My ideal tank is not really a tank, it's a system.

My ideal tank is not really a tank, it's a system. It involves a pool for swimming, a wetland section instead of a pool filter and chlorine. There would be a fall series, many bog plants near the system. I want some use out of the system beyond aesthetics. Aesthetics are very important as well

It's beyond the scale Amano has in his home. If you added the wetland outside and that tank and few more, it would come close. The design I have is linking many tanks together, a central filter, dosing pumps, UV, mechnical etc. No tank has a top, they all are open top, they overflow from one to the next, they curve around the main living area, a central indoor garden with tanks running through it, above would be a skylight pyrimid.

The design would headwaters to the sea desgin. There would be a sizeable water fall at the start. The SW system would be run on a large piston tidal eb, this would cycle the water between the macro tank and the coral tank.

The ending of the FW system would open up into a large flat estuary with Victoria lilies and the larger fish.

Regards,

Tom Barr

 

Re: My ideal tank is not really a tank, it's a system.

Wakaki Weeki springs, FL has a mermaid show still running.
Maybe for the next Plant fest I'll see about getting me one.

FLW integrated the straight modern lines into the landscape. I seek to take these same modern line and integrate them inside as well as outside.

Many of his homes where very low ceilings and colder than hell.
In CA it's okay, not in MN!

Fallingwater works well because it fits into the wildness with a sense of place.

I want this to run into the interior living space, I want a large sky light glass system above this area. I want to take the top off those low ceilings!
That's free lighting too!

I want a nice bog garden and wetland adjacent to the stream.
This will be ideal for a lush garden grading from soil dampness to submersed water.

I get to work with some lakes and wetlands and would love to do more stream work professionally, I will have something close to this dream.

I don't care if I have to mix the cement myself and make everything, nothing I have not done before.

Be nice to have a nice ravine with a Redwood forest running through it for something similar. There are a few places I have in mind in CA that would be an ideal site. Close to things but far away enough to have the natural privacy and closeness to nature and be close to the Sea, the Mountains and the alpine wilderness.The coolness of the Redwoods allows me to keep many different plants that I could not keep inside. There will be sections of regional aquatic plants outside as well as a main theme of native plants.

Gardens are not just for outside, they should be allowed indoors as well.
Bonsai is also very good to grow in CA as well.

I have a redwood forest design tank in the works. I know precisely the layout, plant types and hardscape.
I just need the time:-(

Regards,
Tom Barr





Pretty hard to out do a Redwood forest, more biomass per acre than any other ecosystem in the world. They love water also.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Re: My ideal tank is not really a tank, it's a system.

You needed to go to a redwood grove along a river.
Austin SP, Muir Woods, Roy's Redwoods, Santa Cruz mountains, Avenue of the Giants up noth along 101 etc.

I'm from the Midwest and south, I've been all over the Appalachian mountains. My dad taught Bio at UK and UT and studied beeltes and we went everywhere they were. Certainly a shocker for folks never having been there.
But if you go to Big Basin or other good Redwood locations, you'll see some trees and density that dwarf any and everything. Sequoias are awesome but not as densely packed together.

CA has 2 seasons: a dry one and wet one. Things grow quite different along the coastal mountain than the drier central valley and East.
CA has enormous biological diversity as do the App mountains. Generally they have much older and diverse communities, but not larger in terms of biomass per acre.

There are few things you can SEE in a redwood forest, few if any birds, there is a huge community of decomposers though.....

They have very shallow root systems but they run outward for many meters.
I like the roots and stumps in particular for aquariums.

Armstrong is nice and low key, less touristy. Good place.
I lived about 45 minutes from there.

Regards,
Tom Barr