zoopkamol Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 looking to do a nitrate soaking plant in my sump looking to take some egg crate light diffuser and take some styrofoam strips silicone to crate to allow floatage so looking for some suggestions for plants that can have roots fully emmersed in sump water. im thinking pothos as a front runner. or any other suggestion on how to make a nitrate plant sponge in a sump. cant do planted section in sump as there are mbuna fry/juvies in sump that will destroy plants any help would be appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracyp Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 I have a pothos and spider plant that's doing well in my betta tank, whether they're helpful or not I don't know but I like to think they are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 water sprite however many many plants can be used like this algae is used in this same way with salt water and the process is called 'nutrient sink'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) Spatiphylum and Chinese evergreen grows very well on top of my tanks, the roots are not too long. Anthurium does okay....Pothos grows fast and has long trailers I find them a bit messy after a while. I provide light for 10 hrs a day for them. It takes more plants than you think too use ALL the nitrates produced by aquarium fish.... 6 healthy and large plants on a 70 gallon is not enough. I have 7 or 8 on a 180 ....it helps quite a bit but still not enough. Both tanks are heavily planted as well and the fish load is medium. I started to use some bacteria to help with the waste. All of this does help with the WC, as I do less changes on those tanks. I use guppy grass, duckweed and other floating plants in others and I think that this is more effective in large quantities.. Edited February 18, 2015 by geleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 If you want to get really creative and have high nitrates, do something the fruits... strawberries, maybe? It's when they're fruiting that plants will really soak up the nitrates. If you look up DWC aquaponics or hydroponics, you'll see a simple way of making a raft out of styrofoam. Make sure the roots stay clean (I'm trying cherry shrimp) and are highly oxygenated, and you're good to go! I have a mini bell pepper over a cichlid tank that produces little peppers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekbottom Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Lettuce is grown hydroponically in styrofoam rafts. I've used ivy and jasmine above tanks before. Jasmine smells so nice!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopkamol Posted March 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 Trying this dwc thing with few lettuce pods. Raft is 16"x18" with 9 1.25" pvc couplers with Rockwool as media looking for lighting now. Have a 4 bulb t5ho fixture just sitting around. Currently has 10000k bulbs in it. looking to put some 6400k sunblasters in it. Looking for cheapest place for bulbs. Also thinking only need 1 or 2 for my use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 I just did some searching around town for the lowest price and I figured Lee Valley is as good as you can get. Even after shipping from some of the Canadian online retailers, the price was comparable at Lee Valley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogfish Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 +1 on lettuce or tomatoes or food, jasmine or scented plants sounds cool too. I wonder if parsley or basil might even work or those mini hot peppers. Wow this thread is making me hungry just thinking of all the possibilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopkamol Posted March 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2015 Found bulbs at hydro-lite on fort road $10each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 Great topic I always had plants in my tanks,there great natural filters,i think if you have the space aquaponics is the way to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageBear Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Wow, so glad I found this thread! I've got a goldfish tank that has weird dimensions, it's 4ft long but shallow, so while the swimming space is there for my 3 little guys, the water volume is not sufficient to keep the nitrates down for long. I've heard of using pothos, we've got those in the community, but hydroponics always sounded so complicated. Thanks a ton for making it seem simpler nd easy to understand! Question - would regular aquarium T8 bulbs in the planted spectrum (roughly 6500k, not sure what each individual bulb is, that's my bf's area) be good enough for the terrestrial plants too? Would we need to switch it up or just giv'er and keep an eye on the distance from the bulbs? I'm assuming for houseplants that isn't a problem, since they are usually making do with sunlight from windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopkamol Posted May 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Any extra light will help. Small sunblaster tho fixtures are resonably cheap and fairly low on the electricity for what you get. Growing lettuces now for my tortoise and it is a nice steady supply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dactylo Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 I use an "algae scruber" to export nutrients on my saltwater tank but l'm not sure if it works with freshwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dactylo Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 The nutriens we try to control with the algae scruber are nitrates and phosphates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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