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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #1334
>Hi Tom
>> A good picture is in Rataj/horemanni Aquarium Plants pg 15 for an old
>> picture of what this looks like...
> Sorry but if you could give me more details about the Rataj book, I'd
>look it up in the library if available. If not, is there a URL to that
>'old picture'?
Aquarium Plants,their identification, cultivation and ecology by Dr. Karel
Rataj and Thomas horeman : TFH Neptune City, NJ,1977
>> ... The rest of your area is reduction zones. Check out
>> Tunze's Bio-irragators for some Theory if you wish. I found it after I
>> stumbled upon this RFUG quite by luck.
>I was at (http://www.tunze.com/eng/index.htm) but there's no link to the
>'Bio-irragators'. Where did you find it again?
It was over 10 years ago so I'm not certain if they still make it etc. I
have an old brosure that tells about it in more detail. But they have an
area of oxidation in an egg shaped zone coming up from the outlet from the
RFUG(or Bio-irrigator) and an area of reduction everywhere else.
>
>> I think the best thing that can be said about RFUG's for plant tanks that
>> make them any better than another is: They allow for higher fish loads than
>> other methods I've played with.
>My fish load is a aqua-planter's nightmare but balancing high fish load
>without excessive algae is quite a challenge.
I know it's not what you want to hear but lose the high fish
loads..............................
Plant tanks are a challenge enough.............don't you think??? It's kind
of like driving at 150mph on a narrow road rather than 35mph. Your fish will
pay and your plants and you$$$. You can do it for awhile but your asking for
trouble. If you have a power outage also, my fish are fine for a day without
power, my plants are fine for 3-6 days with no power. Before, I worried
about the tank to no end. Hi fish load tanks would last how long in a power
outage??????? Are the fish happier packed???? I think you see the point.
>> Forget about the RFUG for this big tank. Works better on smaller
>> tanks with high fish loads.
>Isn't a big tank similar to a smaller one, if fishload is relative,
>considering that it works in a pond. But thanks for the help again...
>these notes will be on my drawing board.
Not really. Big tanks tend to be much more stable over all(saltwater,FW,
plant tanks etc). Achieving good even flows becomes more difficult as area
gets larger unless you do small units in a modular fashion. This starts to
get complicated and larger pumps become necessary which uses lots of
electricity. Pond often don't have lots of water movement and can tolerate
no water surface turnover. These filters can, for ponds, do a good job of
bio-filtering without much flow or cash output for a filter. Ponds have less
fish loads generally also.
Makes for a nice internal filter for a pond. Looks better than anything
sitting by the pond also.
This can be important depending on where the pond is. Looks can be very
important(in this case it was). I used a larger pipe set up for the pond and
had plenty of depth to play with. There was an issue of the filter not being
seen also.
If you are going to do the high fish load thing on the big tank.........do 2
or 3 separate manifolds with internal pumps or a split system from a return
and add 5 inches of gravel or more. Plan on big water changes and keep a
close eye on things. Life now and later will be easier if you lower the fish
load though. It's a what? 200 + gallon tank?
Sloping the gravel can present problems also due to break through. Flat
gravel bed or sloped up from the inflow and sloped down away from the
inflow.
FWIW,
Tom Barr