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If you have a well fertilised aquarium, you could flood it using water from that, then drain the water again. You can get fertiliser sprays for house plants, which are presumably diluted to avoid burning leaves - I've not used them personally though.

I would say too wet, there shouldn't be standing water at all. The soil should just be damp. If you are tipping water out, you are putting too much in.

Line it with a piece of kitchen roll, it will hold the soil temporarily when tubs are freshly filled; the soil will naturally be compacted and hold together overtime and with root activity so by the time the kitchen roll rots away it won't be an issue. It doesn't matter if the roots work their...

I've played with this using the breeder box mentioned - you can use capillary but obviously it limits flow through, I found the matting got a bit fuzzy too, it is very simple though. You can run water via a syphon using airline, but found that a bit of a pain to restart if mucking about with it...

Just to throw it out there, but have you considered not tying the two together at all. If you goal is just to have a planted wall behind, you could have pots hung on the wall, with plants in and just water them once a week when you do your water change and probably achieve the same thing without...

Are advice on substrate? It was fine gravel (which probably has a nice mulm layer at the bottom) the options on terrarium substrates seem as wider as aquarium ones!

I was literally just watching a youtube video from GF doing a tour and the first tank was a damaged one that was being used as a terrarium!

I just had to empty out my 30L tank today as it developed a slow leak out one seam. It's a Leddy Shrimp Smart tank so roughly a foot cubed. I was wondering, could I take that and grow something permanently emersed in it (not sure what the technical term would be). Anyone done that with a tank...

The answer is quite a lot - many aquarium plants grow happily emersed. Most of the common carpet plants - add hydrocotyle japan/verticulata, pygmy chain sword, montecarlo etc. will all grow happily and spread (although may need help to just over the pot rims. Do you have an idea of size? For...

How big do you want it to be? A lot of the carpet style plants grow well emersed and stay small e.g. hydrocotyle verticillata, Staurogyne repens is also tough emersed and has flowered for me. Growing moss on it as well would help with the moisture around the roots and be enough for little plants...

I'd go for the yellow sticky squares - the hanging tape ones are a nightmare you will stick yourself to them! Best to avoid spraying chemicals if you can. Is it new? If you keep catching all the adults of the little black flies and you've got the lid sealed with cling film you should see them...

You could use reptile heat mats (although obviously there is a cost to that). I'd also suggest adding a fire alarm, if you don't already, if you're using heating up there just on the off chance there are any issues.

The Aquael Shrimp Smart 30 ?

Drill an appropriate size hole (if one of the existing ones didn't already fit) and glue in an airline connector? The adjustable one that comes with it would probably work (might need to shorten the leg you insert depending on the diameter of the spray bar).

I am running the superfish version (same product under different brand name) with a piece of airline tube syphoning from my HOB which keeps the water level high enough to continually trickle over the overflow. But, I also tried it with a piece of capillary matting from tank to box, which...

That's very cool, but huge!!

I have one of these to use as an emersed planter: I want to use quite small plants e.g. u. graminifolia, mc, mini hairgrass and I was wondering what the best thing to grow them in would be - obviously the root structure is a lot smaller than big emersed plants. I didn't know whether I should...

If you want to keep them emersed there are some species that live that way naturally that might be easier then using javaferns,for example, which seem to like quite high humidity.

That's nice, haven't seen one with a pump. I've been looking at them - I like the idea of having it hung on the back so hopefully less shadowing of the tank below. Marina do breeder boxes in 2/3 different sizes and the same thing seems to be available in the UK branded as SuperFish...

Usually I would go for moist but not in standing water - but that's general growing stuff rather than specific to this plant though. You should find with the cover over having watered it once it will stay moist a long time.

You can definitely grow it in soil - my brother has one growing that way with quite erratic watering. You could use water and then pot into soil, or try covering the cutting with a plastic bag over the pot to keep the air moist. They'll lose water through the leaves, but not be able to replace...

Yes, you can grow them in a pot of soil like a house plant (keeping it mind they get huge and very little of the plant is actually in the pot. Don't see why you couldn't start cuttings the same way. You could also layer them - pin a section of the growing plant down in a pot of soil without...

That is a good deal! If you want a budget cover, I'd go for a DIY cloche. You just need clear corrugated clear roofing sheet - you bend it into an arch. Usually you'd secure it with a metal hoop pushed into the ground but you could probably cable tie it or fix it in some other way. They make...

Wilko do propagator lids at reasonable prices if you want to experiment. The are handy even for things that will happily grow open topped as it stops them drying out so quickly.

Eleocharis grows uncovered on a window sill (or outdoors) for me.

Thought I'd share a picture of my, very neglected, tray. It's been outdoors since spring, going between flooded to almost bone dry and back, then I stuck it in my little greenhouse with everything else in the autumn. I'm not sure if it's actually frozen in there, but it's certainly got pretty...

If you find it's too bright for the moss (haven't tried that) you could use a bit of shade netting between the moss/light or anything that cuts it down a bit. Good luck!

I've only tried on window sills/outdoors rather than artificial light. For 'cautious' watering sneak up on your plants, gently place in a tray of water, tip toe away for about ten minutes and then, checking your mirrors, return and remove them from the water. This gives enough time for the soil...

Check your propagator instructions, some are the other way - don't run wet. I grew mine with just damp soil and a cover, no standing water. Also not heated above room temp, but it is winter so you might need a bit more warmth depending where you are keeping them. What light are you using?

It roots at all the nodes, so if you wanted to grow it in soil, for example, rather than try and remove the rock wool, I'd put the soil pot next to it and press some of the stems to the soil - it will root and eventually you could cut away the rock wool and original base. Or just take a cutting...

When you transplant any plant, you always get root growth first. With a pot you turn it upside down to see the roots coming through - can't with a tank though. Zozo's idea of a plant near the edge is a good one - have a look around and see if you can spot any new roots rather than top growth.

I've one growing in soil (rhizome on the surface) but not nearly that wet, just normal plant moist and then a cover over (not 100% sealed).

I've H.Japan growing emersed, it's snuck out from under the cover and has spread about a foot along the window sill, so I don't think it's too fussed about humidity.

Not sure what you mean by shrinking :) The ones that are going dark/slimy - they won't recover so best to nip them off so they don't encourage mould and it will grow new ones. Leave any leaves that are healthy looking as they'll be fuelling the growth for now even if they are submerged ones.

It's a bit tough to tell from the pic but the tops look a little manky on the left few? If so, just pinch them back to healthy plant and they'll sprout from side shoots. I grew some emersed that started like that - if you want a denser clump then pinch out the top and plant it separately to the...

Did they dry out/you leave the lid off? How long had they been growing?

My tenellus grew flower stalks, but now they are growing roots and new leaves... They are pretty cool - I think I like this better emersed than in the tank.

Mine's growing fine without standing water so you could try empting the tray and see if that helps :)

Okay, so I've got lots of lovely plants growing on the window sill, they are bursting out of the propagator - what the best way to get them back into a tank? Plant as they are, rise the water level gradually, chop off the tops and just plant the roots... what works best? My tanks low tech...

You could, if you've got a tank you are already dosing, the easiest thing would be to use water from that for them, otherwise you'll have to mix up very small amounts.

Did you add nutrients to the water you added? If so they'll still be there when the current water evaporates and you can add more when you water in future - just water less. If the plants look like they are short on nutrients, just mix up you water with a higher concentration.

I'd just run my finger around the the edge to remove the algae and let it dry out a couple of days, but my experience growing emersed is only a couple of weeks, so that's based on guess work from growing terrestrial plants.

You're growing algae too so I would guess too wet. I'm growing some on the window sill and I water once a week, let the water drain through and that's plenty. It's covered over and I lift the lid every few days.

Here they are... Left to right: S. Repens, Hydrocotyle sp. Japan, HC Left to right: Lilaeopsis Mauritiana, E. T Tenellus, Eleocharis parvula (and a bit of Crypt. Parva) The befores where taken 2nd July, the afters today (18th). Wish the plants in my tank grew that well!

Presumably it depends on the plant, hairgrass, for example is a UK native so I'd presume it can cope with below freezing.

If I take the lid off for a photo I'm not sure it will go back on!

That's quite expensive for just a basic propagator, not heated or anything. Are you going for your own lights/conservatory or a window sill - effects size. If space isn't an issue, look at the double standard seed tray sized ones. I've this (used for the garden) and the quality is fine ...

Try putting aluminium foil behind the propagator (sometimes easier to cover a bit of cardboard that you can prop up). That's what I do with young seedling of normal plants to stop them getting weedy/leggy on the window sill. It stops them reaching for the light/leaning over and they stay more...

Looks like they are germinating to me :)

They look really good! I'm tempted to try. Do you get algae or is that a benefit to having non clear container?