Planted Sumps

[JeffP]

Does anyone have any experience with planted sumps for aquariums containing plant-unfriendly fish (cichlids, goldfish etc.)? Any diagrams, photos, website links, etc.

[andruboz]

the salt water guys call them refugiums.

not sure how much of this crosses over to fresh water but heres a guy that went through the trouble to put a webpage together...

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/3389/reeftank/refugium.html

[RTR]

I call mine veggie filters, but refugium is the general term.

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/veggie1.shtml

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/veggie.shtml

Any questions, post back...

HTH

[JeffP]

RTR,

Thanks for the links. They were exactly what I was looking for. I was hoping it was possible to setup a simple veggie filter for it's water quality/waste export advantages without creating more problems than I'm solving. It looks like a do-able project.

Any photos of veggie filters in use?

Thanks
JeffP

[RTR]

No, sorry, no pics. I'm good with tanks, poor with a camera.

[SamsonNY]

I set-up a "veggie filter" with advice from this board and still waiting to see what impact it makes. Basically, I want it for added filtration to combat nitrates and docs. If it doesn't help much, I'll probably scrap the idea.

No pics yet, but I'll post some soon.

Basically, a 20 gallon (24" L x 12" W x 16" H) sump getting fed from my w/d sump. Both are underneath my 150 gal. tank.

Regarding the plant sump:
One flo. fixture w/ a 15 watt bulb. Replacing it today with a double fixture with 2x 15 watt bulbs.
No CO2.
No gravel or substrate. I have the plants tied (w/ string) to suction cups (used to hold heaters in place) on the bottom.
I have the incoming water's pvc line well below the surface water line: No surface agitation.

I tried Anacharis first: no luck.

Now, I have 6 Java Ferns in there. So far, they look fine. (I heard they're bullet proof: we'll see.) Bought them off of E-bay. They're not big, yet. Basically, a few leaves with a root ball per plant.

[SamsonNY]

Here are some pics:

Sorry I couldn't get a perfect "total" shot. Cabinet and stuff in the way.


http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/1750275.jpg

http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/1750281.jpg

http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/1750282.jpg

http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/1750284.jpg

[RTR]

SamsonNY - your light was too little before and is marginal now. 30W on a 20 is not much light. The java ferns will be happy, but they sure won't eat much nitrate (they are slow growing at best). If you go 2 each 20 W or 3 each 20W you could go back to anacharis or to hornwort and should see rapid growth - perhaps even enough to read a difference in the main tank. This is a pretty small veggie filter for the water volume (filter = <1/8 the total volume). At that scale I'd use ememrse plants such as Spathyllum, but you don't have much room to work there.

I like the suction cups, use the technique myself.

HTH

[SamsonNY]

Thanks RTR.

My concern with too much light (based on what I've read) is that I'll then be needing CO2 injection. I'm looking at this "veggie filter" as an added filter. I don't want the task to outweigh the goal. So, I don't want too much maintenance involved.

Do you think more light than 30 watts will cause a need for CO2 injection? Also, will that cause an algae problem? (Though I have a UV that takes care of that, I don't want to push the limits.)