Has anyone tried calcined-clay/turface/safety sorb?
 

Has anyone tried calcined-clay/turface/safety sorb?

I recently had to break down two planted freshwater aquariums, and I got to wondering. in the planted aquarium circles, turface or safety sorb is saturated with nutrients and used as a substrate for plants because of it's wicking capacities.
so has anyone tried these materials as semi-hydro media? if so what were your results?

The stuff I've seen is too fine, so holds water too well between the particles, potentially suffocating the roots.

A few months ago I did some analysis of a couple calcined clay products, along with several, readily-available brands of LECA.

I have something like this in a heavily planted cherry shrimp tank...have you considered trying a miniature lotus? It would probably be the perfect medium for that.

For an aquatic plant, whose roots are supposed to be submerged, I see no issue, but for a plant that normally grows in air, it might be a problem, as I mentioned earlier.

I agree. I have seen medium like this used for water lilies and lotus. With the lotus, usually the tuber needs to be weighted down in the medium. The new miniature lotus breeding is yielding some really great plants that can be grown in small containers and even under lights.

I don't really have space for plants outside the shelving unit I use for orchids, and I'm taking a break from the aquarium hobby after the deep freeze here in TX killed all my aquatic pets.

I'm on the hunt for semi-hydroponic solutions for keeping oncidiums in dry indoor environments.

That's awful/horrible, so sorry 😢

I am also very sorry to hear about the loss. You could always buy a cheap Oncidium and pot it up in a shallow (unglazed) clay 'bulb bowl' and see how it works. A shallow bowl made of porous clay might allow more air to the roots to compensate for the medium being more water retentive. I have often experimented to find what works well for me. Good luck and, again, very sorry.

I am reading this while on my first cup of coffee, so if I’m not awake enough to to interpret your statement, forgive me...

S/H culture will not appreciably affect the environment, unless there ar a lot of such pots in an enclosed space.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I live in a very dry environment, and my Oncidiums don't seem to appreciate it. My phals all grew great in semi hydro in my space, so I don't think that's the issue. I think I might have to tweak my routine and/or culture a bit.
Most people just tell me to grow in moss, which isn't helpful because I really enjoy semi-hydro, I just need to find the right balance.