The Planted Tank Forum banner

Duff's 2nd Riparium

27K views 62 replies 18 participants last post by  duff 
#1 ·
After Many months, I finally got this one up and running! Finally...

The tank is 24"x14"x14 and the front panel is starfire glass. Now that it finally has plants and water in it, I am totally in awe of the clarity. it makes my other tanks look like my 66 year old windows in my house. No matter how I try to clean them, their just too old to look sparkly. Here's the info:

Eheim Classic 2211 Filter
2 BoostLED PAR 30 Lamp Kits
Hydrophyte's Ion Brick Substrate
75w heater

Various plants
and in the process of moving my fish over from my 20T. (Chili's, Pygmy Corys and one LFBN Albino Pleco) I only moved 7 chili's and 4 Corys this weekend to let the tank settle in a bit more.

I also have wood soaking and it's very close to sinking, so hopefully next weekend I'll be able to add it to the tank as well, along with the rest of the fish.

I made one fatal error - I did not go with black silicon :frown: Live and learn. I covered the back and sides with black cling vinyl and have a bit left over so, I think I will cut 1/4 inch strips to cover the ugly seams from the front...

I'm still playing with the plant placement, so its a work in progress and not the final lay out. Once the wood it is, it will get changed up again. I also add a few stem plants from my other tank that will be used around the wood.

Here are the most current photos:






 
See less See more
4
#5 ·
Paslm18.2 ~ The dark red one is a coleus I think, very red from the top and fuchsia from the bottom. I took a clipping from a house plant I have and it actually roots very well on the raft, the other one is Pilea Grandifolia, the lighter lime green tinged copper plant - Then the third with a bit of pink vein color is another Pilea but I don't know the name of it. Are those the ones you're asking about? I need to write down all the names as I keep forgetting them! Oops..

Hydro ~ thanks! One of the Panda's is from you and the other is one I found locally, it seems to be variegated? The older Panda is still in my other tank and it's finally sprouting a few new stalks at the base. I think I will trim it in another few weeks and move it to this tank. The one stalk is very tall and falls over so the side of the smaller tank is holding it up for now, lol.
 
#8 ·
Hydro ~ it is growing slowly, it has one shoot that sprouted up about 3 weeks ago and a few new roots. Coming along slowly but coming along! Do you know if it would be able to be planted in the tank as opposed to in a planter cup?

mdreher ~ Ain't that the truth!!! Thank you so much! Yes, when I do trim, I will send some your way. Now that I have it under a stronger light the color has done a total change. Before it was mostly lime'ish green but new light = much prettier!

this is a picture from about 2 weeks ago - no pretty edge coloring to be seen. Not a great picture but shows the change. I was surprised how much all the plants changed in two weeks. I suspect I'll get better growth now :)

 
#9 ·
That must be pretty common for pilea species because my pilea mollis does the same thing. I don't think it looks as nice as yours. When it first started it made a nice contrast against the older green leaves, but now most of those leaves are gone. It still looks nice, but not like it did.
 
#11 ·
Could be just my opinion but I think the roots of those plants will be better off with an oxygenating airstone strip across bottom.

It will look better submerged under gravel, specifically on only during "night" cycle when they need it.

Beautiful setup nonetheless, should look great with the chilis and pygmies!
 
#12 ·
Thank Hydro - I was thinking of moving it to my 8g where the crown would be above water and roots in the water as the water line is about 6 inches from the bottom. I think I may try it to see what happens (as long as crown is above water, no desire to harm that plant but the roots look very interesting)

AirstoND - thanks for the kind words! So question for you - I never thought about them needing an airstone. Is there a specific reason that they would need it at night vs day? Is this to ensure the water column stays oxygenated? Now you've got me curious :)
 
#13 ·
I wouldn't worry to much about seeing the roots on this plant. Here's a couple pics of the one I got from Hydrophyte and the roots are about 10 inches long. I suctioned it on the front of the tank so you could get a better idea of how big it is. One of the roots makes this really cool bend in the water that I really like.

Plant Flowerpot Houseplant Vase Botany


Plant Water Fish supply Pet supply Terrestrial plant
 
#14 ·
Wow that looks like a happy plant. Nice work growing that thing.

Pandanus are one of my favorite kinds of plants. I shopped around ebay some last summer and now I have five different species/varieties. I hope to track down some more. I really want to get a P. amarylifollius.

Keep growing it in there and it should start to develop the prop roots too.

 
#15 ·
MD - that does look like a happy healthy plant! Tanks for the pics. I'll take a picture of mine, the toot towards the top are more "leggy" like the photo that Hydro posted and I was thinking I might be able to take advantage of that in a smaller tank. Your's is quite a bit further along then mine from a growth perspective and I am hoping that in it's new home it does better.

Hydro - do you have photos of the 5 different types? Are the very different from each other, Color texture?
 
#16 ·
I'm sure it'll do great. Definately take some pics...i'd like to see what your talking about. I visited St. Lucia recently and was able to see some of these full grown. There were so many plants I wanted to take home. It's like riparium/terrarium heaven with tons of cool plants. My wife had to talk some sense into me so that I wouldn't smuggle some plants:)
 
#17 ·
I've been to a few places where I thought the same thing, then my sense got the better of me!

I finally found more info on the Red plant I have; Iresine herbstii or Chicken's Gizzard.
not the coleus I thought it might be. I have it in a pot inside and love it for it's intense red color. So far it does not seem to mind rooting on a trellis raft. It will be interesting to see if it last long term.
 
#20 ·
Duff--this is looking completely awesome! I like the mix of plants and colors you've got going. Very nice rimless tank, it's made me sure I want to do a rimless too. It's been really helpful to watch your setups as I feel my way along with my plants.

Now, of course, we want to see the fish that come next!

Thanks for the pics--sox
 
#34 ·
this is looking amazing :) love the combination of plants you have.

sorry if this is a silly question but what is in the planter thingees? looks like round orangy balls of some sort. are they all thats in there?
Indigo--the orange balls are a sort of small version of a hydroponic clay ball. Hydrophyte sells them as part of his riparium planters.

Duff--this is getting to be just a treat to check in and see your latest pics. The panda seems to be doing quite well. Are you adding ferts to the water at all?

sox
 
#26 ·
Hi Tiggity - (Thank you) Yes it does! (love them) So far I am very happy with the filter and the flow. I have the spray bar at one end pointed towards the other end and the intake on the same side at the spray bar. I was afraid that it might not be enough flow base on comments from other users, but it seems to be fine. I don't have much under the water - a few Anubias and smaller crypts. I suspect that with more plants under the water the flow might not be enough but in my case I think it's perfect.
 
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