# Serenity now - A Blackwater riparium



## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

I decided to try my hand at a riparium because it combines two of my hobbies, and sort of makes sense to include a shoreline in an aquascape scene...

I've had this journal over at the planted tank, but I've decided to keep it updated here too...

*Updated Picture:*

9/4/17






2/14/16



8/15/15



3/13/15



1/25/15





*Tank:* Do! Aqua 25-c (4 gallon) + Mr aqua large 1.2gal HOB breeder box
*Heater:* Hydor 50watt
*Filter:* finnex px360 + Seachem Matrix
*Lights:* 23watt 6500k cfl in work lamp reflector
*Substrate:* ADA Aquasoil Amazonia

*Fauna: *
Betta (black and red)
[STRIKE]ramshorn snails[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]orange sakura shrimp[/STRIKE]
skud shrimp

*Submerged Flora:*
Crypt wendtii 'tropica'
Crypt wendtii 'Mi Oya'
Crypt undulata
Crypt willisii
Crypt Lucens
Fissidens Fontanus
Singapore moss
[STRIKE]Anubias nana[/STRIKE]
Anubias nana 'petite'
Anubias Coffeeolia
[STRIKE]Java fern [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Hygrophila 'siamensis 53b'[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Hygrophila polysperma[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Ludwigia repens[/STRIKE]
Ceratopteris thalictroides (water sprite)
Frogbit
Salvinia natans
[STRIKE]Brazilian pennywort[/STRIKE]
Heteranthera zosterifolia (Star grass)

*Riparium Flora:*
Spathiphilum 'petite' (peace lily)
Philodendron
Pilea cardierei (Aluminum plant)
[STRIKE]Pilea glauca 'aquamarine'[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Pilea depresa[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Chamedora elegans (neanthe Bella palm)[/STRIKE]
Ophiopogon japonicus (mondo grass)
[STRIKE]Acorus gramineus 'variegatus' (sweet flag)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Schefflera elegantissima (False Aralia)[/STRIKE]
Syngonium podophylum
Hygrophila 'siamensis 53b

Ferts:
[STRIKE]Seachem Nitrogen
Seachem Potassium
Seachem Phosphourus[/STRIKE]
Seachem Equilibrium
KNO3
KH2PO4


I was already in the process of making a nano 10" cube for shrimp and I wanted to see if I could make a believable riparium out of such a small tank... I started this tank as a dry start with moss and crypts back in early December...

To get over the fact that most riparium plants would overshadow the 10" of front to back tank space quite fast, I decided to use a hang on the back breeder box to house the planters and rafts... a finnex px360 canister filter takes water from the cube and sends it into the breeder box and then overflows back into the tank...

I mostly did this project over the Christmas holidays so my options for supplies were limited... I made my own riparium planters from acrylic sheeting custom made to fit the breeder box... I ended up using seachem matrix instead of hydroton, and used leftover aquasoil for the top layer... the rafts I made from 4 layers of craft foam sheets crazy glued together and drilled holes to fit the stems... they work very well but could be thicker. ..

Plants were also limited up here in frozen north, so I decided to try chamedora elegans from home depot, ophiopogon japonicus and acorus gramineus 'variegatus' from petsmart, pilea carderi and pilea glauca 'aquamarine' on the rafts and philodendron climbing up the emersed driftwood with the root dangling behind...

While the pilea and philodendron are starting to take off, I'm getting crown rot on some of the the chamedora shoots with some leaves drying up and the acorus seems dried out despite trying to keep the rhizomes above the water with very small roots and I only used matrix for this planter... the ophiopogon isn't doing much at all... I'm not sure if this is failure or just transitions... it's only been flooded since Jan 13th so I have to be patient and just fertilized for the first time today...

Somehow in the future I am going to obtain acorus gramineus 'ogon' and probably Cyprus dwarf sedge to replace the the background, I just have to wait on the local nurseries to start bringing them in for the spring. ..


The emersed driftwood is attached to an equal sized chunk below the surface...




I'm finding it hard to properly photograph the under water part so bear with me until I get some good shots with the dslr... I've tried with the light above and to the side...

I added 12 orange sakura shrimp and one perished so far


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

2/6/15

This is a quick shot of the HOB breeder box that houses the acrylic planters:




And this is the HOB breeder box before I filled the tank... it's been modified to fit the glass and shortly after this shot I cut down the plastic to increase flow across the whole length instead of just through the the main overflow on the left:




And these are the planters I made from acrylic sheeting, cut on table saw and edges clean with a router table, then bonded with methylene chloride. .. holes drilled on all sides for water diffusion:




This is a shot before I filled the dry start and planted the riparium portion:




When the water was clear before I added alder cones, the first occupant was a juvenile cherry shrimp:




The acrylic planters sit on the bottom of the HOB with about 1/2" above the water:




Once I replace my faulty Hydor 50w heater I will house it in the remaining space in the HOB under the aluminum plant raft...

I wish nurseries were open up here in the frozen north... I need to get my hands on some of the proven riparium plants... my background choices are not fairing so well... the roots on the acorus gramineus 'variegatus' have rotted and there's isn't much rhizomes to use a rubber band to stabilize them... do the rhizomes NEED to be above the water completely? I figured the matrix would still allow oxygen but I guess not 

I have a bunch of Spathiphyllum 'petite' but that is too broad for this nano... I'm thinking Cyprus dwarf sedge and some kind of grass... not sure I like the fan look of the acorus and the mondo grass, while not dieing, is showing no growth but maybe I need to be more patient  

There are some really good nurseries around here that have plenty of tropical plants but not much in the way of marginal or pond plants this time of year. .. I just picked up some syngonium, the common one and a smaller reddish one... as well as pilea glauca and pilea depressa and I am now adding those for the foreground... the mid ground is covered with pilea cardierei...

But I want the background to be "grassy", so I'm gonna have to wait for the pond plants to come in... maybe this chamedora elegans palm will pull through as its a very beautiful plant... maybe I have the crowns to far into the water. .. maybe I should raise the planters?


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

2/7/15

I've seen others have success with pilea glauca so I decided to try it... we shall see how unruly it gets... 2 days in and it looks like roots are sprouting!!




Close up:



I got the idea for this plant from ukamikazu over at aquatic plant enthusiasts:
http://www.aquaticplantenthusiasts.c...ginning-7.html


The Aluminum plant is growing gang busters... at least this will give the illusion of the background being filled in until I get my real background plants in order:




The pilea glauca is definitely starting to root in only a couple days:




I also added some pilea depressa to the opposite side on a foam raft... after only 1 day in a grow out tank the roots began to grow:




I wanted to try a plant I haven't heard of being used in riparium so before I even set this tank up I cut the roots from several False Aralia (Schefflera elegantissima) over a month ago and stuck it in one of my tanks with decent sucess:




With new growth:




And most of these roots have grown underwater:



We shall see how this plant does long term... I'm seriously thinking of adding it to this tank...


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

3/7/15

The pilea sp. are doing great in the rafts, as are the philodendron cuttings and the False Aralia (Schefflera elegantissima) in the acrylic planter which has new growth and new roots, although some of the lower leaves are starting to drop...

I have removed the Chamedora elegans (neanthe Bella palm) as it slowly dried out with no roots forming... I'm not sure why this one didn't work... I tried raising the crowns up but maybe it was too late 

I filled the empty acrylic planter with 3 more Ophiopogon japonicus (mondo grass) to fill out the back, as the current ones have been growing new leaves and the roots have reached the bottom of the planter and new runners shooting everywhere...

The Acorus gramineus 'variegatus' (sweet flag) rotted away at the rhizomes, despite being above the soil but I didnt like it anyways... too 'angular' if that makes any sense... the arching of the mondo grass is more pleasing to me :icon_smil

Meanwhile the crypts are growing great underwater, filling in everywhere... the crypt undulata and wendtii 'mi Oya' may prove to be too large for this nano 

I've also added a stem of hygrophila 'siamensis 53b' into the aquasoil with the intention of it growing emersed to bring some nice flowers into the mix...

I've transfered the heater and thermometer to the breeder box which cleaned up the main tank nicely, but for some reason this raised the tank temp 1°C... I really want to build temp controllers for all my tanks to alleviate this kind of malarkey!


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

3/13/15

Well I only had a few minutes to take some crappy cell phone snaps yesterday... one of these days I'll get some dSLR pics taken...


Here is the riparium section from the front...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

View from the top, which is my favorite angle... perfect to see the nice bio film scum that's accumulated on the surface :confused1:


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

The underwater section is growing in nicely but it's still pretty dark... I haven't mounted the light in its final location so it will get brighter :icon_cool


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

3/15/15

So the False Aralia decided to die off overnight... I guess it didn't like the planter :eek5:
I moved the survivors to another tank bare rooted so hopefully they will recover...

Despite the fact that Spathiphyllum 'petite' might be too big for this tank I added a flowering specimen to the empty planter, but maybe it will stay small enough to fill in its corner of the HOB... perhaps it will give me the height I want without the spread if I trim back the older leaves... I also added some more pilea cardierei to the raft that had pilea glauca on it... it was looking to sparse in that section. 

That's what I like about this riparium thing; you can experiment with species and placements without disturbing the main tank and substrate...

Here's a quick shot of the changes. ..


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

3/18/15

I finally cleaned the filter to maybe help combat the surface scum, but it wasn't that dirty after 2 months of shrimp only. I added some purigen as well, so maybe that will help... I'm also thinking it's a complete lack of surface agitation as the flow over the HOB is disrupted by the driftwood mass...

I made a few changes to the tank as well. I temporarily removed the pilea glauca until I can find a suitable spot for it in the HOB, so I filled in that small raft with more pilea cardierei to fill out the left side...

But the most notable change is the addition of Singapore moss to the driftwood above the water line to grow emersed with their feet in the water... in this way capillary action soaks water up on the wood and the moss higher up. I'm hoping this works with lower relative humidity... Besides giving the "shore" a more believable appearance, a terrible white mold was growing on the drift wood in these sections and im hoping this moss will takes it's place, but of course it could also mean the mold will grow higher too... If that's the case then I may need to scrape the emersed driftwood idea 

I had to kill the mold with hydrogen peroxide, which worked well but some spores flew off in all directions, hopefully not my lungs :confused1:


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

The moss is layered up the sides of the driftwood... for now I'm spraying it with water a couple times a day...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

I applied the moss to all of the driftwood at the water margin... unfortunately water evaporation is pretty high in this tank compared to my other tanks for some reason, so this shoreline will be fairly dynamic unless I keep up on the top offs... 2 cups a day lost to evaporation could really ruin this emersed moss idea... we shall see...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

I used a mixed of submersed and previously emersed Singapore moss from a high humidity setup... we shall see which one fairs better in this application...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

I also put a black background on and removed the stunted crypts from the back left... This area was far too shaded so I'm going to fill it in with either narrow java fern or anubias... the rest of the tank is filling in despite being less then 20 PAR at the substrate...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

3/24/15

Moss is doing well emersed as it wicks up the water from the tank... I barely need to spray with only the upper reaches drying slightly. .. but as I thought the mold is starting to creep in above the moss... but now I can't use hydrogen peroxide to kill it cause it will kill the moss below it too :icon_frow

I added a big rhizome of java fern with small leaves to fill in the back left around the filter intake as well as an anubias nana hanging off the driftwood. The  tank is starting to look full... I added 3 amano shrimp too,  but because the light is so low their not gonna have much algae to eat so I'm gonna need to feed them. Of course I also need to make sure I don't feed too much in such a small tank... This tank already has a planaria problem and I don't think feed too much :icon_twis


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

8/27/15

Well after 5 months of basically neglecting this tank save for top offs, its kind of taken care of itself... The shrimp disappeared when the planaria appeared... The plants filled in nicely... I never did move the tank to a better spot, nor did I install the proper light fixture so it has been getting subpar lighting at best, but it chugs along at a slow pace...

Despite the lack of fauna, this tank has started coming into its own, but it doesn't  give me a sense of serenity like I originally envisioned... The slow trickle of water into the stillness of open water is calming. The fullness and richness of the plants above and below the water do give the impression of a living and thriving ecosystem, albeit on an extremely small scale.


25cm cube riparium August 2015 by nbtobey, on Flickr


The find this tank actually gives me a sense of unease... And I think it's because of the shape... I now hate cubes... I know that sounds weird, but I can't quite explain it any better... Thought a cube would be perfect but because the front to back is actually longer than the tank front is wide, because of the HOB, I can't help but want to turn the tank 90°... The tank just makes me feel funny :confused1:

I hate it when everything comes together except for one athetic detail that ruins the whole thing... This was my first foray into riparium, and I quickly fell in love. I'm in the process of building one about 15 times the size of this one, but in the mean time something needs to change in this one... Either it needs to be decomssioned or reinvisioned...

So  my options are to add the contents of this tank into my new large shallow wide riparium build or transfer them to another nano tank that's more appealing to the look I am going for...
Perhaps along the lines of a shallow but longer tank like the ADA 45-f, but I don't the short front to back depth of that tank... I may have one custom made to give more front to back space, while keeping with the shallow style...

I added a nice black and red betta fish to give it more life and he seems to be thriving in the still water... So obviously his well being will affect my decision


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

9/1/15

I really don't know what to do with this tank... I hate the thought of decommissioning any tank I've spent so much time building... Either way its gotta move as the new shallow wide riparium is taking its place along the wall 

My intentions were to move the filter behind the tank but that never happened just like setting up the permanent light fixture... Babies can be so time consuming! If I stick with the current tank shape,I think if the filter is in behind and its on smaller table then maybe the tank will look better...

I have a quote for a shallow nano tank that may work better for this riparium... But I'm worried that the drift wood might end up looking like a tree coming out of the tank instead of a balanced piece of emerssed and submerssed wood... The quote is for an 18"x12.5"x6.5" high so it would certainly change the dynamic of this riparium... I would also take the opportunity to switch out the aquasoil amazonia for Malaya to brighten the submersed section. This would also slow down the growth of the crypts as Malaya has less nutrients the amazonia... This will be a good thing as the wendtii and undulata species are becoming too big and will be more so is such a shallow tank...

After cleaning the filter last week, at least 1/4 of the crypt leaves have melted... Not sure what that's about :icon_frow

Anyways, here are some cell phone pictures of the betta... If I ever get the time to post process my dslr shots I'll post those too :confused1:

Betta fish by nbtobey, on Flickr

Betta fish by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

2/14/15

A quick update and more info to follow...

The riparium section has filled out nicely, but the crypts below have melted several times and I don't know what to expect of them now... I've mostly filled in the bottom with heterhantha zosterfolia (star grass) and Ceratopteris thalictroides (water sprite)...

The betta seams healthy and happy... I hope to finally move this tank into my daughters room and install the proper light fixture, but I have been saying that for a year 
25cm Riparium Feb 2016 by nbtobey, on Flickr

Here it is between the grow out tanks for my upcoming 75 gallon shallow wide riparium...

25cm Riparium Feb 2016 by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

2/17/15

The riparium section is now primarily the peace lily, and philodendron on the branches... a planter of mondo grass, and a newly added Syngonium fill the rest of the background, and a few stems of pilea cardierei and Hygrophila 53b round out the midground.

The other pilea species are gone as they grew too leggy... I think that fewer species works better anyways... Too many and it just looks jumbled.

The fullness of the plant growth is finally allowing me to enjoy this tank as its intended purpose... I think it now deserves to have a special place with a proper light setup and maybe on a pedestal stand to show off its shape better.

I just wish the underwater section would stay constant... I've never experienced so much crypt melt as I have in this tank. The water is calm so the betta is only movement this tank sees. He quite enjoys it. I just added a small population of skud shrimp so hopefully they breed and give him hunting opportunities... He's quite entertaining when I give him worms...


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## zozo (1 Mar 2016)

Just wonderfull and very inspirational, thanks for sharing..  Realy love it.. The rotting of rhizomes and roots you experience might be lak of flow, if the water colum is fertilized enough most plants do not need soil or gravel. A very low PPI filter sponge will probably do much better in flow and aeration in those filter compartments you made to give the plant it's hold. And can be taken out and cleaned if necessary once in a while. EnderUK grows a massive fern like that in a HOB filter.. 

if you like ideas or inspiration for planting see Green Peko Pond from Mr. Teapot

If you like to play with grassy plants emersed give Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis a try, it's very hardy and does realy good emersed and not so climate sensitive. If you like more sense of scale with smaller leaved plants emersed you realy should give HC a try, you would be surpiced how well it does emersed near the water line and just below. Also Bog Pimpernell not tropical but does realy good and grows like weed once it takes off. Also Enchinodorus sp. is surpricingly hardy for growing in a setup like this, i have it planten in the tanks substrate and is now growing out of a 30cm high tank emersed.. 

Here you see the Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis and the bog pimpernell growing emersed on a piece of driftwood it uses several moss sp. and UG to root in doesn't need substrate. And the Echinodurus which is planted in the tanks substrate.




Here also bog pimpernell, HC and UG on driftwood using mosses to root in. 




The moss higher on the wood, is terrestrial grow form collected in the garden. But if you would like aquatic mosses to grow up higher emersed on your driftwood. Give Dried Sphagnum a try and tie the Sphagnum agains the wood til just touching the water line, this sphagnum takes up water 25 times it's own volume so it will soak. Then tie live moss to the dead sphagnum. Probably even do not need to spray it, since the sphagnum will soak the water up. And if you need to spray it wont be so often. I found Peackock moss doing very good emersed near the water line, it's hard to see in the jungle of the first pick but it's in there growing emersed.


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## parotet (1 Mar 2016)

This is absolutely wonderful. I need to read in detail all this information but it is already one of my preferred tanks in UKAPS!

Jordi


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## JPT1974 (1 Mar 2016)

Like parotet. I need to read it all in great detail but your ripariums are lovely. I'd not considered setting up anything like this before. But I've an old fluval chi tank with riparium written all over it . Have you more info on tech set up?


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## darren636 (1 Mar 2016)

Serenity now...... Insanity later...

Your tanks look fantastic.


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## sanj (1 Mar 2016)

Ooooh...


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

zozo said:


> if you like ideas or inspiration for planting see Green Peko Pond from Mr. Teapot
> 
> If you like to play with grassy plants emersed give Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis a try, it's very hardy and does realy good emersed and not so climate sensitive. If you like more sense of scale with smaller leaved plants emersed you realy should give HC a try, you would be surpiced how well it does emersed near the water line and just below. Also Bog Pimpernell not tropical but does realy good and grows like weed once it takes off. Also Enchinodorus sp. is surpricingly hardy for growing in a setup like this, i have it planten in the tanks substrate and is now growing out of a 30cm high tank emersed..



I actually just found the green pekoe pond yesterday - very interesting methods used...

I'm not sure I understand this concept of using other plants as a floating substrate for other plants... What holds up the whole shebang?

This method definitely introduces the ability to blend the riparium section into the midground of the tank... It looks so natural!!

Thanks you.


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## zozo (1 Mar 2016)

hitmanx said:


> I'm not sure I understand this concept of using other plants as a floating substrate for other plants... What holds up the whole shebang?



In my first picture its a piece of driftwood i placed horizontally, far left you see i little acrylic hook hanging on the glass, made 2 of them myself, as tiny as possible from a little 10mm thick piece acrylic. Drilled a 1,5mm hole and use a army green 0.06mm dynema line to tie the wood to it.. Found out by this line is perfect for tying anything in aquarium, it's smooth and unbreakable it slides, even a double knot slides on, so it's easily to tighten with only 2 hands available. It's army green and doesn't even show, it doesn't decay you might mistake it as a piece of a plant.. So this piece of drifwood hangs in the corner, could have been everywhere, it hangs like it is floating 2/3 submersed 1/3 emersed. First planted moss on the wood. Moss doesn't actualy root, some mosses (e.g. Vesicularia sp.) grow itself to wood or even rock over its compleet available surface and than starts branching and forms a mat of thick moss on this surface. Which will function as a base layer in which other roots can run through as they like.

So if you put some other small plant like HC in the moss it'll take it's nessecary ferts from the water collum and happily grow on and root through the moss. At some point the lowest layer will start to decay, there will form a microbial process, decaying the smothered moss.. Perfect habitat for a carnivor like utricularia and even others like Mr. Teapots setup. But since mean while the roots of any other plant growing and rooting in that moss eventualy grab on to the wood in the same way with it's rhizoids (hair roots) in the cracks and rough surface of the wood (some do better than others) the whole bunch stays firmly attached. It's a complete interaction which willl keep on growing if you don't start trimming at one point. 

The second pic works excactly the same with a piece of wood stuck in the substrate going emersed as you already have.  First moss, then HC, then UG, then even more moss, then bog pimpernell.. The water collum provides the ferts and also that decaying process from beneath will. It only needs good care and atention, if you see cyano  develop, you'll need a little spray bottle with h2o2 during the water changes.  and counter attack..


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

Thanks for the clarification... I think i will try this method either in this tank, or my upcoming Celestial Swamp...

carnivorous you say? I have heard that UG doesnt like ferts so that might be a problem...

Is cyano a common problem for this method? I had large amounts of Singapore moss growing semi emersed on driftwood and after a long time cyano did form on the moss and it eventually spread to my whole tank  which took a lot of work to combat...


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## zozo (1 Mar 2016)

Welcome i can't wait to see what you come up with. ...

UG is a little difficult bugger i'm already trying to get my head around it for a year now.. It actualy is classified as a terestrial plant,  most information you'll find is aimt to this direction. So when it comes to terrestrial growth it indeed hates ferts in the substrate, this will only prevent it stolones and attached utricles to do the nessecary job. But it also is an affixed aquatic (if there is moss even epiphytic and lithophitic) and if it is provided with sufficient aerated flow and microbial lifeforms around it's utricles it doesn't realy mind water collum ferts if it's utricles can do what they are meant to do. Catch life food.  That's where the decaying plant mass comes in handy, decaying plantmass and microbes go hand in hand.  and if this is free flowing outside the substrate even better for utricularia.. Fertilized substrate in submersed growth is same story, it wont live very long at the same spot.. 

Cyano is a photosynthetic bacteria developing on decaying organic matter and of course light. Again a hand in hand scenario, especialy close to the surface with stacked up decaying organic matter and lots of light as described in previous post. Never mind the dying snail  in the moss at the surface even triggering it even faster.. Anyway  the moment you see this BGA develop in surface growth drain the tank a bit and immediately spray a small amount of peroxide on the affected area and it's killed in minutes.. Realy don't let it develop and get out of hand, counter attack the minute you'll see it. The less peroxide you need the better..


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## zozo (1 Mar 2016)

I might add, forgot, if you have a lot of surface vegitation like this and you feed you fish wit floating flakes. You'll have a lot of dead pockets of no to less flow where little parts of this flake food accumulate and are not eaten by the fish.. Result..  Cyano bacteria.. So in setups like this, do not use to much floating flakes as food..


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## hitmanx (1 Mar 2016)

darren636 said:


> Serenity now...... Insanity later....



Indeed... Classic Seinfeld!


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## hitmanx (5 Sep 2017)

The cube riparium has been reborn!

*BLACKWATER*​


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## hitmanx (16 Feb 2018)

The philodendron has grown well under the par38 led light, requiring trimming and the leaves have become a deeper red and brown... of course the leaves had shaded the underwater flora so only a few dwarf sag remain...





It's not very Blackwater anymore... my plan is to add Indian almond leaves and more Adler cones... there's no livestock yet, but I am going to switch out the water with remineralized RO using salty shrimp mineral gh/kh so I can try an rcs colony... Maybe I will have better luck in this tank than the big riparium...

I need to find a way to calm the flow of the eheim 2213 canister... it's too turbulent for shrimp I think... ill neef a apo ge for the intake as well... anyways it need a good vacuum and filter cleaning too.


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## hitmanx (9 Sep 2018)

Update:





Nothing much has changed except more growth... I added an HOB breeder box to the back like before and 2 planters of some kind of bright philodenron...





I never did change the water... it's still 525 tds and I almost never fertilize... I've added more Indian almond leaves and alert cones... still no fauna...


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## sciencefiction (9 Sep 2018)

The tank is really lovely. I am a fan of ripariums myself. 

In my experience, if you want to grow plants underwater as well as above water, you need light on both levels, at the surface and above the riparium plants.

As for fauna, flow and filtration is still essential, so are regular large water changes. 



hitmanx said:


> I need to find a way to calm the flow of the eheim 2213 canister... it's too turbulent for shrimp I think.



Shrimp love high flow. They're quite capable of hanging in very high flow areas and in fact tend to gather there if there's anything to catch on to. I have moss growing on top of the spraybar in one of my tanks and its full of shrimp, just flowing in the water, hanging to the moss, though they have a choice not to...


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## hitmanx (19 Dec 2018)

zozo said:


> I might add, forgot, if you have a lot of surface vegitation like this and you feed you fish wit floating flakes. You'll have a lot of dead pockets of no to less flow where little parts of this flake food accumulate and are not eaten by the fish.. Result..  Cyano bacteria.. So in setups like this, do not use to much floating flakes as food..



I can't believe you suggested all this almost 3 years ago and I haven't tried it yet... I had the idea in the back of my minds but could remember where I heard about... I'm gonna try all this on my big riparium on the manzi stump on the left...

Thanks again!


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## hitmanx (22 Jan 2019)

I finally moved this tank to my office...





Here the old school "wood" paneling walls are painted so it gives a different vibe to it... 





It's beside my desk in a corner under a huge basement window, but I think the sunlight won't hit it directly... I'm still running the 12w LED par38 light which has been far better for growth then the cfl ever was... so much so that the philodenron has completely overshadowed the underwater section and only a few sprigs of dwarf sag survived... it's been top up only all this time with no fauna... I abandoned the Blackwater setup as the rotting leaves and alder cones became annoying...

I changed the water finally with water from my big riparium and recently started changing 50% per week or 2 with salty shrimp gh+ remineralised RO water... I haven't cleaned the filter since I set it up with the 2213...

For now it's the home of a dwarf African frog and some ramshorn snails...

Here he is enjoying the surface scum that has plagued this tank since day one...





My plan is to add some moss and plants to the floating foam as these additions are necessary to keep the frogbit and salvinia out in the light...


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## sciencefiction (22 Jan 2019)

hitmanx said:


> I haven't cleaned the filter since I set it up with the 2213.



You should probably put a filter...194 years without a filter in this tank is something


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## mort (22 Jan 2019)

I like the overgrown natural look. Can i ask which philodendron species it is? Would quite like to try and replicate the look.


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## hitmanx (22 Jan 2019)

mort said:


> I like the overgrown natural look. Can i ask which philodendron species it is? Would quite like to try and replicate the look.



I believe it's Philodendron cordatum or Heart leaved... the lime colour phildendron in the back is unknown to me at this time.. .


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## zozo (22 Jan 2019)

hitmanx said:


> the surface scum that has plagued this tank since day one



Quite easy to do something about it.. Make some surface movement, doesn't need to be much, but the water needs to fall on the surface, doesn't need to be splashing or at a high speed. But it creates a mini edy (you maybe wont recognize it as an edy but it definitively is). All surface water and scum on it will be drawn to it by a natural surface circulation and because of the surface scum tension difference. The scum will get sucked under and dispersed into the water column. It will only accumulate in stagnant corners if there are any. But with the permanent surface circulation the surface will look clean within a day.  A small spray bar for example or a small single outlet, as long as it falls on the surface and draws some air bubbles down with it is enough..

Surface scum only accumulates in tanks with the filter outlet bellow the water surface.


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## mort (22 Jan 2019)

hitmanx said:


> I believe it's Philodendron cordatum or Heart leaved... the lime colour phildendron in the back is unknown to me at this time.. .



Thanks
I think the lime coloured one might be a epipremnum "golden pothos". If the new leaves are glossy then its a pothos, matte then phildendron. I've got a young one so might give it a try. I also have philodendron micans which I could give a go.


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## hitmanx (22 Jan 2019)

zozo said:


> Quite easy to do something about it.. Make some surface movement, doesn't need to be much,
> 
> Surface scum only accumulates in tanks with the filter outlet bellow the water surface.



The intake for the eheim 2213 is in the back of the cube but the outflow goes into the HOB planter box on the back and then spills into the tank creating a visible Edy.. . This does nothing for surface scum unfortunately...

I will take a close up picture...


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## hitmanx (22 Jan 2019)

mort said:


> Thanks
> I think the lime coloured one might be a epipremnum "golden pothos". If the new leaves are glossy then its a pothos, matte then phildendron. I've got a young one so might give it a try. I also have philodendron micans which I could give a go.



I believe the lime plant is a hybrid called Philodendron ‘Moonlight’ which has leaves in the shape of a rubber plant...

I will take a close up picture...


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## mort (22 Jan 2019)

hitmanx said:


> I believe the lime plant is a hybrid called Philodendron ‘Moonlight’ which has leaves in the shape of a rubber plant...
> 
> I will take a close up picture...



I have a philodendron imperial red which I think is the same basic form as yours if it's the Moonlight (stunning plant). I was thinking that yours was a creeping vine, hence my guess it was a pothos. I like the look of yours so will look out for it.


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## zozo (22 Jan 2019)

hitmanx said:


> The intake for the eheim 2213 is in the back of the cube but the outflow goes into the HOB planter box on the back and then spills into the tank creating a visible Edy.. . This does nothing for surface scum unfortunately...
> 
> I will take a close up picture...



Good to know that i'm wrong on this..  For me it worked obviously luckely every time again if i raise the ouflow above the water level. 
I guess it's a very common human mistake, thinking that personal experiences are unversal. At least that is what i often say and now i trapped in it myself..


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## Steve Buce (23 Jan 2019)

Great looking tank, very natural, might have to find some of these plants and give it a go


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## hitmanx (20 Feb 2019)

Cyanobacteria is a problem now... when I neglected this tank it ran just fine... now that I'm trying to improve it, I'm running into cyano on the substrate and glass... I removed the frog awhile back and the Ramshorn snails did not survive for some reason...

I've cleaned the substrate and filter and I'm sucking out the bga with massive regular water changes and I'm keeping up with the ferts but it keeps coming back... this tank has had almost no animal bioload this whole time but maybe rotted leaves and roots are contributing... the driftwood in this tank has been submerged in various tanks for 5 years so maybe its creating and organic build up... really the only change has been switching out  the water chemistry from rock hard tap water to remineralised RO...

I'm thinking that a tank reset is in order... take out the 4 year old aquasoil Malaya, wash the wood down and replace with sand and gravel and get back to a black water setup with botanicals... 

Of course the riparium above is doing great, but as per usual I am struggling with the submerssed section...


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## hitmanx (3 Sep 2019)

Much growth...





I added 9 Exclamation Point Rasboras (boraras urophthalmoides) and some cherry shrimp which have a good colony now...


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