Schruz's Works - Wabi Kusa, Emersed setups, Planted tanks

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Hello everyone, I'm Andras Tundik from the Hungarian Aquascaping Forum. Even though I have registered to UKAPS months ago and have read quite a bit of the posts and topics here, this is my first post. On the Hungarian forum, I'm running quite a few journals, since I have a number of emersed and submersed projects going on at the same time.

I wouldn't have the capacity to run separate journals here as well, next to the Hungarian ones, thus I'll try and run one journal here in which I will include most works. I am aware that squeezing many different projects into a single journal is usually not a good idea, however I would really like to share my scapes with you guys, and this is the only feasible way I can find. My apologies in advance. Hopefully the precious moderators will not have any problems with this 😉

Let's jump into it! Ill try in chronological order.

My first aquascape 2 years ago, was a quasi Dutch style 96l tank.

Lighting: 4x24W T5 HO 6500K tubes, 8h/day
Filtration: canister filters: 1x Eheim Professionel 3 2071, 950l/h and 1x Sachem Marathon 600l/h
CO2: Pressurized system with glass diffuser
Substrate: not so fine sand
Ferts: GreenAqua Micro + Macro according to EI, EasyCarbo
Water change: 50% weekly, tap water (in Hungary tap water is unfortunately veeeeery hard)

Flora: heteranthera zosterifolia, ludwigia repens, cryptocoryne beckettii, cryptocoryne willisii, hemianthus micranthemoides, bolbitis heudelotii, sagittaria teres, hydrocotyle sibthorpioides

Fauna: Paracheirodon innesi, Neocaridina heteropoda sp. Red Cherry, Clithon snails

Then I have set up a 49 liter Nature Aquarium about a year ago.


Through time it changed shape a bit, and currently looks something close to this pic, sent in for the 2011 AGA Contest

Lighting: 2x26W PowerCompact 6500K tubes and 1x18W PC, 10h/day
Filtration: Eheim Professionel 2 2026, 950l/h
CO2: Pressurized system with glass diffuser
Substrate: JBL AquabasisPlus and JBL Manado
Ferts: GreenAqua Micro + Macro according to EI, EasyCarbo (recently stopped with EasyCarbo for the benefit of my tiger shrimp)
Water change: 50% weekly, full RO

Current flora: eleocharis parvula, cryptocoryne wendtii, hydrocotyle vulgaris, hemianthus micranthemoides, anubias barteri var. nana, microsorum pteropus, echinodorus tenellus, pogostemon helferi, marsilea hirsuta, rotala sp green, vesicularia montagnei

Current fauna: Danio margaritatus, caridina multidentata, caridina cantonensis sp. "Tiger", Clithon snails

Then, about 9 months ago followed a complete clean-out and rescape of the 96l tank. The new, 1 day old aquarium.


The current state, and the AGA 2011 picture.

Lighting: 4x24W T5 HO 6500K tubes, 10h/day
Filtration: canister filters: 1x Eheim Professionel 3 2071, 950l/h and 1x Sachem Marathon 600l/h
CO2: Pressurized system with glass diffuser
Substrate: ADA PowerSand and ADA Aquasoil Amazonia
Ferts: GreenAqua Micro + Macro according to EI, EasyCarbo
Water change: 50% weekly, 1 part tap water to 4 part RO water

Flora: rotala sp. green, ludwigia arcuata, lindernia rotundifolia, cryptocoryne beckettii, bolbitis heudelotii, glossostigma elatinoides, hemianthus callitrichoides, echinodorus tenellus, staurogyne repens, microsorum pteropus 'narrow', anubias barteri var. nana, anubias barteri var. coffeefolia, fissidens fontanus, vesicularia dubyana

Fauna: paracheirodon innesi, neocaridina heteropoda sp. Red Cherry, caridina multidentata, Neritina snails

Right after the rescape, I became very interested in emersed aquascaping and the concept of Wabi Kusa. I made several Wabis ever since. This first pic was taken at Terra Plaza, an aquarium, terrarium, paludarium event and sale in Hungary. I was asked by viktorlantos, member of this forum and one of the founders of the Hungarian forum and GreenAqua Co. to take it there and display it next to the amazing aquascapes of the company and other pros. It was a great honor to me 🙂


Same "dish" with the addition of ludwigia peruensis at the back.

emersss-16 by András Tündik, on Flickr

Other Wabis.




Unfinished, HC needs to grow in the front.

emersss-5 by András Tündik, on Flickr

And my most recent passion, an emersed Iwagumi project. I do not intend to fill the tank up with water.

waaaaabi-2 by András Tündik, on Flickr

waaaaabi-7 by András Tündik, on Flickr

waaaaabi-9 by András Tündik, on Flickr

waaaaabi-11 by András Tündik, on Flickr

waaaaabi-13 by András Tündik, on Flickr

waaaaabi-14 by András Tündik, on Flickr

Tank is about 20l. Hardcape is Seiryu stones. Substrate, ADA Amazonia. I sometimes water with aquarium water, and spray regularly with RO water. Still needs to grow in at places. However this has all grown in 21 days, quite fast paced I must say!

timelapse by András Tündik, on Flickr

Well thats all I have for now. I hope some of you will enjoy these pics.

I'll try my best to update if there's anything new with... well, anything 😛

Re: Schruz's Works

plantbrain said:

Nice tanks and good development and care over time!!

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Thank you very much plantbrain! You dont mind me asking I hope, but are you Tom Barr by any chance? 😳

cibserg said:

Please tell me how do you keep the humidity hi enough for this type of emersed growing.
I think theese plants needs are high, regarding humidity. Or I am wrong?

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Hello cibserg! As ghostsword said, hydrocotyle sibthorpioides does not require high humidity levels to survive. It lives on areas of wetlands which are rarely submersed by water and are further away from open water surfaces which would cause higher humidity. But there are many other plants in my wabi kusas that do require higher humidity. HM and HC for instance dries out easily emersed if not taken care of. In order to keep humid conditions, I spray the plants generously twice a day with pure RO water. RO, because that leaves less or no calc on surfaces. Additionally I water them every 3-4 days with nutrient rich aquarium water. This provides sufficient nutrition alongside Aquasoil Amazonia.

Most aquatic plants do require these procedures when grown emersed according to my experiences. There has been a few times when I wasn't able to spray regularly, and the damage was clearly visible. Many leaves started to wither away and the plants stopped growing so rapidly.

But all in all, emersed aquascaping is much easier than submersed aquascaping. You have said that these plants have high needs. Well, most of them have high needs when submersed, but when emersed they are rather easy to grow, and in the absence of algee, you do not need worry about having too high levels of any of the growth factors. All emersed plants require is planty of lights (can easily be provided by you), planty of spraying and nutrients (equally easy to provide) and CO2 (which you don't need to provide at all, since its readily available in the air).

I'd like to encourage you to try out this version of aquscapeing. Its really fun and if you dont have the time and/or money to start a new planted aquarium, its a great substitute. 😉 If you have any other questions regarding wabi kusa please feel free to ask.

New pictures. I took the time and effort to make some nicer quality images of my emersed projects finally. Hope you'll like them.


emers_projects-4 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_projects-3 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_projects-2 by András Tündik, on Flickr


emers_projects-6 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_projects-9 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_projects-12 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_projects-10 by András Tündik, on Flickr


emers_projects-1 by András Tündik, on Flickr

You can view more pics on my Flickr page, also in higher resolutions. Thanks for taking the time to read and watch!

Re: Schruz's Works

Oh and some new pics of my planted tanks.


aquariums-25 by András Tündik, on Flickr

Emersed Life, by itself started on top of the "moss tree". Must have left some cuttings inside after pruning.

hmmoha-1 by András Tündik, on Flickr

aquariums-2 by András Tündik, on Flickr

hmmoha-2 by András Tündik, on Flickr

aquariums-1 by András Tündik, on Flickr


aquariums-27 by András Tündik, on Flickr

Same thing happened in this tank.

aquariums-5 by András Tündik, on Flickr

aquariums-7 by András Tündik, on Flickr

aquariums-6 by András Tündik, on Flickr

Re: Schruz's Works

Thank you all!

GreenBrighty said:

You have some very nice tanks. Please post some more pictures.

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Ill be glad to mate, now that I see some interest 😉 Soon ill share some new closeups of my emersed Iwagumi project, and then soon ill try keep posting about everything else too.

schraptor said:

Nice work Andras !
Would you be so kind and identify emersed plants on some of pictures you have shared, e.g. what do we see at emers_projects-6 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrastundik/6329570365/) or http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6040/625 ... 1877_b.jpg ?

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Sure mate, its a pleasure. 😉

emers_projects-6 by András Tündik, on Flickr
What is visible on this pic: Ludwigia arcuata, Rotala sp. 'green', Hemianthus callitricoides 'Cuba', Hemianthus micranthemoides, and Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides.
What is also in this wabi, but is only visible on other pics: Lindernia rotundifolia and Eleocharis parvula and not for display: Vesicularia dubyana

The arcuata is the red one. It doesn't always turn red for me in emersed form, only in extreme light. This cube is lit by 15W of a spiral T2 PowerCompact which is 800 lumens and 6400K. I think it turns into such a beautiful color because the lamp is very close to the surface of the wabi and because it is on for 12h/day

If you dont mind shraptor, ill link this pic instead of what you asked for. Its the same bowl, with same plants but in a better form and captured on a finer quality pic.

emers_projects-4 by András Tündik, on Flickr
Plants in this one: Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides, Ludwigia repens, Ludwigia peruensis, Ludwigia arcuata, Hemianthus micrantemoides, Hygrophyla corymbosa var. angustifolia, invisible even when looking at it in real life: Java moss (Vesicularia dubyana) ill explain in a sec why its in there if not visible.

There also has been some Sagittaria teres in this bowl but it turned out it doesn't do well in wabis, alongside
e. tenellus. They refuse to turn into their emersed form and their new leaves wither away right away. Pity...

Ill link these too, maybe someone is interested.

emers_projects-3 by András Tündik, on Flickr
Plnts in there: Lindernia rotundifolia (willing to flower beautiffully once strong enough), Hemianthus callitricoides 'Cuba', Eleocharis parvula, Glossostigma elatinoides
Rather overgrown and invisible, but alive and growing: Pogostemon helferi and Heteranthera zosterifolia.


emers_projects-2 by András Tündik, on Flickr
H. sib., E. parvula and Ludwigia peruensis.

Piece-of-fish said:

Superb... I am so jelous of your Wabikusas
Do you just keep them in room humidity?

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Yes, with regular spraying which creates humidity around the bowls. But its a bit more complex... Ok I'll explain exactly how it works for me.

You see, most of the plants you saw in the pics, are from prunings from my tanks. Thus when planted, they were in their submersed form. I experimented a little and found that if I leave them be like that after planting, most plants dont live through even the next night, because they dry out. It is too big a shock and too big a change in environment for submersed plants to survive immediate "dryness" (not complete dryness of course but compared to being under water...).

To overcome this problem i came up with the idea of creating a little greenhouse out of each Wabi Kusa. I covered the bowls and containers with other glass bowls I found in my kitchen. I thought it is logical that if I increase humidity for the first couple of weeks, the plants will adapt better to the new environment, become strong and then, the cover can be removed and the plants are ready for development in room humidity. I opened up the cover every day to aerate the contents, and let some "fresh" CO2 in for the plants.

Thankfully I was right. After 2-3 weeks sometimes a month at most, the cover could be removed forever since during this time the submersed plants have developed enough emersed leaves and roots to survive. For about another 2 weeks after this I made sure to spray the plants 3-4 times a day than I reduced even that to 2 times a day. I suspect it could be reduced even to one spraying per day, but I can't find a reason why not to spray it at least twice a day, say in the morning and in the evening. Its really no effort.

As of yet, I haven't found a better way to help convert submersed plants into wabi-environment-baring emersed ones The key I think is the artifical, gradual "climate change" I made. The step by step decrease of humidity makes the plants sturdy for Wabi Kusa.

Now evidently, if you lay your hands on fresh emersed plants at your LFS, than you may skip the above process, though i'd advise to spray more in the beginning even though the plants are in emersed form.

Now, why I use moss in most bowls... I have read that moss by nature has the ability to keep mold and fungus away. I spread a layer of some aquatic or forest moss on the surface of the substrate for this reason. Since it requires low lights it survives the shades of other plants and grows very slowly, not disturbing the overall look. And I never get mold. Not sure if it really is because of the moss, but I do think so.

Wow... long post again. But I hope it was worth my aching fingers

Re: Schruz's Works

Thank you everyone, once again! Its really great to know that my Wabi Kusas incite interest even in Britain. 😉

viktorlantos said:

Great collection my friend

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And it soon will gain new pieces! 😉

Ahh... Viktor. I was hoping you will find my journal here sooner or later 🙂 Thanks for the kind remarks mate!

Piece-of-fish said:

Any tips abut trimming and substrate which you use?

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In a planted tank the substrate should be nutritious and oxygenated. Here this is especially important I think. There is no water column from which the plants can take ferts up so the only source is the substrate and its dampening with aquarium water. There neither is a filter so the substrate should have all characteristics possible to act as a biological filter. Im using JBL AquaBasis Plus and ADA Amazonia on top of it, any version would do. I mix Amazonia with a few pieces of porous biological filter media, depending on the size of the container. If you have ADA Bacter Ball or anything similar at home to urge the multiplication of the nitrifying bacteria put that in the pot too 🙂 This way you'll get the most porous and most nutritious bottom I can think of. Im sure any powder type concentrated plant substrate would work too in the place of AquabasisPlus. Actually, you can even leave such a soil out, Im just making 100% sure there is everything the plants need.

I have also tried using potting soil exclusively earlier. Its cheap, it works, plants grow in it. It has many downsides though...
1. Its nutrients wear out quickly in water. Growth in the beginning was much more rapid than later.
2. It may have rotten odors and may attract mold more.
3. If you plan a Wabi Kusa like Im planning soon, that is a substrate-ball-in-the-middle type one with "open" water around it (more ADA style) soil is a no-no because it turns the water brown.
4. It is not at all oxygenated in itself underwater. Maybe you can help this with filter media or JBL Manado or something similar.

Pruning is rather similar as underwater. Except that you might need to do it more often 'cause plants are faster emersed. You can also replant pruned plants like in an aquarium, they will soon root themselves.

One more thing. I think, that the taller the walls of the container, the easier it is to get good results. I suspect this is because containers with taller walls keep humidity for a longer time. Supporting this, shall I say hypothesis, 😛 is that my wabis in the short walled ceramic pots were the hardest to get going, whereas my emersed Iwagumi project with the tall aquarium wall, was the easiest.

Things I'd like to share come into my mind on the go... 🙂 so there is still more 😀 There are no algae in this emersed world, but their malignant character might sometimes be replaced with plant lice (if that is how you call them in English). Plant juice sucking insects. I had some... There is two ways to get rid of them for good. Putting the whole wabi in a big bucket of water carefully for a night so that all leaves are submerged, and/or spraying with insecticide dedicated against the type of lice you've got. I had some white ones which made a gooey substance. First I drowned them than I sprayed with insecticide just to make sure. They were gone. Check your houseplants for them too, because they easily spread to your wabis when they are in the same room.

Re: Schruz's Works

New pics of the emersed Iwagumi after spraying. What would you call this in English? It is not an aquarium, nor a paludarium... Is it a terrarium or what?

emers_iwagumi-3 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-4 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-2 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-10 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-11 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-30 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-19 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-18 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-17 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-16 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-15 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-14 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-13 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-12 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-8 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-7 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-6 by András Tündik, on Flickr

emers_iwagumi-5 by András Tündik, on Flickr

And a nice ambient one for the end 🙂

emers_iwagumi-9 by András Tündik, on Flickr

Plants in this setup are HM, HC, L. arcuata this time staying completely green. Lindernia rotundifolia, Rotala sp 'green', Hydrocotyle sib., Glossostigma elatinoides, Eleocharis parvula, Staurogyne repens Vesicularia montagnei this time also for display and Ceratopteris thalictroides.
Lights: 2x20W PowerCompact 6500K, 1150 lumens in two sexy Wave ZenArtist lamps. On for 10h/day, might increase it to 12h/day for the arcuata...
Substrate: as described above.