Plants to grow out of filter besides pothos

[yannachka]

On 9/18/2020 at 6:23 PM, siniardem said:

That is amazing! I never thought of that HOB with substrate! I have a planted tank that is newly planted with pots as well. I am working on getting plants to grow out of filters with little light in the room or roots to grow in the tank under the tank lights. My HOB are above the tank lights is the whole issue except on one tank which is where I start all my potho root stems and once the roots are established, I move to a different tank. This way the fish won't nibble on the stems and the plant is established. 

 

this is one of my emersed plants set ups, i have a light suspended above and the plants are planted into little planters suctioned to the side of the tank. plant list for this is: pothos, peace lilies, corkscrew rush, red mangrove, and sweet potato. sweet potato, red mangrove, and pothos are really the only ones that would be find just rooted in water.

 

other emersed plants i have include creeping jenny, charlie mint, sedge, basil, arrowhead, snakeplant, monstera, strawberries, ivy, and a few more i know im missing. those all would need to have a substrate to root in.

[Robin]

33 minutes ago, yannachka said:

this is one of my emersed plants set ups, i have a light suspended above and the plants are planted into little planters suctioned to the side of the tank. plant list for this is: pothos, peace lilies, corkscrew rush, red mangrove, and sweet potato. sweet potato, red mangrove, and pothos are really the only ones that would be find just rooted in water.

 

other emersed plants i have include creeping jenny, charlie mint, sedge, basil, arrowhead, snakeplant, monstera, strawberries, ivy, and a few more i know im missing. those all would need to have a substrate to root in.

Is there any way we could get a picture of the pots themselves? I would really like to see that setup.

[yannachka]

41 minutes ago, Robin said:

Is there any way we could get a picture of the pots themselves? I would really like to see that setup.

i can’t show it well since it’s behind all the plants. here is what photo i could take:

they are soft plastic pencil/holding trays you can buy at walmart/target. i got a 3 pack from target for like $2. i used my soldering iron to put holes throughout it for water flow and super glued some large strong suction cups to the back. i did end up putting a little hook through a hole on the top and hooked it on the lid as well, i found the soft plastic to not be strong enough to hold itself up. next time ill use hard plastic holders.

i have two of them and i have the filter outflows (running two canister filters) pointed at the planters, this ensures there is water circulating through them. i filled the planters with fluorite, eco complete, and stratum, the roots of many of the plants have grown through the holes. the top of the planter is level to the water level. these planters cost me like $6 in total to make and are holding up pretty well.

[Robin]

2 minutes ago, yannachka said:

i can’t show it well since it’s behind all the plants. here is what photo i could take:

they are soft plastic pencil/holding trays you can buy at walmart/target. i got a 3 pack from target for like $2. i used my soldering iron to put holes throughout it for water flow and super glued some large strong suction cups to the back. i did end up putting a little hook through a hole on the top and hooked it on the lid as well, i found the soft plastic to not be strong enough to hold itself up. next time ill use hard plastic holders.

i have two of them and i have the filter outflows (running two canister filters) pointed at the planters, this ensures there is water circulating through them. i filled the planters with fluorite, eco complete, and stratum, the roots of many of the plants have grown through the holes. the top of the planter is level to the water level. these planters cost me like $6 in total to make and are holding up pretty well.

Thank you. Very informative. When I  get my lights up next week I'm going to try something like this. I like the extra hook just for safety sake.

[siniardem]

Looks amazing!

[Ben_RF]

Yes, most plant stores, like Lowes, will have them.  In our climate, you can grow it outside most of the year.  I actually have some planted in the ground here in North Carolina (so basically the same as North Georgia) that comes back for me year after year.  

[Ken Burke]

I was able to get a spider plant going in my summer tub.  Not really an ivy, but does put off shoots. 
 

[Speakeasy]

On 9/16/2020 at 7:23 PM, siniardem said:

I have been growing Pothos out of my tanks with endless and snails, but I need something that will grow with a low light environment. If I put the tip of the plant in the filter, it will grow slower, but if I put it in the 48g community tank, my Buenos Aires tetras destroy it before it has time to grow. I’ve tried pothos and English ivy. So far I’m still waiting to see something on the ivy from both low light and high light situations. The pothos grows great straight into the tank water under high light and then once the root systems are established, I put them in the other tanks. I have a 48g, 2 ten gallons, and then a 2.6g. Because of how the tanks are set up, only the 2.6g fluval tank with a clear lid and clip on light has a high light setting. 
 

Any ideas on other trailing or growing plants to suck up nitrates? My nitrates are 40-80 on all tanks. I’m running filters maxed with sponges with established media. I don’t over fed send have cut back feedings. The largest tank is planted. I like my nitrates in the 20s. 

Research bog filters....mostly used for large ponds, but can be recreated with fish tanks. I've used large marina breeder boxes with some degree of success.....most small "bog" plants will work indoors, grasses grow fast and work great at removing nitrate but are a pain to keep up with the maintenance 

[TJB5280]

@siniardem I have had great luck with peace lilies either in my HOB or in a shower basket hanging at the back of the tank. I just pruned them back a couple of days ago because they were growing out from under the shelf. There are two other clumps from the pruning that I gave to some fish friends. 

[Candi]

On 9/21/2020 at 11:38 AM, Robin said:

Is there any way we could get a picture of the pots themselves? I would really like to see that setup.

 

On 9/21/2020 at 11:38 AM, Robin said:

Is there any way we could get a picture of the pots themselves? I would really like to see that setup.

Very cool set up! 

[Casual aquatics]

Lucky bamboo forsure

[Antichton]

Mint does well for me, I usually have to trim it 2x a month so it stops shading my other plants. Got some growing out of one of the worm feeders (think they're for sale on the coop store) with just some filter floss and gravel wrapped around a couple of stems. My killifish like to spawn in the roots as well. I use the clippings for tea or seasoning food.

[Seized]

Wandering jew works well. But if your interested in it try to do a sweet potato.

[Ben Ellison]

So this might sound a bit nutty but in tanks where you  have extra nitrates would kudzu work? I've heard it can grow a foot a in 12 hours that has to be a load of nutrients taken out

[MAC]

It's not for the long term, but I found the hob to be a great spot for starting avocado trees 

[Robin]

1 minute ago, MAC said:

It's not for the long term, but I found the hob to be a great spot for starting avocado trees 

I love this idea. I would not have thought of trying something from seed in the HOB. Someone mentioned a sweet potato as well and that isn't something that would have occurred to me either.