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Emersed planted tank, how to deal with it ?

eminor

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2021
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784
Location
France
Hello, my main tank having leaked, I find myself with an aquarium for turtle of 30l, 20 cm height. it came to my mind that the vast majority of the plants could grow out of water.

Can i put just enough water for them to feed from the root ? will that work ?

i'm thinking about using EI because i think if the plant deal with high level of CO2 in the atomosphere, they will grow way faster and need nutrients right ?

What about water changes in this configuration, can i stop changing water ?
thx
 
Why bother with water. Just put soil and plant the plants. Add some osmocote or whatever soil fertilizer you want and put enough water so that soil is wet. There, you got yourself a VIP plant pot.

If you really want to use only water then yes you would need to dose the water accordingly and water would need changing since nutrient would accumulate and algae would develop. Still thought you would need some sort of a substrate for the plants to anchor. Think how hydroponic works. Substrate is totally inert and nutrient-rich water flows through it. In professional setups, water is constantly being filtered and nutrients are being added to compensate for the plant's uptake so that levels are always optimal.
 
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Why bother with water. Just put soil and plant the plants. Add some osmocote or whatever soil fertilizer you want and put enough water so that soil is wet. There, you got yourself a VIP plant pot.

If you really want to use only water then yes you would need to dose the water accordingly and water would need changing since nutrient would accumulate and algae would develop. Still thought you would need some sort of a substrate for the plants to anchor. Think how hydroponic works. Substrate is totally inert and nutrient-rich water flows through it. In professional setups, water is constantly being filtered and nutrients are being added to compensate for the plant's uptake so that levels are always optimal.
I agree with this- anything below the waterline in such a setup is just going to be roots, not leaves, there won't be anything to see except a mass of roots. I had P. "Sao Paolo' which grew emersed out of my low tech tank. After the emersed growth got large enough, it started dropping the leaves under the water line and growing roots instead. So eventually I removed it from my tank.

I am still growing emersed plants out of my HOB filter - anything below the waterline is just a mass of roots...
 
Why bother with water. Just put soil and plant the plants. Add some osmocote or whatever soil fertilizer you want and put enough water so that soil is wet. There, you got yourself a VIP plant pot.

If you really want to use only water then yes you would need to dose the water accordingly and water would need changing since nutrient would accumulate and algae would develop. Still thought you would need some sort of a substrate for the plants to anchor. Think how hydroponic works. Substrate is totally inert and nutrient-rich water flows through it. In professional setups, water is constantly being filtered and nutrients are being added to compensate for the plant's uptake so that levels are always optimal.
I still have some fluval stratum, but i wanted water to put heater to 32°c to increase humidity around the emersed leaves
 
I agree with this- anything below the waterline in such a setup is just going to be roots, not leaves, there won't be anything to see except a mass of roots. I had P. "Sao Paolo' which grew emersed out of my low tech tank. After the emersed growth got large enough, it started dropping the leaves under the water line and growing roots instead. So eventually I removed it from my tank.

I am still growing emersed plants out of my HOB filter - anything below the waterline is just a mass of roots...
i intended to just used few inches of water, just enough to put a heater
You could mix up a foliar spray. I tend to use a far higher concentrations in those fertilisers.
yes i will use some green plant ferts on it
 
Might be douable to have a say a few inches of water build up at the back with stones for emersed planting and small java fern species in the water example. A Insularium
 
Curious why you would need a heater. What's the temperature like in your house?
min : 20°c , the plant will be outside of the tank in few months, how to deal with humidity because there is only 50-60% in this room ?

i put heater to increase the humidity (evaporation) ?
 
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the plant will be outside of the tank in few months, how to deal with humidity because there is only 50-60% in this room ?
Yeah, that would be a problem for a lot of aquarium plants. Maybe you could start with your existing plants while you can control the humidity with a lid on the tank. Meanwhile, start transitioning to plants that don't need the high humidity. Plants that are grown in ripariums are where you should start looking.

I don't think you would need ei dosing.
 
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