Feeding and Nutrition :: Does anyone grow their own aquatic plants?

[ataraxiamb]

Bill will be moving into a larger tank at the end of the year, and I'm thinking of using his old tank to try to grow anachris and/or hornwort. Has anyone had success with this?

If so:

-What do you do in terms of lighting?
-Do you use any filters?
-How do you handle algae?
-Do you use substrate?

[ljapa]

We got our 55 gallon tank at the dollar a gallon sale. They had no stands.

Eventually I found a stand/tank combo on Craigslist for $50. I told the guy I just wanted the stand, but he said I had to haul off the tank.

After trying to give it away to a friend who kept snakes and to garbage pickers, I eventually got an overflow skimmer for the main tank and turned the other into a refugium. I'm growing anacharis and amazon sword, as well as red cherry shrimp and tetras that were getting eaten when with the turtle. I divided it into three chambers: the first has ceramic media; the second has sand, the plants and shrimp; the third has one of those cheap blue and white filters stopping anything from getting to the chamber that has the return pump. I had a filter between the biomedia and the livestock area, but after shrimp got over there, I just pulled it.

I get the turtle waste as fertilizer. I have extra biofiltration. I would say it has cut back a smidge on the algae in the turtle tank, and the shrimp keep any algae in the refugium under control. The anacharis grows much better than the sword. I've not yet harvested any sword. I have anacharis growing as a floating plant and in the sand. The floating anacharis grows faster, but both are growing.

This just started last Thanksgiving. I only addled anacharis a few weeks ago. Thus far, I've had no floods, but I fully expect it to happen some day. It's in the basement, so it will be cleanable.

[ljapa]

Forgot to add, I just have an aquarium flourescent light.

A great forum for planted tank info is at

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/index.php

[ataraxiamb]

Wow! More complicated than I thought. Thanks for the input and the link. We'll see if I can actually pull it off. I just feel so cheated paying $4 for a tiny bunch of anachris.

[devilduck]

Anacharis and hornwort are very easy to grow, you don't even need to plant them just let them float and have a light source.

You can fertilize by changing the water out with wastewater from the turtle tank. If you start to getting too much algae, decrease the light.
You do not need a filter for a plant only tank.

[ljapa]

Wow! More complicated than I thought. Thanks for the input and the link. We'll see if I can actually pull it off. I just feel so cheated paying $4 for a tiny bunch of anachris.

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting such a complex setup. Basically, I wanted to tell you that I've found anacharis very easy to grow, and I don't know what I'm doing.

[ataraxiamb]

Thanks guys! I'm impressed that you're able to pull off that set-up, ljapa. I'll let you guys know how it goes when I set it up.