# My little pothos plant filter



## Cich-ness (Apr 2, 2014)

Hi everyone, this is a little pothos plant filter I put together with a staples brand pen holder, some silicone, sponges, and a small submersible pump. Not the neatest job, but it seems to function well. I decided to make it mostly out of boredom, but I'm excited to see what impact it has on nitrates, if any....Let me know what you think!










added suction cups









cut in overflow between plant chamber and filter chamber, drilled access hole at to allow water from the bottom of filter chamber to pump chamber, outside hole to be filled later, drilled hole for pump outlet (upper hole)

















first mockup with pump in place.









silicone used to plug lower access hole and around pump outlet, let set for 48 hrs.









added sponges and media, inlet has been cleaned up since 









added pothos plant cuttings and additional media, setup complete.









finished look with filter installed on the tank.









video of filter at work!


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

That is nifty. Very "diy" out of a pencil holder. Questions: water flow volume? purpose of the pothos?


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## Cich-ness (Apr 2, 2014)

Thanks! The water flow is pretty low, probably around 120gph, it's a Rio 180 submersible pump. The idea with the pothos plant is to use it to gain the benefits of a plant without having a planted tank, hopefully helping to reduce nitrates, obviously it won't release oxygen into the water but because it's a fast growing plant so theoretically it will consume nutrients at a good clip, reducing nitrates if ammonia and nitrite aren't available.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Very well. Learn something new every day. Good job


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## Cich-ness (Apr 2, 2014)

Thanks! We'll see how good it is if it works


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

I like the idea. It helps that your tank is next to the window it looks like.


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

I'm going to use your tricks there... I have pothos downstairs in my aquaponics setup because I don't have enough growing at this time to offset the nitrates from the tilapia. Pothos is, in my experience, an amazing nitrate sucker! It grew like mad with very little light.

I had something rigged upstairs for my cichlid tank, but your idea is much better. And yes, it does work, and is cheaper than Purigen! Now if I can just keep my cats from chewing it up... It is supposedly poisonous to cats, but my cat got into mine several times and showed no ill effects. Anyway, Thanks!


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## Cich-ness (Apr 2, 2014)

Thanks! Mine still hasn't rooted fully so hopefully it will grow quickly once the roots take hold. One thing that I wish I would have done was drill the plant chamber to the filter chamber at the bottom, and cut the overflow from the filter chamber to the pump chamber at the top of the smaller baffle, it works and flows fine, but the water gets a little "stuck" at the top of the filter chamber and swirls around, that's my only complaint so far.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I have used it, and some similar plants. I put the plant stem into some tanks near the opening for a filter on over the edge on open top tanks. The plants grew from tank to tank. Lots of roots developed underwater where ever the plant could reach it. Most fish did not eat the roots, but in some the fish regularly trimmed the roots without any observed ill effect. In a well lit room it grows rapidly enough to remove nitrate and ammonia from the water, as well as increase the evaporation of water from each tank when the mass of plant got large. There does not seem to be any reason to create a chamber for the roots since the roots will proliferate way beyond the chamber's capacity. I did replace all the pothos and the other plant I never ID'd with an aquatic surface growing plant in tanks 75 gallons and larger. Alternanthera aquatica forms a floating mat on the surface that grows upward about a foot or more then arcs out of the tank and will reach out to any tank within a foot or two.


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## Cich-ness (Apr 2, 2014)

Yeah, I thought the roots may grow out of control eventually, I wanted to try something that would apply flow directly to the roots, my thought was that if the plant was getting enough nutrients then the roots wouldn't go searching for more, but either way, if it grows outside the box it's not the end of the world, I should be able to trim it without causing too much harm.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I have not noticed flow or none affecting this plant either way. Room light affects it. In a low light room it will do little more than survive. With your window, it should soon be sending roots down through any spaces along the lid, and the plant draping over the sides of the tank.


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

Mcdaphnia; I have wondered about a surface growing plant... since the exchange of gases occurs at the surface, did you ever have an issue with oxygen? Were you able to do this with a heavily stocked tank?


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I don't think you will have trouble with Pothos. You can bubble and aerate all you want. Other than getting in the way when you want to catch a fish, clean a filter, or lift the tank lid, Pothos seems tolerant of anything. A heavily stocked tank depends on physical aeration, and the amount of oxygen provided by plants is much less. For plants to support fish life with oxygen, you would have to stock very lightly. With A. aquatica, a strong current affects it at first, but if parts of it are in relatively still water, it will adapt to the current. I noticed some bubbles coming off the roots of A. aquatica when the lights were on. I did not capture them and have them tested, but I would be surprised if they were not oxygen. One of the fish rooms that used to be featured at this fish club's site (NJAS) used to show lots of Pothos growing everywhere. http://public.fotki.com /njas/member_fish_rooms/ Maybe they rotate the fish rooms and it will show up for you.


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## Cich-ness (Apr 2, 2014)

I hope it does grow well, unfortunately the window is north facing. I put a small shop light with a daylight bulb above it to try and add some light as well. It seems to be starting to root, but it's only been 3 weeks or so since I cut the pieces off the main plant, already opened a new leaf though, so it looks encouraging.


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## joemc (Sep 23, 2012)

it should grow fine for you in low light, the only difference you will notice is the new leaves will not have the cream coloured markings, they will be totally green and will be slightly smaller. I use this plant in most of my aquariums.


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## Ruthiebaby88 (Jul 29, 2010)

So Cich-ness - some time has passed - what do you think of the pothos filter now? Would you recommend it? I use my tank as a room divider and I love the idea of pothos cascading down the back - I was concerned about the toxicity to my mbuna since they eat even my plastic plants, but it seems that others have not seen ill effects with their fish snacking on the pothos so maybe it is ok.

I wonder if it would work equally well with a prayer plant?


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## dledinger (Mar 20, 2013)

I have pothos planted in the tops of 2 AC 110s. They seem very healthy, but grow slower than a potted one I have. I think they may actually do better with less current.

As far as growth in different level of light, I think my tank is a good example of that. One side of my tank gets a lot more light ambient light than the other. On the light end, I get cream colored leaves that are very close together (like 3/4" apart) and the plant does not stretch out. It's VERY thick and bushy. On the other end I get huge solid green leaves and the plant sprawls. They're probably 4" apart on that end.


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