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Quick and easy mini-aquascape for decoration. I became obsessed with the idea of an aquascape a few years ago. I built one with fish, a CO2 pump, and a lot of plants, but the snails took over, the fish had babies, and everything went nuts. That isn't a problem with this setup.
The idea of an aquascape is essentially an underwater garden that releases oxygen into the room. You can make them into mini-biospheres (ala Make 10), but this one won't require you to pick things out of a pond.
The idea of an aquascape is essentially an underwater garden that releases oxygen into the room. You can make them into mini-biospheres (ala Make 10), but this one won't require you to pick things out of a pond.
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Signing UpStep 1Aquire the Materials
There are four things needed for this project. Two can be purchased at IKEA, but the same two can be acquired nearly anywhere.
You will need a container (glass jar, bottle, cup) about $6 for mine
Gravel (Ikea has small bags for $2, enough to make two of these)
Plant bulbs (I picked these up at Wal-Mart(BOO, HISS) for about $3
Water (I used distilled water for fear the chlorine mine kill the plants) $1
You can easily substitute anything but the bulbs. The water could be purified or treated water (for an aquarium). I would advise against pond water for the micro-organism count, and the smell. The distilled water won't have many of the same problems. I waited to post this until the plant had grown to see if there were any problems with the distilled water sucking the nutrients out of the plant, but I don't see any problems so far.
The taller the container, the more elegant the plants will look. Wal-Mart sells two types of plants, Aponogeton and Lily bulbs. The first is what I used, the second has a different color and shape of leaves. That is about the only difference, they will both work.
Growing from bulbs eliminates the chances of snail infestation. It will also make it easier to setup.
You will need a container (glass jar, bottle, cup) about $6 for mine
Gravel (Ikea has small bags for $2, enough to make two of these)
Plant bulbs (I picked these up at Wal-Mart(BOO, HISS) for about $3
Water (I used distilled water for fear the chlorine mine kill the plants) $1
You can easily substitute anything but the bulbs. The water could be purified or treated water (for an aquarium). I would advise against pond water for the micro-organism count, and the smell. The distilled water won't have many of the same problems. I waited to post this until the plant had grown to see if there were any problems with the distilled water sucking the nutrients out of the plant, but I don't see any problems so far.
The taller the container, the more elegant the plants will look. Wal-Mart sells two types of plants, Aponogeton and Lily bulbs. The first is what I used, the second has a different color and shape of leaves. That is about the only difference, they will both work.
Growing from bulbs eliminates the chances of snail infestation. It will also make it easier to setup.
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My lighting is three 24" 20-watt bulbs, and I use Flourish Iron fertilizer. Any suggestions as to the cause of this problem?
Also, if you choose plants that grow from bulbs, that can be part of the problem. The reason a plant grows a bulb is to store nutrients for a later date. A lot of the time, an aquatic plant may only be under water for 6 months at a time and the rest of the year be completely dry. The plant has a kind of "internal clock" that tells is to start dying off for the start of a dry season. And if you don't supply the nutrients a bulb needs in the long run, it will use itself up completely and the plant then dies.
Something else can be the plants themselves. If you pick out plants that are picky, they might do alright at first, but in the long run, they end up just completely horrible. I kept jungle val for a long time, but it kept dying off. I found out it was a calcium defficiency. A plant. Needing calcium supplements. Yikes. :P
You can also be adding too much iron. You use Flourish, so instead of iron, go out and grab some flourish EXCEL(which is an organic CO2 made from liquid that you just pour in) and get yourself some Flourish root tabs. That helps put a lot of basic must-haves back at the plant's disposal. This was long winded of me. :P Try this site if you're still interested:
aquaticplantcentral.com GREAT site with friendly people. :) Good luck!
I personally hate pea gravel especially the rainbow brite colored junk at most pet stores. I have a 55 Gallon tank at home that is planted with live plants of various types and use a product called Flourite. Flourite really emulates the look and texture of soil very well. Flourite is actually made especially for planted aquariums and so it is not only really good for plants but it is also fish safe too. I don't endorse Petsmart in any way, but I wanted to give an example of the what I am talking about. They were the first link at the top and I am lazy so....
Anyways..
If anyone is interested and I can make the time (when I get home from work) I could post a picture of my aquarium so you can see what Flourite looks like in application.
Tis the fate of society :p
It's hard to do this one right, you need just the right balance between temperature, light, plant, animal, and microorganism to make it all work. I salute you!
If you can keep outer organisms from invading, you will have a really workable system going there. I ended up with a lot of blue-green algae sliming everything. This is part of the problem with people using real plants in their aquariums.
You aren't the first to add a lamp to the machine Cheese! You probably wouldn't want to use fish Brownsug, there's and article written in the early 80's from "Mother Earth News"talking about the same as Sleighbedguy here. The biologist used Anacharis and Ghost shrimp I think.