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Veggies in ripariums- ideas?

4K views 27 replies 11 participants last post by  badassone 
#1 ·
I have several open-top tanks that have chicken wire laid across the top, with holes cut out to fit anthuriums, peace lillies, begonias, philodendrons...

I stuck basil clippings into the mix and they are growing well. Any other ideas on what might grow in this set up? Sage, parsley, lettuce, peas, eggplant...?
 
#2 ·
I would think that most veggies would grow well since most love water and don't mind their feet wet. Personally I like peppers, so try peppers? I think maybe a vining plant could be pretty cool; something like cucumbers or something like that. Tomatoes would be cool, just make sure none of your inhabitants pick at any part of it since the entire plant is toxic.
 
#7 ·
You can use any fish, goldfish and koi work great for smaller systems, they create a lot of ammonia (which is broken down into nutrients via the magical nitrogen cycle).

Here is my small condo setup


Either way, for fruiting plants like tomato and pepper, you'll need a consistent nutrient source. :icon_bigg
 
#14 ·
This kind of growing is more like aquaponics than a riparium. You can grow lots of kinds of plants with their roots suspended in water or in an ebb-and-flow kind of setup, but for ripariums it's best to use true marginal aquatic plants. The substrate in the riparium planters is dense and oxygen-poor and the only plants that grow very well like that are aquatics adapted to root in permanently-wet mud.
 
#16 ·
I think I would generally prefer to not grow food in a regular fish tank. I think it might not be so good to have fish medications and other stuff like that passed along through the plants. There might also be a risk of fish-borne pathogens like Mycobacterium.

Growing food under lights is in general quite inefficient. For most parts of the country now is the perfect time of year to plant a spring garden! Many crops will taste better if you grow them outdoors in real soil and real sunlight.
 
#18 ·
I'd have to say thats not entirely true. I ran an experiment out of pure curiosity in which I grew the same pepper plant in 2 different conditions. One being soil bound in natural sunlight and another of the same species in a closet under 150watt MH in a deep water culture bucket. The deep water culture grew faster, stronger, had fruits that were 3 times the size of the soil bound, and grew enormous root systems. Keep in mind though that its hydroponics and not aquaponics or a riparium. I do think plants (dependent on the species) can grow alot better in emersed conditions.

I will have to agree with you about the chemicals though. A common thing i use in gardening is a rooting hormone, but using it on food crops can make the fruit/vegetables toxic. Obviously its the same with fishborne disease.
 
#20 ·
Wow thank you all for your input in this discussion!

Good point about meds in the water. This is a shrimp tank and I never dose meds in this tank. I have not studied aquaponics; is there more risk in growing herbs in this set up vs outside in a garden (all I have is a windowsill) vs in a larger set up combined with tilapia farming?

The purpose for growing these veggies is to grow the salad portion of my pet bunny's diet! I'd rather grab leafs from my tanks than buy herbs at the store each week. Rabbits eat their own poop so Im not very concerned about her eating basil growing in shrimp water
 
#21 ·
There are several veggie/herb type plants that grow by or in water. Off the top of my head you have: members of the mint family (Mentha aquatica), some rice and true watercress (Nasturtium officinale).

As for rabbits, they only eat special types of their own poop. It's important for their health. Look up the words "caecotroph" and "rabbit" to learn more.

Good Luck! :D
 
#22 ·
This is true. My sister has a Netherland dwarf rabbit that eats his feces more often than the food we give him. Rabbits have 2 different types. A soft runny kind, which they eat, and the firm ball shaped ones that rabbits are so well known for. From my,research though I've read that too many leafy foods in a rabbit diet can lead to an upset GI.

There are several veggie/herb type plants that grow by or in water. Off the top of my head you have: members of the mint family (Mentha aquatica), some rice and true watercress (Nasturtium officinale).



As for rabbits, they only eat special types of their own poop. It's important for their health. Look up the words "caecotroph" and "rabbit" to learn more.



Good Luck! :D

Sent from my RM-845_nam_vzw_100 using Board Express
 
#23 ·
Yes, rabbits do eat their "night feces" and not their dry poos. As far as diet, it depends. Iceberg lettuce can cause major upset tummies, but the right amount of leafy greens doesnt do them any harm (Im talking about indoor rabbits). My vet told me a cup of greens for a 4lb rabbit is fine. So far, with the amount of basil growing out of my tanks, it's easier to throw together her salad each day ;)

Back to growing herbs in tanks.... i'm always on the lookout for plants to try that don't mind wet feet. Begonias and forget-me-nots are growing well so far. I'm curious to try other flowering plants.

My set up isnt a riparium really, but lots of random stems and plants suspended in water. I just try to grow what looks nice with the least maintenace and expense possible ;) It looks lovely, i especially love begonias. I'll add pictures when I get home from vacation.
 
#24 ·
I've grown mint, lettuce, alfalfa, cilantro, parsley, and dandelions for my buns. My biggest problem is keeping the media from growing mold and killing off the plants. I have rice sprouting, but it seems to have stalled out and may not be edible. Riparium planters seem to work better than floating pots for me; they can be placed higher up along the water line and hold more media.

I don't give them anything grown submersed and rinse plants before feeding. Rabbits do need to eat cecotrophs, but not all microorganisms are the same. Definitely the stuff in the fish tank is not the same as what's in their gastrointestinal tract!
 
#25 ·
It is not a riparium planter, but I have spearmint growing in a marina air driven HOB breeder box full of hydroton capped with "natural" aquarium gravel, outdoors. I heard that most mints go crazy in hydroponic systems, so I figured this would keep oxygenated air passing over the roots, like a hydro setup. The spearmint is going nuts but unfortunately so is the green water.

I bet if you just laid a bundle through a mesh or chicken wire lid and hanging into your tank water it'd root in no time and spread everywhere.

I've got spearmint in an indoor riparium planter but there's not much light up above my tank right now (2 2-bulb shop lamps across the top and some track lights vaguely aimed at it from far above). It's rooted, but is only stable and hasn't thrived like the creeping jenny next to it which has spread both above and below the light canopy to take advantage of the more intense light there. I think with more light the spearmint will explode even without additional oxygenation of the root cluster.

Spearmint is the only edible I've tried in a straight riparium environment, but I hear that lettuce grows great hydroponically too. I don't quite see how you could grow that just through a mesh lid though. Might be time for some net pots (support the least skeevy of your local hydroponics stores) and a hole saw/acrylic sheet, which would be an easy enough project, and let you cut off lettuce as you need it, which has never been in contact with the aquarium water, and pull the whole lettuce heads out with a root ball and replace them with a smaller start when they start getting too gangly or whatever. And if lettuce roots start rotting in the aquarium water, an air stone under the root ball to cycle water through or even a powerhead to just circulate water around the tank will probably fix it.
 
#27 ·
LIke we said before, this kind of growing isn't really riparium culture.
Who is we?

Also, why not? I know this crosses over into aquaponics but why shouldn't it? Fish, water, plants, roots.... seems like a big venn crossover.

Aesthetically speaking, mint is quite a pretty little bushy thing when established, just because it could also be useful shouldn't exclude it from discussion. A tank with an artful display of lettuce heads growing out of the back? Suspended strawberries over cherry barbs? Why not.

The only technical arguments so far offered are that fish meds or diseases could crawl up the lettuce and kill you, which is legit in a "bubble boy" kind of way, and that the plants for a riparium planter need to handle the low oxygen, no flow substrate. Mine seems to be doing just fine without any root aeration.

TL;DR spearmint seems to like my low oxygen, stagnant riparium planters just fine.
 
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