None of my aquarium projects ever proceed with any swiftness. After I assembled everything, I partially filled the flowerpot with water. After a week with no leakage, I added more water. I kept adding water every week until the pot was filled to the level I wanted it at. Then it sprang a leak!
I was in the work room in our basement when I felt water dripping on me. Looking up, I saw water dripping from an electric wire strung through the joists of the floor above me. I ran upstairs to discover a puddle of water under the flowerpot. After four weeks of leak testing, the flowerpot had sprung a leak. This necessitated another delay since I had to empty the flowerpot, let it thoroughly dry, and then seal the leak.
Finally, after leak testing for another month, I was ready to add the plants. By this time, however, the upright philodendron (Thaumatophyllum) had grown quite a bit which required me to trim it down so it would fit in its flowerpot.
After four months in the riparium, the philodendron doing well as is the duckweed (Lemna minor).
I have this in our dining room which does not get enough light for plants to grow well. For additional light, I am using an Intpro LED light inside a basket. I couldn’t find a lampshade that would fit over the LED light so I resorted to using a basket. It is almost too heavy for the lamp stand, so I placed a brick on the lamp stand base to keep it from tipping over. I have the lamp plugged into a ESP8285 smart plug that I flashed with Tasmota. The smart plug is connected to Apple Homekit via Homebridge I have running on a Raspberry Pi. This allows me to set a schedule for the light while also allowing us to turn the light on/off from our iPhones. Low tech with high tech.
All that is left to do is add guppies (Poecilia reticulata). When I checked the water last week, there was no detectable ammonia or nitrite but the nitrate was at 80 ppm. Water hardness and pH were right where I want them to be. Once the nitrate level drops to 40 ppm or less, I’ll add guppies.