David R Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Here's a couple of pics of my Pothos plant (Epipremnum aureum) growing in the sump of my tank. These were unrooted cuttings when I put them there a couple of months ago and have since grown reasonably well, more so recently now they are getting a decent sized root system on them. Unfortunately I'm not able to compare before and after results with the nitrate levels as they have been in the tank since day one, but I've never had a reading of over 20ppm despite heavily feeding the plecs and arowana. This thread on MFK has more details, including some results showing how much nitrate they can consume once established. Mine are growing under an 8w energy saver bulb as there isn't much ambient light where the sump is. They'd probably be ok without it, but 8w 12hrs a day isn't much power and more light = more growth = less nitrate! The roots have good water movement through them, and I'm hoping as they get bigger they'll help the settling chamber filter out more crap before it reaches the sponges. I don't have any spare at the moment, but if you keep an eye on trademe there is at least one person there who sells it occasionally (you'll have to look for Epipremnum, not pothos). I did distribute some spares when I first got it, interested to hear how other people are doing with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculator Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 I love using the likes of pothos, they work gret for me keeping nitrates down, I find that after they grow a bit you can cut them in half and put the new half in the water, and it wil grow (double the amount of plants you have for no cost). Personally I find peace lily to work better then pothos, but they do take up more room then the pothos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Hey I wanted to tidy up the look of the Pothos going into my display tank, so I brought a plastic pot drilled a hole and siliconed a pipe so about 3 cm was into the pot and about 15cm was sticking out the bottom. Filled pot with pumice planted pothos with the pipe going into the tank next to the filter outake and waited occasionally watering hoping roots would appear out of the pipe. Thanks to David for the Pothos btw! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 I get the idea and think it's great - but it rankles me as you could surely grow something more useful in there at the same time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 I think the great thing about pothos is that its easy to grow extremly low care and sucks up nitrates. You could do the same thing with allsorts of plants but you might need more lighting or nutrient supplements. Ive got a lily of some sort thats getting huge growing out of a tank in my garage under lighting, but the same plant failed exactly where I have the pothos now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Likoma Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Mine are smashing ît. I have gotten more and now run them on all tanks. Awesome Cheers for the hook up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Most of mine have rooted well. One is still bare, it was at the end of the tank with no sunlight the other end gets a bit most days. I have now moved it to a different tank, but no roots as of yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Likoma Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Are the roots in the main tank where the fish can get them? I had to move all plants behind the Hamburg Matten Filter for them to root heavily. One reason was that all the fish ate new roots and there was the food source behind the HMF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binu Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 if any one selling a piece of it i m keen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted October 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Good to hear they're doing well, Seth I think that is a great idea what you've done with them! You're right about them being super easy to grow, I think that is the main reason they work so well. I'd love to do an aquaponics set up and grow lettuce, herbs etc with my aquarium water, but this is far simpler and has similar results [for the fish]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Yeh they were in main tank where fish could nibble. Have thought about stuffing one into some poret in the sump, but it has zero light in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Yeah havn't noticed the fish going for the roots yet. Their mostly predatory tangs apart from the tropheus so have to wait and see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nudge Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 beautiful tank there mcculloch, whats ya stock list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwibrick Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 This has motivated me do a small project on my 55g tank, I think a hydroponic box to replace the lid of the trickle filter on top of the tank planted with pothos/peace lily/orchids of some sort will be pleasing to the eye! And also slightly reduce my water changes, which helps when you are on tank water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Thanks nudge theres more photos of the tank and fish here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=64124 Don't like derailing threads so Ill put up a stock list there too. Kiwi brick do it you never know untill you try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted October 26, 2013 Report Share Posted October 26, 2013 I have a peace lily and spider plant growing above my native tank: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycoolmc Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Where can you buy Pothos from? Have looked at the warehouse, mitre10 and Palmers and no one has it Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted October 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Where can you buy Pothos from? Have looked at the warehouse, mitre10 and Palmers and no one has it Took me a while to find it, set up a saved search on TradeMe for "Epipremnum" would be your best bet. Mine are too small to cut sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Nice plants Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 Yeah in a few months I could probably supply some but need to get it growing on my tank first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted August 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 Bumping this back up, just thought I'd test my water before doing my weekly 10-15% change... Nitrate: 5ppm, Ammonia: 0ppm, TDS: 46ppm Pothos are certainly doing the business! Maybe be able to supply a cutting or two if anyone is interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverdollarboy2 Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 So can you suspend them above the water line so the roots are just dangling in the water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted August 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 Yep, as-per the pics on the first page, roots submerged and plant above the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr A Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 So I found an ancient giant pothos plant at one of my warehouses - no pics pre it's trimming but the single longest of it's vines would have been 40+ m long; so far it grew all the way to one side of the building up amongst the rafters so they turned it round and directed it back the other way. The middle sections of the vine had gone all manky and yellow but the tips were still green and healthy - probably due to the lack of lighting. I plonked a section of it in my tank... it's gone insane. Took about a week to root, and now it's doubled in length in a month. The roots are so thick I think it's beginning to stifle the filter intake and green algae is growing on them (lack of water flow I suspect). Has anyone had any success trimming the roots? I'll pop up some pictures tonight. 0 nitrites/nitrates is nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rouseabout Posted August 29, 2014 Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 So any chanceyou can share some of this with us? :env: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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