Got my new water garden all setup today. It was a pretty straightforward job. Makes me a little more confident when things seem easy. My wife helped and she seems to be more interested in this garden than the winter garden.
Start with cleaning and rinsing all parts and pieces with the tap water that is going to go into the tank. This includes all the rocks we will be using as well.
washing the pump pieces
Next we poured in the gravel for the bottom of the tank.
Next we assemble and install the pump. The pump has a built in location to be clipped so that it pumps the water into a chamber that the plants will grow in. This will also sever as the cleaning mechanism for the tank as well since the fish waste will be turned into plant food.
Now we can begin filling the tank and adding the dechlorinating chemical to the tank. This should help make the water safer for the fish to live in.
Now we set our fish into the tank to let his water acclimate with the water in the tank. He will sit here while the rest of the tank is constructed.
Now we can begin to construct the planter that will house our 'grow stones' and plants. The best way I can describe the grow stones is porous grows which seem to retain some water.
Each planter is filled filled grow stones and then some nitrogen eating bacteria is added to each planter. I think this helps to convert the fish waste into plant fertilizer but I'm still not totally sure on that one.
Finally we add our plant seeds to each planter. The kit came with wheatgrass seeds and microgreen radishes. I don't know much about either of these plants but that is what we will be growing initially.
The seeds are lightly sprinkled on top of the grow stones. I'm interested to see how they look while sprouting.
a closeup of the seeds in the planters
Last step is simply placing the planter on top of the aquarium so that the pump can move water from the tank into the planter.
And just like that we are all finished!
I'm really excited for this project and I hope you all enjoy this little adventure with me!