# Plant grow out tank



## aricall (Feb 5, 2010)

Ok so I have a problem I'm waiting for my second biopod to show up (first arrived shattered). 
Well biopod shipped me plants early and I have nothing to house them in.
I scrapped together an old fish tank with a grow light on top. 
I used cups to put the plants in

I've never had a grow out tank before or any tank at all for that matter

How could I make this bad situation better so my plants don't die?

Any help would be great

The tank has a old background attached so disregard that lol

Thanks











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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

The only thing I would worry about in that setup is the plants drying out. Without some sort of substrate around them, they could just wilt. You could a) wrap the bases in damp sphagnum b) put some sort of substrate in there and bury them in it c) with your current system, it looks like you could put some water in the bottom to increase the overall humidity in the tank. Keep an eye on it, regardless. If the plants look visibly wilted, you need to intervene somehow, I would say.

Mark


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## jarteta97 (Jun 13, 2014)

I agree with Mark about the substrate. I have a little 10g grow out tank sitting on my desk with some cork and fern fiber for mounting, and I have to constantly spray the tank, it dries out so quickly. When I go home for break in two days, I plan on putting a thin layer of soil or moss to retain that humidity.


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## aricall (Feb 5, 2010)

Each plant came with some soil and something wrapped around the root ball. Sort of like a cloth paper type stuff? Not sure 
I checked this morning and the humidity is up to 85. It's still fairly cold in it tho at 70. I'll see what I can do about adding so more moss around each root ball. 


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## aricall (Feb 5, 2010)

What could I use to increase the temp? I have an old heat lamp for reptiles. But I don't want to harm the plants. Would an aquarium heater work?


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## *tinc_so (Dec 18, 2016)

yes, u could put water in the bottom that goes a lil bit over the aquarium heater. just make sure the plants arent just sitting in the water, so keep ur eye on it. also, is there some kind of top on this tank that would keep the humidity in?


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## aricall (Feb 5, 2010)

jarteta97 said:


> I agree with Mark about the substrate. I have a little 10g grow out tank sitting on my desk with some cork and fern fiber for mounting, and I have to constantly spray the tank, it dries out so quickly. When I go home for break in two days, I plan on putting a thin layer of soil or moss to retain that humidity.




Do you have pics of your tank?


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## aricall (Feb 5, 2010)

*tinc_so said:


> yes, u could put water in the bottom that goes a lil bit over the aquarium heater. just make sure the plants arent just sitting in the water, so keep ur eye on it. also, is there some kind of top on this tank that would keep the humidity in?




It has a screen top on it atm. I've laid cardboard over most of it to cover it. 

If I need to keep this set up long I'll get some glass or acrylic to lay on top. 

The humidity is staying from 80-90 percent. 

The temp is low tho so I need to figure that out. I'm going to move it to a warmer spot over the weekend so hopefully that helps 


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## Rhesus Feist (Jan 20, 2011)

As long as the plants are not getting below 60-65F at night, with the lights off, you shouldn't have to worry about the temps really, and higher temps will dry the plants out quicker, though the water with aquarium heater idea *tinc_so suggested would solve that.

Just putting a half inch to an inch of water in the bottom of the aquarium without the aquarium heater would help with the temps some by being a thermal mass. Putting the tank on a dark colored table or taping some black construction paper to the bottom of the tank would help heat the water when the lights are on, then when the lights are off, the water takes longer to cool off than air.


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## Groundhog (Dec 17, 2006)

Okay, let's chill, we need to focus:

1) What type of lighting?

2) Rhesus is right: Do not worry about temp unless you have a cool room. If so, just get a uth--I like the Zoomed uth. Just put a light layer of substrate between the uth and the pots;

3) 10 gal tank? Get a glass canopy from your local pet shop. No need to wrap moss or anything complicated.


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## wcarterh (Dec 25, 2017)

Glass is much better. The cardboard will absorb the humidity and mold. You will want some glass on the vents. About 80% coverage should do. UTH is a great idea. I tend to like LED's due to the lower power usage. But you also do not gain heat from those. 

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/65603-guide-vivarium-lighting.html

Finnex, NEHERP - Vivarium Lighting, Bulbs, and Suggestions , evo's, I've heard great about all and a few more. You could even go with a T5, full wavelength (6500K) lights. I use these for starting seeds for my garden. Work great.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

aricall said:


> It has a screen top on it atm. I've laid cardboard over most of it to cover it.
> 
> If I need to keep this set up long I'll get some glass or acrylic to lay on top.
> 
> ...


A screen top will work just fine if you cover it mostly (or all) with Saran wrap (or whatever plastic wrap you have in the kitchen). Spray the bottom side of it fairly regularly and it will stick to the mesh pretty well. If the mesh is metal, this setup may eventually rust the mesh but it will still work for this purpose for a long time before it starts to rust and drip rusty water into the tank.

Mark


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