[planted goldfish]

how could i set up a tank specifically to grow plants to sell and fuel my hobby

 

[Baadboy11]

same as any other tank, probably wide and short would be best. Also would consider mineralized soil to make it low maintenance.

 

[Sd760]

Ya I was very interested in making a tank specifically for growing plants to trade. What would be ideal? Plant species?

Also how do u propagate? Or create clones of plants.? That's my biggest problem is figuring out how to create new baby's.

 

[planted goldfish]

with rosset plants you just split the rosset, some plants send runners that you cut off and plant, some plants just clone themselves, and some plnts flower

 

[Geniusdudekiran]

No fish or shrimp, high lighting, ferts, and CRANK DAT CO2! lol

 

[frog111]

Plant propagation varies widely by species. Lots of swords will set a spike with baby plantlets on the end. Several vallisneria species propagate by runners, as well as some sag species. Stem plants one just cuts the stem appropriately. Anubias you cut the rhizome. I have several aponogeton species propagate via seed. Some species you can propagate multiple ways.

 

[Jeffww]

Really really really high co2. I've even heard of people putting cling wrap on top of the water to make out gassing very minimum.

 

[10gallonplanted]

No fish or shrimp, high lighting, ferts, and CRANK DAT CO2! lol

I agree.

 

[Capsaicin_MFK]

If you are only interested in growing plants for a profit, you will need to make quite an investment at the beginning and much like people who breed fish for a profit, it will take time.

Google "Florida Aquatic Nursery" and see what your competition looks like.

 

[shrimpNewbie]

as a tank I know how, depending on size of tank, the more light the better, however if going MH you need to have fans running past the light to dissipate heat, pain't atleast 3 of the inside walls with a glossy white water proof paint. get a humidifier and egg crate, 5x 2" long pvc pipe cuttings, and 1 6 inch or more pipe for filling the reservoir. you'll also want a fine mesh to cover the egg crate so soil doesnt go through, high grade potting soil, organic preferred, or even better is aquasoil or fluval stratum, cute the egg crate to fit fairly snug in your tank, break a hole through the crate to fit the pvc diameter of your choice, this is where the filling pipe will go, silicone the pipe to where the bottom just passes the bottom of your egg crate, now silicone or glue the 2" pvc parts to the bottom of your egg crate in a way where it will support the soil, so one in the middle and 1 in each corner, with about 3 inches from each side of the tank, you can place dolomite or osmocote or osmocote plus in the tank before you install the eggcrate but it isn't needed if you have good soil, next put in the covered raised eggcrate with the tall pipe pointing up, make sure no soil can go into the water reservoir through any cracks, this is easy by adding another piece of mesh that goes slightly up the walls of the tank, then place your soil down on the egg crate to a thickness of about 3-4 inches, make sure it is uniform next on the outside of the tank, if you left a pane of glass empty draw a solid line parallel to the ground, this doens't need to be larger than an inch, about 2 inches bellow the surface of your soil, this is your fill line and you shouldn't fill much higher than this, very similar idea in another emersed project. you can choose to section parts of the tank off with thin acrylic if you want to grow more than one plant.
Next choose your lighting, set it up on a timer for 12 hours a day and set your humidifier on for 15 minutes per hour, make sure there is a somewhat seal on top of the tank but not enough of a seal as to be air tight, just enough to keep the humidity in and not on your lights, this can be done with a sheet of acrylic on a wooden frame which you can make fit around your tank perfectly so the sheet of acrylic doesnt move, make sure the acrylic is pretty thin.


a bonus is a paintball co2 system but it isn't really necessary as there is alot of co2 in the air

 

[shrimpNewbie]

If you are only interested in growing plants for a profit, you will need to make quite an investment at the beginning and much like people who breed fish for a profit, it will take time.

Google "Florida Aquatic Nursery" and see what your competition looks like.

+ one


also sorry my tutorial isnt in ordered and nice steps =p will eventually set one up again and post it step by step, did this in highschool for none aquatic hard to keep plants and would assume this would work just as good if not better than full underwater growth

 

[Sharkfood]

Use ten gallon tanks on a rack and minimize equipment. You can set 4 tanks side by side shortways and use a 48" fixture to light all 4.

Do everything possible to keep costs at a minimum so you can hopefully turn a small profit.

 

[Sd760]

What would be the easiest way to filter and promote circulation on all 4 tanks?

 

[planted goldfish]

tanks

 

[EntoCraig]

What would be the easiest way to filter and promote circulation on all 4 tanks?

Technically you shouldn't need a filter.
You can use a power head for water movement.

 

[Sd760]

For sure never thought about it like that theres no produced waste. Like creating a bio load? Is that right?

 

[shrimpNewbie]

very true, changing water is still a good idea, some plants will grow faster out of water btw, so setting up emersed and submerged tanks under the same light is a good idea
and I agree run a large strip light for multiple tanks, a good idea is getting 2 48" 2 bulb t5 lights from home depot, make reflectors or buy them, and set them up in a way where they cover 4 tanks completely, 10 gallon tanks work side by side