The Planted Tank Forum banner

Mr. Aqua 11.4G Riparium - Take 2

11K views 74 replies 20 participants last post by  lamiskool 
#1 · (Edited)
Mr. Aqua 11.4G Riparium - Take 2

I have had this tank sitting empty for almost a year, but I want to set it up again.

A couple of years ago I had a nice planting in here that featured baby panda bamboo (Pogonatherum crinitum). This plant proved to be an excellent choice as nano riparium background foliage, if a bit challenging to grow. It is one of the few riparium plants that I have tried that I would characterize as "high light". You really do have to shine pretty bright light on it or it will grow thin and spindly.

I might use baby panda bamboo for this new planting, or I might opt for something new. I have been testing out a few other new riparium selections and I have some good possibilities.

Here is an old shot showing the tank when I first set it up two years ago. I am going to work on putting it back together today. I also intend to paint the wall a dark purple as a better background color. Plants do not look very good against that dull tan.

 
See less See more
1
#39 ·
The gravel substrate, planters trellis rafts and some of the plants are all Riparium Supply brand.

There is no danger of the planterd exerting pressure on the glass. They don't weigh much and they weigh even less underwater.

The Mr. Aqua 11.4G is a real nice size and shape for this kind of setup. I like it with the water level lowered to a few inches below the top rim. This improves the proportions and it will also help to prevent fish from jumping out.
 
#40 ·
love it!

purple wall is great!

your hired! i pay in complements! :)
 
#44 ·
Love it! Would like to see more inside of the tank to see how it's done (though the artsy dark photos are great as well). I do thin that gigantic heater could go because there's many smaller ones now like this little guy http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=72_91&products_id=687
Thanks. These were just some quick snapshots. I will plan to do more careful photography later on as this stuff grows in.

Ripariums are easy to put together. There isn't much to it.

This Jager 50W heater is fine for me. I don't mind it at all.

Cheers!
 
#45 ·
Here's one last shot from the other night.



I hope that the Pleioblastus bamboo will start growing up taller. I mgiht have to think about replacing it with something else if it doesn't. The fish are still looking happy enough. One of the platies is dropping fry.
 
#51 ·
Hey thanks!

Yeah that bamboo is a neat little plant, but it sure is slow. I have a couple of collector bamboos as potted houseplants and one would think that they would be easy to grow and real fast like any other grass, but they are more complicated than that. Bamboos seem to have to build up a lot of energy in their root systems before they can spread and grow very much.

Here's the foliage of that nice full potted plant that I bought.

 
#52 ·
Since the Pleioblastus bamboo isn't getting any taller I decided to try out some other plants as grassy background. Here I added a couple of planters with Cyperus umbrella sedge. The tops of the Cyperus are obscured by the lighting here, but you can get the general idea. The layout might look pretty good with this plant if I can get it to grow in more full and if I raise the lights up another 8" or so.

 
#59 ·
Nice and jungle-ly, Devin! :D Wish I could see more of that Sunset....ever consider making planters that have a velcro tab on the back so you could connect to planters front to back? You could have a nice tall background plant in the back, and a smaller growing foreground plant, like the Sunset, that could grow in front of the taller species. I know that the trellis raft was constructed for this reason, but as you've pointed out to me, some of these guys will not grow suspended in the trellis raft...some need to be planted in the planter.

It would be nice to have that Sunset in the front adding a little color off to the "right of center" area. ;)
 
#60 ·
I think that that would be too much weight for the suction cups to hold. It would also be a lot of plastic junk very conspicuous and hard to cover with foliage. The planter + trellis raft combination really does work very well. It really does.

I got some quick video last night. It is exceptionally grainy. I was going to edit a longer version with music, but the quality is very low...

 
#64 ·
Sorry, I spent a whole hour shooting video, but then when I opened it up on my computer I found that it was very poor quality. I need to experiment some more with the video camera settings. I will try again this weekend when I have more time.

Are you looking at Mr. Aqua tanks? The 11.4 and the 17.4 are both real nice sizes/shapes for riparium setups.
 
#69 ·
I like the 11.4. I lowered the water level a bit to improve the visual proportions and also to help keep fish inside. It is a bit more difficult to illuminate a tank of this size because there aren't many fixtures with that 18" width. I think that a pair of PAR30 LEDs would be good for the the 11.4.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top