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Self watering tube

john arnold

Member
Joined
28 Jun 2018
Messages
363
Location
Somerset
Hi
I have a few aquariums and also into terrariums, wabi kusa and paludariums what im looking for is a vertical tube that looks like around 100mm diameter and about 300mm tall, you can wrap hygrolon round it and fill it with water which gradually seeps out supplying the plants attached to the column, looks a bit like a type of clay material, its less bother than fitting a pump and have water reservoir ir, any ideas lovely people
 
Hi all,
Just found it today and need to know is it just normal clay as someone said use a wine cooler, but i didnt know normal clay is porous enough to leech water can someone clafify?
You get quite a large cooling effect with a terracotta wine cooler. How much water evaporates depends on how warm and humid the day is, but if you fill one up with water on a warm, sunny, windy day it will empty pretty quickly, certainly much faster than a glazed pot will.

If you want to make an even smaller investment you could try siliconing two clay pots together (rim to rim) and plugging the bottom pots drainage hole with some blu-tack. Just fill it up with water from the top.

cheers Darrel
 
i just need to know if its made feom normal clay

I guess you're better of asking this question at a shop supplying pottery equipment and clays of course.
I see some have 150 different kinds of clay in store. :) I bet they can answer your question without a second thought.

Personally i think it likely doesn't matter that much and the regular hobby clay used is after backing a pretty coarse, porous and inert material.

Reading the Terra Base manual. they advise to soak it in a bucket to let it absorb water.
https://www.adana.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/02/TERRA_BASE_S_WEB.pdf

Any kind of natural clay that is backed will do that, also the regular terracotta pots even a house brick. But these are made from a finer sort of clay than the regular hobby clay. Clay is actually nothing more than very fine grinded sand, my best guess it's the grain size that determines how porous the backed end product will be.
 
I'd place money that a terracotta wine cooler would work just as well...
Give it a go, they are relatively cheap and if you wrap some garden moss around it, it'll be zero expense on the plants.
If it doesn't work, what's the worst that can happen? You have yourself a new wine cooler! :)
 
I'd place money that a terracotta wine cooler would work just as well...
Give it a go, they are relatively cheap and if you wrap some garden moss around it, it'll be zero expense on the plants.
If it doesn't work, what's the worst that can happen? You have yourself a new wine cooler! :)
Yep i guess your right really..just found out my girl friend had a wine cooler im gonna nick it off her and go fir it as i do like the effect although not natural looking it will be diff from other terrariums i have.. if it works well ill photo and update this thread for those interested
Once again cheers all for responses.. love this site
 
I have one of the self watering tupes by roellke orchids in germany. Works like a charm and leaks only minimally (10ml a day) when not fully grown in with mosses. I placed mine in a do!aqua wabi kusa glass and maintain ~80% humidity without a cover.
 
Normal terracotta clay pots work - gardeners use them as slow watering systems - you bury the pot so the top is level with the surface and fill with water - the water slowly moves into the soil. Google for Ollas, clay pot irrigation, or clay watering spikes and you'll find a ton of info. Just make sure whatever you use, it's unglazed :)
 
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