Planted Biorb?

[fiskkeeperpro]

I have recently aquired a 30l BiOrb and the lighting it comes with is 1WPG, i would like to make it a planted tank and only house shrimp (maybe a few endlers), the question is can i put in a plant substrate/ fertilizer to make plants grow better or not? Also, can i replace the current gravel substrate with a proper gravel substrate, it would then look better i think. This is because the ceramic media it comes with isn't very good to grow plants in.

Thanks
Will

 

[Themuleous]

Ive not had a biorb myself but a friend did and as far as I understand it its the media that acts at the filter a bit like live rock in marine tanks. Removing this might stop the tank filtering properly. However if you just had shrimp and/or a small number of fish, good plant growth might act as just as good a filter anyway. So guess what I'm saying is, try and see!

Sam

 

[fiskkeeperpro]

Instead of getting a substrate fertiliers e.g. Tetra complete, is it possible to use drops that you drop in everyday?

Will

 

[Themuleous]

You can grow plants within out substrate ferts, lots of plants in fact, the trouble is that they also need the gravel to root into, they will struggle to root in the biorb media. You could use anubias and java fern I guess which dont need a substrate, just tie them to anything in the tank.

Sam

 

[Rhea]

I wasn't sure if changing the substrate was a good idea in the Biorb, but still wanted to keep some plants.
I've added several rocks/wood to tie anubias, java fern and moss on to which are growing well in the lowish light without any ferts.

 

[Robbo851]

i got my mum a 30l biorb and has guppies in it with and some simple plants grow quite well in it with the LR type stuff in the bootom and no you cant replace it as it holds the benificial bacteria in it

 

[Ian H]

could get an external filter for it or make a sump? could put whatever you want in it then

 

[aaronnorth]

i have 35l biube, virtually same, different shape, i have just tried planting it... disaster nothing can be planted at the mo 1 crypt is managing to stay in, you would need to replace the ceramic media which means getting another filter (you could take the air driven out)

 

[garuf]

Every time I look at biorbs and biubes would make a nice nano, they're acrylic aren't they? You could drill one to run filter inlet/outlets in. You could also rip out all the lighting and stick in a power compact, you could end up with an unusual and beautiful planted tank that way.