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Planted HOB thread.

227K views 328 replies 122 participants last post by  pejerrey 
#1 · (Edited)







I started this thread because of the interest I see from other members to start their own planted HOB.

The cascade 200 hob comes with an attachment that is perfect to be planted. Then the rest is adding media instead of their cartridges in the back. I'm sure you can make a lil mesh bag filled with soil and plant thru the mesh.

An hob resembles to me an hydroponic pot pot, it does get decent light too! Even in a low light tank!

this is my other planted HOB with baby tears I collected from a lake, invasive species... its better for it to be in my hob rather than in that lake:


In both HOBs I have there is fluval or eheim biomedia instead of the stuff (sponges or cartridges) that came with the hob. In top of the media there is a small square of sponge or pad (don't remember), in top of that moss and in top of the moss plants.

In one of the hob the moss goes all the way down to the substrate of the tank and the plants too.

When I clean the filter I just pull the plants and moss that is attached to that pad or sponge and fold back into the tank, go clean it, put it back in the tank and then unfold/ place the pad again in the same position, there is very little root growth into the media.

Now, because of the plants you will evaporate more water than your HOB already does normally. I was Surprised by this and I was looking around for leaks! Lol!

The HOBs can be noisier with their lids on, this is why I did this. To my surprise again, the plants provide excellent sound dampening.

please share you pictures and experience here
 
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#277 ·
I think this has been asked before but I didn't see any responses, Has anyone tried using a Marina Hang-On Breeding Box or a finnex Refugium for this hob plant box... Seems they might do the trick quite nicely. I might try it. I will post my findings if I do.
 
#281 ·
absolutely a wonderful idea! do you guys put any form of plant fertiler or liquid co2 into the tank? i havnt really noticed any fish in these setups? if you do have fish in these tanks, does this setup allow you to feed your fish more then usual, meaning instead of 1 frozen cube a day to say 2 a day as the plant would filter the excess nitrates out?

regards
tolga
 
#282 ·
Emersed plants take co2 from the atmosphere.

The nutrients that feed your plants in the water will feed the plants in the hob, thru their roots.

With any tank, don't overfeed


-To be everything, be nobody.
 
#284 ·
Absolutely awesome! I have a 37g drilled with a sump that has a large drainbox attached to the outside of the tank....might have to try a reverse version of the hob and see if I can get a garden growing on top of my tank, too. see pic of the drainbox...lots of room for plants in there, just the direction of the water will be reversed from what everyone here is doing. :smile:
 

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#288 ·
The massive blob of plants on the left (not the palm) are all in my aqauclear 70 HOB including Pothos, Tradescantia zebrine (aka wandering jew), Creeping jenny, and Fittonia albivenis

The pothos and wandering jew hand down to the table the tank is set on.
 
#291 ·
Sadly my HOB is currently not planted, all the plants moved over to the 55g with a canister filter and were stuffed in riparium baskets and floating rafts... but I love riparium setups so much I'll probably try several new plants on my 20g and pack the aquaclear70 top full of plants again once it warms up and I can find some things.
 
#294 ·
I realize this thread is old but I had a question. I've read different threads and just wanted to clarify one thing. In the media basket what order do you layer everything?

Sponge,Media beads, bag gravel, sponge? I even read the how to thread and in the pictures it looks like a bag of carbon under the top sponge

Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk 2
 
#298 ·
Added some moss to HOB outflow.

Might as well revive this thread a little. Made some minor changes to my HOB planter.
Added some moss that I spread on geotextile. Not sure what type of moss that is. I also threw in some moss from the pond. We shall see how that turns out.

 
#300 ·
I have riccia growing on my outflow filter pad. The flow is pretty slow and it clogs regularly so I need to do delicate rinses. Riccia got trapped and started growing and I noticed I don't have bit floating on the water which is convenient
Hey that looks very nice. Hope my moss will do that too.
 
#301 ·
Been a while since I posted here, riparium and planted HOB have been through several revamps..most recent shots (today/past week)



Thats an aquaclear 70 under that blob of green goodness!
 
#304 ·
My HOB on the 20L died not long ago. Any suggestions on a new one? Haven't really been worried about it as there are three large sponge filters back behind the driftwood. The plants in the HOB are finally starting to suffer though...
 
#306 ·
I went to Lowes and bought two very pretty peace lily plants, could someone enlighten a complete noobie on how to prepare the plants to either be planted here in the hob or in a hanging basket on the back?
I've washed the plant and cut most of the roots off already, it only has a small root ball left. Do I need to cut the rest of the roots off or is it ready to go in like this?
 
#309 ·
Thanks for the advice, I won't use them in the filter then. I made canvas baskets for them with suction cups since I couldn't find any grid type shower caddy's.

For the filter, dragon tongues and baby tears is what I would love to do, but how much light would they need? I need an option that won't require any additional lights and my light can't be raised. My tank is across my front room from a large 8' window so while not directly in front of the window it does get some sunlight.

Any suggestions?
 
#310 ·
Previous posters need to come back and post update shots, tell what has and has not worked out over the months/years on their HOBs!


The plant mass continues to grow!



Helxine soleirolii is just going nuts on there!
My one regret is I slapped the riccia on top of cut pieces of foam instead of using one flat piece.. I need to take out and clean the filter media but that will make a mess of the riccia :/
 
#311 ·
Forgot about this thread. I was not going to post anything as I thought "nothing has changed". But looking at older pictures, my Peace lily is catching up. So here are few shots.

"HOB" small water fall.


The paint cup HOB. Not much going on here. The moss I brought in from my pond disappeared. The java moss is doing nothing.


And the tank itself. Obviously, high tannin water
 
#312 ·
This is the thread that really introduced me to plants in aquariums. After reading it got me looking more into planted tanks, and I discovered "natural"planted tanks(using dirt substrates). I had quit keeping fish and aquariums, and left the hobby behind. Kind of ironic that it was because I was becoming more interested in plants and gardening instead. Now I'm putting dirt in aquariums, starting a new fish room and planning a pond for my yard. And, I've gotten all excited about fish again, researching all the cool aquarium communities I could assemble. AHHH!
Thank you so much everyone!

This AquaClear 50 has Brazilian pennywort,mondo grass, philodendron cordatum, Cryptocoryne( parva,cilata, and pygmae). The crypts acclimated to emersed growth and that was about it they haven't grown at all in 4 months in the filter( maybe because you can't even see them under the Pennywort lol). They need a rich substrate or lots of ferts in the water collum.
Pennywort actually grew fast enough to make every other plant in the tank show defficencies and I had to dose iron and potassium in my dirted tank. There were no visible deficiencies till the Pennywort had gotten huge. After a massive trim everything else started to rebound.
Philodendron cordatum seems to be exactly like pothos but grows slower. Pennywort will add great cover as it grows out of the filter and spreads across the surface.
I moved most of the aquatic plants in tank to a new setup, and drained it half way. I pulled out the filter media(sponge of top of sacks of bio media) and the roots had grown through and tied it all together. So I dropped the mass of media with plants on it in the tank Waba Kusi style. everything is still growing:proud:

I also got the Pennywort to bloom for 4 months straight. Seemed to be triggered by adding more light towards the UV end of the spectrum. (6400k, and 440nm LED's)
 

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