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Perhaps drip irrigation might be a better way to go for the houseplants- you'd be able to use the water from the paludarium without filtration (therefore pre-fertilized, assuming you'll be adding things to the RO water) and it'd be a lot easier to control. If you've got your plants concentrated in one area it'd be a snap to set the system up, and you could have everything drain to trays and back into the system if you filtered it first, I guess.
My thinking is that the more valves, timers, devices etc. you have in your system, the more weak spots and opportunities for something to go wrong you have as well. You'd want to keep it relatively simple (not to mention low-key) in an apartment, I would think.
I'm going to be getting some aquarium ferts soon for my paludarium and I'll let you know how the epiphytes on the back wall respond- it should prove an interesting experiment. I'll probably be going via the Estimative Index dosing regime, but will bump up the quantities if I don't see too much action (I don't stock the water, so no problem there).
estimative index is based on maximum possible uptake from aquarium plants. i tend to advise to start off with half ei and work from there. also i am a real big advocate of aquariumfertilizer.com for those that don't want to search out fleet enema, stump remover and such locally.
i, personally have low light systems. i started with ei and adjusted from there. my dosing regimen is now much more conservative yet it's sufficient for my setups. it now more resembles a pps pro dosing schedule.
another thing to consider epiphytes typically don't get a lot of nutrients. they're typically sustained by rain water run off which is very nutrient poor. dosing their water may cause a problem.
i am by far no expert on terrestrial plants by any means but my thinking is for your epiphytes you may want to check the ph and hardness of the water supplying them. you would want it soft and not too acidic i would think.
the one very beneficial aspect to ei though is target levels. if you are able to test you can just meet that with your dosing and you should be good for most plants.
those are my thoughts on ei for a paludarium in relation to epiphytes.
as far as drip irrigation and keeping it simple i completely agree. KISS (keep it simple stupid) applies to electronics on every level in my opinion.
At the risk of hijacking (sorry Roy), you're right about rainwater being generally nutrient-poor, but at the same time, the plants tend to be in a lot worse shape in the wild than their spoiled cultivated counterparts. The same likely goes for your aquarium plants- I don't know for sure, but I would hazard a guess that the waters these come from rarely show the sort of levels that aquarists tend to use. What everyone is shooting for, I think, is optimal plant growth rather than natural plant growth, if that makes sense. And again, as we talked about earlier, the levels acheived by the EI are still way, way lower than that which I'd consider feeding my houseplants, if I understand it all correctly, of course. Either way, we'll see how it pans out, I guess.
If I can over-complicate it, it will be over-complicated.
The main reason I was considering using RO was to keep the acrylic & misting nozzles clean, along with supply clean water to the viv resevoir. I want a pretty impressive waterfall effect so a properly-sized cannister filter will handle the waterfall as well as keep the viv resevoir clean.
I was under the impression that the peat and other organic materials would provide sufficient nutrients (with some fertilzation) to the viv plants. Is that wrong?
Epiphile, I agree that drip hoses or other similar devices are a good idea for the houseplants and it made it to the must-have list. I think I can get 1/4" soaker tubing (maybe it's the same thing your talking about) which just kinda leaks all over the length of the hose. So run my regular tubing to each pot, and connect to the soaker line, etc.
I think the auto-doser is very cool. I will deffinitely look into that more. Thanks!
my point was no plant needs ei levels unless it's got extremely high lighting and injected with co2. to add to that i'm not sure but you may be able to do harm to plants that are used to low nutrient levels by for instance adding too much nitrogen compounds.
just some food for thought. you should start a thread chronicling your experiment when you start. i wouldn't mind finding out myself how it works out.
adding to the peat and organic materials you still have magnesium and calcium which are measured as gh. gh is removed to virtually 0 by an r/o system and is important for both flora and fauna. then there's your other ferts. waste products and food should provide a decent amount of nitrogen and phosphorous probably but then you have potassium and micros including iron that will be stripped and therefore lacking.
now keep in mind you can still use r/o water it's just best to re-introduce those minerals. i can lead you in the right direction for minerals if you decide to go that route.
i think the auto doser is pretty cool myself. your welcome.
Soaker tubing's definitely one way- there are also drip nozzles that might be better for smaller spaces. The soaker tubing's for running through gardens and the like.
You're totally right about being able to keep the misting nozzles and acrylic/glass clean with the RO water. Perhaps (and maybe this was the plan all along) having two routes from your RO source- one directly to the misting system and another to the canister filter or wherever you'll be introducing water to the viv- might be a good way to do it.
Peat is, as far as I know, extremely nutrient-poor. Other organic matter might provide you with a good nutrient supply (perhaps predominantly nitrogen? beckdg?), but it would have to be continually added in- not the worst thing in the world, but something to consider.
I will start a new thread regarding the EI and my paludarium. I need to do a lot more reading and get my hands on the ferts first, I guess.
Yeah, the plan is to have the RO always feed the misting heads as well as maintain the water level in the viv resevoir with two separate controls. In addition, the cannister filter will power the waterfall and clean the viv resevoir.
I'm playing with the idea of having an auto-doser treat the output of the cannister filter, so the waterfall and other water features driven by the filter would have mineralized water. Or, have a separate timed system for mineral distribution to key areas of the viv (where there are plants).
I will get a couple options for caping the houseplant tubing, I'll try the 1/4" soaker hose, drip heads, diffusers, and whatever else I can find until I get the right dispersion that I'm looking for.
" - mrcarabao 2009
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