# 'Garden theme' tank



## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

This is a setup I used to have, I took it apart and changed it now.

NEEDED MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT:
Drill
Plywood
Small tiles
Hot glue or aquarium sealant
A water plant of your choice
Peat/ sand
Gravel

So I bought some plywood, and soaked it in water and added aP (aquarium pharmaticals) fungus cure with a PH of 8. I dont know why but I thought that the wood would soak up the PH and.... dunno.

I repeated this twice and started step two.


After it had dried, I cut out some plywood and stuck it together with hot glue from a glue gun so it formed a cube about 4" sq. 
(you can make any shape you want, but I made mine a cube so it could fit in a corner) 
I then got a drill and made a circular hole about 3" in diameter and 3.5" into the cube.

I got some thin filter cotton (make sure it is wide enough accross) and layed it out on my table. I then proceeded to sprinkle some dried peat over it. I wrapped this around the roots of a few Limnophila sessiliflora plants, with the peat inwards. I stuffed the cotton and plant into the hole in the cube. 
*If the bunch does not fill up the hole, you may have to stuff some gravel at the sides to prevent the plant from drifting off*

I took my tiles and hot glued them to the outside of the cube for decor and to hold the thing down.

After, I got some substrate (gravel for me) and 'buried' the cotton so it was out of sight. 

I let it 'settle' for an hour before soaking the thing briefly and adding it to my tank. I put it in a corner and made a few more of the same thing of different shapes. after the tank was completed, it looked extremely like a park or garden, with some java moss littered on the bottom resting on the gravel to make it look like wild weeds.

I did not exp any problems with this but maybe some of the materials were toxic? sorry I dont have pics but still, FEEL FREE TO COMMENT!!! 

PS please tell me if the intructions arent clear.


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

More straightforward intructions:

1) soak plywood twice
2)dry plywood
3) stick boards of plywood together (face to face, not edges)
4) cut plywood into custom shape (try to avoid convex and concave surfaces)
5) Cut a hole in the shape (custom shape too)
6)take filter cotton and lay it out
7) sprinkle peat over it
8) get a plant and roll cotton (peat inwards) over the roots
9) stuff cotton into cube and lodge it by placing gravel at the side (gaps)
10) hot glue tiles to shape 
11) cover the cotton with substrate to ensure it is out of sight
12) soak briefly and add to tank


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

*bump* *push* get up to the top!


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## BlueMaxx (Jan 10, 2006)

I think they are waiting for pictures


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

oh.....

........


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

LOL. That actually sounds kinda neat! I might try it some time, although I would probably change one or two things...


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