The 700 gal indoor sunken garden project

[JasonHornbuckle]

that's amazing

[medicineman]

@joe the pleco,
Planning started off way back for more than a year. Construction works quite slow following the house progress.

Back to project,
Here is how the concept base fertilizer looks like


Light brown grain of high concentrated granules that it has to be mixed well with a part of plain sand/fine gravel to work. It got lots of stuff inside ranging from minerals, iron, micro elements to partially soluble macros. I dont expect best result out of the first initial testings, but will hopefully get more refined later on.

I mix the stuff to 5 times it mass (which I say is a bit to the strong side) with dry 1mm grade silica sand, 40+lbs of fertilizer to 200+lbs of sand in total. I didnt bother to clean/wash the sand beforehand since it is intended to be placed at the bottommost part of the setup, forming a layer of heavy mix 1-1.5 inch thick.
Then another layer of capping 1-3mm grade gravel is added on top to seal the mix from water collumn, totalling in about 3-4 inches of substrate.

Meanwhile we take a look at some of the emmersed plants I planted earlier for a head start. With the correct care and enough mix of added fertilizer, they started promisingly to take off.

Here is a kind of red Piper sp, a climber.


And here you can see a group of climbing green Philodendron sp

[Subotaj]

very nice..
can you please take a photo of the overall garden?!

[natx]

This will be the greatest installation in planted tank history.

[medicineman]

Need to be patient about that.
Will definately show the full screen again

Meanwhile, I went for hunting hardscape. What I have in my mind is huge branchy driftwood, but unfortunately such piece is likely originated from a living mangrove. All my suppliers seems to be detered if I ask for bigger piece of whole mangrove driftwood, probably because of the fact that huge pieces can be obtained only by killing a good sized mangrove tree. Then it would take some time to cure properly, not to mention there is a risk of people getting involved getting arrested for cutting mangroves.

So I must be satisfied with just smaller pieces and other wood alternatives. I found this huge piece of driftwood, rasamala tree type (a kind of wood suitable and commonly used) and bought it home.

Comparative size with a standard brick piece


Good thing that the wood is readily sinking halfway, I just need to soak it further in my pond for a few days. The seller also promise me an exchange if I cannot use it, so nothing to lose!

Not enough of just DW, I proceed with hunting suitable rocks ornament. There are so many alternative out there, ranging from roundish smooth river rocks, reddish pumice, hard slates, unsuitable calcium based rocks, petrified wood to lava rocks. I pick the last, porous lava rocks, good size.


Just one of more than a dozen piece I bought home. Hope I'm good enough in doing rock arrangement

[CampCreekTexas]

Oh, WOW!!! That wood is fabulous, MM! I can't wait to see what you do with it.

[Storm_Rider]

the wood reminds me of the wu tang logo.

i really like the progress, wish you'd take more pictures to make up for lack of updates

[medicineman]

It is time to fill in substrate.

First, like I mentioned before, the first layer of substrate-fertilizer goes in. 20kg+ of base fert mixed well with around 100 kg of plain gravel.


Then, additional plain gravel for capping is added, forming a nice layer of plant bed some 3-4 inch thick, sealing the fert mix below from getting directly into water collumn.
You can see here the substrate is being manually flattened and inspected for correct minimum depth (since there is no way to see by eye if enough substrate is being used.




In total, currently 12 big sacks of white silica sand, 1-3mm grade goes in (some 1200+ lbs).

After that water is filled in slowly, up to a halfway point. This is because I just want to condition the tank first before pumping excessive water out later on and start again with hardscaping and eventually planting.

[kunerd]

honestly man its awesome. its look like it should be at a zoo or something.....

[Roc]

Everytime I read this thread I talk to my wife about what we will be doing when we buy a home.............She is never amused

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

In total, currently 12 big sacks of white silica sand, 1-3mm grade goes in (some 1200+ lbs).

given you went with sand as a top layer, I would REALLY consider some smaller stingrays (the tanks big enough for large 1s, however if you choose smaller ones you can both have more, and have more room for planting.) some eartheaters (such as Geophagus Altifrons, Satanoperca Jupari) maybe some dwarf pikes (Crenicichla regani or similar) large tetras (such as Hyphessobrycon columbianus{colombian tetra}, Thoracocharax stellatus{silver hatchet}, Gymnocorymbus ternetzi{black skirt tetra})

though the tetras might end up snacks so maybe endlers would be better (as they just keep breeding (went to rotterdam zoo, and allmost all the tanks had them in, despite activly predatory fish in there)

medium sized plecs (such as BN plecs) though a decent school of otos would be impressive

[dufus]

Might i suggest some colorfull bromeliads for the wall?
And i second the stingray idea.

[FelixAvery]

looks sweet med!
in my opinion you could go either the route of larger fish like stingrays ect.
or go for a look like amanos massive tank with literally hundreds of characins and other small fish species?

[Raul-7]

A mound-setup would work beautifully with this setup, IMHO. You can even allow the plants to grow emersed forming a little island sanctuary in the middle. Or imagine having a series of three islands arranged in a triangle, would look really unique. But regardless, this is one awesome setup. I like your style.

[natx]

Originally Posted by kunerd

honestly man its awesome. its look like it should be at a zoo or something.....

Yeah I was at the New England Aquarium for member's night last night, and as much as I love that place and their beautiful exhibits, they don't have anything that could hold a candle to the level of detail and craftsmanship being put into this project.