Missmere's Freshwater Planted Tanks

MissMere

MissMere

New Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Location
Guelph, ON
*If this is better suited for the Freshwater category I can certainly move it there.

Here are my planted tanks & classroom tanks! Bare with me there is a lot of pictures!

10 gallon - Planted - "The Jungle"

IMG_7799.JPG


10 gallon - Planted - "Classroom Planted Cups"

IMG_8033.JPG

A few guppies in here, started breeding quickly - which was the plan - show the kids another cycle of life. The plants are all in a nice growing medium inside glass 'cups', it was cool because you could see the roots forming. I did this style because then I could let the kids do some cleaning with a gravel vac without sucking up anything valuable like the growing medium or fish "unknowingly".

10 gallon - Floating Plants + Moss - "Tadpoles to Frogs"

Sorry for the potato quality - the tank was a bit nasty to begin with and 100+ tadpoles are nasty dirty to keep. I also left a bunch of pond sludge and plants in there for the tadpoles to eat. They were pigs.

IMG_8230.JPG

Students checking out the new frog eggs - yes a big ole tank beside the ipads - good one Madame! No worries they were fine...

IMG_8203.JPG

IMG_8236.PNG IMG_8285.JPG IMG_8573.JPG

More pictures coming soon! Plus+ my marine tank plans and build!
 
chief hill

chief hill

Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2013
Location
Windsor, Ontario
Great job. I do the same thing with my 7 yo. Have her set up with a planted 10 gallon. Has to feed and "maintain" the tank. Has guppies as well.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
 
MissMere

MissMere

New Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Location
Guelph, ON
heath said:
wonderful, there should be more teachers like you.. kudos to you...
Click to expand...
Thanks heath! I love nature, animals and plants so I'm always trying to get my students immersed in my passions, and most of them (at this school in partiular) are from low-income/fosters/apartments and they don't have exposure to little creatures up close.
 
MissMere

MissMere

New Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Location
Guelph, ON
This is my Riparium tank build, it's a 20g with lots of DIY! It's all planted and currently full of guppies.

To understand the build you have to see my plant stand - I also grow veggies, and such. It's made from a reinforced shoe rack, painted black. I have these LED grow lights I use underneath - attached directly above propagation the trays.
PlantGrowStandCollage.jpg


This first picture shows the tank, I removed the plastic black lip and painted the back black with a foam roller. Plastic shower caddy holders for the "in water" plants and growing media. The tank was maybe 15$ and it came with a cheap HOB filter, a good heater, 5-6lbs of gravel, rocks and a light hood (partly broken). The plants were either freebies or gifts/plants that were given to me overtime. Pothos, polkadot plant, white butterfly, spider plant can all grow in water. The non water plants were placed in a dollar store window box with soil and some of the free gravel for drainage - you don't want holes in this - at least I didn't because it would just drain onto the back wall and electrical.
RipariumBuildCollage.jpg

Part of the window box was supported to the simple wooden wall bracket, and the other side rests on the tank edge. I ended up securing the in water plant basket with zip-ties to the basket edge and not with the suction cups, as once the plants and media filled them, they were way too heavy.
RipariumBuild2Collage.jpg

This is a HOB filter I cleverly disguised, using rocks and aquarium sealant, live moss, sticks and bark. There is a pothos in a basket underneath it. I don't have a picture yet, but I adopted some lucky bamboo and that now lives in the HOB also.
ripariumbuild3Collage.jpg

IMG_9289.JPG
 
BigReefer

BigReefer

Super Active Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Location
London, Ontario
MissMere said:
*If this is better suited for the Freshwater category I can certainly move it there.

Here are my planted tanks & classroom tanks! Bare with me there is a lot of pictures!

10 gallon - Planted - "The Jungle"

View attachment 5052

10 gallon - Planted - "Classroom Planted Cups"

View attachment 5040
A few guppies in here, started breeding quickly - which was the plan - show the kids another cycle of life. The plants are all in a nice growing medium inside glass 'cups', it was cool because you could see the roots forming. I did this style because then I could let the kids do some cleaning with a gravel vac without sucking up anything valuable like the growing medium or fish "unknowingly".

10 gallon - Floating Plants + Moss - "Tadpoles to Frogs"

Sorry for the potato quality - the tank was a bit nasty to begin with and 100+ tadpoles are nasty dirty to keep. I also left a bunch of pond sludge and plants in there for the tadpoles to eat. They were pigs.

View attachment 5042
Students checking out the new frog eggs - yes a big ole tank beside the ipads - good one Madame! No worries they were fine...

View attachment 5044
View attachment 5049 View attachment 5050 View attachment 5051

More pictures coming soon! Plus+ my marine tank plans and build!
Click to expand...


I gotta say i love this ... I think its a great teaching the kids about nature and reefing/freshwater ... I very happy to see and read this

great Job teach...


I wish i Had you as a teacher :)
 
BigReefer

BigReefer

Super Active Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Location
London, Ontario
MissMere said:
This is my Riparium tank build, it's a 20g with lots of DIY! It's all planted and currently full of guppies.

To understand the build you have to see my plant stand - I also grow veggies, and such. It's made from a reinforced shoe rack, painted black. I have these LED grow lights I use underneath - attached directly above propagation the trays.
View attachment 5057

This first picture shows the tank, I removed the plastic black lip and painted the back black with a foam roller. Plastic shower caddy holders for the "in water" plants and growing media. The tank was maybe 15$ and it came with a cheap HOB filter, a good heater, 5-6lbs of gravel, rocks and a light hood (partly broken). The plants were either freebies or gifts/plants that were given to me overtime. Pothos, polkadot plant, white butterfly, spider plant can all grow in water. The non water plants were placed in a dollar store window box with soil and some of the free gravel for drainage - you don't want holes in this - at least I didn't because it would just drain onto the back wall and electrical.
View attachment 5056
Part of the window box was supported to the simple wooden wall bracket, and the other side rests on the tank edge. I ended up securing the in water plant basket with zip-ties to the basket edge and not with the suction cups, as once the plants and media filled them, they were way too heavy.
View attachment 5054
This is a HOB filter I cleverly disguised, using rocks and aquarium sealant, live moss, sticks and bark. There is a pothos in a basket underneath it. I don't have a picture yet, but I adopted some lucky bamboo and that now lives in the HOB also.
View attachment 5055
View attachment 5058
Click to expand...


its like those pics with feet in them ... you know i am on vacation here hehehe .... soooo cool
 
cyberloach

cyberloach

New Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2015
Location
Burlington
If you ever want a couple dart frog tadpoles for your class let me know.
Great setup, how is your growth under that red dominate led. I also grow plant under led but mine lean towards the blue spectrum for faster growth
 
MissMere

MissMere

New Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Location
Guelph, ON
cyberloach said:
If you ever want a couple dart frog tadpoles for your class let me know.
Great setup, how is your growth under that red dominate led. I also grow plant under led but mine lean towards the blue spectrum for faster growth
Click to expand...

Sorry I never replied to this cyberloach! Dart frog tadpoles would be amazing! I've been wanting to create a little viv in the classroom - not sure what the board/super/principal would think of something poisonous - I've been asking about a ball python for a while now - apparently they're very "dangerous". Which is funny because they said I could bring a garter in - who musk all over the place... sorry for the micro rant.

LED lights - I know it looks very red-pink, but they are 50/50 RED/BLUE. I picked the RED/BLUE because from the little bits I read on the interweb blue is for good growth and red is for flower and fruit. I start peppers and tomatoes very early, and I keep them super close to the LEDs - although there is a sweet spot where the two colours blend into each-other very evenly. My orchids (Oncidium type) also seem to like the red/blue. I can only house about 2 1/2 plant trays underneath the 4 square units I have, so I also have T5s in the basement, I start maybe 10-15 seed trays in the spring.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top