indoor water garden ( photo / image / picture from FountainMan's Garden ) Redid the system today with bigger containers. Note that the image is of before. I'll get updated photos tonight. Built this to keep tropical plants over the winter. The Umbrella Palm are from Cherylad. We exchanged plants several years back. I propagated them and got 2 plants. Stems are about 3-4' now. Anyway, if anyone else has any tropical plants that won't survive winter and need a good home let me know. I'm also looking at Fluval aquarium filters. Eventually I'll add some tropical fish.
Thanks. It's 2 Rubbermaid containers one inside another. The gap between the two I have an integrated makeshift filtration system. Or basically quilt stuffing. The Fluval filters have integrated pumps with 145GPH flow rate. I'm thinking about taking the pump I'm using now and moving it to the smaller system and running 2. The 10 Watt pigtail which used to connect lighting I'm going to reutilize for a low voltage UV clarifier.
The updated pictures I promised. Large water feature. ( photo / image / picture from FountainMan's Garden ) The bigger system. Measures 40" x 20" @ 66 quarts. Previous system measured 26" X 16" @ 34 quarts. Umbrella Palm ( photo / image / picture from FountainMan's Garden ) Here are the Umbrella Palm plants. As mentioned before I got these a little over a year ago from Cherylad. I propagated these 2 days ago and made 2 plants. Skimmer ( photo / image / picture from FountainMan's Garden ) Here's the skimmer to the system. The water enters the integrated filtration system here. This helps keep floating debris at bay. Also shown is the fogger. fountain. ( photo / image / picture from FountainMan's Garden ) Here's the fountain. A small low voltage pump brings water from the filter chamber through the fountain nozzle and produces a nice trickle. Filter setup. ( photo / image / picture from FountainMan's Garden ) Here's a shot of the filter system. Simple 1 container inside another. Since the containers are designed to stack this helps comprise the filter. At some point in time I'll integrate a Fluval external filter in this. Main issue is getting the pipework through the plastic without causing a leak. Being indoors is not where I want a leak. I'm thinking about threaded fittings with rubber O-rings. Giant Sensitive Plants ( photo / image / picture from FountainMan's Garden ) Giant Sensitive Plants. The leaves of the Giant Sensitive Plants don't move as fast as the regular Sensitive Plants. Still cool though.
This looks like a great setup FountainMan. I like the way you took us through all of the individual elements.
I like your idea for keeping your plants happy over the winter. Do you have a heater in those tanks? Please keep us posted on the progress and results over the winter. Be careful. Some plants are poisonous to fish. If you decide to add fish to the tanks, please keep in mind that you are adding living creatures that require a lot of special care. Please check out Fishlore.com. http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/ The tanks will need to be cycled, the fish need to be researched for diet and their tank requirements for their full adult size, temperature, PH, etc.. It is important to keep in mind that they are living creatures that are affected by their environments and depend on us to give them healthy living conditions and mental stimuli. (yes, even fish need to be kept interested and/or entertained)
Very nice set-up to tend to those tropicals over the winter. That Umbrella Palm/Papyrus does okay for me here in Zone8. It suffers some frost bite, but I just cut it back in the spring and so far, it comes back strong.
I wish I could get rid of all the papyrus I have. Tried poison and even that wouldn`t kill it. In fact I think it fed it. Its taller than me. Just through a couple of catfish or other scavenger in the tank to clean it. When big enough,,,fried catfish for dinner.
Thanks guys. Yes the system has a heater. The water stays a constant 72 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not worried about plants being poisonous. These are the same plants I raise in the main pond outside. Some more information on the building of the system. The 2 containers and pump will set you back about 20-50$ depending on the size of container. Pumps are cheap. 40gph for about 12$ not including any fountain nozzle options. What I did is made 2 holes in the top container. I did this using a soldering iron and a penny which create cleaner and smoother holes than using a sharp instrument. The hole for the fountain I offset towards the end of the container. Too centered and the water won't circulate properly. The skimmer or intake I put near a corner. I used vinyl tubing for the pump head. The bottom container I used blanket stuffing. Tuffy pads work as well. Then attach the pump to the fountain pipe and lower the top container with the holes into the bottom container and fill with water. For plants it's good to buy some plant grow lights.
