|
There are several opinions both pro and con to plants.. For what its worth, here are mine.
Plants do absorb nutrients out of the water, and even more importantly, the root system is home for countless bacteria and other microscopic life that remove even more nutrients from the water. In my "bog/plant filter" the plants are all bare root, only a stone to hold them upright. Notice I said a stone, not gravel.
It is true that plants will remove all levels of waste, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. I have not had the time to measure which they prefer.
There is an aquaculture center that is about an hour from here. The tanks are huge, and the stocking rates are 1 fish per 2-3 gallons of water. Mostly they raise tilapia, but in two tanks they grow out Koi for a wholesaler. They get them in as 1-2 inchers in the late summer, and in the late spring they are 4-7 inches long. The only, repeat only filtration they have are plant filters that are on trays above the tanks. Tomatoes, cucumbers, ornamental plants are all raised and sold as well. Needless to say, they do not use salt (which by the way does kill plants, something many people dont understand).
So, while many ponders feel like they have less of a Koi pond if there are plants in the system, that is just not so. As for the threat of parasites, if the plants are clean going in there is no problem. The only plants that have to have substrate to grow in are lilies and lotus, the rest to well, even better in some cases grown bare root. They also do well with the water running through the roots, like you would see in a streambed.
As for Thoms posting on the plants, give him time. Everything he does is well thought out, documented and that can only be done over time to get to the real results.
Sweetflag comes in several different varieties, and yellow is one of them. So if yours is yellow, that could be the reason?
d
|