[cube860]

So I kind of destroyed my acrlyic 6.5 gallon bookshelf fish tank the other day. I was getting it ready for a co2 planted tank. I painted the back dark grey by accident when I wanted to paint it black. Started to strip the paint with acetone and it absolutely destroyed my tank, not structurally, just cosmetically. So instead of throwing it away I decided to use it as a grow tank!

Today is day 1. 10/07/15

I used Organics Vigoro organic and natural potting mix.
I planted 1 pot of dwarf hair grass on the left side and am going to plant something else on the right.

I am using the stock 15w light that came with the tank and it is also covered with saran wrap to keep humidity in.

 

[Tihsho]

Sorry to hear you destroyed the tank from it's original purpose. Glad to hear you found a use for it though! I enjoy my emersed projects and hope you have as much fun with them as I do.

 

[Cmeister]

Why would acetone damage glass?

 

[Tihsho]

@Cmeister, it damaged acrylic, not glass.

 

[cube860]

@Cmeister look at the picture of me pouring in the dirt, you can see the splash marks that the acetone like burns into the acrylic, it kinda has the same texture of sanded glass.

 

[cube860]

side project

Waiting for dwarf harigrass to grow gets boring. With some of my left over dirt I setup 2 of these plastic containers and planted generic grass seed that I had in my garage. The one on the left has water in it, and the one on the right has a diluted miracle grow mix. Time to see which one grows better, or if they even grow at all :laugh2:. They are on a windowsill, its raining today.

 

[Cmeister]

@Cmeister look at the picture of me pouring in the dirt, you can see the splash marks that the acetone like burns into the acrylic, it kinda has the same texture of sanded glass.

Oh ok that makes more sense haha :icon_redf. Sucks that the tank got ruined.

 

[cube860]

Day 7 Update

So it is now day 7. Originally the pot of dwarf hairgrass I got wasn't in the best shape, probably 20-25% dead and not the greenest. I think a little more has died since planting but have heard that is normal? I mist the plants down a few times a day and do about 12 hours of light. Sorry the pictures are low quality, I have to reduced the file size to 977kb for plantedtank to allow me to upload them.

 

[cube860]

Day 18

I know it's kind of hard to tell from the pics but there is noticeable growth, or at least I think there is haha.

If anybody knows a way to upload photos without reducing quality please let me know!

I'm thinking of growing and propagating s repens on the other half of the tank. Does anybody have some I could buy? I'd rather support you guys than a big company. Also any other plant ideas?

I mist the DHG a few times a day and the lights normally stay on about 12 hours. I haven't put the light on a timer yet even though I have one so it turns on when I wake up, and turns off when I say so.

 

[cube860]

All the comments I am getting really makes me want to keep updating my progress so people can have a reference to use if they decide they want to do an emersed grow!

Immediate gratification growth

Last night I took a picture of this runner I figured was going to breach the surface soon. I took the photo about an hour before the lights went off.

The second picture I took was an hour after the lights went on. WE BREACHED SURFACE!!!

 

[Tihsho]

Emersed growth is always cool. It sounds like you're really getting into it! I'd recommend setting up a few others (pots) in an aquarium with a glass top so you can see how other species adapt to emersed growth. I always have fun with emersed setups and have more of them then display tanks. Can't wait for my planned move in a year so I can get a wall of emersed grow outs!

 

[cube860]

@Tihsho I got S. Repens coming in the mail, i'm looking forward to letting them grow then propagating them.

 

[Tihsho]

S. Repens is chump. Once you plant it you let it go and it will do the rest. I have 3 pots of them that are going nuts!

 

[cube860]

@Tihsho that is what I like to hear, when mine come in there will be another update. Also my last post of that runner that grew breached over night is growing like crazy. I call him "Berry Breacher".

 

[Tihsho]

Just a tip, I would pull up the DHG and put the soil into containers and replant the DHG. Why? Because one of three things will happen.

1 - You will get bored of the DHG and want to try something new.
2 - You upgrade to a larger tank for emersed stuff and can move the pots easily to a larger space
3 - You want to plant the DHG in a tank. Pulling up a pot full is a ton easier than pulling a string of runners.

 

[cube860]

@Tihsho thanks for the advice, tip #1 made me laugh. I'm currently waiting for the mr aqua 12 gallon longs to come back in stock. I have emailed with marine depot and they are coming in at the end of november. Once that comes in the DHG and S Repens will be put in the 12 gallon. Then idk what I'll have in the 6.5 gallon, maybe some S Repens to try to sell or something. Or I might impulse buy a 20 gallon long even though it's not what I want because it's $1 per gallon at petco right now.

 

[cube860]

Help?

So my S. Repens came in the mail, took 4 days, and they were extremely green, and it was a good amount. I ordered from an ebay store called substratesource for $15 shipped.

Are these actually S. Repens though? When I google image S. Repens the plant looks a lot different than what I got. Can somebody clear this up for me? Looks more like a ludwigia or something.

Planted 10/29/15 = Day 1

 

[Tihsho]

From a brief look, it looks like emersed (really leggy) form of S. Repens. Can you get some more close up shots? I'm 95% sure they sent you the right stuff.

 

[cube860]

close up:

 

[Tihsho]

Yeah, you're fine. Good luck with the plants!