Grow out tank

[MELLOWROO421]

Thanks to a local frogger and Santa, I now have 3 40g breeder tanks to play with. I am planning on using one strictly for plants. I am wondering what you all have found to be the best set up for plants only. Should I use soil instead of coco fiber. How deep/shallow should the drainage layer be? What is the best "formula" for the soil mix? Should I enclose it with an all glass lid or should I make it half screen? Should I break it down into compartments for different plants? Should I shade part of the tank? I want to start a good supply of cuttings. Ferns, jewel orchids, alocasias, philodendrons, peperomias, bromeliads, begonias, etc. If anybody has any suggestions or maybe even pics of theirs, I could use all the info. you want to share.

[KeroKero]

I might be a touch lazy... but my "grow out tanks" have always been a layer of LECA/Gravel and sphagnum moss. When the cuttings root and grow the way I want, they either get moved into a tank, or out into a pot, etc. If you wanted to have pots, with sphagnum moss it's easy to put some to the side, wedge some small pots into the moss on top of the drainage layer, and especially handy if the pot is set up as a wicking pot. Then you have have individualized substrate for whatever you're working with (like a wicked african violet with AV mix in a pot, etc) and have the general cuttings growing on the moss (handy for roots and for epiphytes).

Epiphytic ferns (like microgramma), peps, jewel orchids, alocasia, philodendron, gesneriads, begonia, athurium, syngonium, and cryptanthus broms are what I've currently got in my grow tanks on sphagnum. Bromeliads have been hit or miss on the sphagnum, and usually I've got the grow tanks with such high humidity that I make sure my neoregelia I are up off the moss (mounted to cork/driftwood/egg crating).

[MELLOWROO421]

Thanks Corey. Looks like I am gonna be making a trip to the hydroponics store this week for some LECA. Do you ever have to water, or does the water in the drainage layer and the humidity pretty much keep everything cool? Would a fan inside the tank help or make any difference, or would that make it harder for the plants to adjust when they get moved into tanks with stagnant air?
Brian

[KeroKero]

In a completely sealed tank, I don't have to water. The water in the drainage layer keeps the substrate evenly moist due to humidity, and with the tank sealed you don't lose humidity in the air above the substrate. This is handy for plants that like even moisture but don't like water on their leaves constantly (you just add water to the drainage layer rather than misting the leaves).

If you have any ventilation, you will have to water occasionally to keep water in the drainage layer and keep everything humid. If you keep orchids and broms that need greater air movement, you'll want more ventilation, and/or a fan because the stagnant humidity is not always good for them, and they are better in a greenhouse or tank with circulating air rather than in stagnant grow tanks.

I also have grow out tanks for those who can take the lower humidity but need more constant moisture in the soil... I use a capillary mat in the tray to continuously supply the moisture.

[MELLOWROO421]

Again, thanks Corey. I am gonna get it up and running this weekend sometime. I will post some pics for some constructive criticism.

[KeroKero]

Cool

Something also I just noticed... I do mist tanks sometimes, but with tanks with a lot of ventilation and no frogs I really only add water to the drainage layer... I only mist if the top level of the substrate is dry (which usually means the ventilation is too much), or when there are broms (in which I try and mist only them). With frogs, I mist to rinse the frog poo off the plants and walls more than for the plants. Most of them just want consistant humidity and moisture, not watering.

[MELLOWROO421]

Cool. I just got leca yesterday. I'm having trouble finding lfs locally. I am planning on using a deep drainage layer (3-5"). Also, I am thinking that I don't want a screen layer between my leca and sphag so I don't have to tear up roots when I move stuff out. Is this gonna work, or is it gonna wick to the sphag too easily? If so, are there any other options? Also, I am thinking about sectioning off about 25% of the tank for some of the water lovers like anubias, Argentine swords and some of my begonias (b. Rajah loves it soaking wet). I think I'm just gonna silicone in a plastic or glass divider. We'll see.

[KeroKero]

I've done LFS just right over the LECA because it is so thick that it won't fall into the LECA very much. And like you mentioned, no worries about roots in the mesh. This isn't a tank with a finer substrate, so I don't worry about it much (tho roots love to cling to LECA lol). Just make sure the water is well below the sphagnum layer so you don't have the moss wick the water up too much or it will become wet rather than moist which is exactly what you don't want.

I wouldn't bother making a complex water section, all the plants you listed grow emergent. Instead of sitting cuttings on top of the sphagnum, you can sit their roots in the drainage layer directly. They will do fine growing on the sphagnum. This is how I've grown my emergent semi-aquatics and they do great.

Rajah definately takes wet better tham most other begs which would flat out rot in a tank, but that does not make it a wet lover like the emergent semi-aquatics that like their feet wet. Grow it on the sphagnum like the other cuttings.

[MELLOWROO421]

Dang your fast! Once again, thank you! You saved me from having to get a piece of glass cut. I wasn't too sure of the rajah except the fact that it almost died in it's first viv but after I moved it into a spot by the waterfall of it's new viv it is basically growing in mud and it is lovin' it! Thanks again.
Brian

[MELLOWROO421]

Here's a few shots of the tank and some of it's residents.





I can use an i.d. on these two...