• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

New Beginnings (Aaron's Riparium)

I wondered what kind of lights they are. Are they mini-fluorescents or LEDs?

That blue background looks good.
 
hydrophyte said:
If you don't mind shopping a bit more I would actually recommend against both the Echinodorus 'Ozelot Green' and the Anubias barteri var. nana. The Anubias would do best in a high-humidity setup with a closed top, so it would be less suitable for your riparium, unless you were to use it underwater. I have tried the regular red Echinodorus 'Ozelot' a couple of times and I found that it resists growing emersed. Even up in the air in a well-lit tank it insisted on growing the flimsy underwater-form leaves, which dried up in the air. A real good safe bet among those Platedbox.com offerings is E. cordifolius 'Marble Queen', which happily grows emersed as a very attractive specimen.

22-i-10-echinodorus-cordifolius-tropica-marble-queen-i-m.jpg


I also suggest Echinodorus radicans. That one will eventually grow large, but it will probably bloom for you and you can restart smaller new plants with the adventitious plantlets that form on the flower stalk.

Remember that Echinodorus swords are heavy root feeders. It's a good idea to add a tablet or capsule fertilizer (such as this one: http://www.fluidsensoronline.com/2009/12/tropica-aquacare-plant-nutrition-capsules/) to the planter cup during or after planting.


cheers Devin, I actually swapped the ozelot for Radicans last night after recieving a new motherplant list! The anubias I have 2, I'll have one submersed and one emmersed, see how they both fare :thumbup:

Apart from the capsules. do you ever spray the plants with a misting of EI solution or anything?


andyh said:
aaronnorth said:
My lights come from HK today, and I am pleased with them :)
Shouldnt be much longer before I get some plants in
DSCF0005-1.jpg


Thanks, Aaron


hey Aaron, have you got a link for those lights. Would be ideal for a setup i am working on at the moment?
Looking forward to seeing this journal, as Devins tanks have motivated me also!
Cheers :thumbup:

hehe, I fell in love with them as soon as I saw the first tank :D

The lights are from here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0145864106

They are 11w PCT5.
One of the units has burnt out, but they have replied offering me a £2 refund(to buy a new bulb) or a replacement.
I tried the good bulb in the unit but it didnt work, so I have asked for the replacement :thumbup: Great service. I did take a bit of a gamble with them being from HK, and I know electricals arent always the best from there but we'll see :thumbup:

Thanks, Aaron
 
You'll like the radican sword--very easy to grow in a riparium. Like I said it will grow large, but you can watch for the new little plantlets on the flower stalk to start new smaller specimens.

I mainly use a low-key fertilization regime. For the planters that contain the finer clay gravel I like to include a fertilizer tab or two, although the tabs are less suitable for planters filled mostly with Hydroton, because the fertilizer quickly washes out through those coarser grains. For ripariums with a decent fishload I find that it necessary to only dose for iron and potassium, as the plants apparently get all of the phosphate and nitrogen that they need from the fish waste.
 
hydrophyte said:
You'll like the radican sword--very easy to grow in a riparium. Like I said it will grow large, but you can watch for the new little plantlets on the flower stalk to start new smaller specimens.

I mainly use a low-key fertilization regime. For the planters that contain the finer clay gravel I like to include a fertilizer tab or two, although the tabs are less suitable for planters filled mostly with Hydroton, because the fertilizer quickly washes out through those coarser grains. For ripariums with a decent fishload I find that it necessary to only dose for iron and potassium, as the plants apparently get all of the phosphate and nitrogen that they need from the fish waste.

ok, i just dose some of my EI solution in every so often then, along with root tabs in the echinodorus, :thumbup:
 
That sounds like a good plan. To fine tune you'll just have to observe how the plants respond to conditions in the environment you have there for them.

It looks as though you have plenty going on already, but another thing you might consider soon is the use of stem plants in the emersed area. Stems are real important for growing out in the layout midground to create visual depth. The shot below from my 80-litre setup shows a number of stems that were rooted in hanging planters, then trained to grow forward to cover the trellis rafts.

14-x-09-tank-ii-b.jpg


PlantedBox.com has a number of intriguing selections for growing this way, including some that I have tried and others that look promising. Here is a quick list.

  • Hygrophila guianensis
  • Limnophila aromatica
  • any Ludwigia
  • any Alternanthera
  • any Bacopa

These stem plants also generally do best with good root fertilization.
 
Bacopa is a good one. Here is some of my B. madagascariensis grown in the way I describe.

18-i-10-bacopa-sp-i-s.jpg
 
hydrophyte said:
Bacopa is a good one. Here is some of my B. madagascariensis grown in the way I describe.

18-i-10-bacopa-sp-i-s.jpg


I recieved the equipment today, thanks :thumbup:

The quality on these are amazing :thumbup: I'll get some pics later.

When you are designing a riparium, do you position the planters and form a structure for the layout, or do you buy the plants, plant them, then position them where you think they will go best?

Thanks, Aaron
 
Aaron, That's great to hear that you received the order. It got there pretty quick. I am pleased that it meets your satisfaction.

When starting up a riparium with plants I generally just try to get the plants growing and established first in their planters--this takes a little while--then as I get a good idea of their shapes and growth habits I begin to position them in a pleasing layout.
 
Hi Aaron
Just a comment about plants in containers. As a terrestrial gardener with a big roof terrace, one of the best parts of gardening for me was moving the pots around constantly, looking for different plant associations and pleasing arrangements, as the plants changed through the seasons, and years. I reckon you'll be organising and reorganising your plants to your heart's content!
 
Do you have any updates for this project? Just let me know if you need any assistance with the use of those planters.
 
Hi
I recieved my motherplants from planted box tonight which are fantastic!
I need to pick up some gravel to plant them but for now I have just put them in the planters and they are holding fine,
the anubias have been wedged in the floating rafts.

Some of the leaves are drying up and drooping, is this ok?
Will they adapt or shall I add a cover?

Thanks.
 
I'd say it would be wise to add a temporary cover--plant leaves often soften during shipping while wrapped up in moist packing.

Some plastic cling wrap will make a quick temporary cover, which can gradually roll back to adapt plants to more and more air circulation.
 
hydrophyte said:
I'd say it would be wise to add a temporary cover--plant leaves often soften during shipping while wrapped up in moist packing.

Some plastic cling wrap will make a quick temporary cover, which can gradually roll back to adapt plants to more and more air circulation.

Thankyou
 
It will be interesting to see some pictures whenever you might get a chance to shoot some more. I don't know whether the Anubias will adapt very well to the air in that open-top setup--it might be a bit dry for it. You'll just have to watch to see what it does. When you plant the swords in the planters it will be a good idea to also include a fertilizer tablet or two buried in the gravel with each.
 
Sorry for the lack of pictures, but with only one light is was hard to get any, but my replacement came today :thumbup:

the anubias motherplant, which probably has approx 4" rhizome!
DSCF0004-6.jpg


E.Radicans & anubias
DSCF0010-1.jpg


FTS, which is pretty hard to do trying to get the correct exposure on the top/ bottom.
DSCF0017-3.jpg


You can see the magnetic planter in the top right

The plants wont be staying like that, My next purchase will probably be a peace lily, then I will go and look at some pond plants maybe.


thanks.
 
That Anubias looks just like my A. barteri 'Broad Leaf'. I imagine it will get too big for that enclosure, but it's a real nice plant so it would be smart look for another spot for it. I have one that has gotten to be real large growing on an "Epi-Trellis Raft".

9-xi-09-anubias-barteri-i-m.jpg


That shot is from a while ago--this specimen is about 2X bigger now. I had it going for a while in my 120cm tank, but it got to be too large for that riparium setup. You can see it over on the right side of this shot.

9-xi-09-tank-i-m.jpg


It gave me a spathe a while back too.

29-xi-09-anubias-barteri-nana-spathe-ii-m.jpg
 
This Is Looking Excellent, Peace Lillies are great and will look really nice. Plus i noticed that most garden centres have them on offer ATM, The Ikea in town Has Huge ones over a foot high for Sale.
 
Back
Top