Adventures with my 15l baby biorb for plants and shrimp

[aec34]

The time has come...
Decided to decommission the biorb, and go terrarium. The plants were growing, esp the anubiases (pl?) but I’ve managed to get to technically four tanks so one needed to go.

Overall verdict: it’s totally possible to keep shrimp and plants - and in substrate - in a 15l biorb... but a cube you can get into more easily is far more fun and less frustrating. But never say never, I’ve still got all the biorb kit.

 

[aec34]

But never say never, I’ve still got all the biorb kit.

I was right! Turns out the biorb is just the lightweight, one-plug bit of kit I needed to temporarily rehome all my epiphytes. I might need some snails or shrimps to help keep this clean, but hopefully it’ll do the job for a couple of months.


I mean, it’s still a massive pain to do anything in it, but needs must and there’s something very pleasing about the overall shape.

 

[aec34]

The biorb has been going as a terrarium for about 6 months now:
I kind of miss the ease of an all-in-one tank with all the kit built in (or it would be all-in-one had I not broken the light) but the biorb does make a great terrarium as many said 🙂

 

[aec34]

Continued to do a great job as a terrarium:

But I decided I needed something light with an impregnable lid to keep the nerites in for work - here we go again!

Used tropica soil in the base, with the old airline inlet mastic-ed up. I’ve drilled a hole in the lip of the biorb and the lid to run airline tube through; a usb pump powers a little sponge. I’ll have to play with the position of a light, also usb and not aquarium specific. No plans for a heater, though I could probably get a wire through the same hole.
I’d forgotten exactly how much distortion there is - you can’t plan the placement of anything dry, just chuck plants in and then go splashing around.
Bought a bargain 30l biorb second hand locally which will become an even bigger terrarium 🙂