I'm having a hard time keeping nitrAtes down in the goldie tank. I've been adding more potted plants to help with that, and some water lettuce, but am still having to do large weekly water changes. Hopefully I'll see more nitrAte reduction as the plants get more established and the anaerobes kick in the soil. I can't keep duckweed, azolla or frogbit in the tank as the goldies eat it faster than I can put in it.
I was doing some reading yesterday and it looks like there are a couple of things I can try to help with nitrAtes.
1) building a coil denitrification unit
2) setting up a veggie filter with emersed/submersed plants.
I'm thinking the latter. Setting up my grow-out tub to share water from the goldie tank. Loading it with emersed and emergent plants (with maybe a walstad-type soil substrate) and running the light on an opposite schedule to the main tank lights. Seems to me that would provide several benefits: larger water volume; more plants for the goldies to eat; help reduce nitrAtes; increase O2/decrease CO2 levels when the goldie tank lights are out; and moderate the daily pH swing from the plants/CO2.
I'm wondering if it wouldn't be like CO2 supplimentation to some degree as the tank with the lights off would provide CO2 for the tank with the lights on since the water would be circulating between the two tanks.
Has anyone built anything like that before?
If so, how did it work?
I'm also wondering if that would give me enough water volume to convert the 55 gallon goldie tank to a planted tank with soil substrate. I'm still iffy on that cuz my goldies are always foraging on the bottom. I'm not worry about them moving enough gravel to stir up soil. The part that worries me is the mulm buildup over time. As I understand it, the mulm is an important part of the ecosystem that provides nutrients for the plants. But I just don't like the idea of my goldies constantly foraging in mulm. ick.
I'm thinking that the veggie filter might be a nice compromise.
Betty
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