Journal Mission Bathtub 2018

[zozo]

The temperatures are about ok enough for the fish to go outside, we have already pretty warm days with 25°C in the sun even a few hours 19°C water temperatur at the heigth of the day. SO all warm enough to start wth setting up the base tub for the fish. The plants that overwintered in the tub comming back steadily, so also them can use some fish poo.

Next years gutter is gone and this year i would like to try a new <planted filterbox>. I yet didn't build, that i do next month, but it will stand between the wall and the tub. Actualy no idea how that will work out, because i only thought out the concept in theory. And in theory it should do ok. We will see..

In this corner i'll place the overflow. So finaly i think i found the way to have no need of a pump in the tub.. It's going to be a sump system with the pump in the planted box.

What intrigues me is the <Potentilla palustris - Marsh Cinquefoil> I find sevral discriptions about it's planting depth (10cm), i guess suppliers relate this information to the size of the plant they offer. But in it's natural habitat as mature plant it seems to grow in up to <30 cm deep water>

and seeing myself how this plant grows a new future experiment comes to mind for the outdoor aqaurium (For now that's still in the cellar). Anyway, it's a Rosaceae family member and it forms wooden stems, it's actualy a shrub. I think a mature potentilla shrub in a 30 cm shallow aquarium has some intruiging potential displaying it's wooden stems submersed, followed with it's emersed foilage. Last year, i found that the <Calla palustris - Bog Arum> also has a darn nice <atractive looking submersed horizontaly growing rhizome> the thing is it didn't realy do good overwintering indoors, it seems this plant 1 is not an evergreen and needs a resting periode or 2 it needs a ton of light to survive an indoor tank. I yet do not know what it is, but ti didn't do very wel indoors. Next experiment in this mission will be this Marsh cinquefoil and see how this will survive indoor conditions in an aquarium. But now i'm running way ahead, the summer is starting and only next winter will reveal that outcome.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Thanks for the reminder that spring is well and truly here...mission bathtub is officially up and running
Our weather over here has been cold, dull and wet - spring seems a million miles away (although we're due a mini heatwave next week), I guess kind of like it was at your end last year
I think your idea of a planted filter box will work really well and look awesome

 

[zozo]

Thanks for the reminder that spring is well and truly here...mission bathtub is officially up and running
Our weather over here has been cold, dull and wet - spring seems a million miles away (although we're due a mini heatwave next week), I guess kind of like it was at your end last year
I think your idea of a planted filter box will work really well and look awesome

Thank you too Tim.. Well i still need to be cautious, after all it's only April.. And April wears what he wants.. Last year i was enthusiastically to early with panting the subtropical outdoors caused more melt and algae growth than good.Ttracking the temps a bit and averagely we keep hanging around 15°C at cloudy days. It can only go up from here with maybe a few minor permafrost dips when the wind turns east. But Burgundy Princess is steadily upping her gears see her grow every day and already popping bright red.. For now it looks rather promising.

I hope spring arrives soon for you in the UK. It's a vitamine we all can use..

 

[Tim Harrison]

Just what us Brits need to lift our spirits at this time of year

 

[Edvet]

I need more arrows and numbers to see what you are talking about Which is the potentilla?

 

[zozo]

I need more arrows and numbers to see what you are talking about Which is the potentilla?

Arrows and numbers? Here you go..

It's that shrub with the woodens stems.. It's still to early and yet hasn't any new foliage all died off during the winter. Near the 6 you see some new young sprouts comming from its rhizome. But at the tip of each (pointed) stem new foliage will grow. And till now it has stems up to 40 cm long, with a new sprout at its tip. They actualy also can be propageted by cuttings.

As this picture shows how it grows in deeper waters. What you don't see is submersed. Obviously the wooden stems.

When this plant can grow in lower light conditions indoors as evergreen. Than it has darn nice aqaurium potential showing its wooden stems submersed and it's foliage emersed.

And that's what i've seen a lot by now. Potential hidden submersed beauty of some bog plants in the pond. In ponds we never realy see what it realy looks like bellow the mirroring surface. That was the initial idea experimenting with a little shallow outdoor aqaurium. Finding plants that are beautifull and eastheticaly usefull either way, below and above the surface. They only need to able to grow as indoor evergreen.

Seems not all temporate region plants can do.. I actualy don't realy know.. I just assume some plant sp. might be the same as our temporate region trees that need a winter and can't be growen indoors because of that.. That information is hard to find for most plants sp. if it can grow as houseplant.. So it's a trail and error.

The Bog Arum was the first error, at least, this winter it's rhizome kinda fauled away in indoor conditions. Dunno yet if its due to light deficiency. It definitively wasn't happy but still also showed new groth as well. I grow that on this summer and try again. Also have seeds of which i yet do not know if they need stratification.

 

[Edvet]

nice aqaurium potential

agreed

 

[zozo]

Nothing much pond, it's more above the pond.. But we are in a little heatwave, temps are up to 28°C.. And the plasterer bees are driving me nuts already partying at the Bee in hotel.. Lets quiz it.. Find the plasterer Bee..

And don't ask me how she did it, but she turned over inside that tiny tube. This is how she squeezed in. Amazing.

And the tub is also in overdrive, i see everithing grow bigger every day.

Also finaly after a long time on my wishlist found me a webshop selling the March fern <Thelypteris palustris>
interesting fern, seeing the world map it seems to be rather cosmopoltin and also grows in the tropics. So this might be something interesting for the aquarium as well, it can be planted up to 20 - 30 cm deep water and still grow on emersed.

Digging a bit through their webshop they also sell the Maiden Hair spleenwort <Asplenium trichomanes> It's a smaller fern sp. 30 to 40cm tall max. Actualy it's aso a cosmopolitin and even can be found in the tropics. What makes this fern interesting for us, next to its managable size it likes growing on damp rocks in the shades can take dry periodes very good. And even or only in the open spaces in full sun it is found in wet lands..

So both ferns have rather good outdoor pond and even indoor aqaurium/paludarium potential. In the temporate regions winterhard, indoors in tropical conditions evergreens. That wooden hollow stump in the pictures back is in reservation for the Maiden Hair..

I ordered me a batch of both..Hopefully they arrive after the weekend. Yippie!!

For the interested Dutch members

https://www.tuinadvies.nl/tuinwinkel/product/8383/thelypteris-palustris-moerasvaren
Database with worldmap.
https://wilde-planten.nl/moerasvaren.htm

https://www.tuinadvies.nl/tuinwinkel/product/8360/asplenium-trichomanes-steenbreekvaren
Database with worldmap.
https://wilde-planten.nl/steenbreekvaren.htm

 

[Tim Harrison]

Great to see Mission Bathtub slowly gathering momentum again...keep it coming Marcel
Btw, nice ferns

 

[Edvet]

Looks like a lot of watermovement at the surface, do the floaters approve?

 

[zozo]

Thanks Tim.. Its Itching indeed, weather again is exeptionaly sunny again this early in spring.. Tho reports say we are going into a little temp dip for the weekend. But the plants are definitively thriving and getting a good start. The Gratiola and Creeping Jenny etc that survived the winter are sprouting. Even te lily made a flower but, so i expect it to pop emersed rather soon this year. Last year she didn't at all. So it's indeed exciting. I also have a bunch of Echinodorus plantlets planted outdoor this year.. See what that will become.. One is at the basket edge behind the moss..

Today a recieved the piping material for the filter box.. Made a small design change along the way and gave it more for constructional convenience than filtering purpose a sort of prefilter muck collector. in the form of a standing 110mm PVC pipe with a screw cap and a T on top filled with chuncks of lava rock. All heavy debri will sink in and stays in its own compartment..

It's actualy darn simple idea, makes me wonder why it took me so long to think of it. This is the setup idea without the box around it and how the overflow is going to be situated. It simply will stand up in the box, no need to hang ot screw. Only have to make sure that the 45° knee from the 32mm drip tube in the box is bellow the tubs water level. Than it will fill up and drip over the planted baskets.

It's a gaint ordenary overflow box.. I choose a 50mm overflow syphon to get at least enough flow through to get somewhere. It will be the drip pipe through flow capacity that finaly defines my total turn over. And for now i have no clue how this will perform

Fortunately all gold fish grew fat enough to not get sucked into this..

Next week i'm going to pick up the epoxy treated plywood to make the box around it.. Theoreticaly this obviously will function as anticipated.
Only the flow through capacity will be the biggest surpice. SIzes and amount of holes in the drip tube, needs to correct for that i guess now.
Still can make the drip tube 40 mm or 50mm, it's not going to be glued anyway. So still have room to play..

 

[zozo]

Looks like a lot of watermovement at the surface, do the floaters approve?

Oh that's just temporary.. It's still the old 1100 l/h pump in the tub for now.. Will be gone next week and in the filter box outside the tub. Actualy i left it full power because the fish love to play in it. So for now they can play a week than it's over with the fun.

 

[zozo]

Here some pictures of my indoor Potentilla palustris experiment.. I did put it about 2 weeks ago in my little indoor test aquarium/plant bin. It had absolutely no green growth showen the day i put it in, only a cutting of a wooden stem. Stuck into the substrate and its long enough to go emersed outside the aquarium. There is no artificial light above it, what you see i turned on for taking pics. But this aquarium stands beside a east facing window recieving daylight. Thus during the high light days i switch off the lights.

All new green growth on it developed in this tank.

Even submersed it doesn't mind sprouting new shoots.

The million dollar question is, how does this plant do under artificial light wthout recieving much daylight? For now obviously this plant has some great aesthetic potential for having living wood submersed in an aqaurium. If this plant has the potential to thrive indoors all year round, the other million dollar question is "How can this shrub be bonsaid to grow into a nice branching shape?.. Unfortunately my camera ran out of bateries while taking these pics, but this shrub also developes bushes of dark brown wood like (air) roots growing out of its internodes looking absolutely stunning. Each internode has the potential growing a new wooden stem.

Anyway, this might be a shrub with aquascaping potential with growing a living submersed branching wood structure. This might be a plant worthy of a journal for it's own.

 

[zozo]

It explains itself, doesn't it.. Test run 1 a succes from the get go..For now it runs a 400 l/h pump.. And it runs like a charm.. Actualy don't think i need much more but i wll hook the 1100l/h to it later on, just to find out how far i can push it.

Next week i build the box around it holding the baskets, the water and the pump. The outlet will be the horizontal pipe with holes to drip over the plants. Seeing the concentric reducers in the big T and these have no need to be glued. So that way i can adjust the height of the outlet pipe by just turning the reducer up or downwards. This will also adjust the water level in the tub. That's later on fine tuning regarding syncing it with the pumps capacity..

 

[Tim Harrison]

That's wonderfully Heath Robinson

 

[zozo]

Almost there.. Box 140x37x22cm

Tomorow i will kit it.. The box is 19cm widht internaly.. The baskets are 19x19cm.. So they fall in. The 10x10mm hardwood profiles are going to be glued in the box as bumber, +/-3 cm bellow the rim of the box. I choose hard wood so i don't have to treat it with a coating. But i have to coat the plywood sides. ...

Darn heavy that thing, didn't expect that..

The tub is 39cm height, so this box will stand on 4 x 20mm adjustable feet, than it can be perfectly leveled. And in the end the exact same height as the tub. WIth the planted baskets bellow the tubs water level..

 

[zozo]

Sneek peak into the process.. Box is in place, but some applied kit in the tubing is still curing.. It needs 24 hours, so for now i'm stuck till tomorow. It needs a test run first to determine the depth of the plant baskets. Theoreticaly minimal 4cm bellow the box rim should do, but i test run it first and measure it in like that.

Already collected some plants for it..

Maybe there is room for more, we will see.. Since this is kinda aqauponic system i might plant a tomato too..

Found a Hydrocotyle nova zealandiae and this is actualy a neat little waternavel. Smaller than the tripartita, darker color and a much thicker leaf. I placed a little bit of it on a piece of wood.. Here it will acompany the Thelypteris palustris fern that will be place into the hole of this wood.

At the bog side of the tub i also planted a sarracenia maroon, it wasn't in it's best shape and i hope it'll do well.. That piece of wood in the back will be for
the Asplenium trichomanes fern. These are still in the pipeline and had a 2 week delivery period..

Well

 

[Gabriel19]

Can I ask where you buy your plants from??

 

[zozo]

Can I ask where you buy your plants from??

All over the place.. The batch above i bought at a local cash&cary pondshop less than a mile east from my street. Than got a huge hardwarestore/garden centre 3 miles to the south also selling pond relates articles and plants and another one 2 miles to the west called Praxis garden. I kinda know their average collections by now and what to find where so i hop arround between all 3 if needed. And what they don't have i don't take for granted i search the net for what i want till i find me a source selling it. That could be webshops all over Europe or via private collectors or via sites where people sell all kinds of stuff/animals/plants what ever. Sometimes even order seeds via Ebay or AliExpress from various places around the worls..

The plant lables you see on the pictures are from FLoraMedia group and these unfortunately give no indication of the nurseries supplied. You find these labels all over Europe..

 

[zozo]

Lest plant the bugger up..