waterfall natural filter

[red devil]

I saw a tank once in a friends home..it was a quarter circle that fit into the corner. There were stones glued onto the side of the front to make a frame and to make it look like someone had cut a whole into the side of the pond so that you could see. The effect was really neat. One thing that would have made it even better is if on the wall behind the tank, there was a waterfall spilling into the tank. If he added this to the setting, with lots of plants on the waterfall and even filtering material hidden in key places...would it be difficult to make this do the total filtering of the tank? The tank was about 130 gallons.

 

[hatcheridiot]

I would just use a wet/dry filter and pump it up to the top of the waterfall, you really wouldn't need the bio filter media in it because, like you said, the plants, etc. would take care of that. - I think.

 

[mellowvision]

I can't comment on whether the waterfall would be filtration enough, but my mini-flume/waterfall that I power with a eheim 2213 is a constant algae farm. It also fosters bugs. It would make me think you'd want to drive it with a filter if possible.

 

[lazyNode]

If the rocks are covered with moss, that would be absolutely beautiful. And it would also reduce the amount of water splashing off the rocks.

There's a pet store near me that has a very similiar set up to what you have described. I must get a photo to show you guys.

I would still use an external filter for the waterfall.

 

[mellowvision]

moss is awesome. here is some terrestrial moss from my yard that I added to my waterfall. It's growing really well, and seems to be food of choice for the crabs.

 

[lazyNode]

Mellowvision: wow. is that driftwood or a man-made waterfall?

 

[mellowvision]

that's driftwood from a LFS. I just have the return hose pointed right into it. it creates a nice circular current around the wood.

I wish it was a little smaller, and that it wasnt such an algae farm, but it really is a nice piece of wood. it's a riot watching the crabs shower in the return, getting all the duckweed off.

more pictures here: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110466

 

["13"]

is that a DIY Co2 setup in the background ?

 

[mellowvision]

yes. right now I have 2 1 liter co2 bottles going, one with sugar water and one with jello. they seem to be working great in conjunction with my hagen bubble ladder. I run 2 because I loose a lot of co2 from the agitation in the waterfall.

 

[red devil]

Can you place the co2 bottles in a different location so that so much is not lost?