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13 Litre Nano Office Planted Low Tech with Emergents

Hi
Yes short light period will help if needed.U can raise light higher too to reduce the strength. U plan floating plants that will limit light too.Sylvania best or Dwarf water lettuce will be good option for those as frogbit grows too big.
Regards Konsa

I do have some Salvinia Natans from my current tank at home. I’m thinking of scavenging other plants but have decided not to; everything’s running slow and steady in the current tank so I don’t want to disrupt the balance.

Here is the plant list I have planned for:

Emersed
Bacopa caroliniana
Limnophila hippuridoides
Pogestemon erectus
Cryptocoryne parva

Immersed
Xmas moss
Anubias Nana ‘Golden’
Java Fern
Java Fern ‘Windelov’

Hopefully everything comes together fine on planting day, perhaps by the week’s end :)
 
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Tank Update: Day 1

I had fixed myself a budget going into this one. It was initially $100 but I raised it to $120 to provide a bit of leeway.

I couldn’t get a lot of plants of my liking due to this. Even the soil and sand approach had to be reconsidered.

I eventually went for the aquasoil at the back with sand in the foreground layout.

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It wasn’t fun at all working in the tight corners of this nano tank.

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I couldn’t fit the C.parva and P.erectus into the emersed set-up so they both ended up on the ground.

Wish I had budget for Anubias Nana petite. The scape doesn’t look nice without it :p

(To be continued...)
 
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Finally got everything planted with the sand in too :)

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Doesn’t look pretty but I hope things change when they grow in.

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Some green will be good for stressful times at work.

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Hopefull these two grow well emersed.

I’m not touching anything in this tank. Just gonna let things unfold until time for the next water change in perhaps two weeks.
 
Some updates...

1) Threw away the burnt L.hippuridoides and salvaged the Bacopa.
2) Changed the light bulb from 10W to 7W and angled it so that the plants don’t get direct light.
3) Went to the nearby florist during lunch break and got myself real emergent plants. They were placed in the open on a tray partially filled with water.
4) Bought a small spray bottle to mist the plants

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I think they are Hydrocotyle tripartita, Fittonia and some Cryptocoryne (beckettii? ID help please, thanks!)

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TGIF! Hopefully everything runs fine come Monday next week :)
 
Generally for plants like the crypt and your previous plants, they need to be planted below the water line and emerge themselves otherwise the leaves invariably wilt and die off as they are used to very high humidity. A lot of plants will favour staying submerged, non aquatic are an easy way to do it or just patience and trial and error.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
Tank Update: Day 3

I went back to the office (on Saturday) to check on the tank and to also keep up with the dosing regime of Stability and Excel.

Good news!
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No burning so the 7W light should suffice. Let’s see if they wilt come Monday without misting for a day.

Bad news!
I meddled with the HOB filter and it went from ghostly silence to a slight rattle. :’(
 
It's temperature. I live in an extremely low humidity area and can do emersed from tank as long as the leaves don't get burnt by temperature.
 
Tank Update: Day 4

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H. tripartita and Fittonia has grown up and out of the water :)

Some leaves of the Cryptocoryne plant are yellowing so will trim them soon. But overall they look like they will survive.

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Some little hitch-hiker plants on the moss. Any new growth is good news :)

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I fixed the HOB rattle. Floaters have new growths too. I’ll test the water in the days to come. Currently cycling the tank using Stability and fish food. Still undecided about lifestock though.

If this emerged plant mini-project succeeds, I may consider a mini paludarium setup in the future at home.
 
Tank Update: Day 5

So I carried over the pothos idea to my office tank. Took a little vine and dipped the stem (sans leaves) into the water.

Before I did this, I tested the water for nitrite and nitrates, to see how the cycling is doing.
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Zero nitrite. 40-80ppm nitrates.

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I’m not going to do water changes to lower the nitrates. Will test the water again at the end of the week. Banking on the pothos to survive and suck them up.

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Also, I got a little fern (rabbit’s foot?) plant adjacent to the tank. The plan is to water it daily using tank water and replenish the tank water with tap water from time to time.
 
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