Idea... need feedback...

7itanium

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Jan 31, 2009
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Spokane, WA
Ok so I have this 20h sitting around that I am itching to use for something.

I have an idea

I was thinking of taking a 2.5g, or 5g (whichever fits better) glass tank that I have, and putting it INSIDE the 20g-- filling it with dirt, and making it like an island kind of

I would put land plants on this "island"

and then fill it with water up to the dirt line... the water would contain something (dunno yet)

then i guess I would do some sort of rain system


any ideas, or feedback here?
 
This sounds like a really cool idea. This might be an incredibly stupid question, but what would you do for drainage on the smaller tank that is submerged? If you are doing land plants, wouldn't that be a problem? I wonder if you could do some kind of wicking configuration like they use for the Earthbox planters?
 
This sounds like a really cool idea. This might be an incredibly stupid question, but what would you do for drainage on the smaller tank that is submerged? If you are doing land plants, wouldn't that be a problem? I wonder if you could do some kind of wicking configuration like they use for the Earthbox planters?

well.. it already though of this a bit

my plan was to not have any water going into that tank at all-- the rain system would be aimed away from it... i would water the 'island' by hand so to make sure not to flood it

it still may be an issue that need further thinking though
 
Maybe fill the bottom portion of the smaller tank with gravel, so excess water can drain into that instead of constantly saturating the soil..it's what I do for my potted plants w/o drain holes.
 
Maybe fill the bottom portion of the smaller tank with gravel, so excess water can drain into that instead of constantly saturating the soil..it's what I do for my potted plants w/o drain holes.

epic idea

I have lots left to plan on this project.. so additional feedback is appreciated
 
you could a planted tank in the water with anubias and do a amazon sword in the smaller tank so it grows up into the air!( just an idea)
 
you could a planted tank in the water with anubias and do a amazon sword in the smaller tank so it grows up into the air!( just an idea)

so the tank would be fully submerged then?
 
in addition to the gravel drainage, you could also go for plants that don't really need much watering at all- plants that could live off the humidity produced by the rainfall and water in the rest of the tank wouldn't cause a drainage issue at all, and may translate into less work overall for you.
 
i'd go with some sort of 'trailing' plant that would eventually grow out of the inner small tank and float on the water of the larger tank (which allows you to go with a non-aquatic plant as long as it wasn't toxic to the fish?) and have some sort of creature (fish or invert) that like floating plants. i personally would try a shrimp tank with a small school of lil bright coloured fish, if there is enough room left over in the bigger tank for a decent size school.

dang you! now i have a plan forming for one of my empty 10's and a 1.5 hex. dang you! thought i had a temporary handle on my MTS...... lol!
 
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