thoughts on aquatic pot covers... and what if you don't want a pot???

Magnum Man

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so, I do a lot of terrestrial plants grown out of my aquariums, and the jury is still out on long term, do I want pots, or no pots...these 2 pots originally had olive trees growing in them, but they were transferred to the living room, and dirt pots, as they out grew the space available, on the tank, between the top and the light..

the pots are stainless steam table containers drilled with 1/4 inch holes, and filled with ceramic media, there are foam filters directly under them, on the bottom of the aquarium... the bubbles rise through the pot, making them percolate, and this both filters with beneficial bacteria, and the bubbles circulate the water inside the pot...

in these 2 pictures, the bigger plant, a rare black margin ( black leaf edges ) Hoya vine, was just potted, so the media has been turned over... the smaller plant ( a traditional Hoya vine cutting ) was just stuck into the existing media to root... you can see on that pot, a lot of algae grows on the media over time... I'm thinking about a "cover" for the media, to protect it from algae growth... originally thinking filter floss, but am now thinking about brown scrubbie pads, cut to the size of the pot, with a circle cut out in the center, for the plant to grow out of, and a slit, cut through to the hole, so the pad can be removed, to easily remove any algae if desired... it's possible these vines will shade the pot enough to prevent algae growth, but a plant like the olive trees did not... hoping for any other suggestions or comments, before I buy some brown scrubbers
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and an idea for starting some vines... I would not do this with pothos vines or philodendron, as the vine stem gets too large, but with these Hoya vines, the mature vine, stays smaller...

this a mature curly leaf Hoya, from the living room, shows that the mature vine stem, stays relatively small in diameter, when compared to a pothos...
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to root Hoya, you just need to insert a stem section into the water ( how perfect is that for aquarium use ) I take a stem section, and take off the bottom 2-4 leaves, and insert the stem up to the last attached leaf, in the coil loop of a stainless wire clothes pin, of which I bought a packet of pretty reasonably, and clip the clothes pin, to a heater cord, or hose ( I don't do it to air lines, as over time, the clothes pin will reduce the air flow ), attached at the top of the aquarium, with the stem down into the water... super easy... most of my tanks are open top, but I'm showing this on a tank, with a cover, the plants just slip into openings for the filter or cords and air lines...
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so, I do a lot of terrestrial plants grown out of my aquariums... these 2 pots originally had olive trees growing in them, but they were transferred to the living room, and dirt pots, as they out grew the space available...

the pots are stainless steam table containers drilled with 1/4 inch holes, and filled with ceramic media, there are foam filters directly under them, the bubbles rise through the pot, making them percolate, and this both filter with beneficial bacteria, and the bubbles circulate the water inside the pot...

in these 2 pictures, the bigger plant, a rare black margin ( black leaf edges ) Hoya vine, was just potted, so the media has been turned over... the smaller plant ( a traditional Hoya vine cutting ) was just stuck in the existing media to root... you can see on that pot, a lot of algae grows on the media over time... I'm thinking about a "cover" for the media, to protect it from algae growth... originally thinking filter floss, but am now thinking about brown scrubbie pads, cut to the size of the pot, with a circle cut out in the center, for the plant to grow out of, and a slit, cut through to the hole, do the pad can be removed, to easily remove any algae if desired... it's possible these vines will shade the pot enough to prevent algae growth, but a plant like the olive trees did not... hoping for any other suggestions or comments, before I buy some brown scrubbers
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I'm wondering if you could go a little more natural. Take out the top layer of ceramics and.cover.it with hard wood mulch or sphagnum moss?
 
I was originally thinking moss, but as it stays pretty wet, because of the percolation, I was concerned with mold or fungus... from the moss, I went to green scrubber pads, then thought brown would look more natural...
 
I think sphagnum moss is safe from fungus and bacterial growth. Plus there is a chance with the moisture it will reanimate and start to grow again.
 

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