Gina1960 said:In my research with builds that I did before I did mine, I learned that you need to either do the aliflor layer on the bottom for filtration/drainage/humidity or a false bottom made of a material called egg crate which is a plastic grid of squares. I chose the aliflor layer because its hard to disguise the egg crate. You put a layer of that, then a couple of sheets of screen or landscape cloth, then you put your planting media on top. That is what you actually plant the plants in. I use a mix I have used for plants in the greenhouse for years. This photo is a small example of the depth you need. My 75 gallon (shown here) has a depth from the bottom of the glass floor to the top surface layer of the planting media of about 6-7 inches total. In my 20 gallon its about 3 inches. The 75 gallon is deeper because I needed a water reservoir under the planting medium to run water pumps for a water feature. You would not need it so deep. The 20 gal does not have a water feature so that sort of water reservoir was unnecessary
Gina1960 said:For the small one you could put something cool like a small piece of driftwood and a Chirita or Episcea and maybe a vining hoya like curtisii, a small fern that will stay small and something like cryptanthus bromeliads. You can do a backing with something like coir matting, tree fern bark or cork to allow vining plants to climb, or if you want to keep it clear and wide open skip that. Creepers that you can readily trim like the cool purple and silver trandeschantia would work too
Gina1960 said:I didn;t get to do it today its been pouring rain on and off, I need to be outside to be able to prep stuff. But tomorrow is supposed to be dry. Drier.
kyry said:Or you can grow actual water plants. I used a gravel. I also put a few pieces of charcoal under it.