# Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Final) Harvest



## Tim.jp (27 Aug 2012)

The aim of this project was to have an unheated tank on a south facing balcony and gradually introduce warmer water species as the year progressed. The essential ingredient of rice seedlings was to be added in June if obtainable. I've been keeping notes, but only got round to posting now it is half way through. Anyway, there have been some unresolved issues, so comments that help me improve next year will be much appreciated.







Roughly speaking, the cold Stage 1 is from the end of March to the end of May, during which time a few cold water plants will be added while the setup matures.
Stage 2 is June, July (and September) when temperatures are naturally in the comfortable range for tropical species. Stage 3 is August when high water temperatures could be a problem. 

The normal monthly temperatures in Celsius for where I live in Kanagawa Prefecture are as follows:

March 		  9 average;   5 low; 13 high
April 		14 average; 10 low; 19 high
May 			18 average; 15 low; 22 high 
June 			21 average; 19 low; 25 high 
July 			25 average; 22 low; 29 high 
August		27 average; 24 low; 31 high 
September		23 average; 21 low; 27 high
October		18 average; 15 low; 22 high 
November		13 average; 10 low; 17 high

From previous experience, having a tank in direct sunlight results in maximum water temperatures of about 3 or 4 degrees above daily air temperature highs, so August could be a problem!

Equipment:
Substrate: 50/50 ADA Amazonia/Akadama
Lighting: Natural sunlight only (south facing balcony)
Heating: None
Cooler: None
Fertilizer: All in one liquid fertilizer (no CO2)
Filter: Eheim Ecco 2236
Stand: These stands are NOT recommended for aquarium. I only use them outside where it isn’t the end of the world if they are not up to the job.


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## Tim.jp (27 Aug 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy*

I wanted to create the feel of a paddy field and adjacent irrigation channel before the days of chemicals, but it wasn't going to be a strict biotope. The first thing to do was to make a perspex divider to separate the shallow rice area from deeper irrigation channel.


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## nayr88 (27 Aug 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy*

This looks really interesting!!

Why a rice paddy tho? Is this the old 'betta dream tank' coming up again


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## Tim.jp (27 Aug 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy*






The substrate is Amazonia and middle-sized akadama







Water added (end of March). Water temperature still well below 10C all day, so just Elodea canadensis and cabomba for now and I don't expect those to grow yet.







The next morning the water had cleared. Yes, I know it is just a goldfish tank without goldfish at this stage, but I'm looking forward to something less controlled than my normal tropical planted tank with CO2 etc.
The filter pipe has a T-junction so the outlet and main inlet is in the deep lefthand side, but a trickle of water runs into the shallow side to stop it becoming completely stagnant.


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## mario (27 Aug 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy*

very interesting project!


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## Tim.jp (27 Aug 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy*

Thanks for the first comment on here, nayr88. The inspiration for this project came from spending my younger years exploring ponds in Gloucestershire and then seeing the wonderful lush paddy fields in Japan and imagining what they must have been like before the use of chemicals.


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## Tim.jp (27 Aug 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy*





Going green! One month on (April 23rd; water 12C a.m/15C p.m.) and the original plants have died back and there's a nice layer of algae on everything. Algae is only ever a negative thing on ukaps, but at this stage of this project I don't think it's a bad thing. Amazingly, the moss on the wood survived the cold to grow slowly when things warmed up.


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## Tim.jp (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*





By the end of April things had warmed up enough (lows 18C+; highs around 25C) for the plants to start growing and fish to be added. I chose Rosy Bitterling (Rhodeus ocellatus ocellatus) which are the Taiwanese variety, rather than the native Japanese one.


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## Tim.jp (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*





And golden medaka (Oryzias latipes) which should be at home in a rice field setup.


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## darren636 (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*

what is with the very large banked section?  nic rice fish btw,


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## Tim.jp (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*






Unresolved issue: I wanted to hide the perspex divider with some emersed plants.
I got an ADA mix designed for a circular glass bowl and split it up.
The red stemmed plant grew well from the start, but the round leaved one (coinwort - Cenetella asiatica?) died back before making a weak recovery 3 months later. Do you think this was because the water temperature was too low (below 20C on some mornings when I put it in in mid-May, or could it be a fertilizer issue?





This picture shows it flowering, but the leaves already beginning to yellow.


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## darren636 (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*

is that an annual plant? if so try to collect seed if you get any. yellow leaves can indicate a lack of certain elements. maybe nitrogen etc.


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## Tim.jp (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*






Top view. The non-aquatic plants in the tub are climbers that should provide some shade and keep the water temperatures down a little.


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## darren636 (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*

i almost tried a paddy field set up. trying to find plants was a pain though. even rice seed is a pain to buy.was going to be a paddy cube, with the floating plants too. hmmm....maybe a winter project for me.


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## Tim.jp (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*






By the third week of May the deep section was coming on.
Now what I needed was rice seedlings for the other side.


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## darren636 (1 Sep 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*

i suppose find oryza plants might be easier where you are? there is nothing here in uk, not even ebay! except one seller in the usa... that is why i gave up last year... azolla i think is the floating plant. ancient companion planting technique


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## Tim.jp (8 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*




June: Rice seedlings arrived on the bullet train from northern Japan thanks to a colleague of my wife.
Oryza sativa, variety Hitomebore.




What I received was a clump of the seedlings that farmers leave at the edge of fields to fill in spaces missed by the planting machine.




Checking spacing in a local paddy field.





Planted!





I love the colour of rice plants in the sunshine.





I used these fertilizer pellets pushed into the substrate in addition to liquid fertilizer, but I'm still not sure it will be enough for rice.





An approaching typhoon necessitated protective measures.


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## Tim.jp (8 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 2)*




Mount Fuji in the distance provides a nice background for the rice tank.
The rice survived the typhoon, but the "green curtain" took quite a battering and never really recovered to give the amount of shade I had hoped for.




Some more emersed plants of similar varieties to ones I have seen in local paddy fields.




The midday temperature overtakes that of my indoor heated tank for the first time.




The medaka seem to like the heat - some of the little ones moved to a little rearing tank.


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## Matt Warner (8 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 3) Planted!*

I love what you've done here it looks amazing. I love the rice plants they look really cool. Over here we never actually see where rice comes from, you just buy it in a bag  . I love the volcano backdrop you have it looks beautiful. Where in Japan do you live?


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## b1zbaz (8 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 3) Planted!*

That's fantastic I'm really impressed with the layout and rather jealous


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## darren636 (9 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 3) Planted!*

i cant' quite get my head around the fact that you LIVE IN VIEW OF MOUNT FUJI  !


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## D1gg3r (9 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 3) Planted!*

Really like the idea of this. Do you think you'll get any usuable crop from the rice?


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## Tim.jp (13 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 3) Planted!*

Thanks for the encouraging comments Matty1983, bizbaz, darren636, and D1gg3r.
I live just into the countryside on the edge of the greater Tokyo urban sprawl. Yokohama is 20km to the east and Mount Fuji is 60km to the west.
At this stage, I wasn't confident of getting enough nutrients to the rice for it to live, never mind produce grains!


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## Tim.jp (13 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 4) Flowers*

July: Interesting flowers on "boring" plants.





Canadian pondweed (Elodea canadensis) is without doubt the most ubiquitous of freshwater plants sold in aquarium shops, but this setup reminded me once again of how ingenious and pretty the flowers are. A little bubble of air to get to the surface - how marvelous is that?








This emersed plant from the ADA mix grew well and produced tiny yellow flowers.




Water Hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes), true to its reputation, grew like wild fire and had to be yanked out regularly to stop it taking over and blocking light to the plants below. Despite me hacking it back, it still flowered several times over the summer and brightened up my morning.


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## Tim.jp (13 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 4) Flowers*






Sunshine.





Rice growing.


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## Lindy (14 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 4) Flowers*

Hard to imagine sunshine as being in scotland it seems a long time since we've seen it but lovely seeing your sunshine!


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## ghostsword (15 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 3) Planted!*



			
				b1zbaz said:
			
		

> That's fantastic I'm really impressed with the layout and rather jealous




Great work.. inspirational..


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## dw1305 (15 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 4) Flowers*

Hi all,
Just fantastic, the little yellow flower looks like a _Ludwigia_. Not sure what Amano uses but _Ludwigia brevipes_,(or  _L x lacustris_, _ L. arculata x repens_) looks likely from the flower.

cheers Darrel


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## GHNelson (17 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 4) Flowers*

Tim
Nice journal. 
Really enjoyed that  
hoggie


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## hydrophyte (17 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 4) Flowers*

This is a lovely setup. 

That emersed foliage in the latest photos is beautiful!


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## Tim.jp (20 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 5) Boiled shrimp anyon*




With daytime highs over 30C continuously in August and water temperatures likely to reach 35C+ with direct sunlight, the survival of this setup was always in doubt.




This was typical for mid-afternoon temperatures! However, the aim of this project from the beginning was to be low tech and I couldn't justify running a cooler, especially when saving electric was still the order of the day in these parts. 




One Yamato numa ebi down.




Removed from the water it quickly turned prawn pink.


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## OllieNZ (20 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 5) Boiled shrimp?*

Can you set up a house fan to keep a constant breeze over it? May be enough. Time to get down the hardware store and get some shade cloth.....


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## Ben22 (20 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 5) Boiled shrimp?*

what an awesome project. nice to see something different like this. Why that design for the substrate? Simply because of the planting?


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## Tim.jp (21 Oct 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 5) Boiled shrimp?*




The "green curtain" did provide just enough shade to stop temperatures going even higher, despite taking a battering in the typhoon.
Apart from two shrimp, everything else survived the heat. Although not ideal, I guess medaka and rosy bitterling have some resistance to high temperatures because they naturally live in this kind of environment.
The "goya" gourds are edible if picked before they turn yellow.
Note the visitor sitting on top of the air con.
The step layout for the substrate was intended to give a shallower area for the rice and a deeper area for other plants and fish.




Grains appear. Very exciting!


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## Ben22 (1 Nov 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 5) Boiled shrimp?*

love this project, closely following!


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## Tim.jp (3 Nov 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 6) Grains developing*

September




The plant on the near left was a cutting from my indoor tank and it was interesting to see the difference in development under different conditions.






Top view of the same plant just emerging from the water.






And the same plant (right) in the indoor tank with LED lighting and CO2.
With CO2 it grows long thin feathery leaves and gains 5cm+ per week. As such it gets cut and replanted before it has a chance to put out shoots. Outside with no CO2 it grew really slowly and I didn't cut it once in 4 months. The leaves are stubbier and it puts out lots of shoots. 






A view of the whole aquarium with rice leaves starting to yellow, which indicates harvest time is approaching.
I asked a local farmer when he was going to harvest and he said in about 3 weeks time. As my seedlings went in a week earlier, I guess mine could be ready in about two weeks. 


















The ears of rice starting to bend over under the weight of the grains.






No match for the pros! A local paddy field at the same time as my rice in the previous picture.






Clearly a lot more grains on each plant than on mine.





Similar emersed plants to the one I added seen here in a real paddy field.





... and one similar to the other emersed plant that I added can be seen in the foreground of this shot. The arrow head on this variety is more elongated than the one I bought.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (3 Nov 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 6) Grains developing*

Looks like Pogostemon Erectus in your indoor tank, Looking nice mate. Love the concept of this.


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## hydrophyte (14 Nov 2012)

*Re: Japanese Balcony Rice Paddy (Part 6) Grains developing*

That is so cool! This makes me want to try to grow rice in a riparium setup. I suppose that to grow rice indoors you would need to shine very bright light on it. You must have used a lot of root ferts as well.


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## Tim.jp (9 Dec 2012)

Thanks for the plant name Whitey89, from looking at pictures on the internet, I'm sure you are right with "Pogostemon Erectus". My LFS is good at labeling plants with scientific names, I just didn't take notes when I bought this because I wasn't planning to do a journal at the time.


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## Tim.jp (9 Dec 2012)

When the day arrived, a combine harvester was not required!




Aquarium stubble


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## Tim.jp (9 Dec 2012)

Some locals hang up the rice to dry for a while, so I did the same.





Farmers using a threshing machine. Traditionally paddy fields remained flooded even at harvest, but in modern methods the fields are dried out to allow mechanical harvesting. My set up remained wet. 





Separating the grains from the stalks on the rice from my aquarium.










Brown rice.





Boiled for 20 minutes in salted water.
Not much to show for keeping the aquarium going for 8 months, but home grown rice it is!
"Itadakimasu!" as they say in these parts.





Thanks to everyone who has followed this journal and a big thanks to the kind people who run UKAPS for allowing this entry to appear alongside the pristine planted aquarium in journals and not banishing me to ponds, gardeners world, or farming today...





The nearby paddy fields are in winter mode and the plants in my aquarium have mostly died back as average water temperatures are now back below 10C, like they were at the end of March when this project began. 
I had wanted to try growing rice in an aquarium for a long time and am pleased to have given it a go. Next year I will try something else in this aquarium and hope you will follow it. Bye from Japan until next spring.


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## Ady34 (9 Dec 2012)

Tim: "Thanks to everyone who has followed this journal and a big thanks to the kind people who run UKAPS for allowing this entry to appear alongside the pristine planted aquarium in journals and not banishing me to ponds, gardeners world, or farming today..."

Variety is the spice of life mate.... great to see a journal like this and a nice touch showing the end product! 
Your cooked pink shrimp may well have looked nice in the bowl too  ...sorry   
Cheerio,
Ady


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