# 60cm Riparium



## hydrophyte (12 Mar 2010)

I have a start on a new display. I don't have the tank in place yet, so I start this pre-journal thread to jot down some ideas. As I get it rolling I might just continue with this thread, or start a new journal thread.

I had a lot of fun with the layout that I had going in my 200L tank.  Here's a recent shot of that one. 






I list here are a few features that characterize this one pretty well:


A tank filled with water to about 2/3 of total depth
Relatively bright lighting
Erect, tidy, "grassy" background plant (_Cyperus_) that throws relatively little shade
Fine-leaved sprawling stem plants (_Bacopa_, _Limnophila_, and others) growing on trellis rafts and forming dense floating carpet
Underwater scape lacking plants, but with an artistically-rendered stone layout
Relatively large and showy fish
A striking centerpiece plant (_Cyrtosperma_)

This new project will use some of the same elements, with important variations. I want to employ a general "Nature Aquarium" design concept. I list here the main features that will support this idea, which include a couple of important modifications for emersed riparium growing:


Emersed plants with relatively fine foliage
Emersed plants having mainly subdued, green foliage, as opposed to leaf variegation or bright coloration
A well-rendered underwater hardscape lacking plants or having just a few bright green plants
A group or two of small, tightly-shoaling fish
No conspicuous centerpiece plants or fish

So, moving on to more specific ideas, I organize the general plan here by sub-heading.

*Tank Hardware*

As for the 200-litre display, I intend for this setup to also feature a mostly-full tank, but I will use a smaller enclosure. My best idea right now is to use a standard 60-litre tank--I have several of these laying around--with the top rim plastic rim removed. I like this tank shape (60cm wide X 30cm deep X 30cm tall) very much. This is a smaller tank than any that I have tried for an actual riaprium layout, but I think that it should work well with the right configuration of equipment an plant selection. As I did for the 200-litre setup, I will probably fill this tank with water to about 2/3 of total depth, so it will hold about 40 litres of water. 

I will figure out some kind of canister filter for filtration and circulation.

I want to put this tank on a stand built in the _raw industrial_ (http://hydrophytesblog.com/?p=214) style that I have used several times before. This type of stand will look perfect with this light fixture...

http://www.paradigmgardens.com/hydroponicstore/store/product.php?productid=2204&cat=84&page=2

I will put all of the background plants in magnetic riparium planters. For a small layout this planter style is  superior to the model that uses suction cups. The suction cups stick out from the side of the planter cup, adding about 5cm to the total width. By using the magnetic riparium planters I will be able to fit seven cups along that rear pane of glass in the 60cm tank.






*Hardscape*

As I mentioned above, I hope to draw on Nature Aquarium design principals for this layout. I intend for the underwater area to lack plants, or include just a few, and feature a well-rendered hardscape with rocks. I have enjoyed the effect of the rounded river stones in the 200-litre setup.






While it is pretty easy to situate these rounded stones in a convincing layout, I think that I will try to use angular pieces for this project. I will also encourage the development of an algae crust or patina for these rocks. So long as filaments of hair algae are scraped away from the rocks and the gravel is maintained clean with frequent stirring, a scape with algae-covered rocks like these maintains a neat yet natural appearance. 

*Emersed Plants--Layout Background*

My general idea is to develop the background with "grassy" foliage. The major constraint for the plant growth habit and shape is that they scale well with this smaller tank.  I think I have some pretty good selections for this concept. The selections that I describe here grow well in wet/marginal aquatic situations.

I have several ideas for midground emersed plants to be grown on trellis rafts. I will come back to describe these with another post.

Of these three plants only the first, _Pogonatherum crinitum_ is a true grass (Graminae). The _Cyperus_ is a sedge (Cyperaceae) and the _Acorus_ is a sweetflag (Acoraceae).

*Pogonatherum crinitum*

This one is still untested for riparium culture--I only recently acquired it--but it looks like it might be a winner. Known with the common names "baby panda bamboo" or "miniature bamboo", among others, it is not a true bamboo, but it is a grass. I am confused as to whether _Pogonatherum paniceum_ (another plant that appears in searches) and _P. crinitum_ are synonyms, or two distinct but similar species. I get the impression that they are the same thing. Descriptions for both describe plants growing with bamboo-like foliage to about 45cm tall. It is very popular as a bonsai subject or houseplant and also makes a good houseplant. This could be a great riparium plant.






*Acorus gramineus "dwarf"*

I am still uncertain about the best classification for this plant. I have the species right, but I have run into some conflicting information on the variety, so I just identify it with "dwarf" in double quotes. The foliage is neat and tidy and has a perfect shape for a setup like this, with leaves that arch forward from the creeping rhizome at about a 45 degree angle. The top of that planter cup is three inches or so wide. The leaves reach to about 20cm in length. Bruised foliage of this particular _Acorus_ variety has a wonderful sweet spicy smell. Sweetflags are highly susceptible to spider mite infestation and damage, so it will be important to watch for these plants and treat promptly if they appear. 






*Cyperus albostriatus 'Nanus'*

I have had this plant for a couple of years. It is unusual among _Cyperus_ in that it has a running rhizomatous growth habit, instead of clumping habit. It is a bit difficult to see in this photograph, but the foliage includes leaves that arise in whorls from axils on the tops bare flowering stalks, like other umbrella sedges, as well as longer leaves that grow out of the ground from the plant crown. It grows to about 30cm tall. This is a hardy plant and it stays looking very nice all winter long when kept as a houseplant. It dose well as a marginal aquatic, but thrives best with the crown at least an inch or so above the water surface.


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## LondonDragon (12 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

Did you ever find out which Cyperus you were using on the 200 litre? I am looking for something like that for my nano tank and all I find are versions that grow to 2m tall lol thanks


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## hydrophyte (12 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

That one is _Cyperus alternifolius_ var. _gracilis_. You should be able to find it. It is one of them readily available _Cyperus_ over here. It is an excellent plant for medium to large riaprium layouts. It grows to about 50cm tall.


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## LondonDragon (12 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*



			
				hydrophyte said:
			
		

> That one is _Cyperus alternifolius_ var. _gracilis_. You should be able to find it. It is one of them readily available _Cyperus_ over here. It is an excellent plant for medium to large riaprium layouts. It grows to about 50cm tall.


That is still too long, any plant species you would recommend for a smaller nano tank? tried some bamboo but the leaves dried off.


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## hydrophyte (12 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

Oh right it is for your nano setup. I'd say that those three selections above might be about the best options for grassy-looking plants.

Consider also _Eleocharis acicularis_.

The plantedbox.com store has _Juncus repens_. 

http://www.plantedbox.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=268

I haven't tried that one but it looks like it could be a good one for ripariums.


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## hydrophyte (12 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

*Emersed Plants--Layout Midground*

This is just a quick post. With consideration that the background plants will be rather small i will also need to use emresed mid-ground plants of short stature. 

I don't have a  whole lot of experience with them, but it appears that aquatic mosses can grow very well on riparium trellis rafts. Here is some Christmas moss after five weeks growth on a Nano Trellis Raft.



			
				Hoppy said:
			
		

>


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## Mark Evans (12 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

Devin. I think it's time I prepared my 60cm for a set up like this. I'll be following this like a hawk.


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## hydrophyte (12 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

You got it Mark. I am certain that you could put together a stunning layout in that tank. I ought to get you more of these magnetic planters.


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## hydrophyte (14 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

I have some hardscape ideas here. I'd like to hear opinions that you might have about these. 

_*Lace Rock*_ 

I believe that this stone is calcareous, so it will probably affect water chemistry. It is also very rough. I have a number of old pieces from a saltwater tank that I had some time ago. It has a neat appearance about it, but I don't see it used much in planted setups







*Lava Rock*

Lava Rock has a way of looking overused to me. It is also very rough and I wonder about how compatible it will be with the oto cats that I want to use in here(?). I'll need to find a source for this material I only have this one piece.







*Limestone*

This is a limestone or dolomite (?) that is the main kind of rock around here. I can find it sticking up out of the ground anywhere that I look. I would expect this one to affect water chemistry through dissolution, but it might not be a very severe effect. I could perhaps just use RO in the setup, then count on this stuff to slowly add minerals.


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## rad89 (15 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

I like the idea of Lace rock as it isn't all that common, as you said. If you were planning to cover some of the hardscape in moss then I think you could be rather clever with the lace rock due to the amount of indentations in it and the extremely random shapes available.


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## hydrophyte (15 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

Yeah I am leaning toward the lace rock too. The only trouble with that choice is that hair algae really likes to grow on its surface, and it's difficult to remove from the deep pockets in the stone. I might just try that one out and it will be easy enough to remove and replace later on.


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## hydrophyte (15 Mar 2010)

*Re: Pre-journal: 60cm Riparium*

I made some more headway late last night. I had all of the plants goring out the top of a 80-litre that was sitting in the same spot where the new setup will go. I moved the riparium plants to this plastic basin while doing the switch.





I think that I'm going to use most of these same plants for the layout. This gives an idea of what they might look like together.

Here's the tank, a "flood damage special" standard 60-litre (60cm wide X 30cm tall X 30cm deep) with top plastic rim removed.


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## hydrophyte (18 Mar 2010)

I painted a background on the tank. The background goes to a bit higher than 2/3 up. I will fill it to even with the top of the paint, so there will be about 15cm of seem above the waterline.





I also filled it up for a leak test. It looks OK so far.


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## hydrophyte (18 Mar 2010)

I got a few plants into the tank too. The dwarf _A. gramineus_ is really a great plant and perfect for a little setup like this one. Sometimes _Acorus_ are a bit tricky and resist growing, but these plants are doing well and already have good root development inside of the planter cup.





Notice that the cup is filled to more than 1/2 full with hydroton. It seems this plant does better with a coarse-grained substrate. As is true for _Anubias_ plants, it is also important for the creeping rhizome to be _on top of_ the substrate. You can see the little bit of green of the rhizome in this next shot.


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## altaaffe (18 Mar 2010)

Man, have I missed being able to see these posts over the last few months.  Looking forward to seeing how this goes and trying a little of it myself on my tanks too.


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## hydrophyte (18 Mar 2010)

Thanks very much altaaffe. I have some more shots here--just need to format them and load to my blog. Actually last night I got all of the riparium plants into this tank.


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## hydrophyte (19 Mar 2010)

Here's the whole planting as I have it now.





This is subject to change--I will probably move the plants around some. It definitely has that "just planted" look, but it should start to shape up as the plants grow in. The plants will also cover that foam and plastic as they get bigger.


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## hydrophyte (19 Mar 2010)

Here is another view of the planting.





Those planter cups are conspicuous from this angle, but that is in part because of the light reflecting up from the bare glass tank bottom. The planters will become more obscured as the plants grow in and throw more shade.

The plant layout really needs more vertical dimension. The _Pogonatherum_ grass is supposed to grow to 30cm and look more and more like mini-bamboo as it gets larger. I might also consider adding an erect stem plant of some kind.

I'll come back next with a shot of the tank with gravel.


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## Steve Smith (19 Mar 2010)

That's really nice   What light have you got over this?


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## hydrophyte (19 Mar 2010)

Thanks Steve! That light is just a single-tube, 24-watt HO T5 that I purchased at a hydroponics shop for about $30 US. It is plenty enough light for these little plants.


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## Garuf (19 Mar 2010)

I notice those lights cropping up a lot here and there when you're searching for cheap lums, I quite like their utilitarian austere look, if you want them steve, I posted a link to some on Georges thread for lidl lights that go for Â£10 each one.


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## hydrophyte (19 Mar 2010)

I agree that these economical lights with bare metal have an appealing, utilitarian style. This one goes with the stand that I made for this setup with plywood and steel pipes.


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## hydrophyte (19 Mar 2010)

I got some gravel into this tank and snapped a quick picture too. I might still shuffle the plants around some.


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## hydrophyte (20 Mar 2010)

I have a start on the hardscape. I decided to go with the lace rock.





...hope to have pictures loaded soon.


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## hydrophyte (21 Mar 2010)

Here is one hardscape idea.





This looks more like something you would see in saltwater. I can try other ideas easily enough. You can see that I need to add some taller plants. I just got a larger stem plant in there and I will look for other additional stuff too. I might add a taller _Cyperus_.


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## Mark Evans (21 Mar 2010)

hydrophyte said:
			
		

> I might still shuffle the plants around some.



the beauty of this style eh Devin   

looking great indeed


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## Steve Smith (21 Mar 2010)

Nice!  I like it


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## hydrophyte (21 Mar 2010)

Thanks you guys!

Here is a bit of a rescape with a stone rearrangement and a couple of new taller plants.


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## hydrophyte (22 Mar 2010)

Here's another view, from a different angle.


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## hydrophyte (22 Mar 2010)

Here is one additional shot.





I added fish last night and I hope to be back soon with pictures of them. Today they are uncomfortable in their new surroundings and just hiding in the shade beneath the plants.


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## Steve Smith (22 Mar 2010)

Excellent   I particularly like the plants on the right side.  Whats the plant middle/back? (behind the larger leaf/red tinted plant).


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## Jase (22 Mar 2010)

I'm fascinated by your Ripariums Devin, the plants always look so healthy. Out of interest, is there a difference between a Paludarium and a Riparium?


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## hydrophyte (22 Mar 2010)

SteveUK said:
			
		

> Excellent   I particularly like the plants on the right side.  Whats the plant middle/back? (behind the larger leaf/red tinted plant).



Do you mean the tallest grassy plant? That one is an umbrella sedge, _Cyperus alternifolius_ var. _gracilis_. 





It gets to be a bit tall (~50cm) but that is one of my favorite riparium plants.


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## Steve Smith (22 Mar 2010)

Ah, no.  Not that one (although it is very nice).  I mean the one to the right of it, and second tallest in the above photo.  It looks like a small shrub


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## hydrophyte (22 Mar 2010)

Oh that one is a _Hyptis_ sp.. This plant will grow underwater too.


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## hydrophyte (26 Mar 2010)

Here is a quick shot from tonight.


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## Steve Smith (26 Mar 2010)

That Cyperus looks like it's really going for it!  I like the addition of the submerged plants.  Looks a little like needle leaf java? The plant to the left looks like a plant which the name escapes me...  Stem plant with long leaves...  Gah!

Anyhow, it's looking top notch


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## hydrophyte (26 Mar 2010)

Oh that underwater plant is willow _Hygrophila_.

The left-most emersed plant is baby panda bamboo (_Pogonatherum crinitum_) which is often used as a bonsai subject or accent, but does well in the water too.


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## dw1305 (26 Mar 2010)

Hi all,
It looks really good, I must admit I'm not familiar with either _Hyptis_ or _Pogonatherum crinitum_ as plants, although I have seen dried Hyptis "Brazilian Mint" sold as a painkiller and all round wonder drug. Did you get the plants in the UK?

cheers Darrel


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## hydrophyte (26 Mar 2010)

I'm writing from the States. I don't know about _Hyptis_, but I'll bet that you can get that _Pogonatherum_ there in the UK. It is a common horticultural plant.

It can be trained like bonsai. Look at the image results that I got with a Bing search...    http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pogonatherum+bonsai&FORM=BIFD


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## dw1305 (26 Mar 2010)

Hi all,
Thanks "Hydrophyte" I'll keep my eyes open for _Pogonatherum_, I couldn't find a source for it in the UK, but I expect it will soon appear if it is popular stateside.
cheers Darrel


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## hydrophyte (26 Mar 2010)

You bet Darrel. 

You might try inquiring around shops that have bonsai plants and materials. It is also used in garden ponds.


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## TBRO (26 Mar 2010)

Hey Devin, looking good. Have you ever tried Utricularia graminifolia as a riparium plant. I have heard anecdotal accounts of it growing well when cuttings have been lodged at the surface. I fancy trying it in my WK/riparium scape, do you think it would need a floating trellis ?


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## hydrophyte (28 Mar 2010)

That would be a good one to try TBRO. I wonder if that plant might be less temperamental growing emersed. There is a new trellis raft design that is special for little nano plants like _U. graminifolia_.

Here is a close up with those black phantom tetras. I like these little fish a lot.


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## Pixels (28 Mar 2010)

Hello hydrophyte

I am interested in the magnetic riparium planters, can you tell me what the dimensions are? 

I am hoping I could fit two in a 30cm tank.

Cheers
Pix


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## hydrophyte (28 Mar 2010)

Hi Pix, Those magnetic planter are about 8cm wide at the top. Two would fit handily in a 30cm tank. You could probably accommodate six of them in there.


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## hydrophyte (28 Mar 2010)

My little _Pilea nummularifolia_ plants are looking good. I have these stems planted on Nano Trellis Rafts. 





This plant is really perfect for growing this way. It makes a nice and tidy foreground feature and it's an easy grower.

This is another _Pilea_ species (an unknown) but this shot shows how I have this plant planted. The roots just hang right in the water.


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## hydrophyte (29 Mar 2010)

Here is a quick full tank shot.





I hung up a white sheet for the picture. That tan wall is not such a good background for foliage. I might elect to re-paint this wall in white for the sake of picture-taking.


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## hydrophyte (29 Mar 2010)

Here is another foliage shot.





I like this view from above.


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## hydrophyte (4 Apr 2010)

It still hasn't grown in enough to do much for the scape, but the baby panda bamboo (_Pogonatherum crinitum_) has started to root in its planter and grow new leaves. I think that this will probably end up being a really great riparium plant. It will look so cool to have a little miniature bamboo stand growing up in the scape. 

When I made this plant purchase I actually got two different _P. crinitum_ selections, the regular species, which has leaves of a light green color, and a second with whitish-green leaf pinstriping (var. _variegatum_). This variegated one is growing well too.





Like I say the baby panda bamboo hasn't really started to fill in much. In this shot you can see two planters of it over on the far left side of the tank.


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## hydrophyte (4 Apr 2010)

Here is another new plant that might be a good fit for this setup, an _Adiantum_ sp. maidenhair fern.





At the moment I have it going in a separate culture tank, but I might move it over to this riparium if it grows up a bit larger. I have had it going in several planters for a couple of months now. These suffered a lot when I repotted them and lost all of their original leaves, but it looks as thought they are growing again pretty well.


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## hydrophyte (5 Apr 2010)

Here's a crop of that last shot of the baby panda bamboo (_Pogonatherum crinitum_) for a better view of the leaf variegation. It is quite attractive.





This plant is doing well--growing slow and steady. I only recently started trying it out in this tank, but it looks like it will be a winner.


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## hydrophyte (12 Apr 2010)

I think that this has already been linked around here, but I was reminded that there is a quick demo video on using those riparium Magnetic Hanging Planters and Trellis Rafts over at PlantedBox.com. Here is the link to the Vimeo video.

Riparium Supply on Vimeo

That's superb picture quality in that video.


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## hydrophyte (22 Apr 2010)

Here's a quick shot from a couple of nights ago. There's nothing much new in this tank--it has been real easy care. The plants are growing slowly. All I do is change the water, feed the fish and clean the glass. The plants have grown in a bit more.


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## bumcrumb (25 Apr 2010)

hi
very interesting read, looks lovely  
my bro, today, was talking about setting up a red claw crab set up a little like yours.
my question is, how do you go about filtering the water as its lower and would cause a bit of a splash if using a external or hob(if it reaches the water line)
have you got an internal filter in there? any recommendations on a riparium filter setup that is hidden in a way?
keep up the fantastic work and them magnetic little pots are so cool


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## hydrophyte (26 Apr 2010)

Hey thanks so much bumcrumb. Filtration for this setup is pretty simple. If you look closely at the left-most corner of the tank in that shot you will see the little submersible power filter that I used, a Duetto II.

This filter works great for this system, but for larger ripariums I prefer canister filters. If the tank is set up with the water line at or near the top then the usage is the same as for any other tank, but if one opts to lower the water more than a couple of inches it does become necessary to modify the plumbing for a longer reach.


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## hydrophyte (17 May 2010)

I am going to re-do the layout in this tank with new stones and some new plants so I wanted to get a couple quick shots before moving stuff around. The plants have grown in real nice. This was a great selection of plants for a nano/smallish riparium setup.

I like the fish in this tank, but they don't photograph very well. I tried to get a shot with the tetras but it doesn't look like much. I mean to introduce some lighter-colored rocks and maybe also some bright green plants so that the underwater area won't be so dark.





Here's a good view of the emersed foliage.


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## hydrophyte (17 May 2010)

While replanting this one  I intend to use just the new trellis raft design. These should be real good for nano riparium setups.





This design has some nice features. There are two or three plastic snap fasteners and an extra puzzle-piece float. It is about 10cm long. If snapped tight into place with the hanging planter it only sticks out 5cm or so, so it should be easy to hide in smaller tanks. Here is a shot of one planted with some creeping charlie (_Pilea nummularifolia_).


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## TBRO (18 May 2010)

Great designs on the trellis Devin, is it a velcro thing ? Have you ever tried any of the traditional underwater carpet plants, HC, UG, Gloss etc - UG has nice flowers, would be interesting to see if the others flower. T


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## hydrophyte (19 May 2010)

Yeah there are a number of good aquarium stem plants that grow well emersed on these things. My favorites are certain _Bacopa_ and _Hygrophila_. You can see _B. monnieri_ there to the far right in that last picture. _Ludwigia_ do all right too, although some of them are more touchy. I have been meaning to try HC.


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## hydrophyte (29 May 2010)

Here is another way to use that Nano Trellis Raft. This time with a sprawling emersed stem plant (_Bacopa_) rooted in a planter and then growing forward across the raft surface. 






This eventually grows into a nice floating carpet. The plants do require moderate-bright light intensity and pruning of the growing tips to grow in dense like this and cover the foam and plastic.


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## hydrophyte (31 May 2010)

I got back to replanting this tank tonight. I think that I have a pretty good result. It still looks a bit disheveled, but it should perk up as the plants grows in.





That _Cyperus_ there on the left is what I believe to be _C. albostriatus_ and it is shorter that the _C. alternifolius_ that I had in there. I have a couple of other new additions too. Here is a shot from a couple of weeks ago for comparison.





The new planting is mainly of finer foliage, and it's shorter.


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## hydrophyte (3 Jun 2010)

I have made a bit more headway with the new layout--I added a hardscape. IT is not so special but it adds some dimension anyway.





I consider adding some underwater plants. Can anyone think of a small, bright green crypt that I could use?


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## hydrophyte (17 Jun 2010)

Here is another quick update. I switched up the hardscape again, this time electing to use some interesting rocks of different colors that I had sitting around. This of course violates the rule about using only one kind of rock, but I enjoy admiring the different colors and patterns in these stones. 





There really are fish in there. These phantom tetras are mainly black anyway and they hide in the shadows under the planters.


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## hydrophyte (19 Jun 2010)

This is a crop from that last picture to better show the foliage textures. I really like the plants in this layout.





And here is detail for the stones. I did a lot of poking around to find these nice rocks.


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## hydrophyte (28 Jul 2010)

I have torn dow this tank. I was never especially satisfied with the hedge-like planted layout that I had in here--although it did include several pretty cool plants--and I needed a tank for the Riparium Supply and Tank Planters vendor table at the American Cichlid Association 2010 Convention last weekend. Here is a quick shot of the setup that I had there.





I was mainly sitting there at the table all three days of the convention, but I did get up a few times to go shoot some pictures. I got a few nice shots of the show fish. I need to format those and load them up.


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## TBRO (30 Jul 2010)

Did you get much interest from Chichlid keepers. Seems like a good way to keep plants with fish that are always on"destruct" setting. T


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## hydrophyte (6 Aug 2010)

Yes it was pretty well-received there. This was the first time that I had gotten these ideas in front of very many fish hobbyists and it was interesting to see their reactions.

On the other hand, I have over and over again seen the riparium idea rejected by planted aquarium enthusiasts, which seems odd. I don't if there might be some kind of dogmatic ideas about using CO2 or certain kinds of plants in the plant hobby(?).


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## wearsbunnyslippers (6 Aug 2010)

i dont see why either. most people seem really into gardening and other plants as well, like bonsai, carnivorous plants, cacti, orchids or something along those lines. aquascaping is under water gardening, and most of the times is a lot more about the plants and fish are secondary. to me this seems just like another extension of the hobby and a way of adding another dimension to your tanks. now you can grow plants above water too, and plants that you couldnt grow in you tank normally.

i personally think its great! i cant wait til i am settled and can start my riparium with all the supplies you sent me!


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## hydrophyte (9 Aug 2010)

Hey that is right that you had gotten a box of stuff too. Just let me know if you might like any ideas while you start planning that out. I'll be around. Do you know which size/shape tank you might use yet?


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## wearsbunnyslippers (9 Aug 2010)

i have a 90x30x30 and two 60x30x30's

i am not sure if a 30cm is going to give me enough depth though, i would really like a 45....


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## hydrophyte (9 Aug 2010)

I'd say that 30cm is plenty of space. This same tank of mine is just 30cm deep and there is plenty of space for the planter cups, trellis rafts, plants and some open water along the front.


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## steevwatson (12 Aug 2013)

Your riparium looks great. I'd love to set up a riparium of my own. The only spare tank I have right now is an old 18" x 10" x 10" do you think this is too small?
Thanks 
Steve


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## hydrophyte (13 Aug 2013)

steevwatson said:


> Your riparium looks great. I'd love to set up a riparium of my own. The only spare tank I have right now is an old 18" x 10" x 10" do you think this is too small?
> Thanks
> Steve


 
If you select the smaller plants your tank will work well enough.


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## lurch1000 (12 Feb 2014)

Stunning riparium Sir. I stumbled upon this while looking for things to do with my 2'. Next job is to look for riparium supplies in the UK without it breaking the bank. I am thinking of using bathroom organisers and fitting a mesh to encourage moss growth along the front of them to disguise them as I'm not sure about the floating rafts and trellis. I think I'd look for more vertical growth than creeping growth from some of these too as I want to keep some submerged plants.

{Edit due to Apple's stupid autocorrect}


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