Plant Filter / Refugium.....???

Naja

Naja

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Apr 26, 2005
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www.acrochordus.com
Hi Everybody,

I have put together a 29gal. Plant / Veggie Filter / Refugium for my 55gal. Freshwater aquarium.

It has Applesnails (P. bridgesi), Ramshorn, and Pond snails. Wood/Bamboo Shrimp and Cherry Shrimp, and Freshwater Golden clams.

The current plants are just Val., Anachris, Frogbit, and Greater Duckweed.

My goal is to minimize nitrates and just keep the water quality as high as possible with as little "maintenance" as possible.

The Val., Anachris, Frogbit and Duckweed are just plants that I already had.

The Temp. of the aquarium is 86F (30C) and needs to stay there.

I currently have about 195 watts of light (regular fluorescents) and the aquarium wrapped on 3 sides with aluminum foil.

So, my question is: What other plants could I add that will further my goal of reducing nitrates and just maintaining super high water quality???

I am not looking to make this a "Planted Tank" in the same sense that most people do: I want this to be Functional before beautiful, but I think I can achieve both in the end.

A side note: The reason for the Refugium is because the 55gal. houses the Arafuran Filesnake in my signature and his "Food"--Comets keep eating all of the plants in the 55gal. tank. Additionally, I don't want the snails, shrimp and clams "annoying" him causing undo stress. These snakes are extremely difficult to keep (even for zoos)--so, his "stress-level" comes first.

Any Pointers would be Greatly Appreciated!!

TIA
 
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I do multiple veggie filters, but few of mine are mixed plantings. I tend to stick to single species setups for this use, with a few which have one emerse species ans a different submerse species.

I don't have much long-term luck with mixing floaters and submerse in the same utility tank - the floater(s) shade out the submerse too easily. In your case I'd likely end up with whatever grows most vigorously, that is, produces the most removable plant mass per unit time. Val makes good trade-in if you can set a deal with your LFS.

In addition to the plants you have listed, I have used tropical hornwort (the temperate form will not survive the mid 80sF more than hours and would be a mess), Hygrophila difformis, and Java Moss. Emerse plants I use include Swamp Crinum and Spathyllum.
 
Hi Robert,

Thanx for the input. I am going to try to keep this contained as an "Aquarium", so I am going to avoid emerse plants-at least for now.

Would You happen to have a Latin name for the Tropical Hornwort??
All I can find is:
Ceratophyllum demersum
and
Ceratophyllum submersum

I assume most of what is available is the Temperate version for Ponds....


The lights are all standard Fluorescents, but here is the break-down: :look:

Aquarium Hood Light--20w(?), 25"-75w strip running along the back, 100w compact Fluorescent in Clamp-on Shoplight shooting in one side. 3 sides covered with Aluminum Foil.

The substrate is sand--without any added fertilizers, and I dose with PlantGro Iron Enriched.

Many Thanx!
 
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http://www.mongabay.com/fish/plants/Ceratophyllum_submersum.htm

I use a crude and higly personal rule of thumb (or fingers, to be more accurate) - because I can get away with a lot at the LFS, and normally pull my own plants anyway, I feel them. If the plant is stiff and hard, historically I have poor luck with them. If the plant is softer and feels more flexible in both "needles" and stems, it is more likely to survive in my tanks (78-82/83F). Otherwise I don't know how to tell them apart. Theoretically there are 3 species, but I know nothing about the third. IME, there are few things messier than dying hornwort - clogged filter intakes, needles everywhere. But when it is happy it is gangbusters.

Edit: Did a quick Google on the genus, and found this key to differentiation:

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=106192

Strickly FWIW, I have not tried, but I may carry a copy in the car in case I get a chance to check it out - let me know if it helps.
 
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Yes, that Definitely helps. I have purchased large quantities of anachris in the past just to have it melt. At first I though it was the wrong kind, then I stopped using Flourish and Flourish Excel, and then I read that Seachem knows that those products have an adverse effect on certain plants--anachris being one of them.

Now I just use Hagen's Iron Enriched PlantGro and it does pretty much what I need. However, in this refugium I am going to have to sit back and see how things come together--not adding anything but periodic "Food" for the inhabitants.

I think my game plan-Plant-wise- is going to be to just stick with what I have and add some Anubias that I ordered (More for Looks and cover than anything). I have some anachris growing in 3 different tanks (refugium is one). When I keep the Flourish and Comets away--it does pretty good, and I can feed any "Extra" to the Comets. LOL

Many Thanx!
 
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