep. This area serves to significantly reduce the velocity of the incoming water while allowing for maximum volume and little to no reduction in pump performance. I farted around with a few different ideas to reduce velocity and maintain volume, but alas gravity and viscosity turned out to be the simplest.
The plants receive the deep end water through a shallow section that is approximately 3 inches deep. The roots splay out as they wish and further reduce the velocity of the water through this tray. On the near end of the blue tray is the spillway where this "plant-filtered" water returns to the dirty side of the W/D. I did this to catch any roots or leaves that have sloughed off and entered the water.
As you can see, the plants are quite vibrant and need to be trimmed every two months or so. I have been trimming them to train them to stay within the confines of the blue tray. Some of the main vines of these plantings are as thick as my pinky finger and many feet in length.
I initially placed 3 gallons of bio-media in the deep end of the blue tray to improve the reduction of velocity but found that the plantings wanted to grow into this. I was concerned that this growth would begin to foul the incoming water, blocking it's flow and removed the media.
I maintain just enough velocity to eliminate any stagnant film from the surface of the waters within the blue tray.
You will also see some photos of the school of Henlei that I am keeping.
I truly hope this is thought provoking and enriches your ray keeping.
Respectfully,
FireMedic.
The plants live on an egg crate mat buoyed by some pieces of foam. The blue tray receives "cleaned" water from the sump side of the Wet/Dry filter. This water is pumped into the rear (deep end) of the blue tray. This deep end is approx 8 inches deep. This area serves to significantly reduce the velocity of the incoming water while allowing for maximum volume and little to no reduction in pump performance. I farted around with a few different ideas to reduce velocity and maintain volume, but alas gravity and viscosity turned out to be the simplest.
The plants receive the deep end water through a shallow section that is approximately 3 inches deep. The roots splay out as they wish and further reduce the velocity of the water through this tray. On the near end of the blue tray is the spillway where this "plant-filtered" water returns to the dirty side of the W/D. I did this to catch any roots or leaves that have sloughed off and entered the water.
As you can see, the plants are quite vibrant and need to be trimmed every two months or so. I have been trimming them to train them to stay within the confines of the blue tray. Some of the main vines of these plantings are as thick as my pinky finger and many feet in length.
I initially placed 3 gallons of bio-media in the deep end of the blue tray to improve the reduction of velocity but found that the plantings wanted to grow into this. I was concerned that this growth would begin to foul the incoming water, blocking it's flow and removed the media.
I maintain just enough velocity to eliminate any stagnant film from the surface of the waters within the blue tray.
You will also see some photos of the school of Henlei that I am keeping.
I truly hope this is thought provoking and enriches your ray keeping.
Respectfully,
FireMedic.
