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An Idea

Joined
9 Jun 2008
Messages
1,126
I'm always looking for inspirationan and brainstorming new ideas for aquascapes that I can create etc and just had this idea that I think would be interesting.

I'm thinking of having an open-top tank and creating an aquascape where the plants grow above the water and out of the tank. I reckon it'd look pretty neat.

Now I know Hygrophila and Crypts are suitable for this but are there any other low-maint plant options?

Also does anyone have any comments or examples of this?

Cheers
 
Is your plan that the tank is full of water, with suspended lights, and that thethere are plants growing in the water, and plants breaking the surface and growing above the water,

(like this http://www.tropica.com/article_picture. ... bredde=733)

or a set up where the water level is much lower than the top of the tank, and the tank contains plants growing in the water, and plants which are above the water line (but still inside the tank)?

(like this http://www.plantedtank.net/images/artic ... rium/9.jpg)

(Both links are just examples - neither of them are mine).

Mark
 
Amazon swords will flower out of water.
Off the top of my head, I'd would also give, bacopa monnieri and some lilys a go.
 
I don't really know what I was thinking to be honest, but I think the first looks better. Thanks for the examples.
 
A lot of plants will do this given the chance. Trick will be to get plants that don't overwhelm the underwater section whilst getting to the surface like Nymphea.

Bacopa Caroliniana is a good one as it will maintain it singular stem.

AC
 
Wow, there's so many choices! I knew Anubias could but not Bacoupa or Bolbitis.

So the list now stands at:s.

Hygro Polysperma
Crypts
Anubias
Bacoupa Carolina

for plants that could grow out of water.

I'm not sure that I'm gonna go ahead with this idea anymore, but it's always useful to have this thread handy! Thanks for all the help guys
 
Thomas McMillan said:
Wow, there's so many choices! I knew Anubias could but not Bacoupa or Bolbitis.

So the list now stands at:s.

Hygro Polysperma
Crypts
Anubias
Bacoupa Carolina

for plants that could grow out of water.

I'm not sure that I'm gonna go ahead with this idea anymore, but it's always useful to have this thread handy! Thanks for all the help guys

I can't think of a stem plant that won't grow out of the water. You can add any of the carpeting plants (Gloss, HC, Hairgrass, Four leaf clover), all the java type ferns, all the echinodorus species, and most of the mosses we grow in aquaria. Only things I can think of that won't grow emerged are vallis, aponogeton, waterlily. Actually, maybe egeria/elodea won't grow emerged. So when you do come back to this project, you won't be limited by plant choice! (Although some need high humidity.)

Mark
 
Lots of plants you buy in the LFS are in there emmersed form and then adapt to submerged life, so you have plenty of options.

You can add pennywort, echinodoruses (amazon swords), and saggitaria to your list to start with.
 
vauxhallmark said:
I can't think of a stem plant that won't grow out of the water. You can add any of the carpeting plants (Gloss, HC, Hairgrass, Four leaf clover), all the java type ferns, all the echinodorus species, and most of the mosses we grow in aquaria. Only things I can think of that won't grow emerged are vallis, aponogeton, waterlily. Actually, maybe egeria/elodea won't grow emerged. So when you do come back to this project, you won't be limited by plant choice! (Although some need high humidity.)

It's a bit harder than you imagine. In nature the plants that will grow emerged don't have a hot light directly above every day like with aquaria. They do of course have the sun in nature but its not every day and not 6 inches or so above the plant.

things like moss will more than likely dry up and die out of water in our setups. We would have to find some way of keeping them moist which in an open top setup is not so easy. Anubias and ferns are similar. They dry out very quickly. It mainly the Anubia flower that goes above the surface in our setups.

AC
 
Some of them will struggle with an open aquarium, but Thomas hadn't decided whether he was going to go for that or a paludarium.

In an enclosed Paludarium humidity would be near 100% all the time.

Mark
 
^ It's funny you sears ahould post a link like that. I was used to keep stick insects about a gazillion years ago and thought that maybe I could keep them again in the top half and shrimp or something in the bottom half. I don't know how they would fair with the plants though.
 
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