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Tom's Poco Pozo
- Thread starter BigTom
- Start date
I think it's safe to say that Setaria palmifolia makes a pretty robust riparian plant!
The leaves extend another couple of feet up into the skylight and are flowering like mad. Getting a few brown tips so I probably need to ramp up the ferts to keep it happy.
As you can see I also got a piece of curved glass cut as a cover for the front of the tank as I lost a few of the Iguanadectes to jumping - I think they were jumping towards the other lights in the room when startled by the Guianacara chasing each other about in the evenings.
The leaves extend another couple of feet up into the skylight and are flowering like mad. Getting a few brown tips so I probably need to ramp up the ferts to keep it happy.
As you can see I also got a piece of curved glass cut as a cover for the front of the tank as I lost a few of the Iguanadectes to jumping - I think they were jumping towards the other lights in the room when startled by the Guianacara chasing each other about in the evenings.
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Hi all,
New one on me, and a quality plant.
It is a problem you get in the winter with all mono-cots (Orchids, Parlour palms etc) from warm humid environments.
It happens because the outside air is cool, and even if it is at 100% RH it won't contain much water, when you warm the air up the relative humidity declines. The leaf tips brown because the plants don't have any adaptations to low humidity and water is lost more quickly through the distal leaf stomata than the xylem can replace it, even when the plant is growing emersed from the tank.
If the brown tips annoy you just cut them back with nail scissors so you just leave a really thin strip of brown tissue. If you cut into the green tissue you will get a brown edge anyway.
cheers Darrel
New one on me, and a quality plant.
Might be ferts., but bizarrely because even though it is growing emersed from the fish tank, it is probably low humidity.
It is a problem you get in the winter with all mono-cots (Orchids, Parlour palms etc) from warm humid environments.
It happens because the outside air is cool, and even if it is at 100% RH it won't contain much water, when you warm the air up the relative humidity declines. The leaf tips brown because the plants don't have any adaptations to low humidity and water is lost more quickly through the distal leaf stomata than the xylem can replace it, even when the plant is growing emersed from the tank.
If the brown tips annoy you just cut them back with nail scissors so you just leave a really thin strip of brown tissue. If you cut into the green tissue you will get a brown edge anyway.
cheers Darrel
You could be right Darrel - I had read that it tends to die back in winter even inside. It does seem really humid in the little outside studio it's in however - loads of condensation on the windows, doors and floor each morning (thank you 19 square feet of open topped tanks!). That said I have been running a dehumidifier on low as a result so that probably won't be helping.
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Your name didn't ring a bell at all. But once I saw this sentence
I was shocked both shocked and dumbfounded. And instantly knew who you "were" as in the creator of that legendary self sustaining tank. I must admit, I hope you sold it or gave it away to a good home because whenever I saw that tank on tpt forums. I was stunned. belated congratulations on the success of that tank. Despite being bewildered as to why it's nolonger with us.
I am a fan. Please excuse my nerd out moment.
I was shocked both shocked and dumbfounded. And instantly knew who you "were" as in the creator of that legendary self sustaining tank. I must admit, I hope you sold it or gave it away to a good home because whenever I saw that tank on tpt forums. I was stunned. belated congratulations on the success of that tank. Despite being bewildered as to why it's nolonger with us.
I am a fan. Please excuse my nerd out moment.
Hah! Yeah sadly I had a protracted house move last year and had to start over again - the tank, fish and plants all went to good homes, albeit separately. If you enjoyed the TPT thread then the UKAPS journal (link in my signature) has a fair amount of extra content.
Edvet
Member
Actually we made him move to Antarctica to live in a iglo
, so he couldn't poke our eyes out with beautifull tanks................sadly he moved to the UK again...........😡
Edvet
Member
Looking ace Sir, hats off
How are you filtering this atm?
How are you filtering this atm?
Looking ace Sir, hats off
How are you filtering this atm?
Just an Eheim 2324. I'm probably not even getting 1x turnover at the moment. The palm grass probably does most of the ammonia removal!
It does need more flow and more light really, I'm hoping to upgrade both in a couple of months.
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Wendal_spanswick
Member
Fantastic Big Tom. One of my favourites.
sonicninja
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- 15 Dec 2013
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- 307
Could watch that for hours. Amazing.
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NatureBoy
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- 27 Aug 2008
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- 374
this reads like spam!
Why on earth would you say that? Admittedly it's a very fan centric post but that tank was pretty much my idea of tank perfection. Please let's not derail the thread.
sciencefiction
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- 26 Feb 2013
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- 3,412
You should be in the wild filming fish Tom 🙂 Your videos are always so good and interesting. And your fish look amazing.
I love the idea of just riparium plants on top and a sand botttom with interesting decor, and no other underwater plants. That's going to be my next project one day because it's so easy to keep.
I can't personally manage with just one light unit and if I want the underwater plants to grow again I need a second water level set of light because the emersed ones have really thrown a huge shadow and my light unit is not penetrating enough any more.
I love the idea of just riparium plants on top and a sand botttom with interesting decor, and no other underwater plants. That's going to be my next project one day because it's so easy to keep.
I can't personally manage with just one light unit and if I want the underwater plants to grow again I need a second water level set of light because the emersed ones have really thrown a huge shadow and my light unit is not penetrating enough any more.
sonicninja
Member
- Joined
- 15 Dec 2013
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- 307
Hi BigTom,
Could you give a little info on the equipment you've used on this tank? I know it's more self sustaining than many thanks but I'd be really interested what filter, power heads or any other equipment you have. Admittedly I've only broadly read this thread so may have missed this bit 🙂
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Could you give a little info on the equipment you've used on this tank? I know it's more self sustaining than many thanks but I'd be really interested what filter, power heads or any other equipment you have. Admittedly I've only broadly read this thread so may have missed this bit 🙂
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Read all right to me Thrills! Although I'm still amazed how much interest the Bucket generated.
Yeah I started off planning only one or two plant species, but I might give in to temptation once I've upgraded the lighting and throw a few more into the mix. We'll see.
Emersed shadowing can be a tricky one... one of the advantages of big shallow tanks is having lots of surface area to play with, so it doesn't matter too much if parts of the tank are in the dark. With conventional dimensions I can definitely see how you'd need two lights. I also hang my lights towards the front of the tank so that the shadows are cast towards the back where they make less of an impact.
I wouldn't say this tank was self sustaining really, other than having the massive riparians as extra filtration. It's just running an Eheim 2324 thermofilter (about 1x turnover), an extra 300w heater and a Kessil a150 Amazon Sun (36w LED). Plus some ambient light from the skylight above (no direct sunlight in the winter).
Cheers lol
And that bucket O mud was on every aquatic forum I visited. It was hard to miss. I think the idea of self sustaining done right has an appeal because it's something few have ever really seen. I have always wondered if a small apisto, say Borellii or panduro, would have or could have fit into that fine balance.
