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Cryptocoryne Riparium

hydrophyte

Member
Joined
22 Aug 2009
Messages
1,038
Hi all,

I have had this tank going for a while, but would like to start a new journal thread with updates as I accumulate them. I also have one or two shots in another general gallery thread that I started last week. This riparium display is planted into a 208-liter tank. I got a new picture tonight.

25-viii-09-tank-i-b.jpg


In selecting the flora I was shooting for a dominant Cryptocoryne theme, although I have had to add several large Spathiphyllum (larger, bushier and easier to grow plants) to fill in the background. The midground has Anubias and the ferns Bolbitis and Microsorum planted on Epi-Trellis Rafts. The underwater plants are all various crypts.

This tank makes a nice display in the room where I have it.
 
Here's another picture showing just the left side of the tank.

25-viii-09-tank-ii-m.jpg


This gives an idea of what a setup like this would look like in a 60cm-wide aquarium. That Microsorum fern there in the middle sure is a nice plant.
 
This looks great, and with my favourite plant type too! :D

I don't know if I'm missing something here, but I thought Crypts could only be grown emmersed if there was only a small amount of water above the substrate?
 
Thanks very much. I like this tank a lot. I have it in my bedroom and the fish are so entertaining. I have some of my favorite plants in there.

The plants are all supported there at the waterline with riparium cup planters and rafts.
 
by rafts do you mean that they float around?
so this can be easily incorporated into a normal aquarium? do each of the raft pieces join together?
 
Yes the rafts can be attached to each other or to the planter cups with the plastic mushroom-head fasteners that are adhered to each.
 
Here is another new shot from tonight, with black background.

2-ix-09-crypts-tank-i-m.jpg


My photography still stinks, but the plants are happy. They have grown in well.
 
This tank has gotten to be overgrown. Here is a picture from earlier this evening:

7-x-09-tank-i-m.jpg


The emersed plants look great, but they are shading the underwater area. It looks pretty cool though if I crop away the underwater portion.

7-x-09-tank-ii-b.jpg


I think that I am going to remove most of the larger, bushy plants in order to open it up some more. I do have several smaller, unusual crypts that I can situate in this setup.
 
I have finally found some time this weekend to work on this tank again. I am going to start removing some of those plants that have grown too large. Here is one one of the new smaller additions that I have introduced.

30-x-09-cryptocoryne-wendtii-hybrid-iii-s.jpg


This plant has unusual leaf patternation. I understand that this C. wendtii variety is identified with the unofficial variety name, 'Hybrid'. I put together a blog post with a few more specific observations about it.

[url="http://hydrophytesblog.com/?p=1231"]http://hydrophytesblog.com/?p=1231[/url]
 
I have an update from last night. I knew that this plant was growing well, but I didn't have an idea of how large it had gotten to be until I pulled it out of my 55-gallon emersed crypts riparium. This is a C. wendtii ('Mi Oya', maybe[?]) in a hanging planter, with spritzer for scale.

5-xi-09-cryptocoryne-wendtii-ii-m.jpg


Here's more detail.

5-xi-09-cryptocoryne-wendtii-iii-m.jpg
 
Wow, that's a very healthy looking Cryptocoryne :clap: What medium did you use to plant them into? Was it the same under the gravel as in the pots?

Andy
 
Thanks you guys. I was really amazed when I saw how large that plant was when I pulled it out of the tank.

Most of the media in the riparium planter is just a baked clay product similar to Fluorite (and old-fahioned cat box litter ;) ) that I use quite a lot. There is also a thin layer (about 1 tablespoon) of "mineralized topsoil" (MTS). Have you all been using MTS over there? It has become quite popular over here. It is simply regular garden topsoil subjected to repeated wettings and dryings so that the better part of the organic matter is burned out of it. This is intended to make it more stable in the tank environment and less likely to cause ammonia spokes and other problems. I think that regular topsoil would work about the same in this context. Crypts really do like to have some natural media to grow in.
 
I have an updated full-tank shot from tonight.

9-xi-09-tank-i-b.jpg


I was finally able to get in there and pull out some of the overgrown plants. I am please that light can get through and that I am once again able to view the fish and the underwater area.

It has something of a disheveled look right now, but that's just because I was moving things about. It will look better when the plants get a chance to settle back in and grow a little more.
 
I'm doing some more image editing tonight. Here is another shot of that same big C. wendtii, backlit. This, again, is the emersed-form leaf. Notice the small amount of green variegation.

9-xi-09-cryptocoryne-wendtii-ii-m.jpg
 
Hey thanks SteveUK.

Here is another one of my favorites from this tank, Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia.

9-xi-09-cryptocoryne-pontederiifolia-i-b.jpg


You can see it there in the full-tank picture as the tall green one near the center. It has great leaves.
 
I really was having fun pulling plants out of this tank the other night for specimen shots.

This picture shows the Anubias barteri var. nana growing on an Epi-Trellis Raft.

9-xi-09-anubias-barteri-nana-ii-m.jpg


If you look carefully at the full-tank picture you can see that that plant forms much of the low midground in the layout.

This next image shows the regular A. barteri, also on an Epi-Trellis Raft. The plants really like to grow on these planters. You can see that this one has great root development.

9-xi-09-anubias-barteri-i-m.jpg


This was one of the plants that I removed from the tank to another setup because it was throwing too much shade. You can see it in the full tank shot from a few weeks ago as the large plant at the far right. The leaves have gotten to be really big.

7-x-09-tank-i-m.jpg
 
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