What Did You do With Your Tank Today?

[Big Bubble00]

Added some plants to my tank (aquascape in progress). On Saturday, will add more gravels and plants, of course not too much plants cuz my gold fish might eat them (he's been behaving good since I started, no nibbling on the plants)

 

[BBradbury]

Hello TM...

I use what's called a "Spa Basket". It's a square plastic container with holes in it and it's used to store bathroom toiletries. You can get them online from Amazon. I remove all the potting mixture from the house plant and set it in the basket. I use lava rock from the local hardware store and rinse it well and arrange the rock around the plant roots and fill the basket. The rock keeps the plant upright in the basket and allows water to circulate through the roots and it's a great home for beneficial bacteria. The roots eventually grow through the holes in the basket. I like to set a sponge filter close to the basket to allow oxygenated water to move through the plant roots. The plant grows very fast in water high in oxygen and nutrients from the dissolved fish waste.

B

 

[TMaier]

Thanks B.
I’m still trying to visualize pulling it together and how it goes in the tank.

Someday when your doing your maintenance or putting a new one together...a tutorial thread would be great.

I have pothos in my main tank. Roots dangling in there. But that has been easy.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello again TM...

I'm more than happy to help, but I'm maxed out on my photos or I'd send some. How do you want to proceed?

B

 

[TMaier]

B,

Thank you for the offer. I don’t want to make work for you. I was just wondering about the details.

If you ever happen to have the info somewhere on social media (YouTube, Facebook etc...) just point me there.

 

[54seaweed]

got bunch of new frags some with nice color go to take a pict to find someone was playing with my camera equipment all my filters are missing GRRRR time to go break some fingers lol I got a lot invested in my camera equipment not a toy

 

[BBradbury]

House Plants as Tank Filters

B,

Thank you for the offer. I don’t want to make work for you. I was just wondering about the details.

If you ever happen to have the info somewhere on social media (YouTube, Facebook etc...) just point me there.

Hello again TM...

Got some expert help from "54" earlier and will attempt to send a photo of a 45 G tall tank that has a couple of the Chinese evergreens immersed in the tank water. These plants have been in this tank for about a year. There are roughly 100 Fancy Guppies and a dozen or so Red Wag Platys and one 6 year old Corydoras of some kind in there. The tank used to have quite a few aquatic plants in it, but I had to move them because the evergreens provided too much shade. Sorry, to say that using the evergreens means no aquatic plants other than possibly species of Anubias. Anyway, this will give you an idea of a possible setup and let me know if you have any questions. I have 6 larger tanks like this one and all have the evergreens in them.

B

 

[TMaier]

Hello again TM...

Got some expert help from "54" earlier and will attempt to send a photo of a 45 G tall tank that has a couple of the Chinese evergreens immersed in the tank water. These plants have been in this tank for about a year. There are roughly 100 Fancy Guppies and a dozen or so Red Wag Platys and one 6 year old Corydoras of some kind in there. The tank used to have quite a few aquatic plants in it, but I had to move them because the evergreens provided too much shade. Sorry, to say that using the evergreens means no aquatic plants other than possibly species of Anubias. Anyway, this will give you an idea of a possible setup and let me know if you have any questions. I have 6 larger tanks like this one and all have the evergreens in them.

B

Thanks! I love my Planted tanks and the pretty tank factor. This isn’t something I could adopt as a main tank, but as a sump it would be awesome. All the plant roots sucking up nitrates.

 

[speedy51]

Hello again TM...

Got some expert help from "54" earlier and will attempt to send a photo of a 45 G tall tank that has a couple of the Chinese evergreens immersed in the tank water. These plants have been in this tank for about a year. There are roughly 100 Fancy Guppies and a dozen or so Red Wag Platys and one 6 year old Corydoras of some kind in there. The tank used to have quite a few aquatic plants in it, but I had to move them because the evergreens provided too much shade. Sorry, to say that using the evergreens means no aquatic plants other than possibly species of Anubias. Anyway, this will give you an idea of a possible setup and let me know if you have any questions. I have 6 larger tanks like this one and all have the evergreens in them.

B

What are the evergreens in, pot? Is the root the part submerged?

 

[BBradbury]

Hello speedy...

The roots are immersed in the tank water. The container is plastic with holes. There's a large air stone under the baskets, so water flows through the holes and provides oxygen to the plant roots. The fish waste dissolves in the water and feeds the plants. The roots take in the nutrients from the dissolved fish waste. Nitrates are about 10 ppm. You have a natural water filtering system.

B

 

[V227]

B
Do you think the noted evergreen plant would hold up against Silver Dollar fish and Buenos Aires Tetras?
I once had a lush aquascape, which included Anubias, Java Fern and Moss. My schools of Tetras virtually ignored the plants. The coexistence lasted for years, until I made the absolute wrong decision to add African Mbuna, as dither / target fish, for some Agressive New Worlds.
The Africans mowed my plants down to nubs within two weeks. I've rehomed the Africans and am considering adding low light plants again.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello V...

The roots of the Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema) become long and thick. They'll stand up to most aggressive fish. Algae will eventually grow on the roots, but algae is generally a good supplement to a fish's diet. As I said earlier, this plant grows quite large and will eventually shade the entire tank. So, this wouldn't be a good environment for the average aquatic plant, with the exception of species of Anubias that grow in low light.

Attached is a pic of the Evergreens in a 55 G tank. There are several varieties of the plant. The two here are Gemini and Cutlass.

B

 

[V227]

That is certainly a massive, healthy looking plant. The leaves look thick, much like the larger Anubias.

 

[BBradbury]

Chinese Evergreen

That is certainly a massive, healthy looking plant. The leaves look thick, much like the larger Anubias.

V...

The plant's growth is extremely fast in the right conditions. It will grow in most lighting and the heavier the fish load, the faster the growth. It just needs a constant source of oxygen and nutrients to the roots.

B

 

[speedy51]

Hello speedy...

The roots are immersed in the tank water. The container is plastic with holes. There's a large air stone under the baskets, so water flows through the holes and provides oxygen to the plant roots. The fish waste dissolves in the water and feeds the plants. The roots take in the nutrients from the dissolved fish waste. Nitrates are about 10 ppm. You have a natural water filtering system.

B

That's awesome. I am looking to do something similar to my setup. Do you provide additional lighting for the plants?

 

[Mebbid]

Sad, my Oscar Athena took a dive and jumped out of the tank a few days ago.

 

[BBradbury]

Chinese Evergreen

That's awesome. I am looking to do something similar to my setup. Do you provide additional lighting for the plants?

sp...

I use a four bulb fixture and four T8, 32 watt, 6500K bulbs from the hardware store. I just hang the fixture above the tank. The attached pic will give you an idea of the set up.

B

 

[V227]

Meb
Sorry about Athena. Now it's time to look forward to what's next. Another Oscar? Maybe a Flowerhorn, Midas or Red Texas.

 

[speedy51]

Sad, my Oscar Athena took a dive and jumped out of the tank a few days ago.

R.I.P.

I think a flowerhorn would look great. A blue Diamond would look great with the setup.

 

[Mebbid]

Meb
Sorry about Athena. Now it's time to look forward to what's next. Another Oscar? Maybe a Flowerhorn, Midas or Red Texas.

R.I.P.

I think a flowerhorn would look great. A blue Diamond would look great with the setup.

Thanks, I think my next step with this setup is gonna be smaller scale. A community planted tank. I have 2 planted plus lights, a 5g co2 setup, and auto dosed for ferts.

A pair of angels and some boesemani rainbows would be nice I think.