BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- May 24, 2011
- Messages
- 5,011
Well...
Finally, I switched all my tanks to a more natural means of water filtration. Took some large "Aglaonema" house plants and rinsed all the potting mixture from the roots and emersed the roots in the tank water with the leaves above. The roots have started removing most of the nitrogen from the dissolved fish waste and from my water test results are returning pure water to the tank. Ammonia and nitrite at zero and nitrates test between 5 and 10 ppm.
After several years of removing and replacing most of the tank water every week, I can simply top off the open tanks every couple of days and not worry about the water chemsitry. The fish are living in near pure water conditions. The plants do such a good job of filtering the water, my water changes are roughly 50 percent twice a month. The plants do a much better job of filtration than I ever did.
The "Ag' plants are large and healthy with a constant source of nutrients from the fish and return clean water to the tank for the fish. There's a nice build up of algae on the plant roots for the fish and snails to eat. Don't have to worry about overfeeding either, the uneaten food dissolves in the tank water and is taken in immediately by the plants.
Trace elements are replaced through water top offs and the dissolved shells of the snails when they die. The Ramshorn snails can get quite large in this environment. Large water changes keep the water well oxygenated. I still use a couple of dual sponge filters to keep the tank water moving to increase gas exchange.
I figured, why not let the tank do most of the maintenance work and I'll have more time to enjoy the tank and prune the plants now and then. Should have done this a dozen years ago.
B
Finally, I switched all my tanks to a more natural means of water filtration. Took some large "Aglaonema" house plants and rinsed all the potting mixture from the roots and emersed the roots in the tank water with the leaves above. The roots have started removing most of the nitrogen from the dissolved fish waste and from my water test results are returning pure water to the tank. Ammonia and nitrite at zero and nitrates test between 5 and 10 ppm.
After several years of removing and replacing most of the tank water every week, I can simply top off the open tanks every couple of days and not worry about the water chemsitry. The fish are living in near pure water conditions. The plants do such a good job of filtering the water, my water changes are roughly 50 percent twice a month. The plants do a much better job of filtration than I ever did.
The "Ag' plants are large and healthy with a constant source of nutrients from the fish and return clean water to the tank for the fish. There's a nice build up of algae on the plant roots for the fish and snails to eat. Don't have to worry about overfeeding either, the uneaten food dissolves in the tank water and is taken in immediately by the plants.
Trace elements are replaced through water top offs and the dissolved shells of the snails when they die. The Ramshorn snails can get quite large in this environment. Large water changes keep the water well oxygenated. I still use a couple of dual sponge filters to keep the tank water moving to increase gas exchange.
I figured, why not let the tank do most of the maintenance work and I'll have more time to enjoy the tank and prune the plants now and then. Should have done this a dozen years ago.
B
