Buce Box (How to easily propagate Bucephalandra and other emersed plants)

[Ehcosbie]

James Wong uses Bonsai soil for his terrariums, I wonder if this would be a good medium for this sort of thing.

Would ambient temp at about 18-19 degrees be sufficient to promote growth?

 

[ScareCrow]

James Wong uses Bonsai soil for his terrariums, I wonder if this would be a good medium for this sort of thing.

I think Bonsai soil is mostly Akadama, which is moler clay. So it would be suitable and would provide the high cation exchange capacity would be beneficial. Some cat litter is also moler clay so could be an option.
I've used cat litter in my tanks and I was planning to try a similar buce/crypt growing setup using cat litter in small pots.

Would ambient temp at about 18-19 degrees be sufficient to promote growth?

I think temp would be fine. The main concern is keeping humidity high while at the same time ensuring enough air circulation so that things don't become stagnant and mould becomes a problem.

 

[FirstClassFish]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but personally I think bumping old thread often makes more sense, for several reasons, so I hope it’s ok.

I recently got in over my head expertise and amount wise in plants. I’m most concerned about some expensive Buce. I didn’t realize one of them I ordered was a tissue culture.

Opinions vary, but I’ve heard a key to having success with TC plants in general, and especially those that are known to melt, is to take them from TC to emersed for awhile before submerging them in your aquarium. A few here have said they haven’t had melt with Buce, but one of the reasons given was co2, which I don’t have.

I recently came across the Another World Terrarium site and now here.

Draining is mentioned. How does one drain the water from the soil? Without a tap on the bottom of the tote it seems impossible to tip over for draining without making a mess?

Buce in general, in the aquarium, I see so many opinions. Many recently saying plant in the soil, just don’t bury the rhizome. I’ve heard of better growth and runners. It is a bit hard to plant in the soil as the roots are every which way?….and sometimes there is a piece of rhizome growing 90 degrees down from the horizontal piece. Ok to cut that piece off so it’s not buried and melting induced?

Hydroponics are so popular now, perhaps some dedicated trays and equipment aren’t that expensive nowadays and may have some convenience features compared to the DIY approach with the totes?

Thanks all, I love this place. I’m in the US, in case any products are recommended.

 

[Hufsa]

How old is your tank? If youve got 3+ months on the tank then I would just put the buce right in. Usually melting buce is when people put them in brand new uncycled tanks.

Ive heard they actually grow faster under water.
No matter which option you go for, dont cut any of the roots. Its fine if some roots are just hanging in the water. You are correct in not burying the rhizome. There must be flow around this to prevent rot.

If you do want to grow them hydroponically, one way to drain the soil would be to have an empty piece of pvc pipe sitting in a corner, and use a pipette or turkey baster like item to suck up excess water though there.

If you only have soil in your tank and not dosing liquid fertilizer, then plants will do better with roots in soil. If you have inert substrate and use liquid ferts them they will do best with roots in the water. They just want nutrients

I think youve got this
*as long as your tank isnt brand new that is

 

[FirstClassFish]

How old is your tank? If youve got 3+ months on the tank then I would just put the buce right in. Usually melting buce is when people put them in brand new uncycled tanks.

Ive heard they actually grow faster under water.
No matter which option you go for, dont cut any of the roots. Its fine if some roots are just hanging in the water. You are correct in not burying the rhizome. There must be flow around this to prevent rot.

If you do want to grow them hydroponically, one way to drain the soil would be to have an empty piece of pvc pipe sitting in a corner, and use a pipette or turkey baster like item to suck up excess water though there.

If you only have soil in your tank and not dosing liquid fertilizer, then plants will do better with roots in soil. If you have inert substrate and use liquid ferts them they will do best with roots in the water. They just want nutrients

I think youve got this
*as long as your tank isnt brand new that is

Well, that’s part of the problem, much of this had to be done in a hurry…long story.

Right now I’m using a food-safe plastic tote. I used one of the Tom Barr recommended ways to start up a tank. I put some leonardite under fine sand, along with some tank mulm/filter water from a friend, along with lots of plants, especially floaters. Leonardite is basically peat in a harder granule form so it leaches slowly. I also used a seeded sponge filter.

So it’s new, but cycled or close to it, but yes, it’s not seasoned.

It seems it’s basically cycled, but it’s only day 5. There is a betta in there and I’ve also just got my fert order in so I’m dosing Tropica Premium, the one that has Macro and Micros in it. I’ll do dry later when I have time.

Most things are looking really good. Two of the Buce do have some yellowing leaves so I am worried that it’s the beginning of the end for them. Hopefully it was just low ferts for a few days and now that I have those they’re ok.

Two I left the sponge ring and plant weight on and let the tips of the roots into the sand. The others are basically floating. One other has part of its roots in the sand, just to keep it in place.

I have heard if you let them float they will grow oddly so far as direction of leaves and such.

I still have the tissue culture one in it’s shipped container. How long can I leave it in there? As per your recommendations you’re saying you’d even put a TC right into a tank?….obviously if my tank was older at least.

I’m going to set up a bigger tote so I can get more flow going in there, which I know they prefer and to make sure the nutrients are moving around.

I’m using a Fluval Aquasky 2.0 at about 30% as the water is only about 5 inches deep and it’s not high above the tote. Since the plants and tank are new I didn’t want to induce algae nor shock the plants and all the plants are low light capable. I can turn it up if need be and it seems like I have plenty of plant growth to outcompete the algae.

No ammonia or nitrite….I’m going to test for nitrate again today now that I’m dosing and the fish has had some time to make some fertilizer. I may have to move some floaters out so they don’t get it all first.

Thank you so much

 

[Courtneybst]

How does one drain the water from the soil? Without a tap on the bottom of the tote it seems impossible to tip over for draining without making a mess?

To tell the truth I've never drained the water from my setup for this reason. It's been around a year now and I've not had any issues.

 

[FirstClassFish]

To tell the truth I've never drained the water from my setup for this reason. It's been around a year now and I've not had any issues.

Thank you.

I saw you or someone else mentioned draining and replacing water and just don’t see how to easily do that in this kind of setup.

 

[FirstClassFish]

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

I do a council version of this during the summer with my E.Tennellus. Just put in a small transparent container on my window sill at work with some aqua soil in, keep the roots submerged with water from water changes. As the temps start to dip I pull out any ropey ones from my low-tech and refresh the carpet with the new ones over winter.
Might have a crack at the buce now you mention it but the ones in the tank are pretty bulletproof and don't need replacing. Maybe stick some in the emersed pots hanging on the tank though.