Water from flower pot dripping into planter aquarium

[wilkyb]

I’ve been working on a potted planter aquarium for 2-3 months now. I plan on bringing it out to the front veranda after the springtime warms things up outside. There is a place I’d like to put the planter aquarium that would be directly below a hanging flower basket filled with regular garden soil. The hose is connected to city water which is treated with chlorine. I have de-chlorinated water that I can use instead of the garden hose to water this specific planter.

 

I have a few questions:

Will the chlorine react / oxidize with the soil as it drips through & out of the basket from beneath? if it does, will it be enough?

 

Will the flow-through minerals be absorbed by the plants in the aquarium after er it falls in from above?

 

I reckon the soot may be a slight issue, but I think I can figure something out about that

 

Here’s a photo of the aquarium. Thanks ahead of time!

Edited March 15, 2021 by wilkyb

[Fish Folk]

One thing to be mindful of is the intensity of sunlight. It is so easy to underestimate how it will affect plants outside. For us, pothos withered, ludwigia died, even wisteria crashed. Only water lettuce did well. 
 

To your question... the run-through might be faster than you’d think. You could test by putting a white pail under the hanging plant, observing soil leech, and testing some parameters of water run through. 

[gardenman]

From a purely gardening standpoint, filling a hanging basket with garden soil is a bad idea for the plants in the hanging basket. Garden soil tends to compact and becomes an issue in a hanging basket. A potting mix is far better for hanging baskets than garden soil. If however you use just plain old garden soil (topsoil) it shouldn't cause much trouble for the aquarium/tub below it. I use topsoil for my water lilies and lotus and the plants and fish do great. A potting mix can cause more trouble for the tub under it as they're typically fertilized with time release fertilizer that could leach out and many are peat based which could lower the pH and hardness of the water beneath them.

If the soil or plants planted in the basket have been treated with an systemic insecticide, things could get unpleasant for any fish beneath the basket. Systemic insecticides are often applied as granules on the soil surface and then absorbed into the plant through watering. If any traces remained in the soil surface it could be leached into the tank/tub beneath it and poison the fish. Systemic insecticides are very commonly used in commercial greenhouses so if you're buying plants for the hanging basket there's a reasonable chance they've had a systemic insecticide applied at some point. In some cases some commercial greenhouses just mix it into the potting soils they use. (A systemic insecticide moves into the plant's circulatory system making the whole plant poisonous to an insect that tries to feed on it.)

The chlorine would be an issue for fish in the tub. It's not great for plants either. Much as our fish tanks are a thriving mass of living stuff, so too should be the soil for plants. Good healthy soil contains all kinds of life from bacteria, to fungi, and nematodes and more. Chlorine kills much of the stuff that's good in soil, just as it kills much of the good stuff in aquariums. If you have a choice, you'll find plants do better with rain water than treated water. Those who grow insectivore plants typically water them with distilled water or rainwater with no chlorine or fluoride and minimal or no minerals. 

You mention soot and I have no idea where that comes from based on your post. 

 

[wilkyb]

5 hours ago, Fish Folk said:

One thing to be mindful of is the intensity of sunlight. It is so easy to underestimate how it will affect plants outside. For us, pothos withered, ludwigia died, even wisteria crashed. Only water lettuce did well. 
 

To your question... the run-through might be faster than you’d think. You could test by putting a white pail under the hanging plant, observing soil leech, and testing some parameters of water run through. 

There is an eavesdrop on this veranda which keeps it from the direct sunlight. In this spot it will get direct sunlight for 2-3 hours during sundown.

I read somewhere that sunlight in the morning is ideal. I may put it in the backyard instead so it can get that morning sunlight, but I want to show this aquarium off to my neighbours in the front yard ! Lol

 

Hey there’s  an idea: I could place a drip bucket beneath the hanging planter while watering. That doesn’t sound so bad!

 

I prefer the minimal maintenance, so I’ll observe the effects of the drip into the aquarium before doing the drip tray method. I think using the city water from the house, however, is out of the question

[CT_]

In terms of chlorine why not just give the plant a scoop of aquarium water then you don't even need to fill a can.

[Fish Folk]

9 minutes ago, CT_ said:

In terms of chlorine why not just give the plant a scoop of aquarium water then you don't even need to fill a can.

^^^ Yes! This! ^^^

[wilkyb]

44 minutes ago, CT_ said:

In terms of chlorine why not just give the plant a scoop of aquarium water then you don't even need to fill a can.

Oh, obviously! Haha good call!

[wilkyb]

4 hours ago, gardenman said:

From a purely gardening standpoint, filling a hanging basket with garden soil is a bad idea for the plants in the hanging basket. Garden soil tends to compact and becomes an issue in a hanging basket. A potting mix is far better for hanging baskets than garden soil. If however you use just plain old garden soil (topsoil) it shouldn't cause much trouble for the aquarium/tub below it. I use topsoil for my water lilies and lotus and the plants and fish do great. A potting mix can cause more trouble for the tub under it as they're typically fertilized with time release fertilizer that could leach out and many are peat based which could lower the pH and hardness of the water beneath them.

If the soil or plants planted in the basket have been treated with an systemic insecticide, things could get unpleasant for any fish beneath the basket. Systemic insecticides are often applied as granules on the soil surface and then absorbed into the plant through watering. If any traces remained in the soil surface it could be leached into the tank/tub beneath it and poison the fish. Systemic insecticides are very commonly used in commercial greenhouses so if you're buying plants for the hanging basket there's a reasonable chance they've had a systemic insecticide applied at some point. In some cases some commercial greenhouses just mix it into the potting soils they use. (A systemic insecticide moves into the plant's circulatory system making the whole plant poisonous to an insect that tries to feed on it.)

The chlorine would be an issue for fish in the tub. It's not great for plants either. Much as our fish tanks are a thriving mass of living stuff, so too should be the soil for plants. Good healthy soil contains all kinds of life from bacteria, to fungi, and nematodes and more. Chlorine kills much of the stuff that's good in soil, just as it kills much of the good stuff in aquariums. If you have a choice, you'll find plants do better with rain water than treated water. Those who grow insectivore plants typically water them with distilled water or rainwater with no chlorine or fluoride and minimal or no minerals. 

You mention soot and I have no idea where that comes from based on your post. 

 

Hey I’ll consider getting a rain barrel, there’s an idea. The garden plants are watered from the hose typically. I’ll look into this!

I’ll figure out what we can do about making sure this hanging planter has no pesticides within the soil it’s planted in.

When I mention soot, I mean the soil that leaves the hanging planter and drips into the aquarium. This stuff I’d imagine does more good than bad; and the air bubble filter sponge will collect any excess anyways.

Edited March 15, 2021 by wilkyb