# Opare's Emersed Culture Tank + Fish Bowl Iwagumi



## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Emersed Tank:*








Hi everyone, I just set up an emersed bin to collect trimmings, extras and plants I like but aren't being used currently. I just followed the guide on APC by Zappins to set it up.

*Equipment:*
Up Aqua Z Series Pro LED 45 CM on for 8 hours
5x Food containers (Used the lids to make dividers)
Some random plastic box from Ikea
EarthGro Potting Soil
Generic terrestrial foliar fertiliser (equal ratios of N/P/K)
Plastic knives for name tags

*Plants:*
_Rotala_ sp. 'Nanjenshan'
_Rotala macrandra_ 'Dwarf'
_Anbuias barteri_ Var. _nana_ 'Petite'
_Cryptocoryne wendtii_ 'Brown'
_Cryptocoryne beckettii_ 'Petchii Pink'
_Cryptocoryne walkeri_ 'Hobbit'
_Limnophila aromatica_ 'Hippuridoides'
_Hemianthus callitrichoides_
_Lemna minor_
_Bucephalandra_ 'Pinky Mambo'
_Bucephalandra_ 'Catherine'
_Bucephalandra_ 'Brownie Ghost Red'
_Bucephalandra_ 'Brownie Midnight Blue'
_Bucephalandra_ 'Brownie Purple'
_Hydrocotyle tripartita_
_Vesicularia_ sp. 'Triangle'

*Fish Bowl Emersed Iwagumi:*
















*Equipment:*
Some random fish bowl I found in my house
Sunlight
Earth-Gro Potting Soil

*Plants:*
_Hemianthus callitrichoides_
_Eleocharis acicularis_ sp. 'Mini'
_Hydrocotyle tripartita_

*Hardscape:*
Ryu stone

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## Smooch (May 14, 2016)

Very nice. Are you feeding them anything special or depending on the soil (?) you're using?


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*































Currently only have these 2 plants in here, cus was planning to chuck in extras from my 60P, which I was planning to plant today. Unfortunately, the LFS didn't have the plants I wanted, so I just picked these 2 which were grown on Wabi balls to experiment on. 
I bought 2 of each species and cut off and planted the stems from one ball of each species, and left the other one just as a whole ball, mainly to see the differences of growth (and cus I was a bit lazy to keep planting). Will probably end up replanting the other balls in the coming days as well. I also left the 2 cut balls in to see if they could regrow as a bit of an experiment. I'm a bit worried about overcrowding where the stems are but we shall see how it goes.
Tomorrow, I'll be hopefully planting my 60P, so the other containers should get filled. I will also try and get some floaters to occupy the gaps so the water doesn't become too algae ridden.

On the aforementioned thread on APC, Zappins said the soil should be enough to sustain them for a few years. If the plants do start to look poorly I'll probably start fertilising with some foliar feeders. Also, I forgot to put which type of soil I'm using, sorry hahaha. I'm using EarthGro Potting Soil, cus it was the smallest bag I could fine in the hardware store (LOL). I'll add that to the equipment list, thanks!
EDIT: By the way, I was looking for tags for the plants, but couldn't find them anywhere. Anyone got some ideas for a cheap alternative? Maybe I could use plastic utensils?

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## TheGreenWizard (Jan 19, 2015)

White plastic spoons and black sharpies will be your friends for cheap ID tags.



Opare said:


> On the aforementioned thread on APC, Zappins said the soil should be enough to sustain them for a few years. If the plants do start to look poorly I'll probably start fertilising with some foliar feeders. Also, I forgot to put which type of soil I'm using, sorry hahaha. I'm using EarthGro Potting Soil, cus it was the smallest bag I could fine in the hardware store (LOL). I'll add that to the equipment list, thanks!
> EDIT: By the way, I was looking for tags for the plants, but couldn't find them anywhere. Anyone got some ideas for a cheap alternative? Maybe I could use plastic utensils?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*

Hi everyone, yesterday I planted and filled my 60P (thread coming soon), so that means the bin got some more plants! Turns out I actually didn't overbuy that much on plants for the tank, so didn't have as many plants to fill in this as I thought I would.























I added _Anbuias barteri_ Var. _nana_ 'Petite', _Cryptocoryne wendtii_ 'Brown', _Limnophila aromatica_ and _Hemianthus callitrichodes_.
These are basically leftovers from my tank, or in the case of the L. aromatica, plants I didn't end up using. Most of the plants came in emersed form so we shouldn't see too many plants doing poorly. Interested to see how the Anubias does, maybe I could get some flowering. The R. rotundifolia is looking a bit poorly, but that's how it looked when I first planted, hopefully it starts to perk up a bit.
Gonna get some floaters this weekend, to cover the water. Also, made some name tags out of plastic knives, you can sort of see them.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Finally got some floaters to cover the water, which has become very dark from the soil. Got some Amazon Frogbit and (I may rue this decision) Duckweed, cus Duckweed is the only plant small enough to fit into those nooks and crannies.















The R. rotundifolia is really looking a little worse for wear, which is strange because it's already in emersed form. The other plants look okay, especially the R. sp. 'Nanjenshan'. In fact the cut stems from its Wabi ball are sprouting new nodes!










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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

So I just returned from holiday and the tub is doing good. The floaters are reproducing and all the other plants are doing well. There's a bit of a patch of melting on the HC, but other than that it looks good. The R. rotundifolia is bouncing back now, but I will probably have to replant the tops as the bottoms are pretty straggly.































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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*

Hey everyone time for a little update.
Today I topped and replanted both Rotala species, the ones on the Wabi balls and the normally planted ones. A lot of the R. sp. 'Nanjenshan' was looking a bit ratty at the top so I decided to replant it and see how it does.







The R. rotundifolia had to be topped as there was good new growth but the old growth needed to go.







Also removed the dead patch in the HC.















Overall, I'm very happy with how the tub is working out. Zero maintainance and plant growth is great! Gonna try and set up an emersed/Wabi Kusa dish in one of those DoAqua! dishes (or similar), in the next month or so, just to make use of the some of the plants growing out of here.
EDIT: Also put some strands of moss I had lying around just to see how they will do. The Java Moss has been there a while and is still green. Just put some F. fontanus, it's supposed to be a fully aquatic moss, but we shall see how it does. The soil is really wet so it should be okay.

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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*

Hello! Everything is going well with the tub, and it also got a new addition, _Eleocharis acicularis_ 'Mini'. I picked it up when I was buying a new QT tank, just to fill up some of the space in the tub.










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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*

Update time! Gave the L. aromatica a trim because it was getting _huge_.















Everything is still going well. Moved some Bucephalandra rhizomes that weren't doing so hot in the 60P (one I accidentally snipped).








They are hard to see in the photo because they have no leaves.
Also trimmed the P. erectus from the 60P, so that went in here as well.










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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

very cool grow


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*

Picture time! The iPhone camera actually works quite okay for this setup, although it sucks for the 60P.















The moss is growing nicely, but the Rotala sp. 'Nanjenshan' is probably the plant that is doing the worst. It has like these dried out tips not sure why. It grows quickly but not healthily. Also, as you can see in the photo, managed to revive a Bucephalandra 'Pinky Mambo' rhizome.








L. aromatica as big and beautiful as always.








The R. rotundifolia 'Blood Red' is really coming along. It's starting to get a nice deep colouration in this setup (unlike my 60P).








Hairgrass going crazy, might have to rehome some. Anubias looks a bit so-so not sure why...















Have 2 pots of HC now and both have just gone mad, probably the best performer next to the hairgrass. Will need to start selling it soon. Crypts also doing well, and the P. erectus has transitioned from submersed to emersed growth, probably have to replant it soon.
Really want to setup a Wabikusa to use some of these plants but there is just no space in my room. :-( You may be thinking 'But Wabis are so small?', but somehow I have well and truly run out of space, between this hobby and my turntable stuff.
Anyway hope the photos and ramblings were enjoyable!

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## Jawnwin (Oct 8, 2016)

if you ever decide to sell some anubias please let me know im thinking about glueing some anubias petite onto my ohko stones.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Jawnwin said:


> if you ever decide to sell some anubias please let me know im thinking about glueing some anubias petite onto my ohko stones.


I live in Malaysia (I'm very far away from you) so that may not be possible.  If you were close I would be glad to give you some, alas that is not the case.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

So with the rescape of my 60P, came some changes to the emersed tank. Moved stuff around a bit, hacked away bad growth etc.
New plant list is in the first post, but mostly not much has changed.
Have started to spray a balanced foliar fertiliser once a week as the plants were exhibiting deficiencies, hopefully this can help them perk up.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*

Everything is growing well and is seeming to appreciate the added nutrients with the fertilisers.















P. erectus is doing much better this time around, chalking it up to nutrient availability since it gets fertilisers and it has a fresh bed of soil under it.
Sold some HC so one of the pots is a bit sparse. Also, the Hydrocotyle is growing craaaazy will need to sell it as well soon. It's even flowering. 








You can juuuuust make it out in the photo.
EDIT: Also sold most of the Anubias, although you can see I kept some snippets.

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## Akaliman (Jul 28, 2014)

@Opare you are some serious hard core aquascaper!! Well done.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*



Akaliman said:


> @Opare you are some serious hard core aquascaper!! Well done.


Hah thanks! This setup I basically give no attention to though TBH. I just let it grow, and spray it with fertilisers once a week.
Although I still do spend quite a lot of time in the hobby in general, but that's usually when I'm on holidays. I only start new scapes during holidays. Things slow down when school starts with sports and social stuff, I'll only do normal weekly maintenance, but I'm always reading about the hobby and on this forum.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The problem with you anubias appears to be that the rhizomes might be too far down. I saw this with some of mine, when I had some emersed, pulled them up a little and it went away.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

johnson18 said:


> The problem with you anubias appears to be that the rhizomes might be too far down. I saw this with some of mine, when I had some emersed, pulled them up a little and it went away.


I actually figured it was probably nutrient deficiencies as a few species started to show yellowing etc. The Anubias has been cut now though, and I just have little snippets.
I actually had a few where the rhizome wasn't even on the soil, they were holding themselves up with their roots.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Opare said:


> Picture time!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I based my comment on the left most plant in this picture, it looks as if the rhizome is kinda muddy and not healthy. Was mostly just a guess. How old is your soil? The nutrients in the soil should last a few years, especially with the density of planting you currently have. 

I have also been wanting to set up a little wabikusa! I keep looking for a small glass cube that I can use for a wabi. Yesterday at my LFS I saw a cube that was only a couple gallons. I love emersed plants and think that setting up a wabikusa would let me display those plants in a new way.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

*Opare's Emersed Culture Tank*



johnson18 said:


> I based my comment on the left most plant in this picture, it looks as if the rhizome is kinda muddy and not healthy. Was mostly just a guess. How old is your soil? The nutrients in the soil should last a few years, especially with the density of planting you currently have.
> 
> 
> 
> I have also been wanting to set up a little wabikusa! I keep looking for a small glass cube that I can use for a wabi. Yesterday at my LFS I saw a cube that was only a couple gallons. I love emersed plants and think that setting up a wabikusa would let me display those plants in a new way.


Yeah that rhizome just got a bit dirty in rolling around in stuff, cus it didn't wanna stay down.
It is a few months old, but I think cus I have the floaters in the water they basically suck the nutrients completely out of the soil. Some pots still seemed fertile, but I think others had already been sapped.
Yeah same! I always look in weird cheap home stores for cool small vases and the like to hold one in and I found some good ones. Just never got around to making it. Maybe in a couple of weeks when I have another holiday.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

So here's a thing I setup because I had some leftover DHG from replanting the 60P.















I used the same soil from the emersed setup, as well as some HC from there too. This is just gonna be lit by sunlight and I shall see how it fairs. Should be a fun little project and relatively hands-free.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

very cool. i like how you carpeted the water with duck weed giving it a more lush feel.

question: how would you rate the growth speed in the emersed setting vs under water?
do you think I can do a similar set up as yours but put it outdoors in my balcony? I dont have a extra light or space at home. Does it smell or get nasty inside?


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

IntotheWRX said:


> very cool. i like how you carpeted the water with duck weed giving it a more lush feel.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Depending where you live and what the weather is like outside, but if it isn't too cold/too hot you definitely could.
I feel for the most part growth is faster because the plants are not limited by CO2 at all, although I don't have a very bright light on the setup, so it could be faster TBH. It doesn't really smell, besides the wet dirt smell, but I have to stick my head in to really smell that.
It is a much more economical way of growing plants cus you don't have to worry about algae, CO2 and changing water etc.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Went to the LFS to refill my CO2 cylinder and found Rotala macrandra 'Dwarf'. Was curious to see what it grows like so picked it up. Pretty excited to see it grow, depending how tall it is I may move it to the 60P eventually.








Other plant updates: (Everything's fine)








First attempt at the fish bowl was a bit botched as I didn't quite figure out humidity levels, I first made it too wet, then made it too dry. Decided I'll go conservatively with the spritzing and just make sure the soil is moist, whilst keeping the cover on 24/7 (although I will air it out daily). I lost a lot of HC and DHG, but some survived, and I have a good supply of HC from the emersed setup anyway, so did a replanting. Also added some Hydrocotyle tripartita for variety. Second attempt is looking good, although the photo is bad.










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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Fish bowl update: growth has been mad! It's looking pretty good and everything has filled in. Not bad for something I give 0 attention to, I literally just leave it on my desk, and open the cover occasionally.
Another horrible photo I apologise, it's hard to picture because of the reflections.

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## frenziedpace (Dec 17, 2016)

I like it. Nice simple set up.
How do you keep the soil from getting green. It looks really wet. My emersed grows will get green if they stay real wet on the top of the soil.


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## geisterwald (Jul 18, 2016)

Did the duckweed totally overpower the frogbit or did you take the frogbit out? I can't see any in your later pictures :O


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## Smooch (May 14, 2016)

Love the fish bowl!

Hydrocotyle will drive you crazy. Be prepared to always be trimming it as it will take over if allowed to do so. I finally got annoyed with the batches I had and got rid of them. I love the plant, but I wasn't willing to buy a bigger tank to accommodate its growth.

Have you ever tried growing out Bolbitis heudelotii? I haven't had any problems growing out rhizome plants such as java ferns, so I do see any problems with Bolbitis, but one never really knows until they do it.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

frenziedpace said:


> I like it. Nice simple set up.
> 
> How do you keep the soil from getting green. It looks really wet. My emersed grows will get green if they stay real wet on the top of the soil.


To be honest I don't do anything special hahaha. My soil is filled with little inverterbrates and the emersed setup (not the fishbowl) has snails in it so maybe they help. The method of keeping the soil wet I'm using (having water underneath which it absorbs) also means layers of water don't pool on top so maybe that has something to do with it. How are you maintaining moisture in your setups?
Thank you though. TBH emersed setups are pulling me closer to the world of terrariums (and dart frogs) for the future. Although my first love will always be nature aquarium, emersed growing is 4000x easier for the most part.


geisterwald said:


> Did the duckweed totally overpower the frogbit or did you take the frogbit out? I can't see any in your later pictures :O


A bit of both actually hahaha. The duckweed just went wild, and the frogbit couldn't keep up as much. So I took it out to use in outside plant pot things. Also, the frogbit wasn't really able to get into the nooks and crannies as much so the duckweed was better so I went with purely that.


Smooch said:


> Love the fish bowl!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you! It was a super easy setup, hard to photograph properly though besides at night. I think more people should do mini emersed setups, they're so simple and fast to do, and they can look fantastic. You can add a little world to your room with them.
The Hydrocotyle already annoyed me in the emersed setup, that's why I trimmed it like crazy and threw some in the fish bowl. Although I may to live to regret that eventhough it looks nice. I just don't want to get rid of all of it cus I hate the though of rebuying plants I already have and can grow. Plus it flowers so easily it suckers me into keeping it. It just grows too haphazardly to be a perfect plant.
I've never bought Bolbitis so it's never made it in here, I only really put plants in here that are extras or stuff plants that I don't see so often at the LFS. I think the Bolbitis species we have in the hobby can grow well emersed but it has distinct forms for emersed and submersed and transitions slowly. Not 100% sure though, would be worth a try.




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## Smooch (May 14, 2016)

Opare said:


> The Hydrocotyle already annoyed me in the emersed setup, that's why I trimmed it like crazy and threw some in the fish bowl. Although I may to live to regret that eventhough it looks nice. I just don't want to get rid of all of it cus I hate the though of rebuying plants I already have and can grow. Plus it flowers so easily it suckers me into keeping it. It just grows too haphazardly to be a perfect plant.
> I've never bought Bolbitis so it's never made it in here, I only really put plants in here that are extras or stuff plants that I don't see so often at the LFS. I think the Bolbitis species we have in the hobby can grow well emersed but it has distinct forms for emersed and submersed and transitions slowly. Not 100% sure though, would be worth a try.


I've been purging all 'high maintenance' things out of my life and that includes plants. That said, I have Lily Of The Valley outside that is taking over everywhere, so at some point that will need to be dealt with. Like Hydrocotyle, I like them and the tiny flowers they spit out, but I'm not willing to commit to the time to keep them in check. They started as a pretty filler plant and are now taking over my hostas.

I'll keep the Bolbitis points in mind. Odds are it will be a fall experiment as it is getting too hot to order plants and I don't have space for it right now anyway.


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## frenziedpace (Dec 17, 2016)

Opare said:


> To be honest I don't do anything special hahaha. My soil is filled with little inverterbrates and the emersed setup (not the fishbowl) has snails in it so maybe they help. The method of keeping the soil wet I'm using (having water underneath which it absorbs) also means layers of water don't pool on top so maybe that has something to do with it. How are you maintaining moisture in your setups?
> Thank you though. TBH emersed setups are pulling me closer to the world of terrariums (and dart frogs) for the future. Although my first love will always be nature aquarium, emersed growing is 4000x easier for the most part.
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I've been getting more interested in the terrariums too as of late.
I'm just doing a simple plastic shoe box of dirt at the moment and injecting water under the soil with an occasional misting. I will probably set up something like yours if I find something I really want to grow.
Here's my first experiment.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

frenziedpace said:


> I've been getting more interested in the terrariums too as of late.
> 
> I'm just doing a simple plastic shoe box of dirt at the moment and injecting water under the soil with an occasional misting. I will probably set up something like yours if I find something I really want to grow.
> 
> Here's my first experiment.


Plants look really healthy and pretty! Are the red ones Alternanthera reneckii? Although it's already full so I think you should upgrade to something like mine as well LOL.


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## frenziedpace (Dec 17, 2016)

Opare said:


> Plants look really healthy and pretty! Are the red ones Alternanthera reneckii? Although it's already full so I think you should upgrade to something like mine as well LOL.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks.
They are from a Tropica ar mini culture. I had a few scraps left after tearing apart a cup too small to stay down in my tank, so I stuck them in there to see what they would do. Only one piece didn't make it.
About time to thin for sure.


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