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Ellie's no-tech planted tank

3171 Views 20 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Ellie, 
E
So I am buzzing today. I have been researching low/no tech tanks people make out of containers and I just NEEDED to try it out. But I wanted something big enough for a nice piece of wood that I can attach lots of anubias to as Ive falled in love with the one in my main tank.

Scoured the internet and couldnt find much. Went to local garden centre, nothing on main display, but I noticed some glass containers they used to put stuff they sell in. Asked about it and they pulled one out from underneath the table!!!

It is 11" high and 12" in diameter. its a pint glass in the pic for comparison.

Glasses Table Tableware Drinkware Dishware


So my ideas:
- get a really nice piece of wood and attach some anubias and moss
- I have a load of spare plants in my tank I can use, mainly Nymphoides and Myriophyllum mattogrossense (green and red)
- I could make it into a riparium by somehow elevating a portion of it and planting some species that like it all boggy. I have seen people use egg crate alot but not sure where to get this from???
- Id like to eventually put some cherry shrimp in there

So what are peoples thoughts/suggestions? Any species you recommend?

I can see this taking a while to come together but it is so exciting. Im going to go shopping for a nice piece of wood tomorrow.
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OVT
That container is about perfect. About a month ago I was looking for something like that. Took me literally 3 weeks to find one in NYC flower district and then had it shipped across the USA.

I have a similar idea to yours: I wanted a central island with a 'mountain' with plants coming out if it in a circular fan shape. I built the island and the mountain out of small black lava rocks, surrounded by white sand (I believe you saw my 'creation').

The problem that I run into is that the lava rock is not heavy enough: it is a pain to keep the mountain shape, and an even bigger pain to have the submerged plants to stay put. Having that pile of rocks hold emmersed plants (especially vertically) proved to be above my pain tolerance.

The very initial idea was actually to place a ~3" diameter x ~10" high clear container in the center, fill it with lava rock and plant the emmersed plants inside, and then build the island / mountain around it. I could not find such a container and decided to give the current construction a try.

Part of the difficulty with the central planter is that it has to have (at least in my mind) holes / slits to allow for some water circulation between it and the water in the main tank. So, finding a glass one with holes proved to be fruitless.

Given my personal dissatisfaction with the current build, I am back to my original idea of the central planter, but now with less haste and with more planning.

My current plan is to either find clear PVC pipe, cut it to the desired height and then hand drill the holes (not looking forward to that process) or to have one custom made out of Acrylic or similar material (not looking forward to the cost).

So, that's where I am at with my 'tank' - please keep my ideas secret :).

v3
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teddo10
Google Wabi kusa 8>)
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OVT
Thanks, but Wabi kusa is too shallow for what I want :)

v3
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chan1011
That looks lovely, I definitely want to try the same thing!!
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E
OVT said:
That container is about perfect. About a month ago I was looking for something like that. Took me literally 3 weeks to find one in NYC flower district and then had it shipped across the USA.

I have a similar idea to yours: I wanted a central island with a 'mountain' with plants coming out if it in a circular fan shape. I built the island and the mountain out of small black lava rocks, surrounded by white sand (I believe you saw my 'creation').

The problem that I run into is that the lava rock is not heavy enough: it is a pain to keep the mountain shape, and an even bigger pain to have the submerged plants to stay put. Having that pile of rocks hold emmersed plants (especially vertically) proved to be above my pain tolerance.

The very initial idea was actually to place a ~3" diameter x ~10" high clear container in the center, fill it with lava rock and plant the emmersed plants inside, and then build the island / mountain around it. I could not find such a container and decided to give the current construction a try.

Part of the difficulty with the central planter is that it has to have (at least in my mind) holes / slits to allow for some water circulation between it and the water in the main tank. So, finding a glass one with holes proved to be fruitless.

Given my personal dissatisfaction with the current build, I am back to my original idea of the central planter, but now with less haste and with more planning.

My current plan is to either find clear PVC pipe, cut it to the desired height and then hand drill the holes (not looking forward to that process) or to have one custom made out of Acrylic or similar material (not looking forward to the cost).

So, that's where I am at with my 'tank' - please keep my ideas secret :).

v3
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hehe, my lips are sealed :)

im very inexperienced to DIY fish and tank stuff, but could you perhaps use some aquarium sealant to glue the rocks in place in the middle of them, so there wouldnt be any of it on the 'outskirts' so places for the plants. I have no idea, just a thought.
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E
Went to fish shop today and bought some lovely wood. My plan is to try and stack the pieces so that it makes a bigger structure and also so it comes out of the water. They are in a bucket soaking overnight then I will attach moss tomorrow.

Plant Wood Branch Twig Gesture


Natural material Gesture Twig Wood Art


Branch Wood Bonsai Plant Twig
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E
And a couple of zip ties later....

Wood Natural material Sculpture Twig Art


So this is my plan.

Wood Natural material Creative arts Art Twig


Initially I was going to put some aquarium soil in the bottom for the plants, but now I want to just use stones and Java moss, have moss completely cover the bottom in time.

I have lots of java fern babies in my main tank which I will harvest when they are bigger and attach to some of the rocks on the base of the tank. Where the red circles are I will attach Anubia nana. On the branches I will attach Christmas moss and hopefully in not too long that will cover alot of the wood.

I have a sponge holder which will double up as a riparium planter when its time to start adding in some emersed plants. Although I saw someone on here who just tied theirs to the wood, so I may try this instead of having something artificial in there. But that is a long way off.

Time to attach some moss...
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henrietta
great piece of wood! can't wait to see more :)
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OVT
Looks like a horse :)

v3
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E
Moss is on (sorry the pics arent great there are still lots of bubbles from when I filled it up)

World Organism Display case Art Glass


Branch World Wood Twig Plant


Water Vertebrate Plant Wood Branch


I may end up lowering the water level a bit to make it a bit more favoured towards the emersed plant side of things, but for now I will just give the moss time to attach itself and grow

The light is temporary whilst I wait for my parents to visit and bring up my lovely lever arch light which will look so much better than a clip light attached to an old mail box :p
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T
Wow, it's looking amazing! good luck and keep us posted!
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E
Big change of plan. Even though I had an air stone moving the water around a bit, and also doing water changes everything was getting a bit icky. I expected the white fuzz on my wood and that came and I cleaned it off, but after that the wood was constantly slimy. The moss wasnt looking great at all, and I was worried it would just melt away and die. I think it was because I didnt have many plants acting as a natural filter, but at the time I didnt have any spare plants I could put in to act as one.

Not wanting the moss to die, and also having had a huge urge to change my DT scape around a bit for a while now, I borrowed the wood from this and put it into my main tank.

Pic if youre interested. Sorry its not the best it is a phone pic and also there is always glare when I try to take full scape shots. There is a bit more of the tank to the right that hasnt got into the picture. But I think the new wood looks pretty cool, and the long thin branch that bends down should make an awesome bridge/tunnel when the moss grows in.

Water Plant Terrestrial plant Organism Aquatic plant


Im still going to do this bowl as I love it, I just need a new plan.
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OVT
For the vase, I would start it full of plants and a lot of floaters. You can do it.

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E
yep i understand thats what i needed now that i made the mistake not having it. but now that ive done the rescape on my main tank i have tonnes of plants spare which is good. also the garden centre has started selling pond plants and i think i saw some Salvinia natans last time i looked which would be good to have.
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R
very cool, I had intended on using something like this but it was only 8" diameter but I was moving it one day and it had a little gravel in the bottom and a couple inches of water and I was holding it in one hand with a thumb on the inside of the glass and the rest of my hand on the outside and it ended up shattering...

Then I started thinking it would be cool to find some bigger glass containers like this that you could have an insert in the middle of and build fish tank lamps out of them but haven't got around to doing it because I haven't found a big enough container for what I want to do.
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E
oh no, was it the way you were holding it or was it the glass itself? i was a bit worried when i filled this for the first time as it isnt exactly thick glass but it seemed to hold okay. i think next time round i will make sure it doesnt get filled right to the top though, incase of the glass and also allowing me to have more emergent plants
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R
I think its the way I was holding it. You need to pick it up from underneath because the bottom is thicker than the side walls on the one I had. It held water fine, just the weight of the water and stone and the way I was holding it caused it to break.
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E
ah right, unlucky :/ ive seen some awesome looking cubes from people on here, especially when placed a few side by side, will have to keep my eye out for them
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E
Time to start being a tad more productive with this project. Other life things seem to have got in the way far too much :)

So, I picked up these from a local shop. Probably need to drill holes in the small one, and mesh up the bigger one so the holes become smaller...

Drinkware Dishware Green Serveware Tableware


Drinkware Fluid Cup Drink Gas


They can serve as my emersed plant holders. Actually realised today that I bought Dypsis lutescens yonks ago from the garden centre, and unless I am very wrong this makes a good riparium plant, so some of that will be going in.

And these are my spare plants for the immersed bit

Water Green Plant Food storage containers Pet supply


have a bit of wood spare that I could use, still need to come up with a cool design as I really want to incorporate the hardscape into it rather than just have lots of plants.
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