I thought I would drop a line on this thread and up-date some of my findings. I have found that using "floating" plants such as salvalina and duck weed is two things, (1) They are much lower maintenance, no supplements are added to the culturing tank such as iron or other trace minerals and the lighting requirements are very low! I use a standard Hagen florescence bulb in the set-up. (2) They grow so fast, they are pulling the nitrogen wastes out faster than the fish or rotting debris can add to the system! I "must" pull two cups out a day of these lovely additions to this filter! Gooooood bye yuk, hello clean water! I am also using a "baffled" tank to allow natural settlements to, well settle:) I believe this is a more natural way of removing unwanted wastes, without stripping the water of some of the natural foods for the yunguns such as infusorians. The key is to allow a "slow" roll-over of the volume in my experience. I have 8, 10 gallon tanks on this set-up with a 55 gal tank as the filter. I use a drop in submersible filter that allows only the entire volume to turn over once a day, maybe less if I neglect the prefilter. What would be a nice addition would be a pump that returns the water back to the tanks with out the aid of a propeller. I believe the propeller and high revolutions of the pump chews up much of the natural food that would normally occur in a system like this. I imagine there is a pump out there that could work more like an internal screw that "pushes" the water gently, rather than blasting the water. I think I read about a pump like this that is used in natural reef systems utilizing huge refugems. I suppose this filter system is very much based on this concept. A pump like that would be big bucks i'm sure. Just some observations:) Cheers! :shock:

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Yes, I am using tap water that is run directly to the tanks by drip emitters after a carbon filter and the waste goes to the garden/lawn"

Hello Lee!
I had a question a little off topic. I would like to ask you what qualities you look for in a carbon filter. I assume you mean an in-line filter cartridge. At what pressure is high enough to allow the carbon to effectively absorbed the chlorine and possibly chloramines?( I think I read off the list somewhere that chloramines is not absorbed, or it is partially but allows the ammonia to pass through?) How long do you surmise a carbon filter would last under normal conditions, with little to no chlor/chloramine and little suspended solids? I see a bunch available, and was hoping your experience could reiterate on this matter! Thanks a bunch!