Pothos In Juwel Tank

We have very high nitrates in our tap (80ppm), I have added plenty of live plants including duckweed and salvinia and have some matrix in the filter. Nitrates are usually around 20-30ppm in most tanks.

I'd really like to get nitrates lower in my main tank which is a Juwel Rio 240 with platies, guppies, danios, WCMM, dojo loaches, a BN pleco, a bolivian ram, shrimp and snails. I'm going to add another filter just for matrix as I have a bit less than the recommended amount but I would also like to add some pothos as I've heard it's excellent at removing nitrates.

Could anyone with experience with Juwel tanks tell me if it's possible to grow pothos in the juwel bioflow filter? If not how could you grow pothos in a juwel tank? I understand it needs to be mostly out of the water so does there need to be a hole in the tank lid? Would I need to cut a hole on the lid?

Any other requirements for pothos? What sort of lighting does it need? Would room lighting be good enough? Does it need substrate around its roots?

Thanks

 

I had duck weed in a trigon 190, it just sort of hung around the outside of the filter, some got in but even then it just floated on the surface inside the filter I think it should be ok.

 

Also to cut a hole in the lid you could just use a hack saw blade then neaten it with a file I did that on my juwel vision 450.
it cuts nice and easy.

 

Pothos is grown with only its roots submerged, so you will have to either cut a hole in the lid or take it off completely. It is easy to grow and a common houseplant. It is also possible to keep it in soil. When getting a plant, you can buy one from the store and clean its roots or take a cutting from an established plant. Normal room lighting will be fine.

 

I had duck weed in a trigon 190, it just sort of hung around the outside of the filter, some got in but even then it just floated on the surface inside the filter I think it should be ok.

Already got duckweed but I keep it in a couple of breeder boxes so it doesn't mix with the salvinia.

If I cut a hole in the lid do you think my dojo loaches or shrimp would get out?

 

Not if the plants are in the hole but I never kept them fish and don't know how prone they are to jump, another thing I thought of is if you cut a hole as its only thin it will affect the integrity of it and it could become too floppy. I had such a nightmare when I chopped the t5 units off mine. You should be ok with small holes just start off small and experiment if you do decide to do it.

 

Hmmm. How wide a hole will pothos need?

 

Hmmm. How wide a hole will pothos need?

Just big enough for the stem and roots to fit through.

 

Yeah I mean how wide does pothos usually get?

 

Ive seen it kept in a coke bottle which makes me think about drilling holes as it wouldn't effect the strength of the lid and there is no way a fish could get through.
use one of those.

 

If it was kept in a bottle would it have enough room between the surface of the water and the lid? (only about 2")

 

I was thinking to just push the roots through the hole and have the plant on top.

 

Just to make sure I'm understanding. Put pothos in half a bottle with holes drilled in it for the roots and float the bottle on the surface right? So the lid's shut above the plant?

 

No, I was thinking
just drill a hole in your lid put the plant through and let it just sit on top, maybe do a few. No bottle

 

Ok thank you for all the help

Sorry picture isn't working for me

 

Its alright
is this 1 ?

 

No, probably just my old computer

Works on my tablet. Would you just float the whole bottle in the tank and cut a bit out of the lid?

 

The bottle is metaphorically your tank, the bottle neck is the hole you drilled in the lid and the roots go down to the water. That's all I could come up with.

 

Awesome thanks!