very sweet my stand for my 75 gal looks just like that i built it myself allthough i did not go the over flow route now after watching yours grow i wish i did. :sad
Daily log of my new 55 gallon South American Tank.
- Thread starter lousybreed
- Start date
RobP said:
well at least you spared yourself hours of making one only to re-make the whole thing all over!!!!!!! and if you are not into growing real plants in your aquarium the refugium sucks up nutrients like crazy, but you will need an overflow for that!
just a quick update. several of the walmart special plants have sprouted and hopefully by next month i will be planting my aquarium. Basically algae has started to grow but not too much. I need to distribute my return from the sump for gentle-er(???) flow.....going to use Greg watson's ferts. might add a DIY co2 tank or two (would use the bigger 3L soda bottles). i am going to take this slow and watch the plants grow!!
Well I have 4 walmart plants growing in the tank, but I couldn't wait any longer. Went to LFS and bought 3 ottos for algae (there is a little) and 2 crypts, one unidentified and one luda or something like that.....the generic crypt is brownish with dark stripes and looks sweet. the other one is green......
soon i will order all my plants..........
soon i will order all my plants..........
Now I might have missed this somewhere, but why are you growing terrestrial or "bog" plants in a refugium AND planting the aqaurium. Wouldn't there be some sort of conflict for nutrients there? Unless you are planning on fertilizing heavily and frequently? I don't get it 
I know I had a 75 gal refuge on my 300 gal reef but the reasons for that were for nutrient export and food production for my mandarins ( 3 pairs! Lots and Lots of 'pods being consumed). What benefit would it have on a FW planted aquarium? I'm not trying to be a negative in the equation, I just can't wrap my head around the reasoning behind it. Please set me straight... 
I know I had a 75 gal refuge on my 300 gal reef but the reasons for that were for nutrient export and food production for my mandarins ( 3 pairs! Lots and Lots of 'pods being consumed). What benefit would it have on a FW planted aquarium? I'm not trying to be a negative in the equation, I just can't wrap my head around the reasoning behind it. Please set me straight...
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well first I wasn't going to plant my aquarium but then I decided to anyways. Also I just wanted to experiment to see if a fuge would be capable to reduce nitrates. Well it does!!! This fuge would be huge on a fancy goldfish tank or a chichild tank.
Once the plants are established and no algae problems I will remove the plants from the fuge. I actually might turn the fuge into a sort of dwarf lily pad tank or something. Yes I understand where you are coming from but after I already made the fuge I decided that the tank needed real greenery.........Who knows maybe I will leave the plants in the fuge...time will see. Another member on this page has a planted tank with a fuge and he said that his tanks have no algae at all and the plants grow awsome. He actually lets plants like java fern and other aquatic plants grow "emerged" and they flower and reproduce. I realize that I will have to fertilize but we will learn as we go. It could make for a very unique set-up....
Once the plants are established and no algae problems I will remove the plants from the fuge. I actually might turn the fuge into a sort of dwarf lily pad tank or something. Yes I understand where you are coming from but after I already made the fuge I decided that the tank needed real greenery.........Who knows maybe I will leave the plants in the fuge...time will see. Another member on this page has a planted tank with a fuge and he said that his tanks have no algae at all and the plants grow awsome. He actually lets plants like java fern and other aquatic plants grow "emerged" and they flower and reproduce. I realize that I will have to fertilize but we will learn as we go. It could make for a very unique set-up....
A little update. I have planted several walmart apogenton bulbs several weeks ago and now they made babies. They flowered and made small little "wedges". These fell off the flowers and landed on the gravel. Went on vacation for 5 days and when I got back these wedges have several small leaves and appear to be growing. other than that nothing much has changed in my tank. still dragging my feet on buying plants for the tank. the plants in the fuge are growing like crazy and I have trimmed them several times....
Have enjoyed the story of your tank. It looks great. If you had to do it over again would you? I also planted some of those Walmart bulbs and I couldn't believe how well they've done in my aquarium, as I only have a 40W bulb (it is on a sunporch though, gets some sunlight).
lquinsey said:
interesting question about doing it over again. had i known that i was going to get bit by the plant bug, i wouldn't have done the refugium because it was expensive and unnecessary for a planted tank. but having it will allow me to have a 2 planted tank system. the fuge will be converted to another planted tank but I am going to let the plants grow emergent to form a swamp. i have a unique tank. there is an established micro-organism population in the fuge. little critters hang out in the dense root system, some of these must wind up as fish food in the main tank......we will see. I think that in the fuge i will try rasing cherry shrimp and there wont be any fish in it....who knows, i am kinda just going with the flow on this one......
I really like your tank(s), the whole setup is so unique. I hope someday to do something like that, it is sooooo cool! I would never no how to do all that pvc/overflow/return stuff like that though. Got anywhere where I could read up on that???
Anyway, just thought I'd say u have an awesome tank!
Anyway, just thought I'd say u have an awesome tank!
