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

[Tom Barr]

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

 

[chubasco]

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

Tom, you and Frank Lloyd Wright would've gotten along just fine. I see a lot
of his ideas in this, and would put Fallingwaters to shame You might want
to see if the setting for the film "Creature from the Black Lagoon" is for sale.
That might be in scale for what you want and would cut down the cost of
construction. Maybe you could get the shecreature to help with maintenance.

All kidding aside, if you ever do this, I might see it in Architectural Digest!

Regards,

Bill Ruyle

 

[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

 

[derekparr]

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

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

never enough of that.


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

my experience is limited, greatly. but it appeared pretty dry and repetitive where i was in calaveras county on my only visit to the west coast so far last september. ie.. the national forest there. not saying theres not alot of cool stuff there, just that coming from the appalachians I'm use to a variety of pines and way more different deciduous trees than you can count on one's fingers and toes per acre. Not to mention the fungii, bushes, grasses and assorted "weeds" and then of course the aquatic plants.

And I should add I spent 3 days camping and driving between San Fran and Reno. Of course it was dry while I was there. But never the less its hard to believe there is more "biomass" there on average than what I'm use to over here in the southeast.

Definately not saying you're wrong. Just saying it goes against what I've seen and I'd like to hear more to convince me otherwise and to educate me on what I missed during my visit concerning that subject.

-derek

 

[travdawg]

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

How large is the root system of a Redwood? Seems like it would cover a HUGE area. I wonder how much water per day a tree of that size would soak up.

 

[aquabillpers]

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

I visited the Armstrong Woods redwood reserve in Sonoma County a few years ago. It was very impressive, with huge trees, some 1,400 years old and over 350 feet tall. I want to go back.

It was also very quiet. The only other living things that I saw were ferns and some moss on the sides of the trees. I neither saw nor heard any animals nor birds.

The following year I was trout fishing in northern Pennsylvania. I passed through several large areas that had been heavily lumbered within the past 10 years. The places would not yet be called beautiful, but there were all kinds of animals and birds and plants living together, living their lives.

I thought to myself that compared to this, except for the trees, the redwood forest was almost sterile.

Bill

 

[Tom Barr]

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

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

my experience is limited, greatly. but it appeared pretty dry and repetitive where i was in calaveras county on my only visit to the west coast so far last september. ie.. the national forest there. not saying theres not alot of cool stuff there, just that coming from the appalachians I'm use to a variety of pines and way more different deciduous trees than you can count on one's fingers and toes per acre. Not to mention the fungii, bushes, grasses and assorted "weeds" and then of course the aquatic plants.

Definately not saying you're wrong. Just saying it goes against what I've seen and I'd like to hear more to convince me otherwise and to educate me on what I missed during my visit concerning that subject.

-derek

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