# "Serenity Now" [25cm Cube Riparium]



## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I decided to try my hand at a riparium because it combines two of my hobbies, and sort of makes sense to include a shoreline in an aquascape scene...

_(This tank was originally introduced here: 25cm nano cube Riparium - The Planted Tank Forum , but I didn't know how to move the thread so I made another...) _


*Updated Picture:*

9/9/18

[

2/16/18



9/4/17



2/14/16





3/13/15



1/25/15





*Tank:* Do! Aqua 25-c (4 gallon) + Mr aqua large 1.2gal HOB breeder box
*Heater:* Hydor 50watt
*Filter:* finnex px360 + Seachem Matrix
*Lights:* 23watt 6500k cfl in work lamp reflector
*Substrate:* ADA Aquasoil Amazonia

*Fauna: *
Betta (black and red)
[STRIKE]ramshorn snails[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]orange sakura shrimp[/STRIKE]
skud shrimp

*Submerged Flora:*
Crypt wendtii 'tropica'
Crypt wendtii 'Mi Oya'
Crypt undulata
Crypt willisii
Crypt Lucens
Fissidens Fontanus 
Singapore moss
[STRIKE]Anubias nana[/STRIKE]
Anubias nana 'petite'
Anubias Coffeeolia
[STRIKE]Java fern [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Hygrophila 'siamensis 53b'[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Hygrophila polysperma[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Ludwigia repens[/STRIKE]
Ceratopteris thalictroides (water sprite)
Frogbit
Salvinia natans
[STRIKE]Brazilian pennywort[/STRIKE]
Heteranthera zosterifolia (Star grass)

*Riparium Flora:*
Spathiphilum 'petite' (peace lily)
Philodendron
Pilea cardierei (Aluminum plant)
[STRIKE]Pilea glauca 'aquamarine'[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Pilea depresa[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Chamedora elegans (neanthe Bella palm)[/STRIKE]
Ophiopogon japonicus (mondo grass)
[STRIKE]Acorus gramineus 'variegatus' (sweet flag)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Schefflera elegantissima (False Aralia)[/STRIKE]
Syngonium podophylum
Hygrophila 'siamensis 53b

Ferts:
[STRIKE]Seachem Nitrogen
Seachem Potassium
Seachem Phosphourus[/STRIKE]
Seachem Equilibrium
KNO3
KH2PO4


I was already in the process of making a nano 10" cube for shrimp and I wanted to see if I could make a believable riparium out of such a small tank... I started this tank as a dry start with moss and crypts back in early December...

To get over the fact that most riparium plants would overshadow the 10" of front to back tank space quite fast, I decided to use a hang on the back breeder box to house the planters and rafts... a finnex px360 canister filter takes water from the cube and sends it into the breeder box and then overflows back into the tank... 

I mostly did this project over the Christmas holidays so my options for supplies were limited... I made my own riparium planters from acrylic sheeting custom made to fit the breeder box... I ended up using seachem matrix instead of hydroton, and used leftover aquasoil for the top layer... the rafts I made from 4 layers of craft foam sheets crazy glued together and drilled holes to fit the stems... they work very well but could be thicker. ..

Plants were also limited up here in frozen north, so I decided to try chamedora elegans from home depot, ophiopogon japonicus and acorus gramineus 'variegatus' from petsmart, pilea carderi and pilea glauca 'aquamarine' on the rafts and philodendron climbing up the emersed driftwood with the root dangling behind...

While the pilea and philodendron are starting to take off, I'm getting crown rot on some of the the chamedora shoots with some leaves drying up and the acorus seems dried out despite trying to keep the rhizomes above the water with very small roots and I only used matrix for this planter... the ophiopogon isn't doing much at all... I'm not sure if this is failure or just transitions... it's only been flooded since Jan 13th so I have to be patient and just fertilized for the first time today...

Somehow in the future I am going to obtain acorus gramineus 'ogon' and probably Cyprus dwarf sedge to replace the the background, I just have to wait on the local nurseries to start bringing them in for the spring. ..


The emersed driftwood is attached to an equal sized chunk below the surface...




I'm finding it hard to properly photograph the under water part so bear with me until I get some good shots with the dslr... I've tried with the light above and to the side...

I added 12 orange sakura shrimp and one perished so far


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## leemacnyc (Dec 28, 2005)

Gorgeous!


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

This is a quick shot of the HOB breeder box that houses the acrylic planters:




And this is the HOB breeder box before I filled the tank... it's been modified to fit the glass and shortly after this shot I cut down the plastic to increase flow across the whole length instead of just through the the main overflow on the left:




And these are the planters I made from acrylic sheeting, cut on table saw and edges clean with a router table, then bonded with methylene chloride. .. holes drilled on all sides for water diffusion:




This is a shot before I filled the dry start and planted the riparium portion:




When the water was clear before I added alder cones, the first occupant was a juvenile cherry shrimp:




The acrylic planters sit on the bottom of the HOB with about 1/2" above the water:




Once I replace my faulty Hydor 50w heater I will house it in the remaining space in the HOB under the aluminum plant raft...

I wish nurseries were open up here in the frozen north... I need to get my hands on some of the proven riparium plants... my background choices are not fairing so well... the roots on the acorus gramineus 'variegatus' have rotted and there's isn't much rhizomes to use a rubber band to stabilize them... do the rhizomes NEED to be above the water completely? I figured the matrix would still allow oxygen but I guess not 

I have a bunch of Spathiphyllum 'petite' but that is too broad for this nano... I'm thinking Cyprus dwarf sedge and some kind of grass... not sure I like the fan look of the acorus and the mondo grass, while not dieing, is showing no growth but maybe I need to be more patient :wink:

There are some really good nurseries around here that have plenty of tropical plants but not much in the way of marginal or pond plants this time of year. .. I just picked up some syngonium, the common one and a smaller reddish one... as well as pilea glauca and pilea depressa and I am now adding those for the foreground... the mid ground is covered with pilea cardierei...

But I want the background to be "grassy", so I'm gonna have to wait for the pond plants to come in... maybe this chamedora elegans palm will pull through as its a very beautiful plant... maybe I have the crowns to far into the water. .. maybe I should raise the planters?


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I've seen others have success with pilea glauca so I decided to try it... we shall see how unruly it gets... 2 days in and it looks like roots are sprouting!!




Close up:



I got the idea for this plant from ukamikazu over at aquatic plant enthusiasts: 
http://www.aquaticplantenthusiasts.c...ginning-7.html


The Aluminum plant is growing gang busters... at least this will give the illusion of the background being filled in until I get my real background plants in order:




The pilea glauca is definitely starting to root in only a couple days:




I also added some pilea depressa to the opposite side on a foam raft... after only 1 day in a grow out tank the roots began to grow:




I wanted to try a plant I haven't heard of being used in riparium so before I even set this tank up I cut the roots from several False Aralia (Schefflera elegantissima) over a month ago and stuck it in one of my tanks with decent sucess:




With new growth:




And most of these roots have grown underwater:



We shall see how this plant does long term... I'm seriously thinking of adding it to this tank...


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Very serene (something about just wood + green), planted HOB filters are awesome


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

I'm curious to see how the _Pilea depressa_ and _Pilea glauca 'aquamarine'_ do on the rafts. May have to try some out myself if you are successful with them. 

Nice tank!


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Meanwhile in my grow out tank, I've finally potted up the Spathiphyllum 'petite' into a soap caddy with matrix. .. I will add a top layer of aquasoil or flourite once it settles in... unfortunately this caddy is wide but not very deep:




The roots have grown already with these Spathiphyllum free floating, so we shall how well they do in the caddy:


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## Sajeev (Mar 24, 2010)

beautiful


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## Jvidi (Dec 9, 2014)

This is so beautiful, though I am wondering how visible the submerged portion is. From these pics it looks really dark. Do you plan to light it up with something?


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Jvidi said:


> This is so beautiful, though I am wondering how visible the submerged portion is. From these pics it looks really dark. Do you plan to light it up with something?


Photography of riparium setups is very hard because in order to properly expose the brighter emersed portion the submerged portion is inevitably underexposed 

In person, the submerged portion is relatively dark but everything is visible... I could supplement with more light but the idea is that this tank be as natural as possible as a stream/river bank scene where the area directly under these terrestrial plants would be overshadowed and shaded out...

I will be taking photos soon with my DSLR in order to capture the dynamic range seen in person roud:


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Centromochlus said:


> I'm curious to see how the _Pilea depressa_ and _Pilea glauca 'aquamarine'_ do on the rafts. May have to try some out myself if you are successful with them.
> 
> Nice tank!


Both of these species are rooting like crazy and new leaves are forming... the pilea depressa seems very adaptable as even a completely submerged stem began to send out roots from each node without the leaves dying off...its definitely a more 'filled in' plant with its leaves closer together than the pilea glauca 'aquamarine' but i think each has its place as a trailing forground plant on rafts or climbing up driftwood or cascading over the edge of the tank...


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Spathiphyllum grow bare root in just water, sure they will do great


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## Mitashade (Jan 8, 2015)

That piece of wood is absolutely made for that size tank, and this application. Wow. Great looking scape.

I was also gonna suggest doing a manual HDR shot. If your camera has an HDR function, that would work as well, but manually taking all three exposures and combining them with software would make this tank REALLY pop in photographs.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Mitashade said:


> That piece of wood is absolutely made for that size tank, and this application. Wow. Great looking scape.
> 
> I was also gonna suggest doing a manual HDR shot. If your camera has an HDR function, that would work as well, but manually taking all three exposures and combining them with software would make this tank REALLY pop in photographs.


Yeah, once I get the riparium plants situated I'm gonna have a proper photo shoot done with my dSLR, and I'll try HDR...

The pilea sp. are doing great in the rafts, as are the philodendron cuttings and the False Aralia (Schefflera elegantissima) in the acrylic planter which has new growth and new roots, although some of the lower leaves are starting to drop...

I have removed the Chamedora elegans (neanthe Bella palm) as it slowly dried out with no roots forming... I'm not sure why this one didn't work... I tried raising the crowns up but maybe it was too late 

I filled the empty acrylic planter with 3 more Ophiopogon japonicus (mondo grass) to fill out the back, as the current ones have been growing new leaves and the roots have reached the bottom of the planter and new runners shooting everywhere...

The Acorus gramineus 'variegatus' (sweet flag) rotted away at the rhizomes, despite being above the soil but I didnt like it anyways... too 'angular' if that makes any sense... the arching of the mondo grass is more pleasing to me :icon_smil

Meanwhile the crypts are growing great underwater, filling in everywhere... the crypt undulata and wendtii 'mi Oya' may prove to be too large for this nano :wink:

I've also added a stem of hygrophila 'siamensis 53b' into the aquasoil with the intention of it growing emersed to bring some nice flowers into the mix...

I've transfered the heater and thermometer to the breeder box which cleaned up the main tank nicely, but for some reason this raised the tank temp 1°C... I really want to build temp controllers for all my tanks to alleviate this kind of malarkey!


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

I love those boxes!!! Could you make a few for me? I'll gladly paid you, 

PM sent


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

FlyingHellFish said:


> I love those boxes!!! Could you make a few for me? I'll gladly paid you,
> 
> PM sent


Sadly I have no time to build more of the boxes for my own uses... the 28 month old toddler and 5 week old newborn are taking all my time and sanity :help:


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## natebuchholz (Sep 28, 2013)

Beautiful setup. Sounds like you could use some "serenity"


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

natebuchholz said:


> Beautiful setup. Sounds like you could use some "serenity"


Oddly enough this tank hasn't achieved the status of 'serenity inducing' yet... I'm not as happy with the small cube form factor as I thought I would... of course I've modified the shape with the HOB breeder box on back... I'm thinking this would have worked better in a 30cm cube!

Also it's definitely lost its punch without the palm giving a sense of height... I can't wait until pond shops open so I can get my hands on some Dwarf Cyprus... the pilea glauca is growing well but looks too spindlely and sparse... I need something growing up in front of it so I'm gonna move it back into the HOB...

Updated pictures to follow...


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Well I only had a few minutes to take some crappy cell phone snaps yesterday... one of these days I'll get some dSLR pics taken...


Here is the riparium section from the front...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

View from the top, which is my favorite angle... perfect to see the nice bio film scum that's accumulated on the surface :confused1:


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

The underwater section is growing in nicely but it's still pretty dark... I haven't mounted the light in its final location so it will get brighter :icon_cool


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

So the False Aralia decided to die off overnight... I guess it didn't like the planter :eek5: 
I moved the survivors to another tank bare rooted so hopefully they will recover...

Despite the fact that Spathiphyllum 'petite' might be too big for this tank I added a flowering specimen to the empty planter, but maybe it will stay small enough to fill in its corner of the HOB... perhaps it will give me the height I want without the spread if I trim back the older leaves... I also added some more pilea cardierei to the raft that had pilea glauca on it... it was looking to sparse in that section. 

That's what I like about this riparium thing; you can experiment with species and placements without disturbing the main tank and substrate...

Here's a quick shot of the changes. ..


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Really Cool setup you have made!!!!!

Very ingenious on the filter box, but can you tell me what type of canister filter that is? 

What other type of living critters do you have in the underwater section now?

Thanks for sharing your Creation!!!
Drew


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## BeardedCrow81 (Mar 6, 2015)

This tank is superb! I love all the details and how everything is tied together.

I have some plants in my canopy, you inspire me to try something lol


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

BoxxerBoyDrew said:


> Really Cool setup you have made!!!!!
> 
> Very ingenious on the filter box, but can you tell me what type of canister filter that is?
> 
> ...



Thanks mate 

The filter is a Finnex px360 which is a great filter for under 10 gallon tanks... I have another on 5 gallon shrimp tank too.

I haven't added anything more and the orange sakura shrimp population has dwindled to 6 or 7 including the death of the only male  ... one female was berried but i haven't seen and babies... I want to add some fish but i am not sure what to add to such a small tank that will also be shrimp safe :help:


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I finally cleaned the filter to maybe help combat the surface scum, but it wasn't that dirty after 2 months of shrimp only. I added some purigen as well, so maybe that will help... I'm also thinking it's a complete lack of surface agitation as the flow over the HOB is disrupted by the driftwood mass...

I made a few changes to the tank as well. I temporarily removed the pilea glauca until I can find a suitable spot for it in the HOB, so I filled in that small raft with more pilea cardierei to fill out the left side...

But the most notable change is the addition of Singapore moss to the driftwood above the water line to grow emersed with their feet in the water... in this way capillary action soaks water up on the wood and the moss higher up. I'm hoping this works with lower relative humidity... Besides giving the "shore" a more believable appearance, a terrible white mold was growing on the drift wood in these sections and im hoping this moss will takes it's place, but of course it could also mean the mold will grow higher too... If that's the case then I may need to scrape the emersed driftwood idea  

I had to kill the mold with hydrogen peroxide, which worked well but some spores flew off in all directions, hopefully not my lungs :confused1:


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

The moss is layered up the sides of the driftwood... for now I'm spraying it with water a couple times a day...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

I applied the moss to all of the driftwood at the water margin... unfortunately water evaporation is pretty high in this tank compared to my other tanks for some reason, so this shoreline will be fairly dynamic unless I keep up on the top offs... 2 cups a day lost to evaporation could really ruin this emersed moss idea... we shall see...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

I used a mixed of submersed and previously emersed Singapore moss from a high humidity setup... we shall see which one fairs better in this application...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr

I also put a black background on and removed the stunted crypts from the back left... This area was far too shaded so I'm going to fill it in with either narrow java fern or anubias... the rest of the tank is filling in despite being less then 20 PAR at the substrate...


March 2015 25cm cube riparium by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Moss is doing well emersed as it wicks up the water from the tank... I barely need to spray with only the upper reaches drying slightly. .. but as I thought the mold is starting to creep in above the moss... but now I can't use hydrogen peroxide to kill it cause it will kill the moss below it too :icon_frow

I added a big rhizome of java fern with small leaves to fill in the back left around the filter intake as well as an anubias nana hanging off the driftwood. The tank is starting to look full... I added 3 amano shrimp too, but because the light is so low their not gonna have much algae to eat so I'm gonna need to feed them. Of course I also need to make sure I don't feed too much in such a small tank... This tank already has a planaria problem and I don't think feed too much :icon_twis


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## sindy777 (Apr 9, 2015)

Sajeev... I'm interested in your plants you're selling. I tried to message you but you have msgs inabled. Please get up with me about them.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

*"Insanity Later" [formerly Serenity Now]*

Well after 5 months of basically neglecting this tank save for top offs, its kind of taken care of itself... The shrimp disappeared when the planaria appeared... The plants filled in nicely... I never did move the tank to a better spot, nor did I install the proper light fixture so it has been getting subpar lighting at best, but it chugs along at a slow pace...

Despite the lack of fauna, this tank has started coming into its own, but it doesn't give me a sense of serenity like I originally envisioned... The slow trickle of water into the stillness of open water is calming. The fullness and richness of the plants above and below the water do give the impression of a living and thriving ecosystem, albeit on an extremely small scale. 


25cm cube riparium August 2015 by nbtobey, on Flickr


The find this tank actually gives me a sense of unease... And I think it's because of the shape... I now hate cubes... I know that sounds weird, but I can't quite explain it any better... Thought a cube would be perfect but because the front to back is actually longer than the tank front is wide, because of the HOB, I can't help but want to turn the tank 90°... The tank just makes me feel funny :confused1:

I hate it when everything comes together except for one athetic detail that ruins the whole thing... This was my first foray into riparium, and I quickly fell in love. I'm in the process of building one about 15 times the size of this one, but in the mean time something needs to change in this one... Either it needs to be decomssioned or reinvisioned...

So my options are to add the contents of this tank into my new large shallow wide riparium build or transfer them to another nano tank that's more appealing to the look I am going for...
Perhaps along the lines of a shallow but longer tank like the ADA 45-f, but I don't the short front to back depth of that tank... I may have one custom made to give more front to back space, while keeping with the shallow style...

I added a nice black and red betta fish to give it more life and he seems to be thriving in the still water... So obviously his well being will affect my decision :fish:


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## Jonas (Nov 30, 2011)

I really like these kinds of tanks. Only had time to glance at the pictures now but i'm gonna read the whole thread later on.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Lovely ripariums, shame you don't like the look of it, I do, expect for seeing the filter next to it (hate looking at filters, I always try to hide mine).
Bettas really do prefer low to no flow, especially the long finned variety. The shorter finned plakats and females can tolerate a little more current but still needs to be gentle/weak. Can you get a closer shot of the betta?
Look forward to seeing your larger riparium!


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I really don't know what to do with this tank... I hate the thought of decommissioning any tank I've spent so much time building... Either way its gotta move as the new shallow wide riparium is taking its place along the wall 

My intentions were to move the filter behind the tank but that never happened just like setting up the permanent light fixture... Babies can be so time consuming! If I stick with the current tank shape,I think if the filter is in behind and its on smaller table then maybe the tank will look better...

I have a quote for a shallow nano tank that may work better for this riparium... But I'm worried that the drift wood might end up looking like a tree coming out of the tank instead of a balanced piece of emerssed and submerssed wood... The quote is for an 18"x12.5"x6.5" high so it would certainly change the dynamic of this riparium... I would also take the opportunity to switch out the aquasoil amazonia for Malaya to brighten the submersed section. This would also slow down the growth of the crypts as Malaya has less nutrients the amazonia... This will be a good thing as the wendtii and undulata species are becoming too big and will be more so is such a shallow tank...

After cleaning the filter last week, at least 1/4 of the crypt leaves have melted... Not sure what that's about :icon_frow

Anyways, here are some cell phone pictures of the betta... If I ever get the time to post process my dslr shots I'll post those too :confused1:

Betta fish by nbtobey, on Flickr

Betta fish by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

He's a very lovely black and red ct, I don't see many of those (and i stalk ebay and aquabid almost constantly for bettas). Doe he have a name? Any amusing quirks or habits you've noticed with him.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

He has no name but my daughter calls him "new fish"... He's my first betta so I'm not sure what to compare regular vs quirky behaviour :hihi:

He's interested to see me when I come around and when I feed him or add worms or skud shrimp for him to hunt... He makes bubble nests along the drift wood and hangs out under them... 

There wasn't any fauna in this tank for a long time and I was sick of the lack of movement so I added something that would appreciate the smaller space and still waters... A betta seemed perfect


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

A quick update and more info to follow...

The riparium section has filled out nicely, but the crypts below have melted several times and I don't know what to expect of them now... I've mostly filled in the bottom with heterhantha zosterfolia (star grass) and Ceratopteris thalictroides (water sprite)...

The betta seams healthy and happy... I hope to finally move this tank into my daughters room and install the proper light fixture, but I have been saying that for a year 
25cm Riparium Feb 2016 by nbtobey, on Flickr

Here it is between the grow out tanks for my upcoming 75 gallon shallow wide riparium...

25cm Riparium Feb 2016 by nbtobey, on Flickr


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

The riparium section is now primarily the peace lily, and philodendron on the branches... a planter of mondo grass, and a newly added Syngonium fill the rest of the background, and a few stems of pilea cardierei and Hygrophila 53b round out the midground.

The other pilea species are gone as they grew too leggy... I think that fewer species works better anyways... Too many and it just looks jumbled.

The fullness of the plant growth is finally allowing me to enjoy this tank as its intended purpose... I think it now deserves to have a special place with a proper light setup and maybe on a pedestal stand to show off its shape better.

I just wish the underwater section would stay constant... I've never experienced so much crypt melt as I have in this tank. The water is calm so the betta is only movement this tank sees. He quite enjoys it. I just added a small population of skud shrimp so hopefully they breed and give him hunting opportunities... He's quite entertaining when I give him worms...


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I still don't have this tank and its proper place and I still don't have the proper light but everything is growing in great... unfortunately the peace lily is growing straight up to the light and looking a little awkward. This CFL bulb is well over a year old and I think is not providing enough light. I am going to change it over to a LED flood light just like my bigger riparium that I'm about to flood...

The betta is doing great, but the submerged plants are having a hard time due to the lack of light. I also plan to switch out the substrate because I really don't need aquasoil in there if nothing grows...


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

*Serenity now - A Blackwater riparium*

The cube riparium has been reborn!

*BLACKWATER*​


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

The philodendron has grown well under the par38 led light, requiring trimming and the leaves have become a deeper red and brown... of course the leaves had shaded the underwater flora so only a few dwarf sag remain...



It's not very Blackwater anymore... my plan is to add Indian almond leaves and more Adler cones... there's no livestock yet, but I am going to switch out the water with remineralized RO using salty shrimp mineral gh/kh so I can try an rcs colony... Maybe I will have better luck in this tank than the big riparium...

I need to find a way to calm the flow of the eheim 2213 canister... it's too turbulent for shrimp I think... ill neef a sponge for the intake as well... anyways it need a good vacuum and filter cleaning too.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Update:



Nothing much has changed except more growth... I added an HOB breeder box to the back like before and 2 planters of some kind of bright philodenron...



I never did change the water... it's still 525 tds and I almost never fertilize... I've added more Indian almond leaves and alert cones... still no fauna...


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I finally moved this tank to my office...



Here the old school "wood" paneling walls are painted so it gives a different vibe to it... 



It's beside my desk in a corner under a huge basement window, but I think the sunlight won't hit it directly... I'm still running the 12w LED par38 light which has been far better for growth then the cfl ever was... so much so that the philodenron has completely overshadowed the underwater section and only a few sprigs of dwarf sag survived... it's been top up only all this time with no fauna... I abandoned the Blackwater setup as the rotting leaves and alder cones became annoying...

I changed the water finally with water from my big riparium and recently started changing 50% per week or 2 with salty shrimp gh+ remineralised RO water... I haven't cleaned the filter since I set it up with the 2213...

For now it's the home of a dwarf African frog and some ramshorn snails...

Here he is enjoying the surface scum that has plagued this tank since day one...



My plan is to add some moss and plants to the floating foam as these additions are necessary to keep the frogbit and salvinia out in the light...


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Nice to see an update! Tank never made it to the daughters room it seems.
Where did you get your LED light? 
For aquatic plants you can try lower light plants like anubias. Marimo can go in the shadows but it'd just be for looks, it grows so insanely slow it would never help with nitrates.
BTW love your shallow riparium! I wish I had such good luck with maiden hair fern (too dry here).
From what I've read a few years ago DFA (dwarf african frogs) get lonely and should be in groups of 2-3 and ideally in a 10g.


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