The supply of anything but the most basic of aquarium plants is sporadic in my country, and usually the more exotic/attractive species come in only once in awhile if at all. Supplier's cite low demand and high minimum order quantities as the reason behind refusing to import the nicer plants. Given the situation, I'm finding that I have to collect plants for up to months beforehand so that I can have a decent selection for a new scape - it's practically impossible to be spontaneous and be able to have the plants needed available.
Luckily for me, I have set up a 6 tank rack system (about 90 x 35 x 40 cm per tank, approximately 140L including an internal overflow sump filter compartment) for quarantine purposes for fish going into my 2000+L display tank, and am thinking of using one of these tanks as a plant storage/quarantine/growout area so that I can purchase plants whenever they're available in preparation for a scape a few weeks or months down the road. The quarantine tanks are each equipped with a Chihiros WRGB II Slim so light is adequate for even the most demanding of plants.
The issue that I have is that the tanks are drilled at the bottom to facilitate ease of water changes. I open a valve below the tank and water drains out through piping into a drain on my fishroom floor. While this is very convenient, it makes it very hard to have a proper soil substrate on the tank as there is a risk that the soil may get sucked into the drain pipe and clog it. What I've done before when quarantining extreme blackwater fish that benefitted from the gh buffering of soil substrates was to lay an uneven layer of soil and keep the area about 2 inches radius around the drain hole free of soil, but this of course isn't 100% safe. An alternative method is to stick a pvc pipe about 10-15cm into the drain hole permanently so it keeps the soil out but I then can't do a water change larger than 50% as the water can only be drained up to the height of the pipe. Instead of either of these options, would it be feasible to use small terracotta pots about 1-3 inches in diameter filled with aquasoil, plant the plants temporarily in the pots and raise them this way instead of filling the tank with soil and having a "Dutch style" plant farm? Or would one of my original ways of using aquasoil as a substrate be better?
Luckily for me, I have set up a 6 tank rack system (about 90 x 35 x 40 cm per tank, approximately 140L including an internal overflow sump filter compartment) for quarantine purposes for fish going into my 2000+L display tank, and am thinking of using one of these tanks as a plant storage/quarantine/growout area so that I can purchase plants whenever they're available in preparation for a scape a few weeks or months down the road. The quarantine tanks are each equipped with a Chihiros WRGB II Slim so light is adequate for even the most demanding of plants.
The issue that I have is that the tanks are drilled at the bottom to facilitate ease of water changes. I open a valve below the tank and water drains out through piping into a drain on my fishroom floor. While this is very convenient, it makes it very hard to have a proper soil substrate on the tank as there is a risk that the soil may get sucked into the drain pipe and clog it. What I've done before when quarantining extreme blackwater fish that benefitted from the gh buffering of soil substrates was to lay an uneven layer of soil and keep the area about 2 inches radius around the drain hole free of soil, but this of course isn't 100% safe. An alternative method is to stick a pvc pipe about 10-15cm into the drain hole permanently so it keeps the soil out but I then can't do a water change larger than 50% as the water can only be drained up to the height of the pipe. Instead of either of these options, would it be feasible to use small terracotta pots about 1-3 inches in diameter filled with aquasoil, plant the plants temporarily in the pots and raise them this way instead of filling the tank with soil and having a "Dutch style" plant farm? Or would one of my original ways of using aquasoil as a substrate be better?
