hydrophyte
Member
- Joined
- 22 Aug 2009
- Messages
- 1,073
I wondered what kind of lights they are. Are they mini-fluorescents or LEDs?
That blue background looks good.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
hydrophyte said:Bacopa is a good one. Here is some of my B. madagascariensis grown in the way I describe.
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.