Terraphyte tank...kindof

[Trout11B]

Well, a members tank on here, BBradbury got me thinking that I wanted to add a new look to my tank.

I took some plants from a local store which I believe should all be able to do this. Anyway, I outfitted my 55 with some eggcrate in order to give the plants a resting platform. From there I snapped it into a reasonably well fitting solution.

I snapped appropriate size holes in the crate in order to place the plants. Took an hour or two but it looks good and I'm excited to see how this will affect tank chemistry.

 

[Zimmanski]

Looks really neat, can't wait to see how they fill out. I had a planted HOB before and loved that it added something to look at on top of the tank other than lights. Keep us updated!

 

[Trout11B]

Ya, I'm excited to see where this goes.

 

[BBradbury]

Terraphyte Tank

Ya, I'm excited to see where this goes.

Hello Trout...

Very nicely done! You've impressed me with your ability to "think outside the box".

This type of tank needs strong aeration inside to move the tank water through the land plant's roots. This promotes good use of the nutrients in the water.

The leaves outside need good room light and I mist the leaves daily with a diluted liquid fert too.

Attached is a pic of a 55 G that's a combination of emersed land and aquatic plants. I had to drop the water level a bit to keep the leaves of the land plant above the water and open the top to make room for the land plant to grow, but the fish and the aquatic plants don't seem to mind.

Keep up the creative work. This is what takes the hobby to the next level and keeps it interesting.

B

 

[Trout11B]

Nice tank B,

You're tank was a blueprint, along with others found on various others sites, for the idea for this.

I wanted to keep the water level as high as possible in order to keep similar stocking levels. Even though theoretically you'd be able to control nitrates with the terrestrials, as proven in your case to be able to house 100s of guppies.

However, the height of the water is correlated to the sizes of the fish I'm keeping.

I figure I could keep just the roots in the water and the eggcrate allows that. I'll be monitoring the situation and changing plants as need if things go south.

 

[Trout11B]

Well, the experiment is tanking hard. No pun intended. I can't seem to get the plants to grow, only the peace lily. All the others have dead or dying roots and the nitrates are out of control. I've lost one sailfin Molly and there's an outbreak of ich slowly spreading.

This may have been a mistake.

 

[Autumnsky]

What plants are you using? Are they getting any light and what kind of light?

Try some big water changes!

What are the parameters of the tank?

 

[Zimmanski]

Well, the experiment is tanking hard. No pun intended. I can't seem to get the plants to grow, only the peace lily. All the others have dead or dying roots and the nitrates are out of control. I've lost one sailfin Molly and there's an outbreak of ich slowly spreading.

This may have been a mistake.

Sorry to hear that you're having issues, that's no fun. I'm also sorry I can't be any help to you, when I tried to hang pothos from my tank it died too. I hope someone can help you out, there are several people on the forum that have plants growing from the tops of their tanks so they may be able to help

 

[BBradbury]

Your Terraphyte Tank

Well, the experiment is tanking hard. No pun intended. I can't seem to get the plants to grow, only the peace lily. All the others have dead or dying roots and the nitrates are out of control. I've lost one sailfin Molly and there's an outbreak of ich slowly spreading.

This may have been a mistake.

Hello Trout...

Your experiment is a good one, despite the setback. We know there are only certain plants that have the ability to maintain pure water conditions. Aglaonema, Peace lily, Philodendron, Pothos, Nephytis and Impatiens are proven to work. There's no doubt others that will do the job, but haven't been tried.

You could resort to doing a small water change of 25 percent weekly to keep the water chemistry a bit more stable for your fish and still do a little plant testing.

Keep pluggin'

B

 

[Magicmarymac]

I am fascinated with the idea if the egg crate,especially now that I have a tank without a cover.

I have had pothos hanging in all of my tanks from time-to-time, with the only real issue being keeping them wet during water changes and the problem of the vine not being long enough to keep it in the water.

Is the egg crate just sitting on top?

 

[aqua_chem]

Are those plants getting much light on top of your tank? It looks pretty dark.