60cm Riparium

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Thanks "Hydrophyte" I'll keep my eyes open for Pogonatherum, I couldn't find a source for it in the UK, but I expect it will soon appear if it is popular stateside.
cheers Darrel

 

[hydrophyte]

You bet Darrel.

You might try inquiring around shops that have bonsai plants and materials. It is also used in garden ponds.

 

[TBRO]

Hey Devin, looking good. Have you ever tried Utricularia graminifolia as a riparium plant. I have heard anecdotal accounts of it growing well when cuttings have been lodged at the surface. I fancy trying it in my WK/riparium scape, do you think it would need a floating trellis ?

 

[hydrophyte]

That would be a good one to try TBRO. I wonder if that plant might be less temperamental growing emersed. There is a new trellis raft design that is special for little nano plants like U. graminifolia.

Here is a close up with those black phantom tetras. I like these little fish a lot.

 

[Pixels]

Hello hydrophyte

I am interested in the magnetic riparium planters, can you tell me what the dimensions are?

I am hoping I could fit two in a 30cm tank.

Cheers
Pix

 

[hydrophyte]

Hi Pix, Those magnetic planter are about 8cm wide at the top. Two would fit handily in a 30cm tank. You could probably accommodate six of them in there.

 

[hydrophyte]

My little Pilea nummularifolia plants are looking good. I have these stems planted on Nano Trellis Rafts.

This plant is really perfect for growing this way. It makes a nice and tidy foreground feature and it's an easy grower.

This is another Pilea species (an unknown) but this shot shows how I have this plant planted. The roots just hang right in the water.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here is a quick full tank shot.

I hung up a white sheet for the picture. That tan wall is not such a good background for foliage. I might elect to re-paint this wall in white for the sake of picture-taking.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here is another foliage shot.

I like this view from above.

 

[hydrophyte]

It still hasn't grown in enough to do much for the scape, but the baby panda bamboo (Pogonatherum crinitum) has started to root in its planter and grow new leaves. I think that this will probably end up being a really great riparium plant. It will look so cool to have a little miniature bamboo stand growing up in the scape.

When I made this plant purchase I actually got two different P. crinitum selections, the regular species, which has leaves of a light green color, and a second with whitish-green leaf pinstriping (var. variegatum). This variegated one is growing well too.

Like I say the baby panda bamboo hasn't really started to fill in much. In this shot you can see two planters of it over on the far left side of the tank.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here is another new plant that might be a good fit for this setup, an Adiantum sp. maidenhair fern.

At the moment I have it going in a separate culture tank, but I might move it over to this riparium if it grows up a bit larger. I have had it going in several planters for a couple of months now. These suffered a lot when I repotted them and lost all of their original leaves, but it looks as thought they are growing again pretty well.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's a crop of that last shot of the baby panda bamboo (Pogonatherum crinitum) for a better view of the leaf variegation. It is quite attractive.

This plant is doing well--growing slow and steady. I only recently started trying it out in this tank, but it looks like it will be a winner.

 

[hydrophyte]

I think that this has already been linked around here, but I was reminded that there is a quick demo video on using those riparium Magnetic Hanging Planters and Trellis Rafts over at PlantedBox.com. Here is the link to the Vimeo video.

Riparium Supply on Vimeo

That's superb picture quality in that video.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's a quick shot from a couple of nights ago. There's nothing much new in this tank--it has been real easy care. The plants are growing slowly. All I do is change the water, feed the fish and clean the glass. The plants have grown in a bit more.

 

[bumcrumb]

hi
very interesting read, looks lovely
my bro, today, was talking about setting up a red claw crab set up a little like yours.
my question is, how do you go about filtering the water as its lower and would cause a bit of a splash if using a external or hob(if it reaches the water line)
have you got an internal filter in there? any recommendations on a riparium filter setup that is hidden in a way?
keep up the fantastic work and them magnetic little pots are so cool

 

[hydrophyte]

Hey thanks so much bumcrumb. Filtration for this setup is pretty simple. If you look closely at the left-most corner of the tank in that shot you will see the little submersible power filter that I used, a Duetto II.

This filter works great for this system, but for larger ripariums I prefer canister filters. If the tank is set up with the water line at or near the top then the usage is the same as for any other tank, but if one opts to lower the water more than a couple of inches it does become necessary to modify the plumbing for a longer reach.

 

[hydrophyte]

I am going to re-do the layout in this tank with new stones and some new plants so I wanted to get a couple quick shots before moving stuff around. The plants have grown in real nice. This was a great selection of plants for a nano/smallish riparium setup.

I like the fish in this tank, but they don't photograph very well. I tried to get a shot with the tetras but it doesn't look like much. I mean to introduce some lighter-colored rocks and maybe also some bright green plants so that the underwater area won't be so dark.

Here's a good view of the emersed foliage.

 

[hydrophyte]

While replanting this one I intend to use just the new trellis raft design. These should be real good for nano riparium setups.

This design has some nice features. There are two or three plastic snap fasteners and an extra puzzle-piece float. It is about 10cm long. If snapped tight into place with the hanging planter it only sticks out 5cm or so, so it should be easy to hide in smaller tanks. Here is a shot of one planted with some creeping charlie (Pilea nummularifolia).

 

[TBRO]

Great designs on the trellis Devin, is it a velcro thing ? Have you ever tried any of the traditional underwater carpet plants, HC, UG, Gloss etc - UG has nice flowers, would be interesting to see if the others flower. T

 

[hydrophyte]

Yeah there are a number of good aquarium stem plants that grow well emersed on these things. My favorites are certain Bacopa and Hygrophila. You can see B. monnieri there to the far right in that last picture. Ludwigia do all right too, although some of them are more touchy. I have been meaning to try HC.