# Planted Ripariums



## hydrophyte

I am a new member from the United States. 

I post here a few pictures of my riparium tanks, one by one. 

Here is a recent shot of my 245 liter South America themed setup.






That one needs some tidying and more careful photography. I should be able to turn up a better shot maybe this weekend.


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## Mark Evans

hey Devin!   good to see over the other side of the water.

and great to see you growing plants above it   better than most may i say. I'm pretty certain many will learn from you here. 

mark


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## GreenNeedle

I love these tanks.  I think Ripariums could take off in the UK in a big way.  Love to see more if you have any.

AC


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## Dave Spencer

That`s me one step closer to a riparium.  

Dave.


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## samc

i have also been interested in these  do you have any photos of the construction?


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## andy

So what's the difference between a Riparium and a paludarium ?

Looks superb hydrophyte   

It's always been my ambition to set up a large paludarium.....6 feet high with lots of epiphytes and orchids and little beasties running around.

Here's a small effort i set up a few years ago


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## rawr

What's a riparium then? :?

I love jungle aquascapes because they look natural and stuff, but this takes it to a new level! I love the way it looks so natural, like a river side or something. Nice one!

If I ever have the time, money and know-how I would set up a massive one of these with fish and all sorts of insects and stuff inhabiting above the water.


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## Nick16

can we have a plant list and some specs on the tank and equipment please!

we all are curious and it would be good to know what you have used.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks everybody. Really the tank is sort of a mess in that picture. I hope to clean it up and get a better shot soon.

The principal difference between paludariums and ripariums is that while the former use built-up terrestrial areas formed with stones and other materials, the latter use floating and hanging plant support devices to hold the emersed plants up at the waterline: the terrestrial area is only implied in ripariums. Because all of the components are modular and easily moved about, most riparium setups are probably easier to set up and maintain than most paludariums.

I have gotten a lot of plants to bloom in this tank. Here is a flower and a little plantlet on the flower stalk of the large _Echinodorus cordifolius_ there on the right...





That's a nice tank of yours there *andy*. I have had real good luck growing those _Spathiphyllum_ peace lilies: they like to have their feet wet. What kind of bromeliad is that?


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## Themuleous

Wowo those are amazing  love them.

Sam


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## GreenNeedle

andy said:
			
		

> So what's the difference between a Riparium and a paludarium ?



to add to what Hydrophyte says the thing that really interests me with Ripariums is that they are a little like Lego/Meccano in that in theory you could move the 'components' about very easily and get several 'scapes' photographed in a single day 

With underwater scapes or paludriums its not quite that easy.

AC


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## hydrophyte

Nick16 said:
			
		

> can we have a plant list and some specs on the tank and equipment please!
> 
> we all are curious and it would be good to know what you have used.



Nick,

The equipment/materials for this display is quite simple. I wanted the whole think to be easy to set up and service. The tank is an Aqueon 245-liter "tall" glass aquarium, 90cm wide X 45cm deep X 60cm tall. The Sunlight Supply Teklight light fixture holds two 39-watt HO T5 lamps. This is just a little more than .25-watts/liter, but the HO lamps really are very bright and the fixture has high-efficiency polished refelctors. Filtration & water circulation is achieved with a Fluval 205 canister, a cheap filter that moves something like 300-liters/hour. I use a 75-watt submersible heater during the winter months when the room is cooler. The hanging and floating riparium plant supports were manufactured by Riparium Supply. The riparium planters contain baked clay gravel similar to Fluorite or Aquasoil. The bottom of the tank is covered with a coarse silica sand, but I bury fertilizer tabs there from time to time for the underwater plants.

And that's basically it.

This shot from a while ago shows the whole thing including most of the hardware.


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## hydrophyte

Here is another riparium that I have set up now, a _Cryptocoryne_-themed tank. I did some gardening tonight and got a few shots.





I have some nice specimens in this display and I enjoy it very much. I need to plant some more crypts in the underwater area to brighten it up. There really are fish in there. A few of the barbs are visible there in the lower right.


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## CeeJay

Hi hydrophyte

All of your tanks look truly awesome. I want one   

Chris


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much *chrisr01*! These tanks have really all been pretty easy to set up. I think that it simplifies everything having the better part of the greenery above water. 

Last night I got a few pictures of this really happy _Anubias_ with my King of Pop glove because I transferred it from a culture tank into the crypts display. I had been growing it on an Epi-Trellis raft for about 5 months.





The leaves have a beautiful luster which this picture fails to show. If you look at the latest full-tank shot you can see it there in the lower right of the emersed area. What a nice plant. It has great root development.


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## Themuleous

Man I love these tanks, proper quality.    

Sam


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## Dan Crawford

Fantastic, all of them! I hope to be setting up something similar very soon, thanks for even more inspiration.


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## samc

i think a shoal of pencilfish would look awsome in there  

hey dan i am going to set one up one day. my idea is similar to yours so ill look foward to seeing it


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## Nick16

i take it you have to 'spary mist' the plants to keep them moist?


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## hydrophyte

Thanks again everyone.

I do hope to re-stock this tank with some less rambunctious animals. Those loaches and barbs don't get a long so well. I have another tank almost ready for the loaches. Pencilfish might be a good choice in there. 

I don't have to mist this tank I just keep the canopy on tight to retain humidity.


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## CeeBee

Really lovely   

That's all I need.  Another addiction  8)


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## Iliveinazoo

I tried something like this a little while ago but all of the plants above the water seemed to shrivel and die as if the heat from the lamp killed them, how do you stop your plants from wilting?


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## hydrophyte

That crypts tank is covered with a glass canopy to retain humidity. The crypts and _Anubias_ in there really need high humidity.






These riparium tanks really are pretty easy to set up and maintain. Since most of the plants are emersed, one can have a nice bright green display without having to inject extra CO2. I use short, low-tech plants, such as crypts, for the underwater area.


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## Mark Evans

i'm becoming more and more impressed the more i see.

 very tempting indeed, to maybe try one myself


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## hydrophyte

Hey Mark thanks I hope my tanks will look as good as yours someday.

I finally started to save image data as RAW + jpg. I had been putting it off for such a long time because I knew it would take much more computer memory and some more post-processing time. That shot above is the jpeg right out of the camera with saturation adjusted a little bit. Here is my best shot with adjustment of the RAW file with Photoshop.





...a fish tank, with a nice green salad on top.

The brightness and contrast are better represented, but the colors are all screwed up. I played around for a while, but the "auto" white balance with the camera jpeg was the only version that looked right. I need to get back to it. 

Hey I'd love to send you the Riparium Supply stuff if you can ever make the time and space for a riparium display.


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## hydrophyte

Here is a quick shot from last night of my South America biotope setup.





That image is the "scratch" version. I'll come back  later with a better file.


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## Themuleous

Loving the ech's at the back right, with their emersed growth leaves 

Sam


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## Mark Evans

hydrophyte said:
			
		

> Hey Mark thanks I hope my tanks will look as good as yours someday.




 they do!....

different styles my friend, and your ripariums are to die for


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## John Starkey

Wow just read through all this thread,now these setups have got me thinking this is what I could do with my big setup,less maintainance,no co2,less water changes,next year will be when I am going to strip my big tank down so that gives me plenty of time to learn all I can about these ripariums,
thanks for showing us
regard john


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## hydrophyte

Themuleous said:
			
		

> Loving the ech's at the back right, with their emersed growth leaves
> 
> Sam



That is _Echinodorus cordifolius_. It is the best swordplant that I have found for this so far. Many other _Echnidorus_ have a tendency to grow underwater-form leaves (which don't look right, and dry up in the air) when grown emersed in low/moderate light, but _cordifolius_ always hangs onto the emersed-form leaves. My 'Tropica Marble Queen' is behaving well too and is a beautiful plant. I think that is is a variety of _cordifolius_.


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## Nick16

there seems to be an absense of riparium shops in the UK, im after a basket or something so i can grow some plants (probably a sword) out of the water. (whether it will survive? - i think i will have to spray mist it???)

where can i get some suplies?


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## Polly

I used one of the 'baskets' that the Tropica and Aquafleur plants come in.   Just cut out one or two 'joins' where you want to put in a sucker to attach it to the glass - works a treat!   I have some Java fern in mine which helps to slow down the return from an over-head filter in one of my 31 litre tanks.  It's growing really well   

You could also make a floating collar with some  Foam Pads  from ebay


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## hydrophyte

Last night while servicing the 455-litre Mexico river tank I was so pleased to discover this...





These are spider lily (_Hymenocallis_) blooms. I have had this plant for a couple of years and it has only flowered a few times, but it's worth the wait. These will only last for just a day or so. The plant will probably go dormant for a few months now. I will remove it to a cool, dry and dark spot, then put it back in the tank again in late winter.

Here is a shot of the whole tank from a few months ago...





If you look in the upper right you will see a pair of rain lily (_Zephyranthes_) blooms.


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## Mark Evans

oh mate, that's gorgeous. It's great to see it done properly.


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks Mark here's another shot that is more liek a close-up of that spider lily.


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## viktorlantos

ugh this is awesome. congrat man.   

hopefully the flower will last a bit. are there any fragrance of the flower?


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much. This bloom only lasted a couple of days. I did not detect any fragrance.


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## hydrophyte

I think I already posted this shot in the journal thread, but since I have these flower pictures here I post again this picture of the ladies' tresses orchid, _Spiranthes cernua_ var. _odorata_, that's going right now in my tank at home.


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## hydrophyte

I just tore down my 65-gallon tank. I think I posted a couple of shots over in the journal thread for that tank. I took a few extra pictures of the _Colocasia fallax_ 'Silver Dollar' taro when I yanked it out.





This plant has such attractive leaves.


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## hydrophyte

A while back I took apart the scape in my 80-litre riparium in order to make some room for some plants that I wanted to propagate. I had a few different stem plants that I situated in there with hanging and floating riparium planters. I wasn't really trying for a coherent aquascape, but the plants grew in pretty nice. Here is a view into the tank from above...





I haven't really been tending this setup as a display, so the underwater area is dingy. I have a few fish in there along with some crypts and also algae. I might try to tidy it up so that I can get a full-tank shot.


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## aquaticmaniac

Gorgeous ripariums and very inspiring. I might have to give it another go...


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much!.

Here is that same picture of the 80-litre with emersed stem plants, but with numbers and accompanying list of observations for each plant...






_Ranunculus inundatus_. This one just sat in its planter for a long time--months--but now it's growing well. However, it doesn't have the best growth habit for riparium planters; it runs.
*
_Staurogyne_ sp.. This is a neat little plant. This one actually has a pretty sturdy stem and it stands straight up. Right now it is covered with flower buds and I am excited to see its flowers. Maybe I will be able to determine the species.
*
_Pilea_ sp.. This plant is in the nettle family, Urticaceae, and it has the general look of the wild nettles we have around here, but it doesn't sting. This is one of my new favorite plants. It has a perfect habit for planting on a raft. It grows great with its roots right in the water. It will probably do best planted in this was with regular water column dosing, especially for N and Fe.
*
_Alternanthera reineckii_ var. _rosaefolia_. This is an easy plant to grow like this, but it gets leggy. It might do best with regular pruning of growing tips to encourage a more bushy habit.
*
_Ludwigia_ sp.. This plant was very slow to establish in the the lanter, but now it's growing well. I saw a response when I added mineralized topsoil to the planter cup.
*
_Limnophila aromatica_. This one has had performance similar to the _Ludwigia_. It started slow, but is just now starting to grow better. 
*
_Hyptis_ sp.. This plant has been circulating in the hobby as _Hemigraphis traian_, but it's not a _Hemigraphis_. It grows well on a raft with its roots right in the water, as I have it here, but it grows sort of tall and leggy. I am going to see if I can encourage more bushy growth by pruning the growing tips.
*
_Bacopa caroliniana_. I was disappointed in the initial performance of this one--it almost fizzled completely--but it also turned around when I added MTS to the planter cup. This might be the magic solution for some of these plants. This plant develops as attractive floating mats along the edges of ponds and streams and I am going to do my best to nurture these little stems along.


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## hydrophyte

My _Staurogyne_ sp. (probably ";low grow") plant has flowers on it. The first opened a few days ago.





Here is a closer view of the flower spike and little blooms.





I have this one going in my 20-gallon with a bunch of other stems. You can the _Staurogyne_ in the picture above. It's plant #2.


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## Mark Evans

fantastic Devin.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks Mark. Really this plant was easy to grow.


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## hydrophyte

I have an update from my little 80-litre setup. 





This is a different variation that I have not tried before. The tank is filled almost to the top and the above-water plants are all houseplant/tropical selections. Here is a view from the top.





There are some fun fish in there too. I am going to try to take some time to get some shots of them too.


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## hydrophyte

I haven't been able to spend much time with it, but tonight I got back to fixing up the 90cm riparium setup that I have going over in a public space. I did re-plant it a couple of months and I have just been waiting for some of the stuff to grow to size before trying to better resolve the look of the layout. Here is a quick shot from tonight.





The underwater area is a mess. The rocks are all just piled in a heap and the manzanita branches are laying on their sides in a second heap. The plants are looking good though. I did have a theme in mind while replanting. Here are the major elements...


a carpet of aquatic stems trained to grow across trellis rafts.
_Acorus gramineus_ (sweetflag) in several planters as erect, grassy background plants
semi-woody flowering bushes (e.g., _Ruellia brittoniana, Ludwigia_ sp. _Hibiscus_) trained to grow into midground.
It will take a while for this to grow in right and look pretty good again. Here is an older shot (dated 20 June 2009) of this tank showing that it had a somewhat different theme then, but some of the same kinds of plants.


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## hydrophyte

Here is another update from the 90cm Mexico biotope from last night





This is not much changed from the 1-18 update, but I had rearranged the hardscape and plants some.

It will look good when the *Bacopa* carpet has some time to fill in and cover the planters.


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## Steve Smith

That looks beautiful   I was thinking the fish don't really have a lot of cover, but of course, they have plants above them!


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## Goodygumdrops

I really,really like this stuff,I've been lurking on various forums for months,looking at paludariums and ripariums thinking I couldn't do this.
Your tanks are amazing,I was still thinking I couldn't do it,but that 80 litre you just posted puts ideas in my head!!
Fabulous tanks.


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## hydrophyte

SteveUK said:
			
		

> That looks beautiful   I was thinking the fish don't really have a lot of cover, but of course, they have plants above them!



Thanks so much SteveUK. Yes I think that the fish do appreciate the cover created by the emersed plants. The floating mat of foliage along the rear pane of glass is a good approximation of the overhanging marginal plants that you see along the edges of streams and rivers.


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## hydrophyte

Here's a recent shot of a pretty complete layout for my 60cm layout. 





I got this shot quick before getting in there to move some things around. I am going to switch out the stones and change some of the plants too.


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