Buce propagation project

[Kalum]

So my rough and ready quarantine tank has been sitting staring at me and my buce obsession finally got the better of me (just won over my want for another koi betta).

The aim with this is solely to grow bucephalandra as well as I possibly can within this tank

Tank is an aqua one betta trio with dividers removed. Running an eheim compact 300 pump with course sponge media only to keep flow up.

Stock lighting will be used initially which I'm sure will fall in the low level but can reduce mounting height or look into other lighting in the future as the aim to growing it in optimum conditions may fall within the high light category. As I've found with my other tanks I'd rather start low and work up with regards to algae and growth in its given environment

CO2 will be running very high (clear) on the dropper via a 5L extinguisher and co2art reg

EI ferts and rhizotonic will be used. Dosing to be determined as I see how everything reacts. Was toying with no substrate but decided on using amazonia to give a bit more stability

Parameters will be listed once I have everything set up and stable.

No livestock will be kept and currently just have my old fissidens bonsai in there until I decide to probably just strip it bare again.

This will not be a scaped tank and the wooden offcuts in the bags either side will be used to grow the buce out on. Toying with whether I should plant some fast growers to give added stability and soak up excess nutrients or not....(floaters aren't an option as I plan to have a lot of surface agitation)

Comments good and bad will be greatly appreciated as always

 

[Konsa]

Hi
I run the Duo tank myself.Had to modify it a little.Installed spray bar and changed light with Arcadia strech led .Grows buces on small lava rocks so roots go in substrate and riccardia low tech like a charm.
Yes put something fast growing
hydrocotyle tripartita may be a good option
As will not get to top every week.
Regards Konsa

 

[Kalum]

Hi
I run the Duo tank myself.Had to modify it a little.Installed spray bar and changed light with Arcadia strech led .Grows buces on small lava rocks so roots go in substrate and riccardia low tech like a charm.
Yes put something fast growing
hydrocotyle tripartita may be a good option
As will not get to top every week.
Regards Konsa

I've got some lava rock and was my first thought and something which I might use for the smaller ones, but it doesn't give some of the bigger ones much room to grow

Upgrading the standard pump made a massive difference and got a new outlet to put on as well, saying that I do have a spray bar i made for an old tank I could use....

I've got h.tripartita growing in 2 of my tanks so an easy option for me

 

[X3NiTH]

The little clay rings you get in plant pots also make a good substrate to attach the plants to (doesn't float). If you can drop the water level you could create an emerged section for some Anubias which will grow rampantly and throw out a huge amount of roots to suck up excess nutrients, you could always do this with some Buce to get quicker growth. I'm currently running some experiments at the moment that will hopefully end up in a new Journal on a new tank (still only a 12L nano) that has a sculpted emerged section that will be kept wet.

Here's a preview -


That's the Mini Needle Leaf and Braun Rot I got from Aquasabi, there's some Selenestoma Tetragonum glued on there, also some Taxiphyllum from Tropica. The substrate I am using is a mix of cement and black aquarium gravel dyed with carbon black. (It is a specialised cement, for which I have taken TDS data readings of its curing behaviour over time for the test piece above, the resultant graph is quite interesting).

If you do trim your Fissidens and you haven't a use for it then give us a shout as I could do with reaquiring some as the last of mine I forgot it was in a jar and it dried out, although I did find some dried out slivers attached to some mesh while looking for some bits and bobs while plumbing up the test piece so I sprinkled some of that on but I don't have much hope for it bouncing back (had been desiccated for over a year).

It'll be interesting to see how you get on with this.

🙂

 

[Kalum]

The little clay rings you get in plant pots also make a good substrate to attach the plants to (doesn't float). If you can drop the water level you could create an emerged section for some Anubias which will grow rampantly and throw out a huge amount of roots to suck up excess nutrients, you could always do this with some Buce to get quicker growth. I'm currently running some experiments at the moment that will hopefully end up in a new Journal on a new tank (still only a 12L nano) that has a sculpted emerged section that will be kept wet.

Here's a preview -


That's the Mini Needle Leaf and Braun Rot I got from Aquasabi, there's some Selenestoma Tetragonum glued on there, also some Taxiphyllum from Tropica. The substrate I am using is a mix of cement and black aquarium gravel dyed with carbon black. (It is a specialised cement, for which I have taken TDS data readings of its curing behaviour over time for the test piece above, the resultant graph is quite interesting).

If you do trim your Fissidens and you haven't a use for it then give us a shout as I could do with reaquiring some as the last of mine I forgot it was in a jar and it dried out, although I did find some dried out slivers attached to some mesh while looking for some bits and bobs while plumbing up the test piece so I sprinkled some of that on but I don't have much hope for it bouncing back (had been desiccated for over a year).

It'll be interesting to see how you get on with this.

🙂

Yeh I considered the rings as well but hopefully these wooden discs will allow them to creep and spread with a bit more freedom down the line

Emerged growing is something I definitely want to do in the future but for now I'm wanting to try and better understand immersed growing before tackling that as well 😀 plus buce really comes alive in underwater form!

Wow that's a great wee setup you have it looks great, definitely get a journal up as I'd like to see how you get on with that

Will do it's all yours if I get rid, will drop you a message

 

[Onoma1]

@Kalum great idea. Subscribed! I have few growing in substrate and they seem to be doing ok. I know that some people advocate this approach over putting them on rock or wood. I agree though that I prefer them imersed as you see the iridescence.

@X3NiTH love your approach. Really interesting to see how it goes. It mirrors the natural environment of Buce so my bet is that it will work well. I agre though ...please get a journal!

 

[Kalum]

@Kalum great idea. Subscribed! I have few growing in substrate and they seem to be doing ok. I know that some people advocate this approach over putting them on rock or wood. I agree though that I prefer them imersed as you see the iridescence.

@X3NiTH love your approach. Really interesting to see how it goes. It mirrors the natural environment of Buce so my bet is that it will work well. I agre though ...please get a journal!

I'll be trying one or 2 varieties on both wood and in substrate for a comparison so will see if there's much difference

 

[J.C. Roozee]

Best all,

I found out that there was some sort of Bucephalandra propagation challenge going on quite a while ago.
Are there people that have been doing this interested in sharing their experiences?

kind regards

 

[X3NiTH]

What would you like to know?

 

[Wookii]

What would you like to know?

. . . how @Kalum ’s propagation plan went?!