"Jamie Drilling" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm making planters out of cross-stich sheets and nylon thread, then
when I have the right shape using aquarium silicone to cover them in
either aquarium gravel or river rocks (some of each.)

The substrate in the planters is going to be laterite mixed with
vermiculite, with pond fertilizer tablets (if I can find them) and each
planter will be 3-4" deep. 160 watts over a 55 gallon aquarium. I'm
planning on a few massive Amazon Swords and some other hardy plants.

Does this setup sound feasible? Any advice would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jamie

-cross-posting on req.aquaria.freshwater.plants

I did something similar, as my substrate is not really suited to planting. I
used some black soup bowls to match the existing gravel and filled them with
a layer of fluorite, a layer of aquatic soil (pond dirt in a bag) and a
shallow layer of the existing gravel. I also buried some pond tabs (it's
what I had) in the soil as fertilizer. My Nitrates run around 10 PPM in this
tank, so it's possible the tabs are contributing to the Nitrates.

I let this mixture (without the pond tabs) sit in a bucket first to float
off any muck, but I really did not get any cloudiness in the water. I've had
a minor BGA outbreak, but the plants were doing fine prior to this problem.