Clear plastic riparium planters

[goldscapes]

I'm tempted to get the small Marina Refugium, only 9cm wide just to put a little emergent display on the side of my tank. Problem being noise from the airpump. Do you think you could have it on a timer just to replenish fresh water now and again or do you run the risk of pumping stagnant water back in the tank? Do you think filling it with Tropica soil would be ok or something with a bigger grain size to prevent dead spots in the substrate?

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I just bought one of these and set it up on an empty tank filled only with water to test it out. I had some filter media and sponges lying around so added them and stuck the filter outflow pipe straight into it. It worked well except that there was not much surface agitation where the flow returns to the tank. Filter is rated at 700lph and with the filter media in there (or substrate etc.) I’d need to drill some additional drainage holes as the water level gets a bit too close to the surface for comfort. These additional holes might also help with surface agitation - I’ll try that out next time.

As a result I’d probably use the air pump approach or a lower flow pump/power head instead. There is a video online showing a DIY silencing method which might be of use but I haven’t listened to it to know if it is any good.

When I come to plant it I will do what @zozo suggests, filling the bottom with a few centimetres of course media to allow a decent under flow then drop snug fitting acrylic caddies filled with course substrate on top of this. This way if the planting doesn’t go to plan or roots take over I can remove/replace individual plants without needing to rip everything out.

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

Thanks, I watched a few of the silencing videos. Think I'll also go down the air pump route, my tank is already filtered so this thing is purely for growing plants in. At the minute they are in pots hanging on the inside of the tank but I'm finding they restrict flow some what. Going to try and get my emergent growth outside the main aquarium.

Clay balls I may be able to source in local gardening shops, I just have some Used Tropica soil sitting around but I don't think there would be much flow round it, the water would just go over the top layer I guess.

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[tam]

I am running the superfish version (same product under different brand name) with a piece of airline tube syphoning from my HOB which keeps the water level high enough to continually trickle over the overflow. But, I also tried it with a piece of capillary matting from tank to box, which maintained the water level to match the tank (not enough to overspill) but more than enough for most plants if you are worried about water to flow through as additional filtering. Feeding off the output from a filter might be an option for filling e.g. taking an airline connector off a spraybar might have enough lift to fill if you are only raising the water 2" and don't need fast flow
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[goldscapes]

That could work. How would you connect the airline to the spray bar?

 

[tam]

Drill an appropriate size hole (if one of the existing ones didn't already fit) and glue in an airline connector? The adjustable one that comes with it would probably work (might need to shorten the leg you insert depending on the diameter of the spray bar).