[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Floating terrestrial plant aparatus?
I have nine fish tanks in my office, much to my
boss' dismay ;-). No circulation, ambient light, open
tops. I try to keep them all pretty low maintenence
because I'm on periodic travel.
Because my tops are open, I like floating plants.
Further, I'll usually throw in some cuttings or something
from various terrestrial plants and let them root
(yes, I suppose they are scrubbers.)
I'm looking for a floating aparatus that will allow
terrestrial plants to "float", holding the cutting 3-6"
deep (several "floating planter" sizes would be nice.)
Ideally, this floating unit would only be 2-4" across
so the sides (at or slightly above water level) would
help "hold" the plant vertical. No surface can be sharp
so as to avoid tissue abrasion for tanks with surface
agitation. I would accept something that clipped to
the side of the tank, although that is much less ideal.
The aparatus would have very large gaps allowing
roots to grow out, fry to go in and out, and only be
small enough to keep the plant stem from falling
through.
The problem I have is that without this aparatus
my terrestrial plants typically flip over or sink as they
grow. I want the plant base to remain at a relatively
constant water level, allowing the roots to grow down
and leaves/branches to grow up without causing rot
on sensitive terrestrial species. My current solution
is to eat a lot of strawberries and clip the green mesh
containers to the side of my tanks, but I'd prefer they
be that depth but 1/4 the width to hold the plant up,
and preferably they would free-float.
I've seen various floating live food feeders (for
tubifex or other worms) that are the right idea,
but they are too small, have too fine a mesh, and
don't trap a large enough pocket of air to hold a
maturing terrestrial plant. Further, I've seen large
containers for pond plants that just won't work in
tanks from 10g to 55g.
Any ideas, or has anyone seen this product?
Checkbook in hand,
--charley
charleyb at cytomation_com