# Another Noob ? re: BiOrb & Plant options



## Dr. Demento

I've got a 30L (8gal) BiOrb in my office I'd like to try live plants in. The difficulty lies in it's filter system. The "substrate" (and that's being generous) is sintered ceramic media (think lava rock); given the filtration setup, I don't see how it's possible to put anything nutritious underneath (although I'd be happy to hear from someone with successful experience who can contradict me!!).

My inclination is to go with a moss-like ground cover (Phoenix Moss - Fissidens fontanus) to cover the lava rocks/driftwood and perhaps a dwarf riccia or Hornwort as a floater. What I need your experience/help with is identifying a couple of candidates for the mid-ground. I'll be using Flourish Excel as a carbon source, I have approx 5 wpg (I have a desk lamp with appropriate bulb for plants). I'd like something that would NOT take over the tank.

Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance.


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## echofish

That is my same question. I have 2 biorbs and 1 biube. They are beautiful little tanks but when it comes to planting..The problem with the underground filter and having to move everything around when changing filters. There is a solution it is just a matter of finding it. Your idea's are what i was thinking of as well. growing on thbings that can then be moved and out back. have you tried this yet??? I would love to know.

Thank you


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## echofish

That is my same question. I have 2 biorbs and 1 biube. They are beautiful little tanks but when it comes to planting..The problem with the underground filter and having to move everything around when changing filters. There is a solution it is just a matter of finding it. Your idea's are what i was thinking of as well. growing on things that can then be moved back. have you tried this yet??? I would love to know.


Thank you


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## Bert H

Don't worry about the nutritious substrate aspect of your tank, as most plants preferably uptake nutrients through the water column. Regarding plants, check out the plantfinder on this site to get some ideas. Hornwort will certainlly grow like wildfire. Blyxa japonica makes a nice midground, imo for smaller tanks.


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## Blacksunshine

As for your setup. you are going to be very limited I would expect considering that the biorbs are lit with little halogen lamps. Not very plant friendly. You might be able to get some extra light into it with a lamp armed with some Spiral CF's.


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## Shurik

Hello! 

I see this thread is pretty old, but any way, I do have a biUbe and I've been struggling to grow live plants in it for over two years. (Yes, I am that stubborn)And yes, in addition to the filter problem and substrate difficulties it's got very low light. So pretty much everything is against plants, really! :boxing:

I had the original halogen lamp it came with, then I "upgraded" to iLight LED light (really pretty but just as "low light" as halogen one), and at some point I managed to keep some java moss and java fern and a couple of annubias on the drift wood. They were not really growing but more like surviving.

I really like my biUbe, but recently I just had it with this struggle. I ripped out the filter and placed the tank next to the window. I use submersible Fluval filter and some dirt underneath eco-complete substrate, which makes it something like El Natural. And kaboom!!! Finally everything is growing. :mrgreen:

Besides that, my biUbe provoked me to get 20 gal and now I am working on 50 gal set up.

Here is biOrb/biUbe forum with a lot of information and some successful attempts to grow plants in them, but, as I said, it is extremely challenging.

www.biorbforum.com/

Good luck!


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## Dr. Demento

Howdy,

Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear that you're now having success. I think I'm going to try an intermediate approach (as I've come to a similar conclusion with my brief experience). I'm going to try to use small plastic baby food containers with soil, use the original "substrate" and a tabletop "daylight" lamp. Wish me luck (I'm gonna need it).

Also, thanks for the forum link. I'll troll around.

Dr. D



Shurik said:


> Hello!
> 
> I see this thread is pretty old, but any way, I do have a biUbe and I've been struggling to grow live plants in it for over two years. (Yes, I am that stubborn)And yes, in addition to the filter problem and substrate difficulties it's got very low light. So pretty much everything is against plants, really! :boxing:
> 
> I had the original halogen lamp it came with, then I "upgraded" to iLight LED light (really pretty but just as "low light" as halogen one), and at some point I managed to keep some java moss and java fern and a couple of annubias on the drift wood. They were not really growing but more like surviving.
> 
> I really like my biUbe, but recently I just had it with this struggle. I ripped out the filter and placed the tank next to the window. I use submersible Fluval filter and some dirt underneath eco-complete substrate, which makes it something like El Natural. And kaboom!!! Finally everything is growing. :mrgreen:
> 
> Besides that, my biUbe provoked me to get 20 gal and now I am working on 50 gal set up.
> 
> Here is biOrb/biUbe forum with a lot of information and some successful attempts to grow plants in them, but, as I said, it is extremely challenging.
> 
> www.biorbforum.com/
> 
> Good luck!


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## Shurik

Dear Dr. Demento, I am glad you don’t give up, just like I am. 

Your “moderate” approach is the best thing to do. 
Since you got only 8 gal biOrb, you will be probably more successful then I was. But it is a matter of what you are trying to get growing in there, really. If I’d stick with a couple of java ferns on the wood, anubias and stop at this point – that would be just fine, but they were not doing great and I got bored and frustrated with it and my journey had only begun! 

I did try desk lamp and containers for plants, but you have to find that perfect balance of light, plants and fish stock. 
My main problems included, to name a few:

1) Overheating the water, 
2)	Trying not to start a fire because biOrb/biUbe tend to become one giant lens.
3)	Under gravel filter malfunction. (That was a bad one!) With only two containers in there it already crapped out on me – the surface area of this filter is not that big, so it didn’t take much for me to really mess it up. 
4)	Not enough of plants mass. When it is not enough of them, because of an increased light, all the algae in the world just love to bloom, especially when I tried to fertilize the water column – that wasn’t a good idea either.
5)	Pretty bubbles. Yes, they look great, but they are bubbling out all CO2 of the water, and plants don’t like it, even my ferns. 
6)	Hating the original media and partially replacing it with the gravel – well, filter didn’t like it a bit once again. 
7)	Some other problems I don’t even recall by now.

As I said, two years of it was really enough for me. I really wanted to grow some plants and biUbe totally got me into this hobby. It gave me an opportunity to get a “feel” of plant care and what they really need and what they really hate. I wanted to get a better gardening results and this endless experience gave me that drive to do better then I was doing.
I still love my biUbe, even without the original filter it looks awesome at night. It is still a “conversational piece” in the house. 

As of this biOrb/biUbe thread – please be careful following people’s advices, because most of them are new to the hobby, just like I am, because biOrb mainly attracts such newbies – it is very neat looking thing and it is very seductive in its appearance, but it is also very content complete unit in its design. 
Just like some pretty girls, biOrb is all about “I am what I am, and don’t tell me what to do, I’m not gonna change!” ... And then it acts up :mrgreen:

Can I ask you what you have for a fish? 
I would love to see some pictures and I would love to hear all your news – I am still biorb fan, you know!...


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## bettalover2

Old thread, but I still love it. Just the kind of info that us newbies that have bought Biorbs need to hear.

I have a Baby Bio, 5 gal, one betta, pond snails. I used gravel to start with and have a couple 'betta bulbs' from the lfs, java moss, java ferns and a Crypt I blieve. 

I'm wanting to go with NPT. Water is doing great, good readings and ph is same as my tap water. My only problem at this point is that the plants are only surviving and not flourishing. I'm struggling too with this cute but not very functional or easy tank for living plants.

Any more information about how to work with this tank would be appreciated.


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