hob planter concept; gutter filter?

insectheart

insectheart

miss moth
Jun 28, 2009
23
0
0
New Brunswick, Canada
www.insectheart.com
i've been pondering my plans for the future and have very quickly realized that they most, asides from the assorted mantids, seem to involve amazonian and similarly located northern south american species, be they reptile (basiliscus, and several others), tarantula (avicularia avicularia, psalmopoeus irminia, ephebopus murinus), or fish (cichlids, characins, and assorted catfish, as well as my dream fish, apteronotus albifrons). as such, i've been thinking of setting up an 'amazon wall' shelf system to display the theme best. along with animals, i'm pretty keen on gardening and with a growing interest in tropical herbs and exotic plants i've been thinking about incorporating live plants from the region not only in the aquarium itself, but in each terrarium as well.

now, someone on here mentioned the idea of growing plants on hob filters, within the media. the plants not only benefit from the nutrients in the water itself, but also provide additional filtering in return. this seems like a lovely idea to incorporate into my plans. now in order to provide a more ample planter, i've been thinking about a filter system i saw in a book which was only explained in brief, which they called a gutter filter. i've never seen or heard of this type of filter elsewhere, which essentially seems to be a wet/dry style hob which sits on the outside back of the tank and is filled with several types of media from one end to the other. this system seems incredibly easy to diy, especially when one has a father who works exclusively in manufacturing rain gutters and could surely help in making something durable to specification.

my question is, has anyone heard of this type of filter and if so have they any experience with it? any ideas on how one would set such a thing up, in regards to the pump and return? how about incorporating co2? would this type of system be an issue with gas loss? do you think it would work as a planter as well if the roots are kept in check and leaves are cleared regularly? i believe it is similar to the built in hood filters many of the fancier store-bought set ups seem to include but i'm not sure as i've never had one of them. my worry is that the reason they may be so neglected is that they do not work well or are simply not worth it.
 
I saw a vdeo on a guy who had a goldfish drum set up

He had the pump going through a trough with plants in it, tomatoe plants, cucumber plants, and other vegetable plants. There was no soil, just gravel, only the goldfish droppings were used as nutrients.

The plants were healthy and producing vegetables.

The gravel and the plants were all that were needed for filtration.

I'll post the video later on, I think I still have it.

If I understand what your trying to get at, you want a gutter-like filter with plants growing in it... right? You want these plants to be displayed? Or submerged where nobody can see them? I'm thinking you want to grow the swords and other plants to grow out of water, just in soil or something... right?

If your growing the plants out of water, you won't need any additional co2, they'll get it all from the air

Of course, I might be thinking of something completely different than your saying, so if I am, then disregard this haha.
 
well, actually, i'm thinking about growing both aquatic plants (hence the need for co2) in the substrate in the tank, probably allowing for out-of-water growth by having an open top, but also growing non-aquatic plants without soil in the filter media. i'd then have one larger light setup suspended over the tank to supply UV to both the aquatic and non aquatic plants. i'd like to see that video however as it sounds interesting.
 
I would think you'd need to have heavy ferts in the tank, depending on how big it is.

You should look into dry fertilizers they last a VERY long time and are cost effective.

For co2 you could have a DIY setup, using a 2 liter bottle and yeast, or a pressurized system. You could also dose excel, which is liquid co2, but I think it's a bit too much money.

I really don't see any gas loss at all... The only place that it could go out of is from the water being disturbed if you let the water level get too low.
 
sounds interesting
 
i would certainly expect to be needing a lot of ferts, both aquatic and otherwise, to keep everything happy so that's not a big deal. my question about co2 loss with a gutter filter is based on the fact that the gutter system seems a bit similar to a sump (as it is more of a wet/dry trickle rather then the standard hob), which apparently is problematic for freshwater setups due to the gas loss? i'm not certain about any of that or how to prevent that with an open filter, but i assume if i just run the co2 line directly into the tank or the return spray from the filter there would be no problem as i'd need a heavy co2 load for all the plants anyways? liquid c02 sounds iterresting, but i think i'm probebly going to emulate the diy system i saw photos of which incorporates 2 2l bottles of yeast on either side of a smaller bottle for overflow, which then leads up to the tank.
 
You might also get some helpful info if you google "veggie filters".
 
I honestly can't find the video.

I know I stumbled it, but looking through my 8,974 stumbles is very, very time consuming.

This is the basic concept, http://pond-life.me.uk/ponds/filtration/vegfilter.php

I have included a beautiful piece of artwork that portrays the video.
He took a 50 gallon bucket, threw some goldfish in, put a pump at the bottom, made it go through some pvc pipe, cut 50 gallon buckets in half and mounted them on their sides, filled with a gravel-y substrate and put in vegetable plants.

The video was like 11 minutes long, and showed how he did EVERYTHING.

123.jpg
 
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