Gardening, Pets & Aquatics Articles

A terrarium is a “mini-greenhouse”, which contains plants in a confined environment. This allows you to keep specialist plants indoors all year round. They provide an autonomous system. They are ideal for people who neglect their plants as they are best when left for months on their own.

The fundamental process on which the whole terrarium works is evaporation. Water is added to the soil and then the plants take it in, and then it passes out of the plants. The water evaporates and the process starts again.

Because the terrarium has to be in indirect sunlight, it could be placed in direct sunlight if the container is tinted glass. If you do place it in direct sunlight, install a small thermometer inside to ensure the temperature doesn’t get too high. A good glass container is ideal, although plastic could also be used.

Because of the fact that it is a closed environment, smaller plants are better suited to the cramped space inside the container. Cacti can be grown inside, although these don’t really need a contained eco-system to survive. Ferns are excellent for this, but make sure any plant you use isn’t diseased, as bringing a disease into the terrarium could be fatal for all your plants. If you want the best effect, using tropical plants are brilliant, as 7you can create a “jungle in a jar”!

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What is a Terrarium?

Orchids are very much thought of as an exclusive plant, only for the rich. Now though, orchids are, although not cheap, more available to the general public than before. Orchids will always have six petals on its flower, which makes the plant very eye-catching. They can grow up to 10 feet in height, but most that are grown in the home stay around one to two feet tall.

When you buy an orchid, a hybrid breed orchid is recommended as these are much hardier, and will last longer than a purebred wild species. Phalaenopsis orchids are easier to grow than others, so this is a great starter plant for people who are orchid novices to try out. Most orchids like a small amount of water, and the soil around the roots to be kept mildly moist, but check the care label on the pot when you buy an orchid.

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How To Grow Orchids

Here, we will cover definitions and simple explanations of the most commonly-used methods and types of biological filtration. As you will soon see, there are many methods and techniques that may be used to accomplish the same thing. All have one thing in common: They all serve to convert toxic ammonia and ammonium fish waste into less harmful nitrates or nitrogen gases through natural, biological processes.

The Balanced Aquarium: Once very common, aquariums like this are rare these days. Before modern filtration devices were invented, this was the only means of keeping an aquarium. Usually equipped only with aeration or a simple power filter, a balanced aquarium has many plants (or lots of photosynthetic organisms in a marine version), and very very few fish, so that all of the nitrogen produced by the fish is used by the plants (or algae and corals in saltwater). An example of a balanced freshwater aquarium would be a 55 gallon tank, heavily planted with only about twelve small to medium fish. This does not satisfy most aquarium owners who usually want a lot more fish in their aquariums.

Sponge Filters: These are simple air or water pump operated filters that drive water through a porous cellulose sponge which is a great media for cultivating beneficial bacteria. These filters are typically used in smaller aquaria, or in breeding tanks where they do not pose a danger to tiny baby fish that might get sucked into larger filters.

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Biological Filtration Types and Techniques