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Just an Idea
I've been reading these posts about laterite and ways of introducing iron
to the plants. These us just an idea, no idea if it would work.
Along with plants I'm interested in Reef aquaria also. Friend of mine
jsut set up his reef tank using this substrate method which optimizes the
biological filter.
It consists of multiple layers of different material.
The bottom of the tank is empty, he placed empty cassette case on the
glass floor, on top of that he added egg crate, also known as light
diffusers for flourescent lights. On top of that he add a layer of
screen door screen. Then a layer of crushed coral, then two layers of
nylon screen, then a layer of finely crushed coral.
What does this mean for plants...well.. How about the same thing with
different substrate.
Use the light diffusers, first layer of screen, then a layer of laterite,
then a screen, or a layer of thick pebble/gravel, then several inches of
fine sand or small gravel.
My thought would be to run tubing down underneath the light diffusers to
force warm water or just a power head. The water from this would be
from a sump. In the sump you could either just add your fertilizer drops
or how about a laterite bed that you could replenish. Use light
diffusers to make several layers and have water that would flow through a
bed of laterite that can easily be removed and replaced. The water
(hopefully rich in iron) is pumped underneath the substrate and into the
laterite there.
Just a thought. THere are a lot of modifications that could be made but
I thought the idea might work.
Patrick