“High Tech” “Low Tech” plant filtering…

[Magnum Man]

I think this is the challenge of mail ordering plants during the winter... the last 2 Calatheas ( admittedly ordered during the winter ) are suffering... so you need to figure out if that was shipping time & temperature related or related to hydroponic aquarium conditions... on the pin stripe, half of the plant has browned & curled up, but the other half looks vibrant, so I'm assuming it either got cold, or maybe I damaged some roots when cleaning them, prior to potting in the aquarium ( that's doubtful, as that plant had pretty thick substantial roots ) & about 3/4 of the leaves on the newest one have curled up, but are green ... yet about 1/4 of the leaves are not curled up & look normal ( most are lower on the plant ) ( but Calatheas are sensitive to bright lights, & this one might be more light sensitive )... those fancy Chinese Evergreen's which I just got, are still vibrant & I'm starting to see some of the root growth that proceeds the actual plant growth

 

[Magnum Man]

Thinking I’m seeing something I need to pay attention to… I think the crown of the plant, should be at, or above water level… today I changed several of my hangers for the pots, to move the crowns up higher

This pothos vine has grown from just a rooted cutting, to a 3 foot long vine, growing nearly the length of the tank, just above the water

 

[Magnum Man]

I've seen a marked improvement in the plants, since I changed the hooks holding the pots on the tanks, & raised them, so the crowns are fully out of the water...

looks like the Tea plants got new budding sights all over them, & noticing more root growth, on most all the plants

I have some more Lily of the Nile coming, that will be 6 of those hanging in my African tank, along with the floating Water Lettuce, & Java ferns on the bottom... water Lettuce is going to need thinning regularly, as it's growing quite well right now, & has tons of babies

the Monstera's that are actually the filters in my hang on tank filters in my Bichir / Silver Dollar tank, are growing super well, & that tank has been running for 6 months without me touching the filters, just regular water changes... I'm going to run them, until one of the roots stops an impeller, then I'll pull out the pots like I'm using on everything else, that I just slid into the filter housing ( they are full of ceramic media beads, so I have bio filter there, as well as the plants pulling "stuff" out of the water ), but will trim the roots up, probably to the size of the pots, once that happens, & see how often I need to do that... I would guess it will require maintenance about once every 6 months???

 

[Magnum Man]

Going to try another experiment… I have one tank, that’s too far away from my aquarium RO filter, that is still getting house softened water, super alkaline, and still very hard…. The fish in that tank all like harder water ( Platy’s and Rainbow fish mostly… one Bulldog pleco, that seems to be tolerating it…

I have some slotted hang on tank pots, actually inserted into the filter boxes of some hang on tank filters, in another aquarium, they are filled with bio media, and plants are growing out of them and am super happy with how they are working out…
only hardy terrestrial plants can handle, or at least tolerate the alkaline water of this tank I’m working on now…
I have some peat beads I tried using, before I put in the RO unit for the rest of my tanks… obviously it didn’t make my water any softer, or any less alkaline, at that point, and also really tannin stained the water…
I think I’m going to try adding the peat beads to a couple pots, in place of the bio media, and plant some plants in them… I think it will help the plants, growing in a “softer ph environment”, and if I do that to both Aqua Clear 70’on this tank, it may eventually make the water a little less alkaline, & add 2 more thriving plants to that tank…
At worst, the water will get too dark, and if that happens, I could repot the plants in a blend of bio media, and peat… and really worst case I’ll have to pipe my RO over to that side of the house, and switch the tank to RO, with minerals added

 

[Magnum Man]

Well I don’t have a plant right now, but I dissected one of the Aqua Clear 70’s… the 1st thing, no matter what you are doing with these filters, which by name, you would assume they would be good for up to 70 gallon aquariums… there is totally not enough bio media from the factory, IMO, this filter is not effective for more than a 25 gallon tank, as it comes from the factory when I fit the pot into the filter resovour, the pot takes up most of that space, yet I was able to put all the original bio media in mesh bags on each side of the pot, so I more than doubled the amount of bio media in this filter, plus added peat beads, plus will be adding a plant… IMO, making this filter like 3 times more effective, than how it comes from the factory