[AndyL]

Hey folks,

I just started the process of doing a complete overhaul of my fishroom (and adding 6 40g breeder tanks) To keep the wife from killing me when she sees the water bill, I'm looking for some ways to save on that darn water bill...

I've heard of people using 'plant filtration' to help maintain water quality (suck up the NO3 / PO4) to reduce water change needs, but I have yet to see one of these systems - anyone have some advice on plants to use, overall design?

Andy

 

[AndyL]

Not sure if breeding discus is in the works for me yet... I'm more focusing on Angels, rams and maybe some other dwarf cichlids. The angels definitely follow the same process as discus, they are fed heavily on beefheart to put on size rapidly...

My plan so far, had been to keep the basic overflow & sump setup I've got working now, but to add duckweed to the section containing the primary heaters (there are secondary heaters in the tanks), then screen off the output of that section so the duckweed doesn't end up clogging the pump / drip emmiters. And of course add some light (24" shoplight would fit nicely)

What about algae? Could I 'cultivate' some algae (whatever type, hair came to mind) in the sump to suck up the excess nutrients? Would require the addition of a UV filter to prevent spreading through the tanks, but it seems like it could be workeable too.

I don't think I'd trust eliminating water changes for even a month - I tend to follow the belief that fish need fresh water, while they grow they definitely are using up nutrients from the water, and those need to be replaced...

Andy