Jump to content

Nitrate removal in sumps


Matty

Recommended Posts

Hi guys,

I was just wondering what people were doing to lower thier nitrates in sumped system apart from water changes?

I recently noticed I had quite high nitrates going, so I've done my water changes but also added a Pothos in my sump. This is a plant that needs very little light, and on other forums has been mentioned to be really effective at nitrate removal. So far I can read a noticable decrease in my nitrates after water changes but even more with the Pothos in the sump. I think long term it will really help keep nitrates low, but only time will tell.

The cost was cheap too, considering the plant was $10 at bunnings and all I did with it was clean all the soil and everything off the roots then put it in a plastic container with holes all through it and place it in with a heap of bio noodles I had spare.

If anyone is interested I can put some pictures up, would like to hear other peoples experiences if they use pothos or any other type of nitrate removal :)

Cheers

Matty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah Pothos are awesome for nitrate removal, have seen this done before with awesome results, good thing is, if it's not removing enough just add another one, simple & very cheap :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great info and thanks for sharing. Please do post pics.....

ditto to what marcus said :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMAG0568_zpsf060ac73.jpg

Here is the pothos in my sump, so people can get an idea of what it is. Also bunnings staff might not know what it is if you look around, they were inside on the massive sort of cake stand things. I will see how it goes over this time, great thing is the pothos wont get heaps of light were it is sitting and that is good for the plant. I want to eventually build a small rack into my 2fter with yellows in it to contain a pothos to control nitrates in it, but that will be later down the track.

I really thing this has the potential in any set up, its a low tech low expense way to avoid having to water change a million times a week if you have huge issues with overstocking and such. Leaving more time to sit and enjoy :) Hopefully I will see over the next few days a real different to validate this method. Once that is established I will look for at a way to clip the plant and place into my 2fter, to help further reduce the nitrates there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I have read no, because it uses the fish water for its nutrients, basically instead of just converting nitrates into another form harmless to fish and shrimp it actually exports it into the air so complete removal while using the nutrients from the fish water. However, this is only on what I have read, I'm not an expert on these matters just trying to wrap my head around more efficient ways of doing things. Seriously though it needs next to near no light, and it is very hardy, another person using one says he has to trim his every two weeks because it grows so fast, I'm assuming thats just in a tank with fish no plants etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it shrimp safe to put a piece in a tank?

Couple of days in and my red cherries seem to be doing fine?, I guess the only worry would be if they started actually eating the roots? Not sure but I guess will find out when I finally get around to testing it solely on my 2fter with yellows in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen these plants growing in water pot/jars but I never thought about using them in a sump. I guess we learn some thing new every day. Great thread mate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

please keep us informed I can't seem to get my nitrates below 5 in one of my tanks the shrimp are happy enough with that but I have this plant and I could easily clip it on the side and just have the roots in the water.( pretty sure it's over feeding :redface-new:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen these plants growing in water pot/jars but I never thought about using them in a sump. I guess we learn some thing new every day. Great thread mate.
Cheers' date=' just trying to help this forum go as far as it can :) I think its the best forum in Aus, great people on here and no trolls :).
please keep us informed I can't seem to get my nitrates below 5 in one of my tanks the shrimp are happy enough with that but I have this plant and I could easily clip it on the side and just have the roots in the water.( pretty sure it's over feeding :redface-new:)
I would assume its overfeeding, I have the same problem :/. The Pothos could even be placed in something like a sudo breeder box to keep it out of the tank away from the shrimp while still going through the water? But that might be too expensive for just lower nitrates for someone. Will keep everyone informed as to how the tanks are going :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome tip/advise Matty :encouragement:. My nitrate in my setup with sump is around 10. Will have to try this method.

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Abit of a thread hijack, sorry!

Are you guys using API test for nitrate? mine always shows 0ppm just wondering if I'm doing it correctly?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ya Alan, i am using the API test kit. I rinse the test tube with tap or RO water first to clean it. Then i put the tank water and follow the instructions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used golden pothos shoved in the back of my hang-on filters in 3 of my 3ft tanks for years. They work a treat for nitrates and help to clean the air in your house too. But they do grow a lot faster if they get decent light, near a window or if you give them there own light fixture. Never had any shrimp of fish negatively affected by them. Its basicly Aquaponics :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I Googled it and its poisonous to dogs, cats and kids, think I'll wait to see if it affects shrimp. I do have lots in the garden, be careful buying it as it might be treated for bugs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep also kills turtles...as my friend recently lost one after nibbling on pothos plant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is a "golden pathos" ? and how does it reduce nitrates?

sounds interesting

These are the plants I was talking about at the BBQ on Wayne's boat, they substitute the need for light by sucking up nitrates to grow so they are perfect for a sump situation, just gotta make sure they are clean :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is a "golden pathos" ? and how does it reduce nitrates?

sounds interesting

Golden Pothos is the plant that in the picture that Matty posted. like all plants it uses nitrates to grow and if you can make it happy it will grow fast. it has thick leaves and uses a lot of nitrates to fill out its structure.

I have never had the roots or leaves exposed directly to fish or shrimp as they are in my filter but it certainly wont release any poisons into the water or I would have lost many fish/shrimp by now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Aquathumb, have you used it in high quality shrimp tanks, like TB's or PRL or just cherries. I have used it before on fish only tanks without problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Aquathumb' date=' have you used it in high quality shrimp tanks, like TB's or PRL or just cherries. I have used it before on fish only tanks without problems.[/quote']

Ninja, be great if you could test them on your prized shrimps, and report your findings on the forum.....take one for the team ? :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would not reccomend putting it where anything can really get a bite to it, however, a HOB is perfect or even this filtering systems that come up to the top of the tank such as in the aqua one tanks would be perfect for a Pothos grow out. Besides if its in the sump, dont think you'll be getting any problems with it. Here is a picture of the tag that comes with it, along with scientific name etc, I must point out I gave it a really good clean all over before putting it into my sump with multiple buckets of water, and I only have the roots submerged not the whole plant.

IMAG0573_zpsd25d4217.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
    • GtWalker97
      Hi SKF!   So I bought some PRL (or at least they were sold as such. These claims are dubious in Australia as people don't know much about the genetics, nor do they care as long as they can make a quick buck). After 8 generations of breeding true, I'm having around 1 in 200 throw a much darker red. They almost look like Red Shadows, but I don't know too much about those types of hybrid. Can anyone help with ID'ing the gene?   TIA (First 2 pics are the weird throws, second photo is their siblings and the last photo is the parents)
×
×
  • Create New...