Hi all,
All the details are in this current thread, but have a look here:<Alfagrog for reducing Nitrates? | Page 2 | UK Aquatic Plant Society> for a quicker summary and picture.
I think the main thing for planted tank keepers is that we don't tend to struggle with oxygen levels the way that people with non-planted tanks do. The reasons for this are numerous, but probably the most relevant are that at the end of the photo-period the water will be fully oxygenated, and the plants will have absorbed a lot of the NH3 that otherwise would have entered microbial oxidation.
Also we differ from marine aquarists in that higher plants have a much higher net productivity than algae like Chaetomorpha, or even an "algal scrubber", fresh water holds more oxygen than salt water, and water changes are fairly trouble free and inexpensive for us.
I'm not contemplating going down the salty route, but if I ever did it would be in a system with both a trickle filter and a planted reverse lighting period refugium.
I'm always advocating "plants as the answer", but on Cichlid and Catfish keeping forums a lot of people keep fish that need good oxygenation, but for some reason are adverse to having plants for all sorts of reasons, mainly fairly spurious. That was why I wrote this <plecoplanet: Aeration and dissolved oxygen in the aquarium> (also linked in earlier in the thread).
cheers Darrel
I agree. I like as large a gas exchange surface as possible and for that reason I like "wet and dry" trickle filters, although mine used to be over-tank rather than in a sump.I'm a little surprised that more people don't use any kind of sump system, where it's possible to "super aerate" the water using a simple skimmer (just using the venturi for aeration not actual skimming). This would definitely maximize CO2 exchange and could be used on a timer to match photo periods if so desired.
All the details are in this current thread, but have a look here:<Alfagrog for reducing Nitrates? | Page 2 | UK Aquatic Plant Society> for a quicker summary and picture.
I think the main thing for planted tank keepers is that we don't tend to struggle with oxygen levels the way that people with non-planted tanks do. The reasons for this are numerous, but probably the most relevant are that at the end of the photo-period the water will be fully oxygenated, and the plants will have absorbed a lot of the NH3 that otherwise would have entered microbial oxidation.
Also we differ from marine aquarists in that higher plants have a much higher net productivity than algae like Chaetomorpha, or even an "algal scrubber", fresh water holds more oxygen than salt water, and water changes are fairly trouble free and inexpensive for us.
I'm not contemplating going down the salty route, but if I ever did it would be in a system with both a trickle filter and a planted reverse lighting period refugium.
I'm always advocating "plants as the answer", but on Cichlid and Catfish keeping forums a lot of people keep fish that need good oxygenation, but for some reason are adverse to having plants for all sorts of reasons, mainly fairly spurious. That was why I wrote this <plecoplanet: Aeration and dissolved oxygen in the aquarium> (also linked in earlier in the thread).
cheers Darrel