“High Tech” “Low Tech” plant filtering…

[Magnum Man]

I did a 2nd trimming ( since they started as just sticks ) on my dwarf weeping willow bonsai's last night... they aren't really looking like nice Bonsai's yet, but doing that to a tree takes a lot of years... this trimming should cause it to bush out a little... so far, they aren't growing too fast to maintain... I did add some Seachem fertilizer last night, for the 1st time since they started rooting

 

[Magnum Man]

starting a new adventure next week... Tea Plants... grown in my Asian aquarium... I know @WhistlingBadger was having issues with his Tea plants & wet soil in his palladium... but I've found several plants that don't like to have their feet wet in dirt, grow marvelously in hydroponics...

so I have 2

Camellia sinensis​

Plants coming...

a comment from one of the sights I was looking up...
"A big consideration is that Camelias really want an acidic environment and so they may not be a good candidate to share nutrients with other plants (as I tried)" so it makes sense to try these in my soft water tanks, rather than the one that's alkaline...

here is the last site I had up... note the pictures of the roots, all grown hydrponically...

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Camellia-sinensis-plants-grown-in-hydroponics-a-Leaf-of-plant-grown-without-Al_fig1_286440393

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Interesting! I hope you have better luck with them than I did.

 

[Magnum Man]

Also trying some of these in my African tank... Lily of the Nile...

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Wow, really pretty! I am limited by having a closed-top tank, necessary for the frogs. I do think I'm going to try tea plants again though, maybe with a courser sand substrate.

 

[Magnum Man]

On the lily of the Nile, I doubt I'll get flowers, I may have to keep that pretty trimmed up... I only have about 2 .5 feet above the tank, to the ceiling, & the lights are curranty suspended from the ceiling, about a foot over the tank... I maybe could raise them higher, but that is the tank that is built in on 3 sides, so it's limited what I can do in it... I just ordered a new 6" net, with a 36" extendable handle... so I can reach to the far side... still trying to get the rest of the Giant Duckweed out of that tank, but I can't reach it with any of my current tools

 

[Magnum Man]

@WhistlingBadger …Added the 3rd Calathea to the South American tank today… adding 2 Tea plants to the Asian tank … a couple pictures of how I do it….

 

[Magnum Man]

2 Tea plants… note the Asian water moss in the background of this picture… now just fingers crossed, and wait

 

[Magnum Man]

Next week is the 3 Lily of the Nile, going into the African tank

 

[Magnum Man]

BTW… these Monstera’s and Pothos are the only filter cartridges in this tank… it does have an under gravel as a back up, but this tank has a 12 inch bichir, that’s eating well, so he doesn’t go after the 7 silver dollars in this tank ( biggest silver dollar is almost 6 inches ) so there is quite a bit of bio load… I check the water before water changes, just to be sure, but everything always tests good…

 

[Magnum Man]

Wow! 1 day and the new Calathea already has a root popping out

 

[Magnum Man]

Lily of the Nile plants went into the African tank today

BTW… one week on the Tea plants in the Asian tank… no signs of stress

 

[Magnum Man]

New very large leaf on the Calathea Orbifola… 8-10 inch leaf… won’t have to worry about algae in the South American tank… good thing I can raise the lights another foot if needed

 

[Magnum Man]

Adding another Calathea ( 4th ) to the South American tank… this one looks to have tubers in the roots… 1st I’ve seen that…

 

[Magnum Man]

little bit of a general update... 1st the Bonsai willows don't seem to be working out... rooting was no problem, but I think these willows need more light, or they didn't like 80 degree roots & 50 degree air temp... either way those were a bust...

Tea plants still look the same ( which most plants go through a dormant stage, after getting their roots rinsed clear ), so the fact that there are no ill effects shown on the greenery, has me optimistic there...

Nile Lily's are the same... still looking good... but not much new growth... but I'm optimistic that those will make it... I will add another 3 once I'm sure the 1st ones are gonna to make it for sure...

I'm not sure on the last 2 Calatheas... we are in winter here, so it's possible they got too cold in shipping both have some greenery that is good, & some that is dying... so more time needed there as well, to determine if they don't like the hydroponics, or got too cold in shipping... the last one with the tuber looking nodes in the roots, might not like the water???
those last fancy Chinese Evergreen, are doing good, even though they went into the water last, I think the roots are starting to grow out of the pots... funny how different plants react differently... the 1st Philodendron's I added ( going on a year now ) have been dormant this whole time, but just started root & plant growth, this last month...