The Swamp

[Swamp Thing]

Hi Guys, I'm the new kid (old man) on the aqua block. My swamp is up and running and I would like to post a few pics of it for your consideration. For a first attempt I'm happy with it and it is a "work in progress". I want to add some more equipment but don't like shooting my mouth off. I've got some great ideas to take it to the next level but will just get on with it and introduce those after the event.

Problems / Disappointments so far

* The propagator is nice but too expensive for what it is. I was disappointed to see that it can't accommodate a full size seed (gravel) tray's length across the propagator's width. For the money it would have been nice to fit in three, full sized gravel trays. I can only fit in 2 x 2, half size, gravel trays. I put those in to prevent the base of the propagator from being stained by tannins in the soil. I'm just going to dispense with all trays and just have the pots directly in the propagator. Otherwise I'm going to only be able to accommodate eight plants. If this were a task on The Apprentice Nick and Margaret would be howling with laughter and Lord Sugar would fire me ("What the bleeding hell were you thinking? Wasting all my money on something that's clearly overblown nonsense and not fit for purpose". I know this is the East End but last time I looked climate change has not yet put us under water. We're not yet a swamp.").

Message from Claude Littner,

"Do you really think Lord Sugar is going to want to invest in a swamp? What on earth were you thinking? No! Stop! The swamp's not a 'brand'". (delusional me, "I think it might be" [rip Stuart 'The Brand' Baggs]). I'm not a big fish, I'm not even a fish 🐟

* I ordered a Cryptocoryne affinis 'red' off of Ebay and it looks healthy but does not appear to have any roots. I hope it makes it

Plants (so far)

All Cryptocorynes:

C. beckettii 'petchii' (Pro Shrimp)
C. balansae (Pro Shrimp)
C. undulata 'broad leaf' (Pro Shrimp)
C. affinis 'red' (Ebay)

I also ordered some: Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping Moss' as apparently it's a good fungicide but have decided not to add a little of it to the Crypt pots as I'm not sure I'd like the aesthetic. I'll squeeze the moss into the back as a "sidecar" to the main event.

Soil Mix:

I went with:

• 3 parts John Innes #3
• 2 parts well rotted manure (in a bag from the garden centre not from the farmer's field)
• 1 part coco coir
• 0.5 parts clay balls
• 0.5 parts quartz sand.

One Future Idea

If I wish to expand the swamp I might just go with a Really Useful Box Company's large, clear, plastic storage container and put a heat mat underneath it with some led's across the top. Cheap and cheerful but might be a great way of getting a lot more bang for my buck. I'll take "mach I" as far as I can first before expanding.

Thanks Guys, hope you're all good,

Jay

Edited; Spotted a few typos here and there. Unlike Ali, I'm not the greatest.

PS Here's a link to the propagator: https://www.amazon.co.uk/EarlyGrow-...081-980e-6c1daa0f2219&pd_rd_i=B08JH3FFDY&th=1

 

[Swamp Thing]

🐸 T A L E S 🐸 F R O M 🐸 T H E 🐸 C R Y P T 🐸​

Hell O Everyone,

Swamp Thing here although Crypt Keeper is also one hell of a great name too. Feel free to join me under that moniker. Together we're stronger, my gift to the forum; large print given, small print; take it away (Tom Waits). I wanted to have three upgrades to the swamp in place since last week and managed 2.5 of them. One is still a work in progress as I'll need to use the guillotine (I did not know how to spell that! Fortunately not something I use on a daily basis) at work to trim off the border around some printing Ryman's kindly did for me earlier. I have a week off from my evening job so won't be able to get that done for a little while. I hate that job with a passion and I'm hoping to leave there asap.

Anyway ... my two achieved (power perceived is power achieved - "The Substitute") upgrades are:

1) I lifted the plants out of the water by buying two clay saucers (99p / each) for each plant. I'm learning from this forum that just because a plant's living the life aquatic it does not mean it prefers being waterlogged all the time. It's good for air to be able to reach the roots. I'm calling these clay towers ... wait for it ... The Towers of Hanoi - my terracotta army of uplifters.

2) I put together a home brew CO2 system that is actually working. I did not use silicone glue around the airline hose and rubber bung. I just carefully drilled increasingly larger holes in the bung until I could squeeze the airline through. I ended with a 7 mm drill bit. I've got more bungs on order from Amazon and a 6.5 mm drill bit from B&Q (If only we knew it ...) just to try and tighten the tolerance a little more.

It's taking on a Volcanic theme with CO2 bubbling into the swamp. Hopefully Brosnan (James Pond?) does not shut it down.

I've included a sidecar of some moss I bought but then decided not to use around the Crypts. I also purchased one strand of Hornwort, Ceratophyllum demersum from Ebay. I had this in a 3 foot long tank of Dwarf Gouramis way back in the early 1980's and liked it (as did the Gouramis) so added a strand for the sake of posterity. I bought the plastic, fridge container from "The Range" to use as my CO2 cleanser but might dispense with it and just have the airstone in the propagator along with the Hornwort. That would give me a little more growing room for more pots.

Finally I'll sneak a pic in of my upstairs houseplant collection. Hopefully the admins will let this slide and not bring the ban hammer of Zeus down upon me. I was having problems with the Sony digicam and needed to reformat it and took a test pic.

I've got a few more ideas but will unveil those as we go along.

Hope you're all growing for it and all is good in the aqua hood.

Bye for now,

Jay