Vermiculite / Greenhouse for growing plants.

["Madan Subramanian" <madans at hathway_com>]

Alright I will not try vermiculite in a planted tank with fish as long as
there are better alternatives.
I was contemplating another setup to grow, kinda cultivate in large numbers
( hopefully ) of various varieties of aquatic plants so that I have a decent
supply of plants especially the slow growing varieties at hand.
The setup will be something as follows :

Say 3 x 2 x 2 feet aquarium with a plenum 6-8 inches from the bottom.
A drain plate of acrylic or some other material with drain holes as the
plenum.
Plants potted, tied to drift wood, rocks etc placed on the plenum.
The tank covered with a 12mm glass plate ( heavy ) and sealed ( not
permanently ) against the vertical sides of the tank. Tank lit from the top
with fluorescents
CO2 injected into the air space of the tank.
The bottom 6 - 8 inches contains water which is pumped up and through a
greenhouse mister so that the plants are always exposed to a fine spray.
Daily dosing of nutrients macro and micros.
Something like a green house for emersed cultivation.

The Pots will not have any drain holes. Will vermiculite + gravel mixture be
a good idea here in these pots ?.
Secondly - since power outages are common in my part of the world will a
heater in the water space ( water temp about 27-28 deg C ) keep the humidity
of the setup high enough to withstand a few hours of power shutdown or will
I have to have backup power. In case anybody has tried out this setup or
anything on similar lines please share your experience.
Others who have not tried out this kinda setup please help with your
comments.


Madan Subramanian
Bangalore, India.