Plants in FW, scrubbers in SW

[Green]

I'v kept freshwater and brackish water planted tanks, and used 2 diferent plants growing in/outside of the water, my nitrate always 0ppm, there no single spot of algae in the walls, eventhough I feed a lot due to many fish in the tank.
I came to the point that growing plants is the way to go for freshwater tank, I am trying to do the same for reef tank so I just added recently a mini scrubber to my refugium.

[Green]

Here is some pictures of the freshwater tank.

[Green]

The blooming and FTS, several plants added and removed as the time goes due to some house plants are not suitble for a Riparium.

[SantaMonica]

No algae here, correct?

[Green]

No algae here, correct?
That is right, not only that, even my water parameters are fine all the time that I stoped testing the water.I took that tank down ( Don't have much space at the apartment) and got another reef tank insteed, I have another brackish planted Riparium going on right now, with mangrove, leather fern, java fern...no water change for months now, I only feed and I feed a lot due to many fish, I want to see how far the plants and mangrove can keep up with this tank..and again no algae there either.

[Rumpy Pumpy]

Interesting idea.

I saw this similar concept a while back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7e8AYLv8oo

[Green]

Interesting idea.

That was Hydrophyte's idea, an active member on different freshwater tank forums. this is his blog: http://hydrophytesblog.com/

[34cygni]

Back In The Day, these were called "plant filters (http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/plantfilter.html)", and the old timers got the idea from professional fishkeepers at the big, public aquariums. Peace lilies and pothos were (and perhaps still are) the preferred plants among the pros because they grow well in low light, including indirect sunlight, and pothos can get quite large -- or perhaps "lengthy" is the proper adjective here -- and absorb correspondingly large amounts of nutrients. Pothos can thrive rooted into a HOB filter, eliminating the need for a separate tank (variegated pothos should be avoided by aquarists whose primary interest is nutrient removal, BTW, as less green = less chlorophyll = less growth = less nutrients consumed). The chief advantage of plant filters is that emergents absorb CO2 directly from the atmosphere, grow quickly, and absorb more nutrients than submerged aquatic plants; the chief disadvantage is that the plants are potentially vulnerable to insect infestations, which can be difficult to treat effectively without harming one's livestock.

The ultimate extension of this concept is aquaponics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics), which involves growing edible plants in what is essentially a chemical-free hydroponic setup.

Marine planted tanks (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/sl/index.php) also seem to be gaining traction, incidentally.

Personally, I think plant filters are a great idea that got lost after reliable mechanical filtration became available off the shelf -- and not just because they effectively remove nutrients from FW tanks. A plant filter can represent the littoral zone of a lake, which is a crucial refuge for zooplankton, fry, and other little critters that tend to get themselves et when they venture into the open water.

[Green]

This is a brackish 36 gallon mangrove tank. no water change for months, I want to know how long it will last, the only maintenance that I do is: trimming the mangrove, water top off, feeding the fish daily. no cleaning the walls(except for clearing the condensation to take pictures), no stirring the sand...