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Marshlands

Another short update of the smaller projects, which are progressing well. The first Utricularia flowers have appeared in the mini marsh, much pinker than the other ones I have, while the underwater part is filling in nicely.
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The land portion is mainly growing on filter sponge, so might be something for you @Myrtle if you want to fill out the edges of your 'Arium? A couple of centimeters of filter carpet attached to an edge or two with some moss on should help limit jumping Bettas.

The clay experiment is also turning into a moss experiment, the Utricularia doesn't seem to mind though, with flowers spikes appearing left and right.
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Tyko_N said:
Another short update of the smaller projects, which are progressing well. The first Utricularia flowers have appeared in the mini marsh, much pinker than the other ones I have, while the underwater part is filling in nicely.
View attachment 200206 View attachment 200207 View attachment 200205
The land portion is mainly growing on filter sponge, so might be something for you @Myrtle if you want to fill out the edges of your 'Arium? A couple of centimeters of filter carpet attached to an edge or two with some moss on should help limit jumping Bettas.

The clay experiment is also turning into a moss experiment, the Utricularia doesn't seem to mind though, with flowers spikes appearing left and right.
View attachment 200208 View attachment 200209
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I actually looked through this journal the other day when looking for ideas! It' beautiful and just up my street! When you say filter carpet, do you mean like filter sponge or capillary matting? I've been playing with the idea of capillary matting on polystyrene rafts...
 
hydrophyte said:
Such cool projects! Well done!
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Thanks, that means a lot coming from you! Your ripariums provided plenty of the inspiration, and I'm looking forward to following your current projects.

Myrtle said:
When you say filter carpet, do you mean like filter sponge or capillary matting?
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I use ordinary coarse filter sponge, but capillary matting is probably a better idea for your open topped setup. Floating rafts works great when you want an even moisture, I use one for growing Sarracenia seedlings, and this one might be worth looking into 3 - Floating sphagnum box if you're feeling extra fancy.
 
That's a great link, thanks. How do you attach it to the tank? I've been trying to come up with a solution that can be used on the front glass and besides silicone, my best option is suction cups with hooks (which I have). The only issue is their not remaining clear and looking out of place...
 
Mine is part of an HMF, so simply showed into place. In your case silicone would probably look best, but then there is no going back or tweaking later. I wouldn't trust suction cups to carry any weight reliably long term, although if you can make a thin floating "island" that spans the entire front pane, then maybe you could just position a couple of suction cups on the side panels to stop it drifting? The simplest solution might be to attach an island to something like this, then it can be easily moved if needed.
 
Some fresh photos; although not much is happening in the main paludarium. I tried adding some more submersed plants (mainly Limnophila) but the congo tetras thought "sallad buffé" so I'm not showing you that carnage... Above the water line a fair amount of Davallia was pruned back maybe 6 weeks ago (for reference, the tray is about 60cm wide in the picture below), not that this is noticeable any more ;) Some orchids are still flowering, there are fresh ones on the Dendrobiums while the Phalaenopsis are holding on to their last, including one that turns from orange to pink over time (the photos show the difference over a month).
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In the sump below the Hygrophila forest has been thinned to just two, which are starting to turn into the worlds ugliest bonsai trees. The rest, along with some cuttings, ended up in a vase with some old soil for now. This is probably the longest I've been able to keep Hygrophila flowering for, and none of them are showing any decline yet (although I wouldn't really call them good-looking to begin with, and certainly not good-smelling).
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Then one last, from the clay experiment, not that much clay is showing there any more :)
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Mini-marsh and Utricularia update. The U. intermedia I introduced last year grew well for a few weeks, then decided to go dormant. Well, last week was apparently a good time to start growing again, and the ones outside in the greenhouse pond did the same so it was probably light related. Now I have a couple growing among the S. subulata, the larger of them with a runner and some bladders already, and another turion that's just sprouting. (Excuse the algae everywhere, I need something for the Utricularias food to feed on ;) )
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The substrate in this tank is a mix of "wild caught" clay and sand, so is producing all manner of interesting gasses and algae growth, neither the plants above nor below seem to mind though.
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Lastly, the resident, to celebrate @Myrtle taking on the mysterious quest of killi-keeping.
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Myrtle said:
See how much of an inspiration you are!
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Or a bad influence, now you'll be stuck with them ;) On the plus side, cycling a new tank might just involve moving some plants around and waiting for the first killi fry to emerge, once the fry has grown up the tank should be ready.
 
Yes they're pretty addictive, the hard part is finding some (at least over here in Sweden). No idea why that's the case, there are plenty of hardy species with colours that rival the most fancy guppy, Aphyosemion and related genera aren't really schooling fish either so you don't have the problem (like with many tetras) that they'll be unhappy on their own, and considering their origins many are perfectly suited to nano tanks. I keep my eye on a suppliers list; today they had 80 species/sizes of tetras and 25 different fancy guppys, but only 6 kinds of killifish (including one lampeye), one of the great mysteries of the trade I guess.
 
Instead of cluttering up the Eleocharis dulcis thread, here's a shot for @Oscar Demonio of my Ipomoea aquatica growing in the sump:
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The sturdy plant in the right front has sprouted since I planted them in there, and is an offshoot of the one to the left, so I'll trim that stem back to the right plant today and replant the top (it already has plenty of roots). You can also vaguely see a thin stem to the far right, no idea why it looks so different, but that's the climbing growth form (grown without sufficient stuff to twine around).

The Echinodorus that grew in there before has been moved up a step, not sure if that was a good plan though, because it really seem to like it up in the main section with the rest of the "jungle" (for reference, water depth is about 55cm).
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Wow, really cool setup!! The Ipomoea looks very happy, I'll definitely keep it in mind for a future, larger version of the biotope I currently have running
Thanks for the pics 📸📸📸
 
I’ve seen multiple setups recently with emersed Echinodorus varieties. Is there anything special you’re doing to get them to grow leaves above the water line? One of mine just put outback shoot/runner that is 10cm above the water line (50cm water depth) and I’m hoping it either flowers or starts making big emersed leaves.


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Le duke said:
One of mine just put outback shoot/runner that is 10cm above the water line
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That probably means flowering time, but now that it "knows" where the water surface is it might also start to put out emersed leaves.

Le duke said:
Is there anything special you’re doing to get them to grow leaves above the water line?
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I start them off down in the sump, in much shallower water, maybe fluctuating between 20-25cm. I think that's too shallow for them to grow entirely submerged, so there'll be leaves poking out of the water pretty quickly, and once that starts there's no stopping them ;) Within about a year, with good light and some extra feeding, I need to remove it from there because it's taking over completely. This one was maybe left a little too long, but that made it tall enough to transfer to the main tank without barely a pause in its growth.

In my experience their height is dependent on water depth as well, deeper water = taller plants, and you can probably speed up the process if you can plant them shallow and then gradually increase the water levels once you have some emersed leaves. I'm working with some fairly easy species (although not sure which), so the air humidity above and around the tanks is perfectly enough for them, but some of the more sensitive species might want it to be higher (don't bring it up to 100% though, that can create weird growth and makes them hard to transfer later). Careful for what you wish for though, they can get huge if you let them, much bigger than they would submerged.
 
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