Water hyacinth in sump

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I think that's a great idea, perhaps you've been reading my posts? As far as I know, water hyacinth is possibly one of the best plants to use for nutrient export. One of the fastest growing plants known, nitrate hungry, eats up heavy metals, floats so it can make efficient use of available light. Only significant potential drawback I can think of is that depending on the species it may grow somewhat tall, potentially taller than a given sump design can acommodate. But if it's growing tall it's exporting nutrients, so pull it out and let it grow some more.
If you try this I'd be very interested to hear your results.

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As above said.

My only worry is the root system that may clogg pumps if they are in the same compartment
 
I have a lot of Pothos.Also very good nitrate consumers.
 
Many semi aquatic plants love taking in nitrates
 
aclockworkorange;4796044; said:
What are some other good options for plants in a sump?
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Hornwart seems to be a popular choice. If you can prevent it escaping the sump, duckweed would probably work well, also water lettuce and frogbit. Egeria densa may also be a good option for submerged. I reckon floating plants may ultimately outperform submerged plants since they're not limited to the CO2 supply available in the water.
 
Burto;4796230; said:
Hornwart seems to be a popular choice. If you can prevent it escaping the sump, duckweed would probably work well, also water lettuce and frogbit. Egeria densa may also be a good option for submerged. I reckon floating plants may ultimately outperform submerged plants since they're not limited to the CO2 supply available in the water.
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And they are much closer to the light source
 
Not trying to hijack this thread, but how much plant matter does one need to use for reduction of nitrates in a given size of aquarium?
 
as many as you can fit. Over is always better. I would need to put a reptile light under my sump if i wanted all of this to work and a 47000K light. I would have a sponge on my intake so my pump wouldnt be tampered with. The water level is at about 4 inches from the bottom in my sump. and the top of my stand is like 14" on the inside. So it would have like 10" max to grow. I just dont want to have to worry about toxic levels of anything in my tank. Does the semi-submerged plant still put in O2 into the water? The only place these would be in would be my sump, so the tank would still have alot of surface area to bring in O2
 
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