# Plant aquarium filtration



## hhaf (Jan 9, 2007)

After starting, or indid upon starting an aquarium - plants are added. The aquarium is at this time not ready for any fish, as the new biotope needs time to establish and stabilize.

This brings me to the question. Is filtration acually needed for a planted aquarium without fish, or can it do without, with perhaps just a circulation pump to stir the water a bit.

Do not read this as an intent to do this, but as a theoretical question to get more knowledge into the bilological workings within the small biotope.

A secondary question is, how much filtration is needed (still without fish). Will a very minor interior filter (like e.g. a Fluval 1+) do the job for a 128 liter? It sure would bee too small for such an aquarium that have fish in it.


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## NoSvOrAx (Nov 11, 2006)

Its the flow the plants need. You need flow to every part of the tank or you'll get algae. Personally, I over filter my aquariums not for the fish, but because the over filtering means more flow through out the tank. IMO, a fluval 1+ isn't enough flow for a 10g. I use Fluval 2+ in some of my 10g tanks with the filtered on the bottom on its back and a spray bar attached to its output. Works pretty good. For a 128 liter (~30g), I use a xp2 filter and I think its the perfect amount of flow at around 150gph. I'm pretty sure you could just use powerheads in a plant only tank, but you'll have to work on it to make sure you don't have dead spots.


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## hhaf (Jan 9, 2007)

That's quite interesting! Flow, not filtration. I do wonder if the filtration does have some effect anyway, but am not nearly good enough in organic chemistry to know what.

If, so - a small filter with an additional small circulation pump or two placed to get well thought out movement is a good idea - and it also tells me something about what goes wrong in my 152 liter tank. 

Have a pretty bad BGA infestation there - but not that much where the flow is good. However, the scalares in the tank do need some fairly quitet areas to claim for themselves.


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## FacePlanted (Aug 13, 2007)

I agree that flow is very important, and it can be supplied by a powerhead or filter. I think that a filter for a tank at this stage would really be to provide mechanical filtration. But a new tank isn't really very dirty, and mech. filtration probably wouldn't be needed until later. Flow/circulation I agree is an often overlooked key to succussful plant growth and algae avoidance.

-Mike B-


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I ran a 29 gallon tank for several months using just a powerhead with a filter sponge on the inlet for filtration. I also injected my CO2 into the powerhead so it chopped the bubbles up and sprayed them around as CO2 mist. This worked pretty well, except that the sponge did get pretty dirty eventually, and I found it hard to avoid BBA both on plants and on the filter sponge itself. I decided I preferred my water to be more clear and less filled with bubbles, so I stopped that method.


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## hhaf (Jan 9, 2007)

Sorry, what is BBA?


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

*B*lack *B*earded *A*lgae

Its caused by low Co2 levels or inconsistant levels of Co2.... Bad circulation..


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## hhaf (Jan 9, 2007)

Ah! Thanks! :-D


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

Hated that stuff...makes the plants look real ugly...
Bought 1 bottle of Seachem Flourish Excell and BAM ! Gone....
Proabably have to thank the Pressurized Co2 aswell as I bought it the same
time....


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