Growing Plants with Bacteria House

[Akai-San]

Can someone explain the use of and the type of planting that Momotaro uses in the bacteria house trays? What are the pros and cons for this practice? Pending on the water requirements, planting and scaping schemes could significantly change the aesthetic nature of these HUGE monolithic bio-filters. Thanks all.

[MikeM]

There are not enough plants to make a difference in the quality of the water given the volume and feeding that occurs there. So, the plants you see in the photos have to be more aesthetic than functional. (The water hyacinth floating in the pond protected from the snacking koi may actually do a little bit of good, simply because the hyacinths grow so rapidly, but still aesthetics wouls seem the main point of them.) I would be concerned that debris would gather in the roots of iris as "planted" at Momotaro. But, having observed how no debris of consequence gathers in the Bacteria House media, I would be open to giving it a try if mine was not located where leaves etc. can blow in. Mine has a loose cover to prevent leaves etc from falling into the trays. No place for plants under that.

[Akai-San]

Thanks MikeM,

I was just thinking of all the bad things that come out of trying to incorporate plants with the trays (cleaning, pruning roots, etc.). Just trying to innovate and think out of the box when designing for aesthetics but still maintain functionability. Has anyone out there tried or know of a cascading setup? Much like a waterfall. Instead of stacking the trays and water drop straight down, how about breaking water pouring over the long edge into another tray and so on. Same results? Maybe heavier flow rates can be achieved? Might not be a space saver, but could be quite nice I think. Any thoughts?

[Regenmeneer]

Akai san

Won't you be changing the filtering concept completely? You wil go from a trickle tower system with BH to a system with submersed BH, ie a chamber system?
Regenmeneer

[PapaBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by Akai-San Thanks MikeM, I was just thinking of all the bad things that come out of trying to incorporate plants with the trays (cleaning, pruning roots, etc.). Just trying to innovate and think out of the box when designing for aesthetics but still maintain functionability. Has anyone out there tried or know of a cascading setup? Much like a waterfall. Instead of stacking the trays and water drop straight down, how about breaking water pouring over the long edge into another tray and so on. Same results? Maybe heavier flow rates can be achieved? Might not be a space saver, but could be quite nice I think. Any thoughts?

I've actually read (on another forum) of several people using the technique you describe and plan to incorporate the idea into my remodel this winter. Stepped waterfall cascades with a biomedia "basin" arrangement in each step. It winds up being somewhat of a hybrid Bakki Shower/Trickle Tower. Lots of oxygenation and gas exchange. With the kind of splashing and agitation you would get it should prevent any detrius accumulation from occuring.
Insofar as the original question of debris accumulation on Plants in a BH, I would think the environment would be self-regulate root growth. The more effective the BH is working the less Nitrate the plants have for a food source which should limit the plant growth. The Hyacinth I have in my filtered water are free of any detrius whatsoever. Those that are in my pre-filtration chambers are filthy, but as I use them as a substitute for brushes that just tells me they are doing their job very well.

[Akai-San]

Quote: Originally Posted by Regenmeneer Akai san Won't you be changing the filtering concept completely? You wil go from a trickle tower system with BH to a system with submersed BH, ie a chamber system? Regenmeneer

I wasn't thinking of submersing media, just providing another way to disperse pond water over the media to acheive different aethetic schemes and effects. Wondering how different the performance would be.

[MikeM]

Akai: If you set up each tray so the water fell into one of the chute-type trays seen in Momotaro pics, with each level pouring into another tray stepped down, I think you would get the effect you want. But, I do not think you would get the full benefit of the water trickling over the media ... too much flow at one point, rather than having the flow spread evenly over the whole surface of the media.