New idea.

[red_wall]

Hah, the first I've had in a long while.
I'm in the process of taking a Voss water bottle and turning it into a vase for a Val or something similar.
Just a little test to see if itt'l work or not.

I have
(1) Voss bottle
(1/2 pint) of soil (mineralizing)
(1) Val
(26 watt) CFL bulb
(Lots) of luck

Might add DIY co2 after I see what happens without co2.

Haha, I'll just post and tell you guys what happens.
Since I'm letting the soil mineralize, I'll probably start... Monday? Tuesday? Idk, somewhere around that time.

Here's the bottle, about 1' high.
Might go and get the other, bigger bottle.

[jackiomy]

You must be as bored as I am. LOL

[AquaGem]

My I ask why you are doing this? Such as, if this works, are you going to grow plants to sell? Grow them there before adding to tank?

[red_wall]

Haha, no, kinda like having plants around your house, only... aquatic plants.
Itt'l be sitting on my nightstand.

Yes, I am that bored.
Just thought It'd be kinda interesting.


Plus.... I bought soil for mineralizing, for my re-scape, but I'm going to just do sand and ferts, so, I had an empty bag of soil.
Then I got a bottle of Voss. So I had an empty, cool, glass bottle.

I just decided it might be something fun to do.
Who knows, maybe I'm crazy and weird.

[AquaGem]

Huh, now that I get it, that's kinda cool! It's the only way I'd be able to keep fresh plants around. My cats like to eat them *rolls eyes* Plus vals are quite attractive. You might be on to something. It puts an interesting twist on household plants. Let me know how it works out!

[Kashta]

I love it! Check these out.

http://www.aquahobby.com/tanks/e_tank0603.php

[red_wall]

I'll keep the thread updated.

** Why, oh, why do I always have to think of things that've already been thought of?
Haha, nonetheless, itt'l still be fun :]

[AquaGem]

Wow susan... those are really cool!!! Gives me ideas... ;)

Red: it's hard to be original in a world of billions ;) Even when we think we are, we usually aren't

[BoCoMo]

:popcorn:

[red_wall]

Just said screw it on the full mineralization.
I went through two sessions of it, I think itt'l be okay.

All I've done is add the soil to the water.

I'm going away for the weekend, and I figured that it wouldn't be too good of a time to add the val... or whatever I can scrounge up.

When I get back the water should be settled and I might think of some other things to add to it, so itt'l look a bit better than just a val and some dirt :]


**** In the second picture, where my finger is, is where the level of the soil was before I added it.
I put in about 1 1/2 inches of dirt, Itt'l probably be around 2 or 3 inches deep.

[red_wall]

Well, I got back from my trip, only to find the water still cloudy, so I emptied the water, and refilled it, let it sit... Still cloudy. Emptied and refilled it about 3 more times.

I then got the idea to fill it SLOWLY. That worked. The water was only a little cloudy.

I cut a Val out of my 46, and was all ready to put it in when I realized... How am I gonna get it in the bottle?

I asked my mom if she had anything, and she has one of those claw grabber things. It fit in the bottle fine, but it was kind of hard to use and kept getting stuck on the plant... Which made the soil disturbed. So I emptied it again, and refilled it with water and waiting for it to settle.

I'm going to try chopsticks, or something easier to maneuver in the bottle.

It's almost like building a ship in a bottle : /

A little ticked off, but hey, I'll keep trying until I get it.

[BoCoMo]

looks delicious!

[serissime]

could you plant and then fill?

[AquaGem]

^ yeah wouldn't that be easier?

[bettabrat]

Patience and practice I guess, you'll get it. It's a great idea I hope it works out for you. I love micro planted tanks, they are awesome!

[red_wall]

BAHA!

Got it. I used two skewers to pin them together (like chopsticks) slid it in, and now... the water is still cloudy, waiting to see if itt'l clear up or not.




could you plant and then fill?

Already filled so it would settle. A LOT of particles to deal with, smaller than sand. It's an absolute pain to get them to settle. Wheter I planted then filled, or filled then planted, I don't think it would make that much of a difference.

Well.

It probably would have, but I'm already done



Patience and practice I guess, you'll get it. It's a great idea I hope it works out for you. I love micro planted tanks, they are awesome!

Well, it's not really a tank, this is just an experiment. I'll probably do more with it later. Right now I'm just setting it up to see if it grows.

[bettabrat]

Ha I posted too soon. Looks nice. It should settle eventually. I had a tank take 2 weeks to clear up once, stupid play sand :wall:

[Winged]

I use chopsticks with the little training thing on them for my smaller tanks. (I have no clue where you can buy the trainer things, we got several at a Chinese restaurant, P.F. Chang's, when we ate there and took kids with us. You can also make them using a rubber-band and paper.) I don't know, though, if chopsticks will be long enough. You might use the chopstick idea, but find different, longer sticks.

The little aquascapes are an awesome idea. I've seen the itty-bitty "tanks" before and really liked them. One of these days, I might try it myself.

EDIT: I post too slow... Looks like it will be awesome when it clears up.

[red_wall]

Woop.

Pearling : ]

The water cleared up a bit, I'm confident in a few days, itt'l be crystal.

[luckydud13]

Looks good

[BoCoMo]

Nice bubbles!

[crimsonmoon]

very cool!!
but i have to ask, whats with your alarm clock?? lol