Plants & Filter = Problems?

[flattrack23]

Hey everyone...
In the next month or so I'm getting some more plants to the more of the bottom of the tank and than they will obviously grow and make the tank better looking. But the problem is....my filter. You can look @ my tank in my signature for a referance but its the type of filter that has a tub that you can visible see in the tank that sucks the water up and than it has two canister's for the carbon pads and than it pours into the tank. Now we get to my problem, when i put plants in the tank and they grow bit, the filter will obviously suck them to it's tube and make the filter not fully workable. Could I put a sponge on the tube where the water gets sucked up so even if the plants did get sucked to it, they would just be getting sucked to the sponge so that it will still have good suction. I dont know if you can understand what i wrote but all help is appreciated. Thanks,

Nick

 

[The diver]

is it really that powerful? where abouts is the tube on the filter?

 

[themissingelf]

Don't really understand your description of your filter, however, I think your idea of using sponge is a good one. The suction across the sponge surface is not likely to be enough to suck to hard on the plants.

 

[chibi]

What I do is I cut the plants back that grow too close to the filter tube thing. But I can't see the type of filter you have, so it may not work. Mine's external with a tube that sucks the water out. Sometimes, my plants grow out and stop the filter from sucking up the water. I just cut back a leaf or two and it's fixed. Do you have any pics of your tank?

 

[flattrack23]

You can referr to the aquarium picture section under " Nick's 55 gallon community tank " and you can see the tube, which is the clearish white tube, that sucks the water and than goes into the filter and than out back into the tank. Its pretty powerful, its for a 60 gallon, and mine is a 55 gallon...The sponge idea i'm thinking is a good plan but than I would want plants to cover it because it would be ugly! Or, there is a knob on the filter that can be switched to full filter power ( Max water filtered ) Or turned so that its not as powerful, but I dont want to hurt the filteration.

 

[The diver]

you could just not plant near the filter intake. i don't plant any tall plants near mine to avoid the problem

 

[flattrack23]

But thats the thing, I dont want it that visible so my tank looks better. And im planning on getting plants anyhow and this problem has occured before...

 

[chibi]

Found your picture~! I have one of those, too. I'd plant infront of it, but not near it. Plant a plant near the front of tank so it's parallel to the filter. That way, it will hide it and it won't get sucked into it. Try making a focal point in your tank by putting a bright decoration, interesting plant, etc. that your eye is automatically drawn to that's far from the tube. That way, you won't notice the tube as much. It's like an art form almost.

 

[flattrack23]

That is a good idea....but i want the backdrop look with plenty of swimming space in front if you get what im saying. In that case it wouldnt look totally good with the plants in the front of the tank, but its a thought....hmmm it's making more sense though now....Still not sure. Since you have the same one do you see the knob on the top of the filter which can make max flow or reduce flow?

 

[chibi]

That is a good idea....but i want the backdrop look with plenty of swimming space in front if you get what im saying. In that case it wouldnt look totally good with the plants in the front of the tank, but its a thought....hmmm it's making more sense though now....Still not sure. Since you have the same one do you see the knob on the top of the filter which can make max flow or reduce flow?

Yep, I have that. I set it to lowest flow all the time, unless I do a water change, put my hand in it, it looks cloudy, etc. If you have it to the lowest setting, it won't suck your plants as much, and it can be increased when it's needed. If it's running high all the time, you can't set it higher when you need to. Atleast, that's what I do.

 

[flattrack23]

Hmmm...that is a good though. I'm sure we have the same filter, so put the knob diagonal instead of vertical. Because if I remember so than when it is diagonal that is less flow than vertical. Vertical lets max water through where diagonal dont....