As I am a plant fan in general, it's fun keeping thriving house plants as well. Most of our beloved aquarium plants are mostly commercially grown emersed in warm air with high humidity. I always found the emersed aquatic environment just as interesting as the stuff below the surface. But I never did anything with it, until last summer, when I planted some aquarium species in a glass jar with a lid on it and made a 1 mm hole in it.
I did not do anything with, just getting it light in my aquarium hood, and the plants really took of. So two months ago, I stepped my game up a little.
An old plastic air tight transparent container would be used to keep aquarium plants, next to my desk with a dedicated light. Most plants in my tank which emersed most of the times dry up fast, so I wanted to control the humidity. So I set up a cheap microcomputer with two modules to monitor humidity (and temperature.) I know mold/fungus can be a challenging aspect in wet humid environments, so I added springtails and a small 5V fan which RPM can be controlled by pwm, for inaudible air movement.
I've started with some small plant cuttings in cups with ADA Amazonia V2 and RO water with some macros and traces added.
Day 1:
In such a wet environment, visibility gets easily obstructed by condensation. So the humidity should be lower than 100%, and fresh dryer air is needed. So I first drilled a hole at the back at the fan, pointing the air movement to the front of the container. As the first days progressed, the amount of fresh air was not enough, so I drilled some more, until visibility during the day was good. I spray the wood every other day and refill the cups when they the water level isn't visible anymore.
Day 60:
Plant progress is good, and the springtails are alive and kicking. I really enjoy fiddling with this stuff, and it actually worked! Nothing is deteriorating, except the Eriocaulon which already flowered when I added it. The Tonina is growing in nice, the Cuphea is getting purple and the Riccardia and Micranthemum are mega healthy.
I monitor around 95% RH during the day when temperatures are higher, and 99-100% RH at night when the temperature is a couple degrees Celcius lower. A snapshot of yesterday's monitor:
I did not do anything with, just getting it light in my aquarium hood, and the plants really took of. So two months ago, I stepped my game up a little.
An old plastic air tight transparent container would be used to keep aquarium plants, next to my desk with a dedicated light. Most plants in my tank which emersed most of the times dry up fast, so I wanted to control the humidity. So I set up a cheap microcomputer with two modules to monitor humidity (and temperature.) I know mold/fungus can be a challenging aspect in wet humid environments, so I added springtails and a small 5V fan which RPM can be controlled by pwm, for inaudible air movement.
I've started with some small plant cuttings in cups with ADA Amazonia V2 and RO water with some macros and traces added.
Day 1:
In such a wet environment, visibility gets easily obstructed by condensation. So the humidity should be lower than 100%, and fresh dryer air is needed. So I first drilled a hole at the back at the fan, pointing the air movement to the front of the container. As the first days progressed, the amount of fresh air was not enough, so I drilled some more, until visibility during the day was good. I spray the wood every other day and refill the cups when they the water level isn't visible anymore.
Day 60:
Plant progress is good, and the springtails are alive and kicking. I really enjoy fiddling with this stuff, and it actually worked! Nothing is deteriorating, except the Eriocaulon which already flowered when I added it. The Tonina is growing in nice, the Cuphea is getting purple and the Riccardia and Micranthemum are mega healthy.
I monitor around 95% RH during the day when temperatures are higher, and 99-100% RH at night when the temperature is a couple degrees Celcius lower. A snapshot of yesterday's monitor:
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