Loaches Online Forum

Imagine, if you will, a big flowerpot or bucket some 10" tall with perforated sides. Onto the bottom-middle we epoxy a little round air-stone, and over that a cheap, plastic kitchen-funnel with vents cut around the the top of the skirt epoxy'd in upside down. The air-stone air supply pipe could come out the bottom or out the side (preferable). And now put a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe over the end of the funnel to about an inch below the rim of the pot/bucket.
Now, 2" of pea-gravel, 2" of garden peat and the rest of the way good potting soil to the top of the funnel-extension pipe, and set the lilly, lotus or plant-roots. Now cover the rest with heavier gravel to cap it without plugging the pipe with messy soil (and to keep the loaches from digging it all out).
Now set the whole thing into your tank or (in this case) pond.

Crank up the air-pump and the planter should become a monstrous bubbler/filter, with (eventually) expanded bio-filtration capabilities with the plant roots, and accelerated plant-growth with water flow over/around the roots as well.

Thoughts?

What's a better air-stone material and/or maker, and why can't you buy round, flat ones?
A

Interesting idea. It would be like air/nutrient injection into the gravel near the plant roots. I have a round /flat air-stone that I'm not using for anything.
It's like this one-

Why not use a flexible bubble wand, and wrap it around at the bottom of the pot? Then you do not need funnel or anything else. Just coarse potting mix (I would use 1/4-3/8" lava rock for maximum bacteria housing) and some 1" or so pebbles on top to keep the fish out.

http://www.aquariumguys.com/bubblewand48.html

D,
That would certainly be preferable, but imported materials around here are prohibitively costly. I might try some local chunk-charcoal up the middle though. I prefer the idea of perforating the bottom or lower sides and having a uni-directional flow rather then the through and back necessary in the "sealed" funneled design.
I also think that the gravel/soil might crush the bubble-wand.

The original idea was to "plumb" a powerhead (Hydor Koralia) into the bottom-side of the pot, but safe water-level electricity is becoming a thing. It's easier and safer to pipe in air to move water, and these Rena 400 pumps seem to be pretty productive, quiet and reliable... to believe the reviews, that is.
It's also (I think) 8 Watts total as opposed to 10 Watts per Koralia-3 (10 planned) so I can run it on a cheep little solar panel when the power's out.
A

Do these ceramic stones last any longer then the regular pressed-sand ones?
The point of this set-up would be that I never (ever) want to have to deal with it, just break up the plants every couple of years.
Hyper-low-maintenance.
A

I'm not sure. I haven't used it in a few years. I think the problem I had with it is that it kept floating to the surface. I needed to put a big rock or something on it to keep it from floating.