Who Gives A Fish Forums

I must've just quoted from the article instead, no link was actually posted.

I've got a soul philodendron in my 40 gallon tank, it's been a game-changer. Combining aquariums with indoor plants is a thing now, and I'm all for it. I tried this wild idea of growing a rabbit foot fern above an aquarium - it's been a huge success. I made a wire frame, covered it in plastic to keep it humid in there, and the fern is thriving, no need to water it.

I've got a setup where my rabbit foot fern is growing above the tank, no roots in the water at all - it's actually thriving, and the craziest part is I don't even need to water it.

If the roots even slightly touched the water, it would probably grow even better, and help pull some fish waste out of the tank.

bettaMagenta wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2025 11:29 pm I just added 4 more house plants to the aquariums today - 4 smaller Pothos plants to be exact. I've already got Philodendrons and Swiss Cheese Monsteras in there, and I added those seveflake weeks ago. It's been a transformation in the making.

Sorry about the pics being upside down, by the way. The 3rd pic, which I call High Tech, has a Monstera and Pothos as the filter media in a hang on filter - there are actually two double cartridge hang on tank filters on this acrylic 55 gallon aquarium, each with two plants in them. The slotted pots are filled with ceramic filter media to hold the roots, and there's also three 18 inch Lucky Bamboo with weighted bases hanging free, roots exposed, plugging an old heater hole in the top of the tank.

The 1st and 2nd pics, which I call Low Tech, are the same type of pots with Philodendrons in them, clipped to the side of the tank above 10 inch air bars to move the water through the pots. One pic's from above, the other's from below.

Rabbit foot ferns are epiphytes, so they use those fuzzy roots of theirs to grab moisture right out of the air.

Just added the newest Calathea to the soft water South American dwarf cichlid tank, it's now a hang on house plant... been pondering adding more plants to the hang on tank filters... seems like a no-brainer to me, every ceramic bio media section should have a plant rooted in it.

Doing some morning aquascaping and maintenance before heading out... had issues with 10 inch air bars, lines kept coming off - both in this tank and another. This tank has 2 plant dams with red root floaters in between. The floating dams create a "dead" area in the center, so I moved the air bars to the back, between the dams. This gives me some surface agitation where the floaters are, and the 2 Calatheas hanging there get water movement around their roots - beneficial for both plants and waste absorption. Win-win. Also makes it easier to fix the lines if they come off again... another win.

Calathea Obifolia thriving in the South American tank, just put out a new leaf, the plant's doing great since the move from the Rainbow tank with its alkaline water.

Still experimenting... I came across something interesting while reading about hydroponics and Orchids. Those delicate flowers that you're supposed to water carefully with an ice cube each week? They actually do well with hydroponics. Not that I need them, since most of my tanks are built-in, and the plants growing out of them are only visible from the work area behind them.

I've got an update on the Monsteras and Pothos that are acting as filter media in those old double cartridge hang on the back filters. They're all growing great, and the roots are growing out of the slotted pots filled with ceramic media. So far, the roots aren't encroaching on the impellers of the pumps. Eventually, I'll have to trim the roots and the plants, but the maintenance is actually less than the filters with regular filter cartridges.

The plants growing in the hang on back pots, like the Philodendrons, are doing well, but they're the slowest growing. The two varieties of Calathea's are doing great, and I'm adding two more varieties next week. I'm also trying a couple new plants, like a tea plant, Camellia sinensis, for the Askento4 tank. They don't like wet soil, so I'm hoping they'll take to hydroponics like Orchids. I've also got some little pots of Blue Nile Lilies coming to try in the African Tetra tank. They might grow too big, too fast, but it's worth a shot.

My Bonsai Willows are slower growing than I expected, but that's not a bad thing for a Bonsai tree. I think they're rooting as much as they're growing right now, so once the roots grow out of the pots, I expect the greenery will start growing faster.

I've also been experimenting with Marimo algae balls. I've been ordering 2-4 of them per month, and I started a topiary thread about this. I'm planning to make a standing 6 to 8 inch ring composed of 1 inch Marimo balls. I'm making a base with a wire to use to form the ring, and I'll add that to this thread once I've got enough balls.

New additions to the Calathea family... I've got a Calathea Ornata and a Calathea lancifolia on the way. Planning to line them up along the back wall of the South American tank, above the air bars, with the other two varieties I've already got. Thinking of staggering them, wide leaf, narrow leaf, wide leaf, narrow leaf... should look pretty cool.