Plant farm tank vs display tank.

[Pepere]

I am contemplating setting up a plant farm tank in my basement.

Looking to archive plant species there that I am not currently contemplating using in display tank aquascapes in order to keep them on hand to use as thoughts chage in the direction I go as .i curate the scapes in display tanks.

As such what differences might be envisioned in the conditions the plant farm tank would be held at?. Lighting intensity, nutrient dosing, co2 levels? Should I run the tank the same as my display tanks, or dial them back a bit to maintain slower growth?

Of immediate concern is co2 levels. I would be building a diy horizontal reactor for the tank and was contemplating running less intensive co2 levels for it.

I also imagine it depends on what plants you are contemplating keeping which complicates matters…. I am starting to stretch my husbandry with more demanding plants.

 

[Art]

@Pepere you must be reading my mind. I was thinking of posting something similar recently.

My initial thoughts are to run it focused on plant growth but making it so that I can tweak easily as I too would be looking to learn how plants grow best.

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

@Pepere I would suggest something totally left field by proposing you grow them emersed in a terrarium. No need for that pesky co2, water changes etc.

 

[Pepere]

No interest in having to reconvert the plants back later..

Y thoughts on reduced nutrients lighting, co2 is to have growth slow somewhat as it is largely a plant archive.

 

[Art]

Different things to consider, I guess.

In the past, I did set up a farm tank to grow them emersed. I didn't really want to invest in a new setup and I wanted to see how cheaply I could growing using the sunny Florida weather. Of course, a large investment in an outdoor greenhouse setup later... I have a semi-functioning nursery and started to sell what I was growing. Paid for future purchases for the tank. However, it turned out to be too many trips to the post office and packaging so I shut it down.

I then did smaller setups indoors that morphed into second, third, fourth tanks and my maintenance increased exponentially. I shut them down too.

Currently, I'm trying to find local hobbyists I can give my cuttings to or find an easy way to ship to anyone as a RAK. Not happy with wrapping in wet paper towel, plastic bag method.

Oh well, sorry I'm not much help.

 

[Pepere]

However, it turned out to be too many trips to the post office and packaging so I shut it down.

The headaches of selling; packaging,mailing, dealing with customers who kill perfectly healthy plants and claiming it was because you sent crappy ones, is particularly unappealing….

I have no interest or patience with such…

But I am thankful there are hobbyist who do propagate and sell their rare plants…

Just looking to be able to park and preserve plants I am not currently using in a display.

Given the knowledge base of this forum I am kind of surprised this thread hasnt generated more activity.

 

[Art]

My personal guess is that not many people have a real farm tank. For me, it's a luxury I just don't have space for as I live in an apartment. However, given the VERY poor availability of healthy, quality plants in the retail space in the USA, it would make tremendous sense for anyone with the available space to set up a farm tank, IMHO.

If I were doing it, I would not worry about aesthetics are truly treat it as a holding/growing space with propagation lights, steady CO2 and minimalistic. The issue will be that plants will grow, albeit slower if you use less energy. Sooner or later you need to use them or sell them.

 

[millerschool]

Farm Tank, ive thought, about doing one too, I had a holding/grow tank for a little while until I was ready to plant, then with leftovers and stuff I didn't end up using I set up a smaller tank on the bottom shelf.
The plan was to run some co2, I wasn't sure whether to continue with growing in pots and maybe sand, gravel or lava rock base or weather to run all aqua soil. So either holding tank, or farm tank. Now I think I want the least amount of maintenance
I too thought there would be more discussion here on this topic.

However my Ricefish started laying eggs, I think the additional nearby window light plus the aquarium light confused them, and brought it on, as it was mid winter, I couldn't get the eggs to hatch, after about 4 weeks I added a heater to the bottom tank, to hatch and raise the fry.
that was pretty much the end of the farm tank.
Ive grown algae though, none to minimal flow for fry, turned off Co2, warm water, extended light hours, high feeding.
Starting to warm up now, so can move them into a container pond outside, and the bigger ones can go back with parents.
so will revisit the idea again.

(prior to setting up the scape I had different plants I had collected ready in the tank )

currently hatching eggs, and raising different size fry..

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Given the knowledge base of this forum I am kind of surprised this thread hasnt generated more activity.

I just saw this post this morning. I am also surprised by the lack of activity on it.

However, given the VERY poor availability of healthy, quality plants in the retail space in the USA, it would make tremendous sense for anyone with the available space to set up a farm tank, IMHO.

This is very high up on my list of why I started doing farm tanks. I wanted healthy plants that also were adapted to my particular dosing regime.

Y thoughts on reduced nutrients lighting, co2 is to have growth slow somewhat as it is largely a plant archive.

This is absolutely doable. My farm tanks currently do not grow at a rate I can not keep up and I am pretty lax in maintenance beyond the weekly 50% water change. I think part of this is that I keep my temps in the low 70s and this slows growth. I am also not blasting light. I keep co2 high but I have found that light is the number one source of growth rate as long as all other needs are met.

In terms of selling, I try to sell locally if I can. Luckily I have a local aquarium club and I will take plant trimmings there especially for the bigger events. I have shipped some but not a lot and it has to be an abundance of something for me to do so. I do foresee needing to sell more online though. I try to always post here first before using facebook but sometimes time is of the essence as I cant always keep plants in tanks and do not like them to sit too long before shipping.

Also I completely understand not wanting to do an emersed setup. I have had difficulties converting plants from submersed to emersed. I will say though if you have a tank that needs a reset and plants that have been attacked by algae, emersed setup to get them to recover is the way to go. Think of it as a back up plan instead of your man growing technique. I got some 2010 humidity domes on amazon with some pots I throw aqua soil in and fill with some water and hydroponic solution and that has been working for me. Just my 2 sense on the manner.

If you have any questions let me know. I think having a farm tank is great if you have the space like @Art mentioned.