[Kehy]

There's a great list of plants going, how about a list of what people have used for riparium planters? Different tanks have different needs, in terms of what shape/size of planter will work, and money can also be a deciding factor. What's worked for you, what do you wish was different, and what do you have in it? What substrate, and what plants?


Driftwood:
The original. The predictable. The probably most aesthetically pleasing... if it were taller in my case. I have the dribble from a sponge filter outlet draining over it so it stays more moist than it would if it was just the wood wicking up water.
-Anubias Petite
-Moss
-Emersed Java fern I'm trying here. No results so far, but it's not dead yet.

Plastic Canvas:
I originally made this for a .5 gallon jar, but that didn't work out, primarily because the plant went absolute bonkers. It's actually lived outside for a couple summers, and I bring it in for the winter. (with a quarantine period of course) This is a very small planter, made to fit in the corner of a small tank. I sewed pieces of plastic canvas together and then sewed on the suction cup from a heater. I'm really impressed by the suction cup. It's held up after years of less-than-ideal circumstances, and still holds firm.
Substrate: 5 large pebbles
Plants:
-arrowhead plant? A houseplant of some sort
-hitchhiker moss

Shower Caddy:
Mixed results with this. It could be that the substrate is too heavy (gravel), and because of that, it often slips into the tank. I also used this to figure out that my favorite substrate is coarse filter foam. Lightweight, easy for plants to grow through, very good drainage.
Substrate:
-small gravel
-small pebbles
-coarse filter foam
Plants:
-Mini dwarf sweetflag
-Purple waffle plant
-Golden creeping jenny (took over)
-Ludwigia Repens
-Hydrocotyle 'Japan' (not shown)

Faux-Riparium (shower caddy 2):
There wasn't enough room in my 5 for an actual planter, so I put it on the outside of the tank, with lucky bamboo and a spider plant. The dirt is held in using a felt liner. I would've been better able to plant the spider plant if I'd made a better liner and done things better.
Substrate:
-el cheapo potting mix
Plants:
-Rescued lucky bamboo
-Spider plant and babies

 

[AquaAurora]

Awesome idea!
HOB Filter
Probably a common one. Taking the lid off these and putting the foam media on top then cutting/stabbing some slits into the foam to insert roots/stems is an easy method. If you keep an eye on root growth you can also pit plants on the intake side of the filter-just make sure the roots don't grow down and clog the impeller. The only issue with this method is when it comes time to clean the filter media (or change it out as it breaks down) it can be a bit more messy. I use to keep pothos on the HOB until it started getting big.
This is my aquaclear 70 over grown with plants, can't eve see the filter any more except the intake pipe ^^
Most recent
Helxine soleirolii
Star Grass
Sweetflag
Tradescantia zebrine
Fittonia albivenis





Foam trellis rafts(no longer using)
Don't see these much anymore-black foam with velcro (meant to attach to what was basically a shower caddie with velcro glues onto it). I have calcium rich water though so these tend to get white crusties on them over time..
Aluminum plant
Riccia






Shower Caddies
My favorite (and cheapest) method, I get mine at the local grocery store for $2(small) and $3(long). You can also check dollar stores.
I've replaced 85% of my planted suction cups with coated wire that hangs over the tank trim/frame-wire is looped through the suction cup holes and twisted together on the back so the exposed wire stays out of the tank. My substrate of choice for these is an expanded clay media I had leftover from doing aquaponics (very similar to ripariums but with edible plants and plants/roots kept separated from fish). Its light weight and wicks up moisture. The caddies had slits which let water and and roots grow out but you need a screen or cover if you want to use fine sand in there, gravel is fine but it is heavier and weights the caddie down.
Plant lists for these is long..
Purple Waffle
Dragons Tongue
Spathiphyllum sp??x2
Sweetflag
Star Grass
Rain lily
Fittonia albivenis
Pothos varigated
Aluminum plant (Pilea Cadierei)
Friendship Plant (Pilea involucrata)
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum "domino")
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Anthurium
Alocosia polly
Marble Queen (pothos)
Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura)
Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)
Arrowhead Plant (Syngonium podophyllum 'Cream Allusion')

Original caddies:



DIY caddy fix:




Semi free floating/Simple diy trellis
My husband cut slits in the DIY Lexan lid of my tank ad I make a simple trellis/net from fishing ling to train a vine on, its doing well and the roots are free floating in the tank. Its not too pretty yet but it should grow in/thicken up and look nicer with time.
Philodendron silver leaf




Also used fishing line to secure a (now) monster pothos vine to my back background behind the riparium on the 55g, the base of the vine/roots are free floating in the tank.
Pothos





Driftwood
I've had emersed riccia and stem plans like luqwigia and creeping jenny on my driftwood in the past... same issue with calcium deposits on the emersed part of the wood though (riccia does a nice job of hiding it).

 

[theatermusic87]

Above Tank Planter
MarioSTG and Vanish both have other build styles of these as well

Basically a waterproof container above the tank, water is pumped in and is allowed to drain back into the tank Plants are planted either in substrate filling the whole box, or in my case in containers with substrate. This keeps the roots of the plants from dangling into the main tank (which to me looks cluttered)

Build Picture and thread

Floating Cork Island
Corks are held together with fishing line and are planted to look like little floating islands. Space is a premium so dwarf species are more appropriate, dwarf hairgrass, micro sword, etc, unfortunately mine didn't last long (shrimp kept eating the string holding it together and I swapped tanks, since I don't drink wine corks are in short supply)
The only picture I have of it, you can see it floating top left

What it's supposed to look like Champagne Island

Emmersed Growth on Foam Filter
Additional planting space if you have a HMF style filter in your tank, For me; no mineral deposits on the foam, unlike the other tanks.

 

[Kehy]

Above Tank Planter
MarioSTG and Vanish both have other build styles of these as well

Basically a waterproof container above the tank, water is pumped in and is allowed to drain back into the tank Plants are planted either in substrate filling the whole box, or in my case in containers with substrate. This keeps the roots of the plants from dangling into the main tank (which to me looks cluttered)

Build Picture and thread

Floating Cork Island
Corks are held together with fishing line and are planted to look like little floating islands. Space is a premium so dwarf species are more appropriate, dwarf hairgrass, micro sword, etc, unfortunately mine didn't last long (shrimp kept eating the string holding it together and I swapped tanks, since I don't drink wine corks are in short supply)
The only picture I have of it, you can see it floating top left

What it's supposed to look like Champagne Island

Emmersed Growth on Foam Filter
Additional planting space if you have a HMF style filter in your tank, For me; no mineral deposits on the foam, unlike the other tanks.

Some great ideas, but unfortunately several pictures aren't working

 

[vanish]

Theater ... you can't use urls for pics straight from your google account. I learned this the hard way too, since when its your own account, you see them just fine! For other people, those links expire. That's why I started attaching them to my posts. Come to think of it, I probably need to go back and fix some of my threads.

 

[Tiptop]

Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but Riparium Supply planters! Hydroton and fluorite for substrate.

http://ripariumsupply.com/

My old 18tall setup:

 

[theatermusic87]

Theater ... you can't use urls for pics straight from your google account. I learned this the hard way too, since when its your own account, you see them just fine! For other people, those links expire. That's why I started attaching them to my posts. Come to think of it, I probably need to go back and fix some of my threads.

Not that I'm doubting you, because some of the images didn't load on the misses computer with her accounts, but that seems awfully troublesome of google... from a web design standpoint a link is a link, and there really is no way to filter who does and doesn't see something when it's shared via a third party...

SO besides uploading the images individually (which to me is more trouble that it's worth from an organizational standpoint) any other way to link photos from google? I know enough not to grab the url from the address bar (usually sometimes I forget) and right click+copy image url to get the links I share here... I'm not opposed to switching online photo services if one works better than google photos, thanks in advance

 

[Kehy]

Not that I'm doubting you, because some of the images didn't load on the misses computer with her accounts, but that seems awfully troublesome of google... from a web design standpoint a link is a link, and there really is no way to filter who does and doesn't see something when it's shared via a third party...

SO besides uploading the images individually (which to me is more trouble that it's worth from an organizational standpoint) any other way to link photos from google? I know enough not to grab the url from the address bar (usually sometimes I forget) and right click+copy image url to get the links I share here... I'm not opposed to switching online photo services if one works better than google photos, thanks in advance

If I'm grabbing images from google, I click on image, get to the "view image" screen, and copy image address. That being said, I usually use Imgur to host my pics, and they make it fairly easy to just grab the image url.

So link issues aside, how many people have done the faux riparium planters? It's a way to use regular houseplants that might not like having their feet wet, but would enjoy the high humidity of a tank. African Violets and orchids come to mind as plants that would probably do well like this. Would love so see if some humidity-tolerant cactus could grow like that too, that'd be pretty awesome

 

[Kehy]

A tip for keeping planters watered, both the faux riparium planters and regular potted plants:

Have a container of water next to/slightly above the plant. Put a piece of yarn (synthetic is best so it won't decompose) in the water, let it soak it up. Keeping one end of the yarn in the water, stick the other in the dirt, and the yarn will wick the water over to the plant as it's needed.

For me it's working fantastic for watering the plants in my faux rip. planter, since it's a difficult planter to water, and it dries out quickly.