Mini tub pond filtration

[GuppyGod]

Check out my mini pond filtration.  I feed 3 times a day and can't get nitrates above 20mg/L. 

[Root]

Nice! How long have you had the aloe in the HOB? I had no idea it could grow with its roots submerged in water. 

[GuppyGod]

I had no idea either.  I put a cutting in there temporarily and it started to grow like crazy. I believe its been almost a year now. Its 10x bigger than it was.

[TOtrees]

This is one of those posts where anyone who knows anything about anything has to chime in and throw all sorts of accusations of mis-treatment, in this case the aloe. 

“Aloe is an arid-climate succulent.” “There’s no way it can live a happy life in those conditions.” “It needs to be potted in a premium succulent mix ASAP.” “You’re not caring for it properly.” 😛

Obviously (I hope), I’m being highly sarcastic here. Or ironic. My point is, I would never ever have thought that aloe would thrive under those circumstances. It flies in the face of everything I’ve ever read about them. I have a couple in my home, so my perspective is not only based on what I’ve read, but also my own experience.

Mind broadened. Thank you.😀

Question: how much light and/or heat does it get there?

I admit, I’m also curious about your nitrate situation. With that much feeding, and one or more goldfish, ammonia production must be pretty high. And none of those plants are exceptionally fast growing, i.e. they shouldn’t be exporting that much nitrates from the set up. Are you measuring with drops, or dipsticks?

Thanks for sharing!

[GuppyGod]

On 6/16/2023 at 8:58 AM, TOtrees said:

This is one of those posts where anyone who knows anything about anything has to chime in and throw all sorts of accusations of mis-treatment, in this case the aloe. 

“Aloe is an arid-climate succulent.” “There’s no way it can live a happy life in those conditions.” “It needs to be potted in a premium succulent mix ASAP.” “You’re not caring for it properly.” 😛

Obviously (I hope), I’m being highly sarcastic here. Or ironic. My point is, I would never ever have thought that aloe would thrive under those circumstances. It flies in the face of everything I’ve ever read about them. I have a couple in my home, so my perspective is not only based on what I’ve read, but also my own experience.

Mind broadened. Thank you.😀

Question: how much light and/or heat does it get there?

I admit, I’m also curious about your nitrate situation. With that much feeding, and one or more goldfish, ammonia production must be pretty high. And none of those plants are exceptionally fast growing, i.e. they shouldn’t be exporting that much nitrates from the set up. Are you measuring with drops, or dipsticks?

Thanks for sharing!

The temp stays right around 70 to 73. (W/Heater)

The light is on for about 6 hours a day, it's just a full spectrum LED bulb. 

I was also unaware the aloe would thrive lol. I just placed the cutting in there temporarily and it quickly doubled in size. Thanks for looking!

I check parameters with dipsticks bi-weekly and with my API test kit once a month or so. The 20 mg/L nitrates is only my best estimate (def not an expert)