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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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#2 ·
Thats a great idea. What is that you have planted in urs? All my small tanks have multiple hob's (for redundancy after a failure of 1, ugh); this would work wonders to hide them and add interest to the tank top. Thinking this would compliment the riparium planters I have in my bigger tanks. gonna follow to see what others think/contribute. :)
 
#7 ·
Thank you all, I was just trying to be clever. This is just the start, I will be adding more.

What is planted for now is the "bio falls" (G). I'm planning to plant the media box by adding a mesh bag of substrate.







I asked "what can I grow here" to sfbaaps members growing emersed plants, and Neil Shieh answered me to grow moss.
Neil Shieh said:
You could grow mosses provided that some of the moss stems can wick water to the rest of the plant from the water outflow. You could grow any of the common mosses such as java, flame, xmas, etc. you could try sandwiching the moss between the attachment and the outflow and have the moss grow out of it.
A neat idea would be to grow purple bamboo in your HOB! they'll grow right out and they look nice
 
#10 ·
terrestrial mosses do decently as well. I had some extra club moss leftover from a hike collection for my terrarium, just threw it in the HOB to store it temporarily and it's gone and created a nice bio filter. In another tank, I'm using hydrocotyle in the same way. It does pretty well on my canister's outflow as well. I tried UG once but I didn't have enough and it washed away. :/
 
#23 ·
So, can anyone tell me how you keep your filter media clean, or how you clean it when you have it planted?

I have just set up my 5 gallon with dirt and sand, moved over my HOB so that I can plant it with moss cascading. While I am waiting to set up the waterfall area, I am kind of curious what methods others are using?

Does anyone use soil in a media bag, as suggested previously?
 
#24 ·
You just clean it rarely...like every few months. The plants will chow down on any nutrients building up in there. And if you're like me i only use sponges and bio bags in my HOB's, no carbon. Some filter floss every once in a while but I've found that stuff really does too good of a job of filtering(oxymoron?). I have to change it once a month at least because it has collected so much debris.
 
#25 ·
That is why I was wondering, due to the collection of debris. I do not use carbon, unless it is for a specific reason, which isn't often. My aquaclear sponges seem to really collect it in my tanks. I am a once a week or two rinse in tank water in bucket, maintenance as often as needed and all. It seems some months that I have to completely clean out the entire box, impeller and all.

So do you just carefully remove the planted media (or pieces) when cleaning must be done?
 
#26 ·
So do you just carefully remove the planted media (or pieces) when cleaning must be done?
Ya, everything comes out and is lightly cleaned. I also use it as an opportunity to trim and replant some of the taller plants. I like the smaller bushier look.
 
#31 ·
I'm about to stuff some of my water loving orchids in there. Love seeing what's being done here. Moss falls. <3

Suggestions: Pothos cuttings, Sweet potato cuttings, wet ferns (I have my maidenhair fern in there). Really, it's anything you can cut and root in water. I could stick my rooted avocado pit in there. I have so many random things in water culture, they'd do fine in the HOB. I'd love to try Sarracenia one day :D

For more terrestrial plants like the fern, I stuff them in a net pot with floss and then sink just the bottom of the pot leaving the rest above, it keeps the whole thing moist just by capillary action and doesn't drown the poor plant.

The biggest trouble I'm running into with water culture is that my plants aren't as hardy as they could be being a bit short on nutrients, so when a pest hits, it hits hard. I just had to throw out my entire pile of sweet potato cuttings due to spider mites infestation. It's Spring. All the bugs are out in force. :(
 
#34 ·
I'm about to stuff some of my water loving orchids in there.

Suggestions: Pothos cuttings, Sweet potato cuttings, wet ferns (I have my maidenhair fern in there). Really, it's anything you can cut and root in water. I could stick my rooted avocado pit in there.

For more terrestrial plants like the fern, I stuff them in a net pot with floss and then sink just the bottom of the pot leaving the rest above, it keeps the whole thing moist just by capillary action and doesn't drown the poor plant.
Do you have names for water loving orchids or know where to find them?

I have pothos sticking out of the 29 non-dirt tank already so I'll want other things for variety. I had pothos in my 40 dirt tank and as soon as the roots reached the dirt it went crazy taking over and growing like an 1/2 inch a day. I took it out and now I'm looking to plant it in an indoor hanging basket (if I can ever find one).

How do you keep the net pot from sinking to the bottom?

I am planning on adding Lobelia erinus, red basil, and English lavender from my seedling tray.
Do you have your plants just dropped directly into the filter box? What plants do you have there now, I see Zebrina. Specifically whats the plant that looks kinda like a tree branch.
 
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