# Starting a long journey.. version 3.0, a 20g long



## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[11/3/16]*






























*Submerged Flora:* Leopard vals
Crypt parva
Crypts wedtii green
Crypts wendtii red
Crypts undulata
Crypt balansae
Crypt retrospiralis
anubias nana micro
water sprite
Crinium
*Riparium Flora:*
Helxine soleirolii

*[12/1/15]*

*Submerged Flora:* Leopard vals
Crypt parva,
Crypts wedtii green
Crypts wendtii red
Crypts undulata
Crypt balansae
Crypt retrospiralis
anubias nana petite
anubias nana micro
water sprite
N. taiwna
*Riparium Flora:* Purple Waffle
Dragons Tongue
Spathiphyllum
Sweetflag
Star Grass
Rain lily
Riccia
Hydro sp. japan
Helxine soleirolii
Tradescantia zebrine
Fittonia albivenis

*[9/16/15]*

*Submerged Flora:* Leopard vals
*Riparium Flora:* Purple Waffle
Dragons Tongue
Spathiphyllum
Sweetflag
Star Grass
Rain lily
Riccia
Hydro sp. japan
Helxine soleirolii
Tradescantia zebrine
Fittonia albivenis

*[7/6/15]*



*Submerged Flora:* Leopard vals
*Riparium Flora:* Purple Waffle
Dragons Tongue
Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'
Spathiphyllum
Sweetflag
Star Grass
Rain lily
Polka dot/mosaic plant
Riccia
Hydro sp. japan
Helxine soleirolii
Tradescantia zebrine
Fittonia albivenis

*[6/5/15]*



*Submerged Flora:* Leopard vals
*Riparium Flora:* Purple Waffle
Chives
Dragons Tongue
Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'
Spathiphyllum
Sweetflag
Star Grass
Rain lily
Polka dot/mosaic plant
Riccia
Hydro sp. japan
Helxine soleirolii
Tradescantia zebrine


*[2/25/15]*


[updated list 2/25/15]
*Fauna:* 12 White Cloud Mountain Minnows
?? Few Malasian trumpet snails
*Submerged Flora:* Anubias nana
*Riparium Flora:* Purple Waffle
Dragons Tongue
Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'
Spathiphyllum
Dwarf Taro
Sweetflag
Star Grass
Lizard Tail
Prayer Plant
Rain lily
Riccia

*[1/26/15]* Old Manzantiawood is back and its going to be a riparium.. again


*[10/21/14]No Flora or real Fauna, just ghostwood and snails*

*[10/3/14] Last Riparium Photos*



*[7/28/14]*


*[7/6/14]*


*[7/2/14]*


*[6/20/14]*
More rescaping


*[6/23/14]*
Massive work and rescaping


*6/12/14*


*6/6/14*


*[5/30/14]*
Disease wiped out over half of the anubias collection. Whats left is in emersed quarantine until I can figure out which avoided the disease. New plants have been put in the tank but I have not updated plant list yet... photos will be posted eventually.. may mess with scaping new plants more first.

*5/9/14*

*5/4/14*

*4/23/14*


*4/16/14*


[updated list 6/27/14]
*Tank:* 20 gallon long*
Heater: *Ehiem Jagar 75 watt*
Filter: *Aquaclear 70
*Lights: *(x3) 13 watt 6500k cfl mini in work lamp reflectors raised 22" above substrate with chain links (may lower)
*Substrate: *Black Diamond*
Stand: *re-claimed 48" table
*Fauna:* Malasian trumpet snails
*Submerged Flora:*
Crypt (wenditt?) green
Crypt Parva
Dwarf lily plant
Needle leaf Java fern 
Anubias nana var. petite
*Riparium Flora:* Pothos
Fittonia albivenis
Tradescantia zebrine
Cyperus Umbrella Sedge
Aluminum plant
Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'
Spathiphyllum
Spathiphyllum "domino'
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella
Dwarf Taro
Syngonium
Riccia
*Ferts:*Seacehm Excel
Seacehm Flourish
Seachem Nitrogen
Seacehm Pottasium
Seacehm Phosphourus

* [4/14/14]*
I spent all yesterday setting this tank up once my husband hung the lights, then let fish drip acclimate and check out the tank with lights off for the night. 
[strike]Hope to gradually move out the stem plants and fill this bugger with anubias, using floaters to keep the leave from being algae nightmares. [/strike] 
Gotta say, really love the 'sand' substrate so much easier to plant in than gravel!


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## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

Oooooo, this looks so much better! Such a nice clean look, and i'm sure those plants will love all that extra room. I love that one top down shot of the anubias. 2nd pic from the bottom, very cool


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Duck5003 said:


> Oooooo, this looks so much better! Such a nice clean look, and i'm sure those plants will love all that extra room. I love that one top down shot of the anubias. 2nd pic from the bottom, very cool


Thanks ^^ I wish I could get the magic balance of good lighting but no glaring light reflection no the water, going to have to mess with taking more or shots; these were just quickly snapped with the cell camera
That's only _about _1/2 the anubias in the shot (mostly nana, coffefolia, broadleaf, barteri, petite, and lanceolata) The dark green hard algae on the leaves doesn't show up as noticeably in the photo as it does in person (most visible on coffefolia in photo).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*damn...*

Well pulled out the dwarf lily bulb, since adding it its gotten a white fungus like film and the top has been dissolving off. I'd contacted the seller, they recommended rinsing it, did... same thing still so plopped it into the 10g quarantine to see if it just keeps rotting or actually sprouts. 
Sadly I lost an oto he did not have an enormous nor sunken belly, no visible damage, and still had color when found dead.. netted and frozen to take back to lfs in a few days (want to wait in case more pass, though I hope none do). I'm assuming it passed from a spike in ammonia from the 'rotting' plant (API test showed tiniest bit). I'd hoped to avoid such spikes, since I was transferring the same fauna stock, adding more live plants, and more water volume... I'd also taken all the filter media from my 10g's aquaclear and stuck it into the 20's filter so didn't expect a mini cycle. Anyways did a 5g water change and did large dose of Prime as directed on bottle to help detox ammonia/nitrite (though nitrite was still 0). Hopefully won't loose anymore, all the fish seem fine for now.. still active but not acting erratic/irritated.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Grabbed some plants at the garden center today. Was hoping for aluminum plant but they did not have any. So from left to right: maidenhair fern, fittonia albivenis, tradescantia zebrine, and pothos. I tried to get the smallest but healthiest specimens.. may need more hob or some riparium hanger baskets. The betta seems very excited/curious about the plants hanging out in front of the tank on the table..doing a quick water test and possible water change then adding these to the filters and will post more photos after.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

And they're in! Buggers were a pain to rinse all the soil out of their roots.
May adjust their placement as they grow but for now want to see how they do.
I'd like to add riparium rafts so the leaves can grow safely over the water and give more shade but really don't like the idea of exposed velcro in a tank with a betta.. he'd manage to shred himself on it.. Still trying to settle on a name for the betta too.






on anotehr note.. this is the dwarf lily bulb i bought from a pt member.. its now in the 10g tank for obvious reasons... 'cause thats not normal.. right?


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## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

Looking good!

Well, except for that dwarf lily bulb :icon_sad: i dont have much experience with those, but that seems to be in ROUGH shape. Hopefully it bounces back or someone can give you some better input on it!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Duck5003 said:


> Looking good!
> 
> Well, except for that dwarf lily bulb :icon_sad: i dont have much experience with those, but that seems to be in ROUGH shape. Hopefully it bounces back or someone can give you some better input on it!


Thank you ^^ Want to try to add moss or something to hide more of the blue foam but like the plants. Even have one pothos just strapped to the side of the hob (by zip tie) with its roots free floating in the water. Give the fish something more to explore/play/hide in.

I contacted the seller about the bulb. They're away on vacation and said (to paraphrase) "..the bulbs I have left should be sprouted by the time I get back, if your's is a dud and does not, I'll replace it"
Its got this white fungus film (kinda like what mazantia wood gets when first soaked) and it even was given off bubbles  I've rinsed it in the sink but it grows right back.. Its my first aquatic bulb plant.. but that just seems bad... I have a hard time finding info on these in bulb only stage (pre-sprouting), most people post/write about trying to encourage the leaves to stay compact or go to the surface.


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

A quick test to see if a bulb is dead:

Squeeze it. If it makes a squelching sound and seems hollow inside, then it's more than likely dead. 

My Madagascar Lace bulb did the same thing - the leaves fell and it became dormant, but the bulb itself was as hard as ever. I gave it a couple of weeks and am getting new stems now.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

umarnasir335 said:


> A quick test to see if a bulb is dead:
> 
> Squeeze it. If it makes a squelching sound and seems hollow inside, then it's more than likely dead.
> 
> My Madagascar Lace bulb did the same thing - the leaves fell and it became dormant, but the bulb itself was as hard as ever. I gave it a couple of weeks and am getting new stems now.


Ok, thanks for the info I will test it later ^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Testes bulb, still firm surprisingly but no sighs of sprouting yet.. but still covered in nastyness... Wonder if any shrimp/snail/algae eater would munch that stuff or if it would kill fauna..


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

AquaAurora said:


> Testes bulb, still firm surprisingly but no sighs of sprouting yet.. but still covered in nastyness... Wonder if any shrimp/snail/algae eater would munch that stuff or if it would kill fauna..


You shouldn't worry about it killing your fish. Algae, for the most part, is harmless.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

You've got a nice start here! Have you thought of covering the blue foam? I've got some Riccia that needs thinning in my 55 as it's has almost completely blocked the light on one end, if you want some let me know. There are several aquatic plants that will work well growing emersed in this set up. 

I got a Red Tiger Lily earlier this year, all the leaves melted and the bulb went dormant for almost two months before it started growing. I was almost ready to toss it out when it finally started growing.


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

Looks like a lot of fun!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

umarnasir335 said:


> You shouldn't worry about it killing your fish. Algae, for the most part, is harmless.


I'm just not sure this white film-y fuzz is an algae (it covers whole bulb not just top). It doesn't look like hair algae.. have had my own battle with that in the 55..x.x
btw that's a dead anubias leaf and rhizome next to it, not a lily leaf.. was hoping it would grow but nope dead >.<


this is 2 days in a cup, no fauna, no water movment.. rinsed before adding, used Primed water (kept by tank to get a little light but mostly shaded by fern and betta food bag).. You can se part of the bulb is exposed (lighter part instead of dark brown outter) its just dissolved and bubbled away into this.. You sure that's an algae? If so can you tell me what type so I can lok into it.



johnson18 said:


> You've got a nice start here! Have you thought of covering the blue foam? I've got some Riccia that needs thinning in my 55 as it's has almost completely blocked the light on one end, if you want some let me know. There are several aquatic plants that will work well growing emersed in this set up.
> 
> I got a Red Tiger Lily earlier this year, all the leaves melted and the bulb went dormant for almost two months before it started growing. I was almost ready to toss it out when it finally started growing.


Thank you for the offer! I'd actually bought some black foam yesterday with the intent of making a DIY foam filter.. but its way too air-y (no where near dense) so I'm thinking of switching out the blue for black in the HOB, and thinning it a bit. I'd gotten some riccia on Thursday (came with shrimp.. which i wanted to make the diy sponge filter for.. ended up just ordering some on amazon) I might try slapping it on top of the black foam, if there's still open gaps I'l give you a poke and see if any is still available ^^ I'm just kinda winging it, with the riparium part. I'm only slightly hesitant about using some aquatic plants as emersed grown as the area of the house they're in is not humid, and I don't want to have to remember to mist this __x a week. Riccia on top of foam should be ok since waters flowing over/just under it... wonder if i should sew it on until it grows in a bit?

Photos of bulb in a cup shown above, if you've seen anything like this while yours was dormant please let me know... or if you know if that's an algae, and not some fungus/rott/etc.



jmhart said:


> Looks like a lot of fun!


Thank you, it is ^^


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

If you've got shrimp or fish such as ottos, I'd probably toss the bulb in with them and let em munch away! 

I usually pull the Riccia into strands and spread them out. They seem to multiple better that way. Don't hesitate to ask if I've got some left, I just snapped this a minute ago. It's about 3" thick in most areas! Haha


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Nice blob-o-riccia! is that 4 leaf clover ontop?
I managed to have enough to cover the black foam

Also just fed betta peas for lunch (with tweezers), and otos blanched lettuce last night... i swear only 1 oto is smart enough to figure out I'm putting food in there >.>


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Yup, it is some Hydrocotyle tripartita that came loose during a water change and has started growing emersed on top of the riccia. 

Where in the tank is your stardust? I've got some in my 55 and it seems like a super slow grower compared to my other nana/petite.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

johnson18 said:


> Yup, it is some Hydrocotyle tripartita that came loose during a water change and has started growing emersed on top of the riccia.
> 
> Where in the tank is your stardust? I've got some in my 55 and it seems like a super slow grower compared to my other nana/petite.


I was really interested in the aquatic clovers, until i realized the photos i liked were emersed growth, and it looks more like.. glosso than 4leaf clover when grown submerged.
If you look at the top photo of my first post, almost far right of the tank, smallest tiny leafed nana on the right is the stardust. Its very subtle, I can take a photo of it tomorrow (don't like to turn the lights on and stuff my hands in the tank after lights out). I think was emersed grown, two leaves have melted off :/ Only got it 2 weeks ago so can't say anything about growth rate. Several of the other anubias I got with it are starting to grow new leaves.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

The same Hydrocotyle sp. that is submersed in the 55 looks almost identical shape wise but more compact. Definitely still the same shape though. I've also got MM in there, it does exactly what you're describing. Emersed looks like clover, submersed it grows MUCH closer to Glosso. 

Found the Stardust! Thanks! Yeah, mine had three leaves, with a fourth on the way, when I got it about a month and a half ago. Two have died and it is just now starting to put out it's first new leaf since I got it. Definitely seems to be taking longer to adjust and start growing than most of my other Anubias.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

johnson18 said:


> The same Hydrocotyle sp. that is submersed in the 55 looks almost identical shape wise but more compact. Definitely still the same shape though. I've also got MM in there, it does exactly what you're describing. Emersed looks like clover, submersed it grows MUCH closer to Glosso.
> 
> Found the Stardust! Thanks! Yeah, mine had three leaves, with a fourth on the way, when I got it about a month and a half ago. Two have died and it is just now starting to put out it's first new leaf since I got it. Definitely seems to be taking longer to adjust and start growing than most of my other Anubias.


Here's a close up of mine anyways ^^.. looks like another leaf or two is trying to melt on the lower left grrr *tilts plant to show nicer leaves for photo*

[added]I dose my tank with Seachem recommended dosages of Excel, flourish, potassium, and phosphorus. My ph is 7.5, my gh/kh are high, and lighting probably around "medium".. not sure what of that the anubias like but they are all spitting out at least 1 new leaf it seems (which is good since the recent batch had several deficient/dying leaves i had to snip so need them to hurry up and make some nice new ones ^^)

Hydro sp. japan! That's what I wanted! Thank you I couldn't remember the name but wanted a clover looking plant to shove in my mish-mash 7g cube (also going to try dwarf baby tears in there.. I foresee an hour of swearing when trying to plant)


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Nice, I'll try to get a shot of mine today. HC is a total pain in the ass to plant. I got rid of it long ago. Hahaha... I've got more Hydro. 'japan' then any one man should have. It takes over my emersed 55 in less than a month. Let me know if you want some.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

johnson18 said:


> Nice, I'll try to get a shot of mine today. HC is a total pain in the ass to plant. I got rid of it long ago. Hahaha... I've got more Hydro. 'japan' then any one man should have. It takes over my emersed 55 in less than a month. Let me know if you want some.


I was hesitant to try tears but figured fudge it! Try everything once! Wish I'd seen your offer before finalizing buying of the hydro sp japan >.<. Look forward to seeing your stardust, hope it starts growing faster for you!


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## jhays79 (Mar 28, 2012)

Tank and plants look dope, but the table cloth is taking away from it :icon_wink


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

jhays79 said:


> Tank and plants look dope, but the table cloth is taking away from it :icon_wink


Thank you and yes I know, was only free one that would fit over that table at the time...unfortunately my niece had used it for a while and *RUINED IT *with carving with her pen into the wood =,= Going to try to get a black table cloth if i can find such a thing... think people usually like to sell something more.. colorful..


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

AquaAurora said:


> ...unfortunately my niece had used it for a while and *RUINED IT *with carving with her pen into the wood =,=



Sounds like it's time to turn your table into a work of art! LOL. As you can see in this picture(of unpacking my BML fixture) my dining table is anything but "clean" hahaha! This happened over several years to get it to it's current point, though there are multiple layers.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Yours actually looks kinda cool. Dinner table huh? Does the spouse of the house like to cover that when guests come to eat? This one's got teenage-angsting-giberish-y-nonses scratched in (along with a few "lol"s and "hi"s and "omg <3 [insert band/show movie character/school crush]"), not as nice to look at so covered it up. My mother says her art society uses black tablecloths for their events so she's going to get me info on where they buy theirs (yay). If that falls through I might just buy a large bolt of simple black cloth and sew the edged.. maybe even cut out the tank shape so I can just slip it on over the current cover and tank... not be bothered with draining and refilling/re-planting/re-acclimating fish to the tank.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So got some riparium planters and free plants with it in. Plants were floated in their bags on the tank to acclimate before putting the the planters. Aristoto the betta (finally decided to go with that name, and yes its spelled and pronounced wrong for 'oto') was very inquisitive as I opened the box in front of his tank and put the plant bag in to warm up. 
There are two new small anubias in the tank, sold as "nana var narrow leaf" from a site that also sells petite. Their leaves look a exactly like the largest leaves of the petites (and stardust) I have but they were cheap so I don't mind. I only bought one but a smaller  one was thrown in for free, love buying from plantedaquariumcentral ^^
If it wasn't apparent from my last photo with the long view of the tank, the smaller HOB has been on my 10G. The 10g is a hold tank for some shrimp and other plants until their final tanks are ready. I've been debating about stuffing the glosso I got into the 20g, though it has no co2 I do dose excel, and would be curious to see what it would do in there. I thought about draining the tank and adding some MGOPM under the sand where I plan the carpet buuut I'm lazy so i think I'd just shove in a root tab or two (if i do add them).
It seems the personalities of the otos and betta have rubbed off on each other. Several days ago I fed the otos some lettuce, they seems to go after it faster than the zucchini.. also found the betta eating with them again (I don't under feed him I swear.. he just eats anything he sees them eat). The otos now have no fear of my hands or the siphon in the tank and seem to like to play "dart under the siphon" while I'm cleaning x.x This past Sunday one got sucked in but I ripped the siphon out of the water to break suction before he got to the top of it... litter buggers kept playing their daredevil game even after that near accident =.= makes its a bit harder to clean quickly having keep an eye on them..
I'm 90% sure there are still 5 otos in there but 1 always seems to hide, the other 4 have no problem being out and about all day and night. Even saw them 'school' for a minute last night after lights out, good compact swim formation, then they A.D.D.ed on whatever and stopped schooling.
Blah blah blah, here's some photos


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*([censor] you browser! and your refresh page loosing my nearly completely type up!!*

No photo updates today, just ramblings (may add photos tomorrow)

Bad News:
"Waldo" the forever hiding oto was finally found.. a colorless corpse. The other 4 otos and Arist'oto' are still fine and active. The lfs is still sold out so haven't been able to replace 'em yet.
2 of my anubias had rhizome rot, had to lop off half my coffefoolia (NOOOO) and one of the newer nanas.
Several of the newest anubias had dead/dieing leaves (most likely old emersed growth) had to cut off, lost a bit of the 'thick leafy jungle' look :/
A light (and especially checkered) colored table cloth is just a bad idea.. its getting stains from mulm, plants, etc.. really leaning towards that black cover...

Good News: 
Ludwigia arcuata x repens has new sexy leaves (a bit thicker and more color than the narrow older leaves).. will get a photo of it soon promise.
The unknown mystery stems seem to be finally growing more (they kind of stagnated in the 10g).
All plants in the hob (except maidenhair fern) are doing well and growing, new leaves on everything (yay). 
Aside from Waldo, everyone's still alive and getting along just fine.
Otos have been keeping the tank algae free for me (I was so worried about a diatom explosion), only found bba on a dieing anubias leaf which I sniped off.

Whats New/Other:
Added gloso and brazilian pennywort from the 10g. Going to let the gloso grow wild/unmanaged and hope it slowly carpets for me. The pennywort will be grown to the surface to corral floaters and maybe even allowed to grow up from there to hang with the riparium plants.
Added 2 mini sponge filters hooked up to a whisper 10 to cycle (they will be moved to the shrimp bowl and jar in a few weeks).
Ruellia 'Katie' and Cyperus Umbrella Sedge are not in the best condition, haven't bounced back yet.. but not dead.
Maidenhair Fern shows signs of shock from transition and no new growth, also the [censor] cat got a hold of it when i had it out of the filter for 30 seconds and shredded some leaves (i really hate that white meowing monster sometimes) but its not dead at least.
Threw in 4 Malaysian trumpet snails to stir up the sand for me (mostly been doing it during water changes by stuffing siphon down deep to suck up the air bubbles in case its bad gas).
Sponge intake cover on the HOB got clogged with gunk and needed cleaned (thought the filter was starting to KO on me but thankfully not).
Asti'oto' loves to watch me do water tests since i sit in front of the tank to use its light.


Oh wait I lied! Here's a photo from Saturday I like to call "oto pinwheel" (someones facing the wrong way...) and the betta did eat some of this zuchini too.. 


*edit:* also decided, Arist'oto' will stay in the tank, i think he and the otos would be sad to be separated.. am looking for some peaceful (non fin nipping) small schooling fish to stick in here with them.. considering the smaller rainbow breeds, thoughts?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*just not a good day..*

Well damn it all! 
The damaged coffefolia that I had to trim before just.. dissolved today when i touched it so now I'm done to one. Also one of the crap anubias i bought from a pt member that had send me specimens with rot or deficiencies was dead (rhizome was brown mush). I don't know which one it was.. a narrow long leafed variety.. will have to look it up and try to find a different seller. The others that came with rhizome rot are not looking so hot even though I cut off the original rot.. hope they don't die on me too or I am going to be so pissed! My oldest tiny piece of anubias nana finally kicked the bucket too (didn't expect it to live but it help on a long while).. so yeah... frustrating morning =.=


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## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

Love that pic  

Sorry to hear your having a rough day! Its always frustrating when plants dont pull through. 

The good news is, it sounds like a lot of your other plants are moving in the positive direction!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Duck5003 said:


> Love that pic
> 
> Sorry to hear your having a rough day! Its always frustrating when plants dont pull through.
> 
> The good news is, it sounds like a lot of your other plants are moving in the positive direction!


True.. but if I got to choose, id let the stems rot and have all the anubias be healthy instead. It sucks trying to find a good seller with a lot of variety :c

Took a few photos after butchering out the dead anubias
Aris'oto' checking something out under the nana 'narrow leaf'

You can see some new tiny anubias leaves coming in




Otos love resting on the pennywort

love the new growth on this stem (ty for sending it)

The still unidentified green and red stems


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*arrrg*

Loosing more anubias.. about ready to remove the whole anubias collection list with the expectation all the newly bought ones (not old ones) will rot and die...Soon I'll only have nana, narrow leaf, petite, and barteri with the way the others are doing.. Sucks because I cannot find any sellers of *healthy* anubias except the real common ones

Photo from earlier this week before the anubias losses


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

AquaAurora said:


> Yours actually looks kinda cool. Dinner table huh? Does the spouse of the house like to cover that when guests come to eat? This one's got teenage-angsting-giberish-y-nonses scratched in (along with a few "lol"s and "hi"s and "omg <3 [insert band/show movie character/school crush]"), not as nice to look at so covered it up. My mother says her art society uses black tablecloths for their events so she's going to get me info on where they buy theirs (yay). If that falls through I might just buy a large bolt of simple black cloth and sew the edged.. maybe even cut out the tank shape so I can just slip it on over the current cover and tank... not be bothered with draining and refilling/re-planting/re-acclimating fish to the tank.


Ha, I got rid of her about a year and a half ago, donated the table cloth too! HAHAHA!  There is definitely some random crap on mine too, instead of angsty-teenage-giberish it's drunkass-twenty-something-party-animal-"art". Although several of those people now make a living as artists! I like the idea of cutting out the tank shape. 

I haven't had much time to read through what's been going on lately(or TPT in general) as I'm moving this week and have been crazy busy. I did see you've lost a bunch of Anubias, that's a bummer. Have you just gotten plants in bad health or are they dying as they go from emersed to submersed? I'm interested in seeing the growth on my petites when I pull them out this weekend. I know they've being growing like crazy since I put them in the 55 but I've never actually pulled them out and inspected them. I'll have to take a picture of the same blob-o-riccia too, it'll show you just what I meant about Hydrocotyle being a weed.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

johnson18 said:


> Ha, I got rid of her about a year and a half ago, donated the table cloth too! HAHAHA!  There is definitely some random crap on mine too, instead of angsty-teenage-giberish it's drunkass-twenty-something-party-animal-"art". Although several of those people now make a living as artists! I like the idea of cutting out the tank shape.
> 
> I haven't had much time to read through what's been going on lately(or TPT in general) as I'm moving this week and have been crazy busy. I did see you've lost a bunch of Anubias, that's a bummer. Have you just gotten plants in bad health or are they dying as they go from emersed to submersed? I'm interested in seeing the growth on my petites when I pull them out this weekend. I know they've being growing like crazy since I put them in the 55 but I've never actually pulled them out and inspected them. I'll have to take a picture of the same blob-o-riccia too, it'll show you just what I meant about Hydrocotyle being a weed.


Haha nice, wonder if any of the table scribbled will be worth $$$ as the artists get more famous (like having a picaso sketch book doodle made before he was well known). I wish you much luck wit the move hope everything survives intact! 
As for my anubias, I think I was sent half dead plants that were shipped from asia and just immediately repackaged. Many originally came with rhizome rot, which I lopped off, but some still just.. dissolved basically (try to examine the plant because its looking bad and leaves fall off to the side like melted butter on a steamy corn cob.. press the rhizome to pick it up adn it splits/splinters/dissovles). I thought the broadleaf might have been ermesed grown it had some odd white.. something on its old elaf after bing in the tank (kinda looked like an old milk stain?) But last check its still fine and has had a new leaf too. I'm certain the stardust was emersed the way 2 leaves melted off after it went into the tank, most other anubias leaves that died were already damaged or very deficient when they arrived. Not sure about the others though.
Look forward to seeing photos ^^ the ricca I got has done well on the foam over the hob and the leftover peice has been growing floating even though its usually covered by duckweed. Now that the frogbit and (I think) saliva minia are growing well I might try to start the duckweed wars to remove it. If I didn't already have a betta (that I don't want to move) I'd just buy a gourami to nom it all *sigh* oh well manual removal it is!
I'm glad I have a sponge cover over the HOB inlet. it gets packed with duckweed, think it would clog and kill the motor without the foam there.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Those riparium plants will grow a lot better if you just use hydroton in a layer on the bottoms of the planters, then fill the rest of planters arond the plant roots with a finer clay gravel. Those plants look like a Cyperus and a Ruellia and they will grow better like that. It also helps to bury a root tab 1/2-way down in the planter.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

hydrophyte said:


> Those riparium plants will grow a lot better if you just use hydroton in a layer on the bottoms of the planters, then fill the rest of planters arond the plant roots with a finer clay gravel. Those plants look like a Cyperus and a Ruellia and they will grow better like that. It also helps to bury a root tab 1/2-way down in the planter.


Thanks for the growing tip. I'm not sure if its good to have a O+ root tab loose in the water column like that though (generally keep them buried deep in finer substrate). And you're right about the id of the two in planters. The Rulleia Katie didn't make it sadly (arrived in really rough shape) but I got an aluminum plant today (also arrived in bad shape.. fingers crossed it bounces back) and some Oplismenus basket grass

I also got more anubias.. I have a problem.. I can't stop buying them.. One was sold as a barteri and its [censor] huge! Its leaves are larger than my whole hand with finger fully extended/spread out. The monster came with a micro, petite, gold, and hastifolia. Mircro may not make it, rhizome is mostly brown (didn't see until up-packaged). Going to contact seller about that.

I also grabbed two healthy look emersed grown anubias from petco today when I poped in to buy airline tubing to make floating corals for my frogbit, riccia, and salvia minima. I tried to take out most of the duckweed, but I know it will grow back. It had gotten so bad the foam intake of the hob was completely covered by duckweed, really killing performance.

No clue what type of anubias the petco buys are but will post photos of them and the other new ones tomorrow probably.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*The anubias jungle is growing!*

New anubias + re-arranged tank to fit it all in
In Aquarium: Petite and micro, gold, hastifolia, monster broadleaf (sold as a barteria.. if its plain barteri I want the magic ferts mix that turned it into this monster!) 2 unknowns from Petco (think one is also a hastifolia). In riparium: aluminum plant, and Oplismenus Basket Grass. I also got some Starougyne Repens that I will probably be moving with the other stems.

















Really love how the tank looks from my desk now (can't get a non blur/grain-y photo to do it justice sorry).
Arist'oto' seems to like the new layout and is re-exploring the tank ^^
Once I'm ready to set up the 7g cube I'll be taking most of the stems and re-arrange the anubias again to spread them out more.
Newest riparium plants look like [censor].. think they're gonna die from shipping shock :c Oh well will just shove some of the pothos in the left planter if that happens.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

The Tradescantia zebrine (also called "wandering jew".. kinda odd name) has REALLY been loving the setup and has the most noticeable growth (even over the pothos which many say grows like a weed).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*New tank teaser*

Long story short, a fish arrived in the mail earlier than its estimated delivery date so I had to scramble to set up my 7g office cube (thought I had till SAt to be ready for it). I finally get to sit and rest (and eat a late lunch) while it drip acclimates. SO while killing time, here's some teaser photos:






Ooo mystery box.. wonder whats inside?? Its not "in" the box but rather the box ripped apart and framed around the acclimation 1g cube to give a dark calm place.
Most of the plants are from the 10g hold tank and the 20g long. Arist'oto' was not happy with me pulling up the right side of the tank to scavenge stems from.


Will make a proper journal for this tank in the next few days, and revile the hidden fish "Sorry folks, no flash photography while the fish settles in."


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*My dream is dieing...*

I've sadly learned why my anubias keep dieing of rot..
http://www.anubias-engl.blogspot.com/2011/04/anubias-plants-rotting-facts-rumours.html

The plants I bought from a member (the ones I complained heavily about deficiencies and rot and sold a dud lily bulb) came diseased and have spread to all my anubias... Its not likely I can save them as most are pretty far gone. My sexy giant broadleaf has lost half of its rhizome thickness to the rot and a few more dissolved when handled yesterday as I tried to treat them... i think they're too far gone...I really just want to cry.. and *scream*.. and hurt _someone _... my dream of a riparium with a large anubias collection is dieing and rotting away! I don't know if I'll ever be able to keep anubias again after this.. as I'm not sure if the disease can linger in the tank when all anubias are gone.. 

I tried converting my newest and least visibly damaged anubias to a quickly made emersed setup, each in a separate mason jar with clay media, they won't share water to minimize chance of disease spread that way (not sure if it can spread through the air too). Sadly I know nothing about keeping plants emersed and will probably still loose them (if not to the disease then my own stupidity). The setup has condensation on the clingwrapp top.. so its humid.. but I think condensation dripping on leaves is bad?? I don't know how to give them nutrients in this setup since some don't have roots I don't think soil/root tabs will help those.. I will try a spray bottle with liquid fert solution mixed in I guess.. 

I'm freaking tired, I spent 7+ hours cleaning and fretting and converting plants last night then got no sleep from fretting over them more....


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## mistuhmarc (Oct 1, 2013)

AquaAurora said:


> I've sadly learned why my anubias keep dieing of rot..
> http://www.anubias-engl.blogspot.com/2011/04/anubias-plants-rotting-facts-rumours.html
> 
> The plants I bought from a member (the ones I complained heavily about deficiencies and rot and sold a dud lily bulb) came diseased and have spread to all my anubias... Its not likely I can save them as most are pretty far gone. My sexy giant broadleaf has lost half of its rhizome thickness to the rot and a few more dissolved when handled yesterday as I tried to treat them... i think they're too far gone...I really just want to cry.. and *scream*.. and hurt _someone _... my dream of a riparium with a large anubias collection is dieing and rotting away! I don't know if I'll ever be able to keep anubias again after this.. as I'm not sure if the disease can linger in the tank when all anubias are gone..
> ...


I'm sorry to hear that . But hey, that's part of the hobby right? We all learn lessons, even ones we don't want to learn. You'll have that anubias collection, no doubt!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Hate learning expensive lessons though.
emersed setup:


Ripped out all the bad anubias that was left in the tank and planted new stuff yesterday, still not happy with the scape so no frontal tank shots yet. The Tradescantia zebrine has gotten even longer, I am really going to have to cut it soon! 



[EDIT] forgot to mention: maiden hair fern went down hill (90% withered) I threw it out but my husband rescued it and stuffed it in a pot on the back patio.. haven't looked at it since it was moved to see how its doing, he said it still had a strong root system, but we'll probably neglect keeping that thing properly watered >.>''

I had made a plastic mesh barrier for the heater a while back (used in 10g when gourami kept falling asleep next to heater and getting lip burnt), turning it into a riparium basket, going to silicone all around it to keep rough edged from ripping up the betta + keep media from falling out. Probably going to put the zebrine clippings in there... may also cut down the aluminum plant since all its old leaves fell off it looks like a fugly fail palm tree right now.
Since my husband and I are putting together DIY inline heaters for our office tanks (7g and 12g) I am going to take the suction cups from those to attach this to the tank wall, wll have to cut a slit in the mesh to stuff the suction cup's small end through.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*The cursed tank.. and a lot of rambling*

So stupid me, decided to put the anubias in the 10g (keeping emersed) and move the filter back to 20g (without washing).. btw found 2 more shrimp still alive in the 10g when doing this  sneaky buggers, moved them to the 3g bubble bowl. AND buy some otos at petsmart and put them in the 20g (and 7g) without quarantining.... Well I paid for that... 3 days 3 dead fish, 2 of the 3 otos and Arist'oto' passed. I don't know what made the otos die, they were dripped in and lights kept off to reduce stress.. both corpses were very pale when found and removed. Betta contracted.. something that made his face white and go blind, and then die all in the same day. Here is the lone survivor (who is usually hiding)

He's a bit pale but not dead yet. Treating tank with Melafix from API since I don't know what killed the others (also dosing 7g in case its a disease that came in with the otos.. no issues in that tank yet) and don't have anything stronger to dose that won't kill plants off.
I'm worried its columnaris, but since the last oto is not dead yet.. I'm hoping not, and just some nasties come in on the 2 otos, betta pecked at a corpse before i got it and and got the nastyness too and k.o... If it is columnaris then I'd expect the last oto to be dead in a few days.. and if so I'll simply not put any fauna in the tank for 2 months (just plants) to let whatever infection was in there die off from lack of a host, then start over and re-cycle it... or maybe just keep it fish-less permanently since I do have a bottle of Seachem nitrogen...


As for plants in the tank.. not been too happy with the new ones.. I bought some hygro (corymbosa and corymbosa 'angustifola') which is melting faster than its growing, Bacopa Carolina which is melting all its old high growth light leaves, giant hair grass.. getting browning at the base, and another dwarf lily which is lacking in color from my other one (in 7g) and has some.. white fungus growing in a small patch on it.
The plants on top are doing well.. aluminum plant is sooo sloooow growing I decided to trim it off the long barren stem and replant. The umbrella sedge is doing well and has nice new light green growth cropping up. The wandering jew make the pothos look like a joke for growth, had to trim a lot to keep it from sagging into the water and rotting the stem (kinda hating the butchered look of the hob now). Pothos has moderate growth, and the fittonia albivenis is a very slow grower.
The planter I made is.. not very strong (no surprise) I tired keeping it from sagging with media in it by using fishing line to loop from the front to the back mesh.. still flimsy so may toss and get more real riparium planters or try clear shower baskets if i can find some for cheaper price. Stuffed the wandering jew clippings and the old aluminum plant stock (no leaves after trim.. but has root) in the flimsy planter, and a few stems in the smaller HOB. Wonder if the aluminum plant stalk can generate a new leaf without any existing ones.. will have to see (if not it gets tossed). 

Once the disease thing is settled and I figure out if my melting plants will give me new growth or not I'll figure out a new plant list (as needed) and re-scpae the tank again. I bought a large mazantia from [Ebay Link Removed] that I'm still waiting on the seller to ship... and want to slap it in with its 'trunk' sticking out of the water and have slits sawed or holes drilled into it to put some more riparium plants on it, with the smaller thinner branches below water to make a little maze/root system sorta fun thing.... maybe.. i dunno yet, we'll see what I come up with once it gets here and I can mess with it in the tank (won't do until tank medication is done).
For new plant scape I was thinking of using: hygro tiger as more of mine grows and can trim (love this stuff), hydro japan, needle leaf java (would get more), possibly pennywort (if mine doesn't melt) to be a submerged to emersed grower, whatever hygro doesn't melt + the compacta and pinnatifida (or other low light hygro) versions, and the dwarf lily if its lives (plus 1-2 more) and the giant hair grass . Putting the low light stuff around the driftwood and medium light plants more upfront or in better lit areas, throw in a lot of the almond leaves i have to get a more 'black water' look, and focus on making the riparium part look a bit cleaner but dense.. but still kinda up in the air about this..If i lose most of the current plants I'll figure somethign else out...
anyways blah blah hers a crappy quick lights-out tank shot of how it sits atm.


I have the black table cloth to replace the patchwork fuglyness... I'm just lazy about breaking out the sewing machine and having to use it to customize the new table cover ^^''' Will have it done before the new wood+plants scape is declared finished.

if you're wondering whats in the tupperware on the shelf above: black=black diamond snad + mts snail babies I haven't fished out yet, 3 stained water bins to the right of it hold black worms for my husbands 12g dwarf puffer tank (going to go wash them in a moment), and the mystery under the cardboard on the end.. is what started as 4 black worms from another seller... have been scared to look under there as I've admittedly forgotten to clean that one's water...and rotted black worms is a smell that I can't even describe... but its the most foul of foul things I've smelt in my life (I could work nursing homes as bed pan cleaner and not be phased by the stench after smelling the rotted worms I got... so yeh... that shoudl give a hint to the nastyness of it)



[EDIT] FML ... Just found duplicate sold listing of the driftwood I bought..the sort of thing you can't have duplicates of... And using exact same photos zoo were [censor] you eBay and your fraudulent sellers and [censor] you seller for wrecking another of my dreams with your false listings, taking my money, and wasting my time! Damn it will nothing ever go my way for this tank? AAAARRRGGGG


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*more ramblings...*

Soo just did last day of med dosing.. the oto has vanished, I don't know what happened to it but since I've yet to find a corpse, and the the filter intakes have covers.. I'm guessing it decided to try its hand at flying.. then flopped around on the carpet and get nomed by one of the fat asses..I mean cats (can't have shown no sighs of sickness from possibly eating a potentially sick fish).

Spent a good hour today ripping out head plant matter (mostly hygro melting but also lost about 1/2 the giant hair grass.. the lily bulb was also fungus-y so i took it out to wash off.. my thumb punctured it and I could smell rot. So I shredded the bulb and removed all the root/stem growth I could and re-planted it in the tank.. not sure how it will do without the bulb (by comparison the lily in my 7g is turning into a monster)? Pennywort has algae but only a tiny bit of melting.

Got in contact with the driftwood seller and apparently the wood had been sold before but the byer refused to pay full price.. and for some reason left a positive review for an item they ultimately did not get.. so hopefully my wood will come by Saturday.. its lost in transit right now (no updates since 6/8) hoping its just on a truck hauling ass from coast to coast. I also just went and threw money at you in house riparium person and got some more planters, rafts, and a few easy riparium plants. Going to focus on making the 20g long into a riparium with less focus on under water plants... I might try java ferns or fissiden.. something that won't need a lot of light so I can raise lights for the riparium plants (will also be raising the book shelf to give plants more grow room. I'm tempted to try my anubias collection again but I want to wait a while before I put any back in the tank...

I'm thinking when the wood gets here I'll gut the 20g, clean the [censored][censored][censored][censored] out of the substrate and filters (reset.. will have to re-cycle them) and get the wood put in, then wait for riparium plants+ planters and figure out what if any of the aquaatis plants I'll keep.. I'd probably throw instead of roak unwanted plants since I am still not 100% sure what disease was in the tank and don't want to risk spreading something to another user.

Might finally try sewing the black table cloth to fit over the 20g so I can stop looking at the checkerboard, and slap up a black background (not sure if I'll paint or use paper.. probably paper so I can see the backside if I need to).
The zebrine was unaffected from the cut back and is still growing pretty fast, will probably shove clippings into each planters once they get here + the bigger 'main' plants.. Wish this stuff could grow floating on the waters surface but the leaves would melt so gotta keep it raised.

Don't know what I'd want to do for fish in this tank whenever I finally feel its safe to try them again.. I would like to try rams sometime but they burrow.. same for cories... I wanted danio tinwini, but I have to pay shipping.. might finally try to concur my dread of tetras (long story..) and get some neos as a stupid simple fish for the tank. I've though of turning it into a large shrimp and oto tank.. but I'd like to get another betta some day (maybe even try a sorority??) and don't want shrimp to turn into a snack..


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## TeamKRF (Apr 30, 2013)

I bought a lily bulb from "petco" 1yr ago, think i payed a $1 for it on clearance and stuck it in my 20g long not expecting much. This thing grows like a weed and flowers on occasion. No matter how many stems i cut off this thing, it still comes back. the more i cut the more shoots come flying out. It creates a nice natural barrier from fast moving current to where i have Red Root Floaters on the calm side.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

TeamKRF said:


> I bought a lily bulb from "petco" 1yr ago, think i payed a $1 for it on clearance and stuck it in my 20g long not expecting much. This thing grows like a weed and flowers on occasion. No matter how many stems i cut off this thing, it still comes back. the more i cut the more shoots come flying out. It creates a nice natural barrier from fast moving current to where i have Red Root Floaters on the calm side.


Lucky, my local petco (and petsmart) are [censor] for plants, have to get 'em online :c. Does your lily have a bulb under it (looks like firm mud blob)? The one in my 7g is taking over but hasn't hit the surface yet, you can see it here, this one does have a bulb but its hidden by hygro tiger. there's *counts* damn 20+ leaves leaves on that one.
I got 4 lily plants off the rotted bulb that I stuck bank in the 20g tank, we'll see how they do. I'd *love *for them to take off and use as a main plant for underwater + surface growth and add a nice bit of red hue to my mostly green (and a little purple) plants up top. I tried using pennywort as a barrier for frogbit, riccia, duckweed, and salvia minima but the floaters just grew over it and onto the filter side, so now the floaters are stuffed in the shallow water of my emersed setup.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showpost.php?p=6131586&postcount=9


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## TeamKRF (Apr 30, 2013)

lilly bulb is about a 2" bulb that i completely buried in substrate. It was growing so much at first that i stuck a canister filter right on top of it to try and slow it down. By doing this it pushes the lilys "down stream" creating nice long stems that come to find out helps other plants stay in place especially during water changes.


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## TeamKRF (Apr 30, 2013)

so where the green canister is, in first pic above, marks where the lily bulb is planted right underneath it. There is also a HOB filter that is mounted on right side of tank pushed as far forward to the front as possible as to create strong current across the front glass. Sorry for unclear image, had to use iphone to expedite pics. There is a pic of this same 20g long in my photo album showing first week of setup and all its DIY co2 glory and small beginnings. (came on to site yesterday to do some profile updating and got wrapped up in reading your journal and haven't done a thing to profile other than upload those two pics.)

Dude! What was in that box!? either i missed it or its still not unveiled yet. Curiosity is killing me.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

TeamKRF said:


> so where the green canister is, in first pic above, marks where the lily bulb is planted right underneath it. There is also a HOB filter that is mounted on right side of tank pushed as far forward to the front as possible as to create strong current across the front glass. Sorry for unclear image, had to use iphone to expedite pics. There is a pic of this same 20g long in my photo album showing first week of setup and all its DIY co2 glory and small beginnings. (came on to site yesterday to do some profile updating and got wrapped up in reading your journal and haven't done a thing to profile other than upload those two pics.)
> 
> Dude! What was in that box!? either i missed it or its still not unveiled yet. Curiosity is killing me.


Thank you for the visual and sorry for distracting you from your goal (speaking of I need to update my "view user tanks" section).
As for the box post, it was a sneak peak for a 7g tank, journal HERE:
But since I'm here, this:

became this:

Xerxes the half moon plakat
He arrived silver (looked pretty cool actually) and colored back up fast. Now he rules a 7g cube with 2 otos and several misc snails.
btw that photo is 7 days old, the lily I have it taking over that side of the tank now.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Eeeeeeeeeee*

The manzantia wood just arrived! So excited to make a new scape with this! Still not sure how I'll place it in the tank yet.
Its 24Hx18Wx13T and needs to fit a 30Hx12Wx12T (to fit between the rim will need to saw down to 11" wide) no sure which branch will get loped and if I want stump end up out of tank (favoring this idea) or the smaller branches. After deciding which parts are visible and sawing off needed bits I'll burn and sand the cut areas to give a more worn rather than fresh cut look and begin soaking it. Anyways here's some photos of it outta the box


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Tank re-scape*

Lot of changes last week
*[Day 1]* Prep
Mazantia cut in half with saws-all (husbands awesome idea)


*[Day 2] *Plants and planters arrive, que 6+ hours of water logged hands
Determining placement.. plants out, driftwood in


New Plants
Dwarf taro and lizards tail "bare roots" (to be grown in vase until presentable), Spathiphyllum(?) and Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'

Oplismenus Basket Grass and aluminum plant

Needle leaf java fern, dwarf baby tears, and crypt parva and (wenditt?) green 


Vase for grow out, riparium plants rearranged, new ones added, + 3 new plants and 2 trellis rafts








Everything else in (jumbo dwarf lily plant was confiscated from 7g that it was hogging up all the light in)



*[Day3]* Checkerboard checks out!
Finally remove the checkerboard table cloth!


New table cloth being prepped for some sewing work


And Black table cloth on (Velcro used at cut corner to make removing and cleaning very easy)


*[Day 4]* slight plant tweak + tannis
Dwarf baby tears remvoed, ricca added in its place, basket grass also removed (did not make it :c)


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## pewpewkittah (Jan 14, 2014)

Looking AWESOME! That wood looks great. Your tank has inspeirted me to start a 20L riparium once I move! 
How do you grow your terrarium plants? The tank I want to do the riparium in currently has a "living wall" on the back.. and I'm not sure if I can plant into it. 

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

It might not be all that noticeable in the tank, especially with the tannis now, but the wood had a bit of work done after sawing in half. All the cut branches that would not be buried in black diamond were dremil-moto-tool-ground/smoothed down, torched, and sanded to give a more worn/weathered look instead of fresh cut fugly-ness. Husband helped a lot with that too ^^
No photos today but I'm trying to transition leftover creeping jenny and ludwigia from my 7g to the riparium set up (emersed), they're looking pretty crappy right now but hoping new growth will do better.



pewpewkittah said:


> Looking AWESOME! That wood looks great. Your tank has inspeirted me to start a 20L riparium once I move!
> How do you grow your terrarium plants? The tank I want to do the riparium in currently has a "living wall" on the back.. and I'm not sure if I can plant into it.
> 
> Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk


Happy to hear my tank inspired someone else to try it, its quite fun ^^

My above water plants are either anchored in the Hang on Back filter, stuffed in foam (around the sides or in slits cut into foam), or in riparium planters using expanded clay media, and a few are on treliss rafts that attach to the planters (both gotten from pt member hydrophyt). Some people use gravel or specific "riparium media" but it seems to be the same as the non expensive stuff sooooo I just went with what I already had. People also use hang on planter boxes/baskets, or even shower baskets to plant in, it just needs some holes to let water in through. I've been told to use root tabs by someone (forget who) but never added any, plants seem to do fine sucking up nutrients from the water. You could also try a sandwich of gravel-soil-gravel in a planter/basket to plant in (like any substrate: have to keep soil capped so it doesn't make a mess or leech too much ammonia into the water) but have not tried this either.

By "living wall" do you mean live rocks (like lava rock) stacked/glued together? Is there a gap behind it for filtration/equipment? Is there water flow behind it? If its thick and has some good nooks and carnies you can try stuffing plant clippings in, see if they take root (keep leaves out of the water for terrestrial plants). I've used thin (low poundage) clear fishing line to tie off plants as they get too long so they don't go under water, the 'wandering jew' does not have a strong stem like the pothos so it sags as it grows.
Downside of the 20g long: I ran out of room for planters too fast (without the wood I could cram 2 more on the back wall). I wish I could get my hands on a longer tank that had the same height as the 20 long.


edit: added photo:
new growth on the dwarf taro! (also aluminum plant bud and lizards tail in the back)


And a frontal view of HOB outflow with creeping jenny stuffed in there


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Riparium.. its an addiction!*

So I actually am having more fun with the terrestrial plants then the aquatic ones in this set up. Honestly think my submerged plants are pretty pissed.. not getting as much light as they use to. I'm half tempted to get rid of the aquatic plants (except maybe the java fern, lily, and cyrpts) and just have the riparium plants and driftwood in since there's no fauna in the tank... hmm.. Might also just splurge at the $1 a gallon sale and get a tank to dump the plants in and grow out..
Anyways between the planted hob, heater, 5 planter baskets and 2 pieces of driftwood (trunks come out of the water) I'm running out of room. I only have the front glass and the side facing the office where I'm typing(and can see the tank) open, the back and opposite side wall are crammed full... But talking with people about ripiarums the past few days gave me the itch to add more.. I needed more planters for some "bare roots" specimens I got as they grow into something presentable, and also want to try some more house or garden (not always traditional riparium) plants.
Decided to grab some cheap shower baskets to try out, they passed the first test (empty suction -upped to glass, did not slide down/pop off) hopefully they do well full of media and plants too. 


Also looked at some plants at my local Giant and Home Depot when I was there.. quick Google search says they can work in riparium (seen a few photos).. wonder if anyone on here has tried these in their own riparium:
Mondo Grass
Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella 
Syngonium
There were also some other short grasses and ground cover plants but I can't recall their names.. worried mondo grass and palm might get a bit tall though...

Also thinking of taking submerged grown giant hair grass and converting it to a riparium plant (above water.. not much humidity). Mines does NOT like the lack of light now so thinking of trying it above the water line see if it survives...


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*My lowest nitrated ever!*


Ok so to most this may seem like nothing.. but testing straight from the tap my nitrates read 20ppm (orange-red from api test) so i've never seen a yellow nitrate test (expect using a bottle of distilled water once when i was checking if the test was just widly off base) but never yellow in my tanks.. well the 2og is full of plants above and below, has some decay, and unknown #s of MTS but no other fauna left.. and I finally get to whip out the Seachem Nitrogen bottle to feed the plants.. "2.5 ml for 40g" so 20g about 1.2 ml *doses*


Of course I'll be removing all the fast growing non low light plants this sunday when teh $1 per a gallon sale goes on, get a holding tank (10g) for them and just leave the 20g with low light only plants underwater... will also pick up 2-3 of the other plants I mentioned in the above post and slot in the shower baskets with plants after taking out the medium light submerged stuff... Thinking of also putting the anubias that survived the rhizome rot disease (currently in my emersed set up) in the 20g so I can take that light back for the new 10g.. not sure what I'll do with the anubias I'm not 100% sure is "clean" its not rotting.. but not really grown since going emersed either.
Anubias I know is healthy:
3 coffefolia
2 hastfolia
2 nana narrow leaf
1 micro
1 unknown (portion of one from a petco buy never IDed)

I can't ID all the iffy anubias now, though 2 are petites.. one lost all its leaves but had good roots so i left it in, tis got a tiny thin green growth popig out the end of it.. not sure if it'd going to keep going or not (kinda stalled).

The dwarf lily is a damn monster, going to have to trim 1/2 the leaves at least when I do the tank re-arrange. Glad I didn't buy the non dwarf variety, can't handle any larger leaf size.. but that said I still really love its color. The driftwood had no floating issues when added (very happy about did not want to add awkward stones to keep it down) but its leeched a good bit of tannis into the tank (makes the white wall behind it lok yellow-orange). Its also gotten some white mold/fungus on the above water potions.. have q-tiped on some excel as i recall reading that it helps kill the mold.. hoping that's true.

Hopefully going to be making a black background this weekend with the leftover table cloth fabric, my husband's help, some scrap wood, screws, and a staple gun.


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## 180g (May 20, 2014)

Can't wait to see this one finished! You mite convince me to plant my 20g that is just sitting around.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

180g said:


> Can't wait to see this one finished! You mite convince me to plant my 20g that is just sitting around.


I've really enjoyed my 20g long so far even though i keep evolving it..


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Another rescpaing*

So yesterday I spent getting prune-y hands again and redid the tank, took out a lot from below water, and added some more above. Also removed and scrubbed wood as it had the well known fungus on it, which was covered in snail poo.. not too attractive to look at..


Also wanted to show off how much of a monster the dwarf lotus has become


Post replanted riparium; added Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella, Dwarf Taro, and Syngonium









Bellow water now only has: needle leaf java fern, cyrpr green and parva, and dwarf lily plants


Close up Fittonia albivenis


Close up aluminum plant


Close up Syngonium



[EDIT]
Oo forgot to add.. wood's been leaching so much tannis I thought I'd test my ph... its down O.O 
(photo does not show it well but its 6.6-6.8)
 
I've never been able to safely get it below 7.5 without adding so much acid that it falls through the floor (water has very high gh and kh.. which ever it is that buffers ph does it well)
Going to have to keep an eye on ph fluxing from water changes (still comes out of the tap at normal ph)
Water changing out 75%+ of the water the ph has already drooped back down to about 7-7.2 over night (api color card is so hard to distinguish different colors on)


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I've still got to do some reading to catch up on everything that has happened since I left SC. Your tank is looking great now! I really like the new aquascape. The new wood is awesome, I think it looks much better since your most recent adjustments after the cleaning. In the previous layout the branch that was top center just seemed a little distracting, probably due to the amount of light reflecting off of it. Any plans to add some sort of moss to the branches? 

I definitely know what you mean when you say you're having more fun with the riparium plants than the submerged aquatics. I tried for a long time to use stems and other fast growing plants in my system & eventually made the switch to crypts and slow growers. When I was planning the new scape after the move I made the decision to stick with the low light plants. Lots of Crypts, different Java Ferns & Anubias though there are a few different stem plants, mostly the ones that are slow grower under these light conditions. I think the scape I went with will grow to be a nice layout in time. I'd really like to switch everything to a 40B, especially after picking up a few last night that I'm going to use for emersed plants. Not gonna happen anytime soon though. I hope your new plants adjust well! i'm actually heading to Lowes in a bit to see what I can find to add to my 20L.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

johnson18 said:


> I've still got to do some reading to catch up on everything that has happened since I left SC. Your tank is looking great now! I really like the new aquascape. The new wood is awesome, I think it looks much better since your most recent adjustments after the cleaning. In the previous layout the branch that was top center just seemed a little distracting, probably due to the amount of light reflecting off of it. Any plans to add some sort of moss to the branches?
> 
> I definitely know what you mean when you say you're having more fun with the riparium plants than the submerged aquatics. I tried for a long time to use stems and other fast growing plants in my system & eventually made the switch to crypts and slow growers. When I was planning the new scape after the move I made the decision to stick with the low light plants. Lots of Crypts, different Java Ferns & Anubias though there are a few different stem plants, mostly the ones that are slow grower under these light conditions. I think the scape I went with will grow to be a nice layout in time. I'd really like to switch everything to a 40B, especially after picking up a few last night that I'm going to use for emersed plants. Not gonna happen anytime soon though. I hope your new plants adjust well! i'm actually heading to Lowes in a bit to see what I can find to add to my 20L.


Thanks, I've thought of trying fissidens.. but I'd wait until the wood stops being all fungus-y before I'd consider buying any of that or other mosses. I do have a 2g cookie jar with smaller maznatia branches covered in moss that's doing well, but I bought enough moss for initial set up to cover all the wood, it was rather pricy, if I did it in the 20g it would be a tiny patch that would have to very sloooowly grow out to be trimmed and reattached to eventually cover the wood.. 
I think I want to focus more on the above water so any plants below will have to be low light. I'd do anubias again but after the disaster with the disease I don't want to have any for a while... 
I actually just raised the lights a few more inches since the newest plants are pretty tall. Its been 2 days and no noticble wilting or shock for the palm and syngonium, dwarf taro was already growing in old tank water so I didn't expect it to have any transition issues. I am thinking of actually switching the planters with the syngonium and the one with the dwarf umbrella as its now hidden under the palm... hard part is getting fingernails in there to pop off the suction cups, there' no room to get around the sides of the baskets/planters.
I'm half tempted to buy enough trellis rafts to almost completely cover the top and act as a deterrent for jumping prone fish.. but then I wouldn't get any good surface agitation for aeration...and have the 'fun' of takign apart of putting back the rafts with each water change.. 
I'll also have to figure out what to do with w/c stability.. since tap is 7.5 and (yesterday) tank was 7.0.. before the re-scape tank was as low as 6.6-6.8.. Going to make it difficult to keep a steady ph if I have fish in there... also don't know how happy the crypts will be about the flux... I'm tempted to put the crypt and java in my husbands tank and just have the lily plant, then get same large smooth land scaping rocks (if I can find any inert ones) for more line of sight break up...
I'll have to figure out how to cycle a tank (fish-less) with lights on and avoiding an algae nightmare.. last 2 tanks I cycled literally in the dark (cardboard boxes covered them no algae could grow).
I'd love to get 1 gold ram and either cherry barb or glowlight (the natural occurring type not the gentiacally made) tetra.. or an electric blue ram and (as much as I'd swear never to keep them) neon tetra..unless I can find anotehr small blue schooling fish, plus some otos.. Don't know how long these fish would last without a lid though... Don't feel like buying expensive snacks for the cats who I think ate the previous otos to jump tank since their bodies were never recovered.
I'm soooooo tempted to get a 55g, fill it about 12-13" and set up a longer riparium within it. But I need to just wait for the pleco to move out of my current 55 so i can re-purpose it. It sucks because I keep seeing plants I want to try out, but there's just no room left for new additions... Be sure to update your thread if you do add some more stuff.. I've been wanting to try some grasses.. but again no room...


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Minor tweaking*

Can't stop messing with it! no new additions.. well except I stuck the dead looking lizard's tail in there.. hurry up and grow damn it! *ahem* but just rearranged some things, put taller plants to one side and all the rafts at the far end of the tank away from the filter to encourage more flow. Also moved the crypts and lily since the right side became more shaded.. also butchered off most of the lily leaves from the large bulb, going to _try _to grow it compact and low instead of to the surface now. The driftwoon on the right does not like to stay in place (currently only has 1 branch touching the bottom) so I wedged a suction cup behind it to keep it in place... Looking at it now I want to mess with that right piece again... Bah gotta stop being so anal about it..


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Digging the wood a lot, nicely done

I had terrible luck with fissdens in a non co2 tank. Became algae havens very very quickly.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> Digging the wood a lot, nicely done
> 
> I had terrible luck with fissdens in a non co2 tank. Became algae havens very very quickly.


Thank you! And algae would be my big concern too, at least java fern you can wash it off... With mosses it's damn near impossible to seperate algae for it without loosing most of the moss in the process.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

yup, I covered manzanita in fissdens in my 10g, a week later the tank was covered in algae, EVERYWHERE, most of fissdens ended up as detrius or taken out of the tank.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Black background added*

Awesome hubby made a black background that sits outside the tank, not adhered to it so its easily removed to find hiding fish ^^ 
Its scrap of the table cloth used for this table glued onto.. I'm brain farting the material.. its essentially like water proof drywall used for building construction that's exposed to the elements, so it won't rt or mold like a wood frame wood.
Really like how it looks!





[added]
Just a mini add on: Seems the mazantia has stopped leeching massive amounts of taniss, ph has not tested below the '7.6' using api test kit (the 'high ph" kit tests 7.4 so I split the difference) since I did a water change a while ago. Guess i wont have to worry abut ph fluxes and stressing fish ^^. 
The filter is also still cycled, and I've been dosing ammonia daily to feed BB and plants. I'm going to start slowly reducing the ferts I add to the tank.. I won't know by how much the end goal is until I get it fully stocked with fish and see what nitrate levels sit at. I'm still open to ideas for shoaling/schooling fish that won't jump out an open top.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Riparium plant updates + some babbling*

So the Syngonium and dwarf palm are doing well. Only thing I've noticed is the newst growth it has when i added it died off, but I see new leaves unfolding so I think it was just a mini tranplant shock, the main/larger/old leavers have shown no sigh of distress though. I couldn't fit all of the palm plants into the setup so some are in a pot behind the tank, getting the same light and some of the tanks water once in a while.
The creeping jenny and new addition of riccia have transitioned well to emersed growth, I've stopped missing 2x a day and they've not dried out yet. I'm thinkning of adding some ludwigia to the riparium part from my 7g.. once it grows out of the water (failed to transition from submerged growth last attempt.. just melted).
The aluminum plants are growing very long roots underwater (longest ones are only 4" above substrate). If I intended to have fish breeding it'd be perfect for fry.. but I'm hoping my final stock list won't breed out of control and over populate the tank. Its also slowly growing new stems and leaves.
Spathiphyllum is growing taller and competing with the dwarf palm and syngonium in height but its not spit out a lot of new leaves yet. I actually think I was given two varieties of spathiphyllum, one has wider marbled leaves (domino), the other is more narrow and solid green, hopefully I'll figure out what subspecies it is as it grows.
The Cyperus Umbrella Sedge is doing ok though some tips are dried out, its not very tall or fast growing.
Pothos and Tradescantia zebrine aka 'wandering jew' are still in a race for fastest growing plant, pothos leaves seem more tolerant of being constntly wet (its tips touch water) than the wandering jew which will melt if leaves are wet.
Sadly the lizards tails I gotten (2) have died. I was told they don't ship well.. guess I'll stick to slightly more durable plants. They turned brown and the submerged part mushy, so they've been tossed.
I'm thinking of trying oplismenus basket grass one more time, see if I can keep it from drying out and shriveling up on me.

I am having some trouble with my little Dwarf taro though, its formed new leaves since I received it (its original leaf from shipping died off). The 2 oldest of these 3 new leaves are showing some deficiencies sadly.


From reading [this pdf file] on taros.. I'm not sure if its a nitrate deficiency (though I wouldn't call these 'old leaves' at less than 3 weeks old) but my nitrates are staying at 5-10ppm even when dosing about 2ppm pure ammonia a day (still no fauna). It could also be iron, magnesium, or calcium deficiency. Calcium lines up best for the browning/dead tips and yellowing but my water is very hard (160s) and leaves calcium deposits on *everything*. Sadly my area's water report is useless for getting actual readings on the amount of calcium and magnesium I have (they just list lead, chlorine, and nitrate)... but I really doubt its the issue. I'm considering buying a bottle of seachem iron to add to my dosing regiem and see if it helps.


In other news I grabed up some used small trellis rafts (3) and a big raft (1) from a user via roak. They also sent a wabi something ball but it didn't survive as a whole through shiping. Goign to see if the Bacopa from it will survive emerssed with the creeping jenny I already have. I most likely will be saving them until I upgrade the riparium to the 55g and have more room.


As for stocking ideas. I'm strongly considering 1 gold ram, 8-? cherry barbs, and 3-5 otos. Only getting 1 ram to avoid aggression, digging, and babies. I've been trying to find info to say if rams will or will not eat other fish' eggs and fry, as I don't want the cherry barbs breeding the tank into overstocked-capacity. Another thing I'm not finding consistant info on is caves for rams. Some sites say they need a cave(s), but owners posts say they typicaly do not use these, if anything they use 'lean-to's or just shaded opening in plant mass and driftwood groupings. 
Once the quarantine is cycled I'll start with 6-10 otos (assuming I'll lose 1/2.. if I don't I'll return the extras). After they pass quarantine and go into the 20 I'll get the barbs, then after them the ram. I have a lfs I can pick them up at directly or special order. I'll probably do the latter just to get 'fresh' fish. I think I'll skip a cave and see how the ram does with my setup. If it looks like it needs one I may DIY one from black oven cook-able clay (forget name) rolled in some of the substrate to make it blend better.
I'd considered a different stocking list with hillstream loaches earlier this week (after spotting some at a local store) and spoke with a pt member about their care. I could modify the tank for them with some smooth river rocks and a power head for extra flow.. but I don't think the tank has/would generate enough algae to feed them (they forage constantly so even with supplemented diet they need their algae rocks) so I think I'll try the fist stocking idea for now. Maybe when the riparium moves to the 55 I'll try a hillstream setup.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

You seem to be inspiring me. I didn't realize it but you also did the aquaponics setup that got me interested! 

I just picked up pilea involucrata, pilea cadierei and tradescantia zebrina today.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

vanish said:


> You seem to be inspiring me. I didn't realize it but you also did the aquaponics setup that got me interested!
> 
> I just picked up pilea involucrata, pilea cadierei and tradescantia zebrina today.


I'm happy to hear my posts or photos are encouraging people to try different aspects of aquarium keeping possibilities ^^
I'd love to try pilea involucrata but I can't find any.
Will you post a journal or photos with the added plants? Are you putting them in an HOB or a planter/shower basket and floating rafts?


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

They are in a diy "hob" filter. Its a 6 gallon planter box sitting on a shelf behind the tank containing lots and lots of media and such. The hob lid has 5 holes in it, in which I put flex pots. Each plant is in one of those flex pots with hydroton.

I may change the order of the plants as the two cuttings grow in. From left to right: pilea involcrata (friendship plant), epipremnum aureum (Pothos), pilea cadierei (Aluminum plant), tradescantia zebrina (wandering jew), last one is unknown clipping.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Cool HOB! Is the green banded with uneven striping the tradescantia zebrina or the unknown plant? I've not seen wandering jew with such inconsistent striping.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

The unknown one is the "tall" one surrounded by the wandering jew. You can't actually see it that well in this photo. I'll try to post a photo of just that plant later. Putting together some more lighting today.

I think that wandering jew is actually Tradesantia Fluminensis 'Variegata' ... not zebrina. Good catch. I'm going to take some cuttings of it just in case it doesn't do well in the water basket.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I think you're right on that plant id, its very pretty though! Wish I could get some around here (only find the purple 'common' variety of this plant). It reminds me of varigated Oplismenus basket grass.. which I've failed twice now to keep alive (got from a seller with a vey high humidity environment.. dries out in 1-2 days in my riparium x.x).



*[added update]*
One of the peace lilys are blooming! ... Apparently I planted it 'backwards'


+ a few creeping jenny shots, its transitioned well 85% of all the clippings I took converted to emersed growth with daily misting, now I mist once a day or ever other day (whenever I remember) more for the riccia than the jenny, but I just give everything a little mist, doesn't hurt ^^
Wilted thing in the background of the first photo is bacopa, don't think its going to survive the transition.
Driftwood

HOB


The giant hair grass I stuffed in a basket up top did not survive the transition, I'd cut back its leaves to encourage new growth but I think it was too far gone before I moved it so it just died. Tossed it today... May move the Taro and Fittonia in that basket around to let the taro get more light and room.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

I need to learn, why the misting of plants if they weren't submerged growth?

Hope you don't mind the slight hijack! Here is the unknown last plant in my box. It has roots growing already, so that's a good sign.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Can you help me figure out what I'm doing wrong. I've put a few cuttings and 1 stem that I pulled from the dirt with roots into my HOB, I'm using a AC30 with 2.5 sponges, I took a screw driver to make holes to put the stems in. Every single one I've placed in my hob has died. The leaves turn mushy and the stem parts eventually mush away just the same. What am I missing here? I'm using the marble queen pothos, the mother (planted in a dirt vase) is doing excellent in the low light area I have it, which is directly across the room from tank. Are they just having a hard time switching from dirt to flowing water?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sorry didn't say it clearly, I was misting plants that had been submerged growth as they converted to emersed (riccia, Jenny, ghg(died anyways), and now bacopa). The houses plants and many easy riparium plants like your have do not need misting just wet roots ^^
No clue what that plant is but think I've seen it at a local grocery store(of course when I checked the label there was no mention of species just "house plant"). You could try posting a thread in the plant section with that photo and a title similar to "terrestrial plant id" or "non-aquatic plant id". I'm sure someone knows what it is.

[edit]
Italion: I have to go for a bit but I'll answer when I gat back.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

For the pothos, as with any plant there can be many variables involved that could change the success or failure of a transplant (and transition in environments from soil to water). 
How long did you have the pothos before moving part of it to the aquarium?
How aggressive were you (or place you got the plant) with watering/keeping soil moist prior to transfer?
Lighting changes from mother plant to place on hob? (more/less light, longer/shorter periods of light?
How long was the piece(s) you cut? (some term it as 'joints' in the plant.. How many leaves are on the piece you cut?) DId it have roots already growing?

*[little blabbing.. you can skip if you want]*
From my reading, sometimes pothos will melt/wilt from a major transition into the wet environment, but it may adapt and grow new leaves and stem/vine that can handle it. I do not know if its a factor, but I (and many others (from viewing photos) often do not plant pothos in foam, but leave its roots free floating.. however some have put it in foam with success.. and I have some growing free floating in the hob, and some in planters with clay media and gravel in the tank.. all are growing equally well... so lets rule out foam as the issue... 
You say "mother plant" is it truly a huge plant to qualify as a "mother plant"? When I bought mine it was 5-7 clippings stuffed in a pot that grew roots and had grown more vine and leaves by the time I bought it, but it was simply several small plants.
I don't know water schedule for the garden center I got mine, but the soil was still moist when it came home, and it had been growing in a green house when I bought it.. I put all the plants in the riparium setup so I have nothing to compare growth with (no soil rooted plant). I was very gentle rinsing soil off the roots to keep as many intact as possible (got rough with the fern and it died on me).
Can't offer advice on lighting be an issue since mine went from green house to 8 hours worth of 6500k bulbs light (+ 'ambient' light from a 6500k t5 on the otehr wall on 16 hours a day for aquaponics).. its simular to the light it got before.. but not really...
Since you keep planted tanks (aquatic) it rules out it being a nutrients problem, you know about ferts and such, the fact hat your plants grow below water, it shouldn't be a problem for this to grow above water with nutrient uptake from said water..

*[ok getting back on track..]*
My biggest suspicion would be you cut a piece with no roots, or more likely a piece that was too short. The longer the piece the better chance it has to transition smoothly. 
I read someone's suggestion to take a long stem from the mother plant (still attached and put it over the desired area (move plant to raised platform next to hob and put pothos vine over hob, weest growth let down nubs that will become roots if they find water or soil, it will grow roots adapted for water since its new, and after a few more leaves *SNIP* ready to go, best guarantee of transition.. but it means not instant gratification, gotta wait a little.
If you want to immediately cut and add, try to get at least 4 leaves minimum on a vine, some per-exsisting roots would be good too.
If the motherplant was not thoroughly watered often before transition (more dry soil than constant moist) it may not be use to the high moisture intake/water environment, and have caused the melt/mush/wilting. If this is the case get the mother plan and her soil use to more wet soil (gradually increase waterings) then try another clipping.

If all my ramblings don't coincide with anything for your pothos than I'm sorry but I cannot think of anything else to cause the trouble you're having. 
I've not kept the marble queen variant but I doubt it would have an issue being adapted for HOB growth compared to pure or regular 'variegated' pothos...


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

That was excellent! This is the mother









Bought it from Lowe's. I have had it for a month, sits next to the back door but we keep the blackout curtains closed, it gets filtered low light, I have lots of new growth, I use my tank water to keep the soil moist. 

This is what I did, the fern started off tiny, so I know I can grow stuff in the sponge. 









Given what you stated, im going to cut a stem with at least 6 joins, put it in some water next to the tank and let it form roots in water first, then transition to the hob. See if that will lessen the impact a bit. 
Fern now


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Awesome, happy to help, hope new cutting grows well (love that mother plant!)


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

I would say the biggest likelyhood of the failure was you took a clipping without a root node, and thus it had no way to grow roots. Look for the little brown nubs on the underside of the vine.

And yes, beautiful mother plant!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Well I'm waffling on schooling fish I want to stock in here now.. I'd wanted cherry barbs as an easy to get schooling fish with color... but now that the quarantine is 99% cycled (doing final test soon to verify) I'm leaning towards splurging and buying gold ring danios (danio tinwini).. BUT I get to pay $50 in just shipping charges if I get them x.x Hmmm well I'll start with otos and decided on a school-er by the time they pass quarantine (10-14 days). Wonder if the lfs actually has enough otos in now or if i have to order some and wait..

I also did another ph test.. it went back down to 7-7.2 range from manzanita still leeching tannis (though a bit slower now) Buuut its been 2 weeks since I did a water change.. wonder if it will stay at 7.5 if I keep up with proper water change routine.. I'm worried I'm going to make the crypts melt if the ph keeps fluxing from w/c and tannis x.x I think I pissed off my dwarf lily, its not exploded with new growth since I lopped off most of its leaves.. wonder if it went into a dormant state. 

Found out about another lovely riparium possible plant from someone else's jouranl, Maranta leuconeura (prayer plant). Sadly, I don't think I'd have room for one right now.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[Ontop]*
So started dosing Seachem Iron since I can't beleive the taro deficiency is calcium based (have very high calcium in tap). It has a new leaf opening new, hopefully it doesn't have the same dried edged look in a week like the others. 
Syngonium seems to like the added iron and its newest leaves have a lot of pink 'wondering jew' is growing too long to support its own stem again, will have to trim it soon.. I've been trying to train the longest piece to cross the front to the tank to the out of water driftwood branch.. but it keeps falling off.. not quite long enough yet. 
Both peace lilies are blooming now, its interesting to see how they have slightly different flowers.. also I apparently planted both 'backwards' as the open side of the flow is hidden form a frontal tank view.
Riccia is turning into a thick mount and the aluminum plant is getting thick though not really tall.
*
[Underwater]*
The needle leaf java fern is spitting out babies that are getting pretty long and should pop off the mother plants fairly soon.. going to have to buy more glass beads to sue as weights for the new ones.
Crypts.. getting a lot of new leaves but a lot of diatoms on them too.. need to get otos in.. have a ton of snails in that tank (all babies.. from excess food: fungus growing off the wood) going to try to catch out most of the snails to put in a grow out bin and reduce nitrate causes as fish are ready to go into tank.. want to keep them for future dwarf puffer food (12g).
Dwarf lily still not in best of shape since I butchered its leaves but its not dead!
Driftwood has been spamming me with tannis and dropped my pH down a whole degree. Been doing several water changes to get it back up to tap pH and keep it there, I don't need it fluxing weekly and killing off fish.. if the wood wasn't so awkward I'd boil it, but I can't fit it into any pot. 
Got a looot of diatoms, glass it looking pretty dirty but I'm not cleaning them, so the otos that make it through 10-12 day quarantine can have a celebratory feast in the new tank ^^.

*[Other]*
For final fish stock I decided to go with:
7 otos (hoping 50% survival.. if better than 4-5 for 20g and office tank(s) with get the spare oto(s))
12-15 Cherry Barbs 
1 gold ram
I took one of the pothos out of the HOB to stick on my quarantine's hob to help with nitrates.. the 10g quarantine is finally cycled and I will start getting the first batch of fish (otos) tomorrow for it. Photo of quarantine tank is at the bottom of the photo spam (put led light on tank so you can see, won't be that bright with fish in), pvc pipes were drilled, cut, glued, and sanded to give hides for new fish. There is one more hide not show, I accidentally broke it loose today (opps). Btw: 4" pvc pipe=float for some dumb ass reason.. other sizes have no problem have one wedged under the heated, the otehr is stuck on with 1 suction cup.. thinking of adding a second to keep it in place.


*[Photos]*


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So the lfs I custom ordered my otos from decided to not call to tell me to tell me if they could get the fish or not, and when I went into the store one employe only answered "I don't know". The other was an absolute.. well rhymes with witch. Completely unhelpful so I just left and will not shop there again, ever. So I went to a nearby petsmart and rolled the dice on 8 otos... So far so good, all still alive in the quarantine, but they haven't figured out that lettuce, zucchini, and algae wafers are food.
I also found a purple waffle plant at a Lows so YAY gotta stuff it in somewhere now.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Photos of a few of the quarantine otos + new riparium plant. 
You can see 6 of the 8 in the first photo if you looks hard.. and a piece of spinach I'm trying to convince them to nibble on. I saw one on a zucchini slice last night but they didn't eat much of it, and I don't think they let the others know it was food.. all of them completely ignored the algae wafer and lettuce yesterday =.=


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So just a quick update.
The "domino" peace lily hasn't opened its bloom yet but its shot way higher than the other lily's open flower. 


The crypts I got a little while back have been exploding with leaves, especially the wenditt..I'd expepcted them to melt from the ph flux I was getting with the wood but they're doing good (pardon the diatoms, letting them build up for the otos before they move in)

Not shown but the needle leaf java fern is also spitting out a ton of babies, unfortunately some leaves have BBA, and after a few strong excel doses not doing [censor] to it I'll be snipping the bad pieces off.

Took the wood out yesterday and boiled it for several hours (rotating and changing water on each rotation) because I'm getting sick of fighting the ph flux with daily water changes. Didn't remove any of the baby snails before starting.. mmm tannis soup with snail spice.. Tank looked empty without the wood, btw tahts aluminum plant roots nearly touching the bottom in front of the lily plant.



No photo update of them but at last check all otos were still in quarantine and alive as far as I can tell (no visible corpses or nitrate spike). Dumb [censor]s still won't eat any veggie I've tried:zucchini, lettuce, spinach, cucumber.. Not even algae water or waterlogged flake food... Don't know what they're living in at this point, the tank did not have diatoms.. But hope they make it till Friday, that's when I plan to move them to their permanent homes.


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## Lucubration (Jun 20, 2013)

Wow, the riparium is looking great. What do you have draped over the trellis rafts?

[Re: pothos]

I've had a lot of luck transitioning pothos clippings to a wet environment. I've literally done nothing special with them; some are free-floating on the surface, some have roots hanging bare in the water, some are rooted in foam underwater.

The only commonality with what I've done is that the whole vine has been in contact the water, with only leaves being at or above the water. The roots grow out from all of the joints along the vine into the water.

[Re: fissidens]

The most important thing I've found with my fissidens in a low-tech tank is to grow them in a heavily shaded part of the tank. Dim room lighting i sufficient, really. Because they're so slow-growing in that environment, they can't out-compete algae very well for much more light than that.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Looks like everything is progressing along well! I'm glad to see things are going well. 

With Java Fern babies that I wanted to replant into substrate, I've always just let them grow on the parent plant until they're roots are long enough to poke into the substrate with tweezers or a chopstick without burying the rhizome. I'm guessing that you're using the glass beads to hold the roots down. 

Bummer about the Otos from your lfs. I hope the ones you picked up from petsmart do well! I had some from there a few years back that did very well.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Lucubration said:


> Wow, the riparium is looking great. What do you have draped over the trellis rafts?
> 
> [Re: pothos]
> 
> ...


The "ground cover" on the rafts is riccia, transitioned it from submerged growth my misting it 1-2x a day for a few weeks. It's not tied down or adhered at all just slapped ontop. As it grows into the water I pull off the excess and fill in some bare spots. Stems are aluminum plant and a few creeping jenny (also converted from submerged growth with misting).
The dread of algae is my main hesitation for trying fissedens.
My pothos has been growing like a beast and one vine is growing out over the water with roots growing down for the substrate.
*[added] *
Forgot to add, I also have Fittonia albivenis planted in the planter that hangs out over the raft.




johnson18 said:


> Looks like everything is progressing along well! I'm glad to see things are going well.
> 
> With Java Fern babies that I wanted to replant into substrate, I've always just let them grow on the parent plant until they're roots are long enough to poke into the substrate with tweezers or a chopstick without burying the rhizome. I'm guessing that you're using the glass beads to hold the roots down.
> 
> Bummer about the Otos from your lfs. I hope the ones you picked up from petsmart do well! I had some from there a few years back that did very well.


The original fern were weighed on beads because it did not have much for roots when I got it (think it as cut off a larger matt/clump. The babies already have better roots than the parents did when they arrived 0.0


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*And they're in!*

Well I got impatient and worried since the otos were not eating anything I gave them so since its been 7 days I moved them into their designated tanks. The 20g got 5, 7g 2 (its oto passed last week), and the 12g 1 (bringing its total to 4). Each tank has diatoms except the 12g, that ones always clean so they get veggie supplements which I'm hoping the new guy will eat seeing the others munching away. I'm guessing the rest of new otos will learn to eat veggies from seeing all the snails pile on them like the original batch did.. we'll see.
Anyways I dripped them all in their own containers (Prime added before they went in to reduce ammonia issues) for over an hour than put them in a bag with the water in the tank to float and get up to temp for about 20-25 minutes, removed most of the water from the bags to a container then put them in their tanks. Only one was a stubborn s.o.b. for the 20g and would not get out of the bag >.< but all are in and at last count about an hour ago all 5 were still in the open top 20g (my hubby found the 'where's waldo' hide-away 5th one), the other 2 tanks have lids so not worried about them getting out. They all seemed to get color back fairly quickly after the transfer and were happily noming diatoms on the glass.
I washed the quarantine tank out after removing the otos and found there were in fact diatoms on the glass when I wiped it down with a paper towel it was coming up with a little bit of brown. So not as worried about them dieing quickly from starving for the past week ^^
Next up is cherry barbs for quarantine.. I didn't order them last week when I would need to for a pick up tomorrow (was planning to move otos on Friday originally..) so will just check stores see if I can get a decent school between the petco and petsmart.

No photos today, they all get moonlight/lights out till tomorrow.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So the peace lily finally opened its flower.. of course its facing away from the "front" of the tank. 


I can't manage to get a photo of the new otos, they're still pretty skittish.. hoping cherry barbs will calm them down a little? They're also not as smart as my last batch in teh 20g long... they didn't go for the lettuce I put in even when all the snails were on it like my previous group did (got curious and tried food out from snails eating it). Trying a small piece of shrimp food now (I think its a veggie stick?? was an unlabeled sampler pack..).. again snails seem more interested than the otos.. but at least they cleaned up all the diatoms on the glass in there. I can never manage to see more than 2 or 3 of them (rarely 3) and there should be 4. Not going to rip the tank apart looking for the missing one, just assuming its hiding in the java fern blob cleaning it up.
I went to the local peco to ask them tog et a new shipment of cherry barbs in (they are always out of males).. I saw a mustard female betta that I was half tempted to buy for breeding with my Xerxes (in 7g) but I don't have the accommodations for babies so I didn't get her (also can't tell which tail type the females are). Anyways should be getting cherry barbs Wednesday for quarantine. 
If i wasn't so against paying shipping charges or shipping in summer (don't want to stress fish/plants) I'd buy a plakat gal sorority (4-6) for the 20g and ditch cherry barbs for some other tiny dither-y fish...But then that would just tempt me to try breeding and I'd still have no place to put the offspring.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So still trying to get the new otots to figure out that food is FOOD..been wasting shrimp food, lettuce, zucchini and cucumber trying to feed them ad just end up feeding the snails... If it wouldn't stress them so much I'd move around the experienced otos to teach the new ones.
Anyways got cherry barbs today, 4 males 8 females.. though at first the sales person only got out 11.. ad charged for 12. Well i went back with the unopened back (counted them at home0 and receipt and got the final fish (they missed a girl). They just finished an hour + of drip acclimation, now I'm floating them in a bag to get their water up to temp before they go in. Some of the girls already look plump.. hope they aren't egg heavy I don't need any free fish, and it will be a few weeks before I get my ram that will *hopefully* be a fry muncher.
I asked about nerite snails while I was there as they had a price tag for thm but no nerties, just crappy mystery and apple snails.. they said they didn't get more in because they don't sell... well maybe the apple and mystery don't but nerites do... Hoping to ask for one to be special ordered by the store when I go ask them to order some gold rams. I don't feel like paying $10+ for 1 snail on ebay, rather pay $4 at the store. Want to try bouncing nerite snail around bubble bowl and 7g cube to deal with some algae on the glass (gsa).
No photos of cherries yet, tried taking some while acclimating but they keep coming out blurred. Will try getting a shot of them later.
Aslo.. I'm 90% sure one of the 4 otos in the 20g jumped.. I've only managed to see 3 over the past several days...


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## Lucubration (Jun 20, 2013)

Aurora, I've got a question for ya. I often find my aluminum and other marginal plants will have their leaves start browning and withering from the tips inward. It ends up making them appear scraggly and spindly rather than bushy. Have you encountered that? I'm trying to figure out if it's a matter of nutrition, environment, or pruning.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Lucubration said:


> Aurora, I've got a question for ya. I often find my aluminum and other marginal plants will have their leaves start browning and withering from the tips inward. It ends up making them appear scraggly and spindly rather than bushy. Have you encountered that? I'm trying to figure out if it's a matter of nutrition, environment, or pruning.


I only have that problem with my Dwarf taro, from looking at a nutrient deficiencies pfd on taro.. it claims its calcium deficiency but that's not right as I have very hard water with high calcium content. My terracotta planting pot is almost completely WHITE from all the calcium deposits. So I'm not sure what _that _particular plant's issues are.. 
The first aluminum plant I got came from a seller with very high humidity environment, mine is low humidity so most of the plant died. One by one from the bottom up each leaf browned/withered/dieded and fell off when touched, then the stem started turning brown/tan instead of greenish (note newer stem growth on aluminum pant will look brown at first then turn green as it gets older). But a new stem/off shot started at the top when it came so I salvaged from that (all original leaves went). Another seller I got more from had a low humidity environment so I did not have issues with aluminum plant leaves when put into my setup. Both times stems came without roots (clippings) and started new offshoots/stems and roots once added. All the other plants i have were recieved/bought with roots already growing.

Tell me a bit about your plants and setup:
How recently did you get your plant(s)? Do you know what environment/conditions they were previously grown in?
Are they in trellis rafts or planted in baskets/planters with media (if so what did you use for media)?
Do the plants you are having trouble with have no/short roots (or can you not see roots yet if in media)?
Can you tell me a bit about your tank like water temp, ph, nitrates, hardness, and any ferts you are dosing? Whats your average house air temp in the tank's room and would you call it 'humid' or 'dry' in that area?
Are the plants that are having trouble in an area where they is a lot of low and splash fro filter (getting leaves over saturated constantly), in a more stagnant flow area of the tank, or somewhere in the middle (gets flow but not splashed)?
What do you have for a light source and how close are the plants to it?

For me: plants range from 1-4+ months with me, aluminum in trellis rafts, most everything else with roots in planters with gravel and inert clay media. 
Aside from one aluminum plant (the one that mostly died) all came from low humidity environments as far as I know
tank temp 78f, air temp around 70f, low humidity/dry, 7.5 ph, very hard water (160s gh 70s kh), nitrates around 10-20ppm, dose Seachem: iron (only 3x a week), excel, flourish, potassium, and phosphorous (these are dosed recommended by Seachem dosing chart).
Plants range from being right by outflow with splash (try to put more water friendly ones here like pothos) to in stagnant areas at opposite end of tank (driftwood cuts surface movement before the right side)
3x: 6500k 13w cfl bulbs in reflectors bulbs are about 13.5" above top rim of tank, some plants reach as high as lights but are placed so slightly behind (not directly under/touching) the lights. Some plants can get burned from being too close to bright or hot light fixtures, but I've not had this issue yet.

I don't know if its helped mine along, but I've randomly misted my plants over the past several weeks, (aiming for emersed riccia that started as submerged growth, but just kinda hit everything with a little mist) anywhere from 2x a day to 1x every 3 days, not sure if this had helped them or not. Just got a spay bottle at the dollar store and put tank water in it after adding my ferts to tank and letting them mix around in the water a bit. This may have given them all an extra boost... but I honestly cannot be sure. Its not a heavy misting, they lose the 'fresh from a very light rain' look after about 10 minutes.

Anyways hope some of my rambling helps.. I try to add everything I can think of that might be relevant. I may be able to offer more advice with your set up details, but if not you can try posting your details and photos in the Plant section, several people help with deficiency identification here.



In other news cherry barb shot in quarantine: Just added and checking everything out


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

can I offer a suggestion for the oto's?

Do you find the oto's tend to stick to the same plants in the tank? I had issues getting mine to eat, as they would often be forced out by the bigger fish. I was able to get mine to eat by putting blanched green beans on bamboo sticks and placing them to where the green beans were resting on the anubias/lilly pads, so the oto's would land on the leaf like they do, and then start eating. Now I just place the bamboo sticks in the open and they swim to the food.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> can I offer a suggestion for the oto's?
> 
> Do you find the oto's tend to stick to the same plants in the tank? I had issues getting mine to eat, as they would often be forced out by the bigger fish. I was able to get mine to eat by putting blanched green beans on bamboo sticks and placing them to where the green beans were resting on the anubias/lilly pads, so the oto's would land on the leaf like they do, and then start eating. Now I just place the bamboo sticks in the open and they swim to the food.


Thank you for the suggestion and I've tried this sorta.. the otos are most commonly found on the glass in my tanks not plants so I place the food as close as possible, in the 7g I actually hung it down from the rim since those otos like the top left corner by the outflow.. Still no luck yet.. only other food 'competition' these otos have is the snails (mts, pond/bladder, ramshorns) nothing else in the 20g yet and the betta in the 7g, unlike Aristoto (rip), has no interest in veggies. I always blanch the vegies in garlic water since its supposedly help encourage fish to eat stuff... might try just regular tap next time.. wish I had some magic ay to "brush on" some diatoms (like how some butter you biscuits as they come out of the oven) so they'd get more interested... vegies would decompose to fast to try to stick in a jar in the window to grow some algae on them ...


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I keep rocks in mason jars on the kitchen window to grow diatoms on for food.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> I keep rocks in mason jars on the kitchen window to grow diatoms on for food.


If I can find some inert rocks around here I might do that (so far everything I've tested jacks ph or hardness). Only inert ones I have are the rose quarts in the 12g right now.. wish I could find more of those.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Finally managed to grab a photo of 2 of the 3 otos in the 20g, no clue where the other is hiding right now.. pardon the heater in the shot.. and the gravel that fell out of the riparium planters.. need to sift that out of the sand.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So the Cherry Barbs have been in since Wed, they're liking the new aquarium but hid the first 2 days (their qt tank didn't have a light over it, just plenty of ambient light from the plant dumping tank next to it). Finally got them to come out and eat yesterday (micro pellets) and today (thawed from forzen-brine shrimp). I can't count them as they go all over the place, but the messed up gal -did I mention her before? One female has a slanted/tilted head/caved in gill on one side, her head is always turned to her left- is still doing well and I watched her grab some shrimp noms.
All the otos (3) were still in there last time I went looking for them, glad non dove out from getting startled by the barbs activeness. I've not spotted any eggs or fry yet from the barbs, though the females seem plump/egg heavy ever since I got them (I've not been over feeding.. if anything maybe a little under feeding). I'm not going to make it easy for fry, no foam cover over the HOB intake now so fry would likely get sucked in and blender-ed by the impeller. I've not seen any carpet flying cherry barbs yet, but if any have jumped to the floor the cats would probably get them before I ever knew.
Will try to get a photo of the barbs at next feeding.

In other news the wondering jew is being a real pain the the [censor]. The HOB is filled to the brim with water flowing, and the wandering jew has been growing long and heavy and somehow letting some water drip out of the filter and down it onto the table. Found the few pieces of plants responsible and ripped them out (they're now on the QT tank but draped over the hood). The 20g's table got a crack from the water drip and the cover needed a wash.. fortunately no additional leaking issues from the filter (or elsewhere) after that 'fix'.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Damn these barbs do not hold still for a shot, pardon the blur, phone camera cannot compete with their dart-y-ness. 
Feeding frenzy:thawed blood worms

I notice fuzz is coming back on the wood again grrr thought the boiling got rid of all that


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Well [censor] [censor] [censor] it I left both frozen the blood worms and brine shrimp on the counter for over 2.5 hours x.x hadn't even started the 4th cubes in the packs yet grrrrr. In the trash they go.... and of course no one sells Hikari frozen foods locally so I get to order online and prey is stays frozen (yay [censor] my life) =.=


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*An overdue update*

Time for an update.. planning to move plants and fish (except otos) to the 55g over the next week if I'm lucky. 
For a while I thought I only had 3 otos in here but when I put the rainbow fish in (temporary) the 4th one popped up again! "Where the hell have you been hiding??"
Sadly I've had no luck with the dwarf taro, it has an impressive root system under the water, but all its leaves wilted and dropped into the water s I had to cut them off to keep them from rotting and adding to nitrates.. no clue it it will grow more or not... Aside from the wandering jew being a bit of a pain, I seem to be having more luck with the house plants than the riparium specific plants.. go figure. The Syngonium is getting huge and pushing gravel out of its planter. Fittonia albivenis is still growing well bu it never anchors well so I have to keep I propped up to keep leaves out of the water. Pothos is growing like the vine that it is, I'm tempted to buy another to add to the 55. The peace lilies haven't grown much since I got them.. thought they'd be monsters by now. Aluminum plant is doing pretty good though some old leaves started sagging into the water and had to be trimmed. The Cyperus Umbrella Sedge hasn't really done anything, no bigger/new growth, no more dead than before just kinda sits there. Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie' has done some growing, I see new leaves pop out and old ones at the bottom die and fall off (I guess that's normal for this plant?). The dwarf palms are doing ok too.. I can't say if they've grown.. should take a photo and compare at some point to see. Sadly all the emersed stems died.. I got lazy with misting ^^'' The wandering jew has be a pain in the butt lately and seems to like to get too heavy ad snap, then when I put the newly cut end into water it goes mushy, remove that part and it repeats...

I'd not posted it in this thread yet buuut a while ago when I was suppose to get a gold ram to finish off the 20g stocking... I kinda impulse bought an angelfish to save it as it was getting pecked at by the larger ones in its tank. No photos at the moment, but its a lovely silver with solid bands on its body and a hazel red/brown on the dorsal fin. That bugger has grown real fast since I got it! When I showed my husband the fish he said "Caramel! yum yum!" (said as 'car-mel') ...he was hungry at the time an apparently the coloration reminded him of caramel. I couldn't think o f a name for the fish so decides to just use that, with my own little add on. Though I don't know if its male or female, the angelfish is called CaramelYumYum, Grand Duchess of Finly.. or CarmelYumYum for short. No names for the cherry barbs, though I can pick a few out of the group, most look too simular to identify and name. 
The otos won't be going in the 55 because I was told that the angelfish will eat them (or choke to death trying) when full grown. Not 100% sure what I want to do with the 20g and the otos once everyone is moved out.. I'm tempted to try my anubias collection again


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## MountainPool (Jul 13, 2014)

Great tank! Love the riotous way the plants tumble (vines) and poof up vertically.

How do you prepare a potted plant, like aluminium plant, that's come in soil, for planting in a riparium pot? I'm guessing you don't want all that leachy, fertilised compost in a tank. Do you wash it off?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

MountainPool said:


> Great tank! Love the riotous way the plants tumble (vines) and poof up vertically.
> 
> How do you prepare a potted plant, like aluminium plant, that's come in soil, for planting in a riparium pot? I'm guessing you don't want all that leachy, fertilised compost in a tank. Do you wash it off?


Thank you ^^
I've actually never receives aluminum plant in soil, mine were cutting from existing other ripariums. But I did get several house plants in soil including: Pothos, Fittonia albivenis, Tradescantia zebrine(aka wandering jew), Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella, and Syngonium. These either came from a nursery or local grocery store. I did not do anything to prep them, though some do (such as sit them by the tank for a few weeks to get use to the light and water they will have while still in soil). Instead as soon as I got home I carefully un-potted them, doing my best not to rip roots. Then very thoroughly rinsed them under room tempurtur e tap in the utility sink (don't do this in the kitchen sink, someone will get mad!) too hot or cold of a tap might shock to plants (don't want a semi boil or freezing water). After a very thorough rinse to ensure all soil is off I prep the plant they are going into. Usually roots are still short enough they wouldn't hang down through the bottom. I use a layer of larger clay media pebbles, put the plant in ad situate it, then cover it with gravel to anchor it. For aluminum plant its often used in a raft/trellis/floating system instead of planted, so is just a matter of stuffing it in a hole in floating foam. I had one piece with a very thin stem so I wrapped a rubber band around it to keep it from falling through (leaves were tiny babies).
Hope that helps ^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Last Photos of the Riparium!*




So anyone tho reads my journals know I've been planning this for a bit.. its time to transfer my plants and fish to the 55g... So the 20g long will no longer be the riparium. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with it next. I moved my surviving oto from my betta tank in and he's getting along well with the others. Here's a photo of them all on some cucumber.. well except one guy on the wood exposed under it.. and my Angelfish coming over to see if I have food.


But I don't know about scaping and plants I want to do in there...
On another note: the dwarf taro died, it turned to mush and removed Monday during water change... sucks that it died but hey space for the purple waffle now! I'll probably buy more shower baskets to hold plants and spread things out a bit, as they've gown some have gotten too thick to cram 2-3 into a single planter.

Well going to eat lunch then get off my butt and start the plant transfer to the 55, wish me luck!!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I can't wait to see what you do with the 55g, emersed set up for the 20g? I think that will be my next project.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> I can't wait to see what you do with the 55g, emersed set up for the 20g? I think that will be my next project.


Sadly can't do emersed since I still have 5 otos that can't go into the 55g. After talking to msjinxzd, I learned adult angel fish can swallow (or choke trying to) otos :c I don't trust lfs not to kill them with incompetence and poor water quality, and there aren't any people close I know that could care for otos to sell/donate to.. don't trust shipping them as they can be fragile.. so gotta keep the 20g setup for now... if bettas weren't so darn prone to shredding fins I'd put another in there (or sorority) but I wanted to use some of the other boiled ghostwood pieces in the 20g and those are very not betta fin friendly...


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Well took longer than expected (and done out of original order) but the 20g is gutted. all that's left if the heater, filter (with new media) and 2 anubias petites I'd bought recently. Going to sift the gravel that fell out of the planters out of the substrate tomorrow and give it a good siphoning then start fish-less cycling again... against better judgment the otos were put into the 55 as i needed the filter media over there since I had a hickup with the nitrite consume bacteria [censor]ing the bed on me =.=


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*In-between-scapes*

So I'm not sure what I want to do with this tank yet. I stuffed some of the leftover driftwood in but may re-arrange or change it out.
Might flip the long wood in the back to face the other way and build up sand at the cut end. Really like the twisted piece in the front though. No clue what I want to do about flora or fauna yet.. was thinking of rebuilding my anubias collection and started by contacting H4n offsite, but haven't heard back from him to get the broadleaf, gold, and micro yet :/ May just throw in my random stems from the 10g plant dumping tank... but don't really have enough of any particular species to do something fancy for a scape.. Dunno going to wait for some inspiration while I cycle the tank again.
Photo from today:


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Really?*

Never try to predict things in the aquarium hobby.. I gutted almost all the media from my 20g's HOB for the 55's canister, only left the mesh bag used (put in new ceramic media, aged media was taken) and 2 thin black foam/sponges (the thick white foam meant for the filter was also taken). There are several MTS in the tank still but certainly not enough to generate a fish community tank worth of ammonia. Well after about a week without dosing ammonia I started dosing to get to 3ppm.. 2 days in I already have full nitrosomonas bacteria colony back (ammonia consumer) and a good bit of the nitrospira bacteria (nitrite consumers).. wtf those were the ones that crapped the bed (died off) in the 55 canister, but with less attention (longer time between 'feeding') they survived just fine in the HOB =.= seriously... [censor] you BB.
May be cycled in another week instead of 1-2 months. Ammonia: 0ppm, Nitrite:0.25ppm, nitrate: didn't test.
No real scape change, tried flipping wood direction but didn't like how it 'flowed' so changed it back and pushed some sand over the cut end of the back piece. First shot shows lights and little bit of the doorway to the room I'm in typing this, the 55 is on the wall to the left of this door.


Think i'm going to move the heater again so its hidden.
I'm half tempted to do more riparium plants on this tank, going to pop by the nursery I got my first batch of house plants for the old riparium setup and see what they have, maybe find something new. Still waiting to hear back from some anubias sellers. Also still mulling over what fauna I want. I'd love to do a betta sorority but this wood isn't betta fin safe.. not a huge fan of shrimp but might try them again.. maybe catch out the 4 I threw in the puffer tank as food and put them in the 20.. dunno. Maybe I'll get golden/sunset swordtails and gold rams for the tank... or just some simple dull fish. With it getting cold out I won't order anything online so has to be what I can find locally.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

That would look sick with some dwarf sag carpet. Simple and clean


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> That would look sick with some dwarf sag carpet. Simple and clean


Thank you for the suggestion I've not tried a member of the sag family yet for plants, may look into it.



Went to the nursery today and was sad to say their selection was pathetic and looked like it'd be left out to freeze over night (lot of wilting). I was going to buy more Fittonia albivenis and it was probably the only plant that looked healthy, but with everything looking like [censor] I didn't trust it not to wither too. Tried asking about Chinese evergreen and dwarf taro.. idiot employee gave me a blank stare "Were they in that room?" *points at green house I just came out of*... Really? Why would I ask if you carry it if I just checked _there_... I just left. *sigh* Probably going to be screwed for getting plants for this tank as my local stores only have overpriced crap and its getting down to 40F at night... don't want to deal with DOA plants in the mail... and on a mini rant wtf is up with so many places that use to now no longer giving DOA guarantees.. gah. I still have my plant dumping tank I could grab from but.. meh.. everything in there is there because I just didn't really care for it. Only thing I have an abundance of that I like is salvia minimia, this floater grows as fast as duckweed for me! I have to thin it out of Xerxes' 7g cube again already... not sure that I'd raok or sell it with the weather, may just dry it out for the compost.
Dosed ammonia last night and tested about 14 hours later (today) ammonia and nitrite at about 0.5ppm (last test was 24-26 hours after a dose).
I may use the 20g as a quarentine tank (once cycled) and get some cories for the 55g so i don't have to worry about over feeding as much.. don't feel like having to catch the otos back out of it though.. but not sure about cories as I don't want my crypts getting dug up from their burrowing.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

You sound like you might need to step back and take a breather. May i suggest waiting until you have a clear vision of what you want for this tank before you commit to anything. I know sometimes I get in a rush to set up a new tank but I do much better if I stop and plan first.

I think the wood looks awesome. I think you should consider trying to grow some plants on the wood itself, above water line.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I'm very tempted to try CO2 on this tank and see if I can grow UG (love that plant but not tried it as it needs co2) would obviously lower the lights to be closer to the tank if I go this route but not decided yet... I'm such a frugal person I'll probably say '[censor] that!" once i price out everything I need just to start up... would also need to do a lot of reading up on what exactly I'd need. Been a while since i looked at co2 so don't really remember the details. Have a strong feeling my cheap-ass-ed-ness will win out over my want to try UG. If I do manage to buy a co2 system I'll probably try de-rimming the top of the 20g (leave bottom on). Will also have to figure out if its better to keep the aquaclear 70 on or switch the media into the sunsun canister filter and slap it up (and inject the co2 into the canisters output?). Wouldn't add fish till I had the co2 thing all figured out (don't want to gas anyone).
Anyways tested water levels today, ammonia: 0ppm, nitrate: 0.25 ppm.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I've got dwarf sag coming out my ears if you want some, some other stuff too.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Go co2, I finally did and I'm not looking back. Inline diffuser for sure. Look for a used regulator on here. I waited and found a killer deal on mine.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Suddenly snail poo!*

Ok so aside from dosing ammonia I've not touched or look at this tank in a while.. well made the mistake of looking at it today and m black substrate is brown from being completely *COVERED *in snail poo.. not to mention the wood.. Time to do some massive water changing and wood scrubbing....





2 hours later looking much better!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*nvm*

moved post to 55g thread since fish are being moved out of 20g.. why the hell can't I delete posts anymore? wtf...


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## haytch (Nov 2, 2014)

whats going on now - your posts are inspiring. Your use of the emersed plants is very creative and I look forward to any updates .


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sorry for lack of updates. Currently the 20g is a temp quarantine for anubias suspected of rhizome rot. Currrently have a huge hastifolia, 2 micro, a gold, and a barterie anubias species.. I'd also had a round leaf but lost that to the disease already (had it in a separate cup outside the tank). It seems the anubias in this tank are fine... but not in a few others.. I'm seeing the disease in my 55g (hastifolia was temporarily in there and I think the disease did not effect hastifolia but hitchhiked in and grabbed my pettites and crypts as hosts) and its getting my crypts T_T I'm really kicking myself for having put it in the 55.. it doesn't fit in he 20g (is on its side to stay submerged now). I also have some java fern threadfin and Philippine variants with the anubias as they came together and I've not confirmed if java fern can or cannot contract or spread the disease. So far they seem good.

The 20g is also temp housing for what is now 5 false julli cory (started with 9..) and I don't know how many ghost shrimp (3-6..they're hard to find). Plan to move the cory to the 55g in a week or two if no more die. The ghost shrimp I got on a lark to try in my betta tanks.. if they end up as lobster dinners hey were only $0.40 so I won't be too heart broken, but I'm hoping the bettas won't eat them, and instead find some more stimulus in having these in their tanks. I have some updates on the cory and shrimp in my 55g journal. 

Surprisingly all readings are 0ppm in this tank (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) I think the monster hastifolia is hogging up all the 'good stuff'.. and its spitting out new roots and leaves (at an angel since its on its side) so its not diseased... I think when I first through the plants had rhizome rot that they actually had some of the fungus from the driftwood get on them. But after washing the plants, scrubbing driftwood, and siphoning tank I've not seen any signs of illness in these plants.. but I'm still paranoid so they get another 2-3 weeks of observation before I consider doing anything with them.

Right now the only emersed plant is purple waffle (which is finally taking off.. will have to trim off the old leaves though) and some sad looking Fittonia albivenis. I'm still mulling over flora and fauna for this tank but won't be doing anything probably till spring since its too cold to risk DOAs on plants and fish right now. I've though of trying CO2 and UG.. but I've also thought about pygmy cory (which won't go well with carpeting plants with their burrowing habits), might try honey gourami group is I can settle on plants, and maybe danio tinwini (I REALLY want to get these but have a hard time finding online (no chance of getting locally). I'll most likely do ripariums plants on this tank again and already have some ivy I want to wrap around the air exposed part of the driftwood, and an Anthurium, I'm also tempted to grab a Calla lily to try (I know peace lilies work, but not sure of other terrestrial lily plants). Before putting new plants into the riparium though I want to figure out a better solution than suction cups for baskets as they tend to turn to [censor] and make the plants fall under water (possibly crushing aquatic plants or fish/inverts)... I'd like something similar to a plastic version of a reef hanger, only much smaller, but I cannot find such a thing so I'll have to work with my handy man hubby to make something.
Here is a photo from today


Lid on to try to keep ghost shrimp in (man can they jump) only a temp thing till shrimp move.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*riparium-ing again + quarentining some more cory*

Stuffed plants onto the 20g riparium yesterday. Ivy (exact type unknown), Maranta leucoreura (aka Prayer plant), Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella and Syngonium (already have larger specimens those 2 on the 55.. (they came with the pray plant), will probably give these away once it warms up), and the huge Anthurium. Purple waffle (which is doing great) is sharing a basket with the prayer plant which has new leaf growth ready to happen.
Also got 5 new false julie cory (added after photos were taken) which will be quarantine for 3 weeks (or 21 days after last death.. hopefully don't loose any) then added to the 5 in my 55g to bring their total to 10.







I would have preferred [this] variation of prayer plant but the one I have is the only color variant I've seen..

Moved the huge anubias hastifolia over to the 55g as its new leaves were growing out of the water already! Also going to sell or give this away(hope to sell.. cost me $20 and its doubled in leaves) when temps stay above freezing.


I ordered more riparium plants from hydrophyte before I put the plants in... I need more room x.x will probably re-ptot the anthurium next to the tank and ditch the palm and syngonium (or raok if weather allows) to make room.

Cory seem to be doing ok, theya re not very active but tank params are fine ammmonia, nitrite, nitrate: 0, 0, 10-20, tank temp 76F, they were drip acclimated for about 90 minutes last night. Hoping they'll get more active and eat tonight, may try adding some brine shrimp for them (they weren't interested in the algae wafer...)


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So the hastifolia, palm, syngonium, and Wedelia are gone.. need to get off my bum and figure out placement for the new riparium plants I got in (maybe tomorrow?)... I did plant the rain lily bulbs.. with no help from the seller on suggested depth so we'll see how they do.. Also tossed in a peeled clove of garlic to the bulb planter to see how it would do.. and [censor]! It loves it in the riparium!! Mind you this garlic has been in a cold dark fridge for MONTHS. I may never have to buy garlic again if it sprouts me some new cloves or heads, will move the garlic to a separate pant if it starts doing this to give it room. 

New plants: Sweetflag, star grass, lizard tail, dwarf taro, far right plant is gone, and rain lily bulbs.



Garlic 24 hours in


Garlic 36-48 hours in




Also some other good news.. I still have 5 cory in the 20g! I thought one was dead as I ever saw more than 4 for.. a week? Then yesterday a paler bodied (equally dark spots as others though) one was out and all were swimming around.. wonder where the hell it was hiding?

I got bit my the MTS bug again, but this time to try a vivarium (no thanks to you knm<><!!!) so once these cory finish quarantine I will be takeing the ghostwood from the tank as well as some of my leftover thats dry to use for a 40g breeder dart frog setup. Will toss up a journal for it (probably in the vivarium/riparium/paludarium section) at some point.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Yeh its offical..*

Yep definitely going to be a riparium again.. Cory went from qt in here to the 55 last week. I ripped out the driftwood I had in there as I want to use it for my 40g vivarium build (link in signature), and put back in the old manzantai branches but twiddled placement. Sadly they already have the semi translucent blob fungus coming back grrr.. was hoping since they'd been submerged before that it wouldn't happen again... may have to re-boil them. I also grabbed a new plant on impulse yesterday.. Alocosia polly (thanks to an ID given on dendrobaord), hopefully it does well (will be adding to the riparium soon and post photos with it in later). 

Also HOLY [censor] did the garlic's leaves get big! they got too heavy to support themselves (have to wrap them around a fishing line to keep them up) and outgrew the Atherium! I'm hoping it starts spitting out little garlic cloves so we can have forever fresh garlic on demand ^^ Also the rain lilies are starting to sprout (will get photos of them when the lights turn back on. Oh I slapped some riccia and a bit of hydro japan tangled in it onto the foam of the HOB, in 2 days I've seen no issue with it so its damp enough to no wither on me, hoping to start transitioning some more riccia for emersed growth for my vivarium this way. I'm planning to do somethig (not sure what yet) with the planters to amke them less vivble.. possibly take them outa nd dry (one at a time) then apply krylon fusion black to them and put some black fiberglass screen or landscaper cloth over top to hide the clay balls... or just wrap the whole thing in screen/cloth.

I need to get some otos in the 20g again I got diatoms.. got spoiled not seeing them in the other tanks. I have no idea about final aquatic plant stock or fish for thsi tank... I feel like getting a cheap schooler like neon tetra (though I hate them.. long story.. niece abused a tank ful and they inbred, mutated, and grossly over populated) or white cloud mountain minnows.. don't feel like spending $ on shipping for other awesome breeds as I want to say up for the vivarium. BUT I also want a centerpiece fish and all the ones I like prefer warmer waters (gold ram or dwarf gourami).. so blah dunno yet..


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Hey AquaAurora, 

I know you got rid of your dwarf palm, but are you sure it's Neanthe Bella (chamedora elegans) ? Not a chamedora cataractarum?

I'm having trouble getting mine transitioned with some of the shoots rotting and the leaves drying up... just wondering what you did to transition?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

hitmanx said:


> Hey AquaAurora,
> 
> I know you got rid of your dwarf palm, but are you sure it's Neanthe Bella (chamedora elegans) ? Not a chamedora cataractarum?
> 
> I'm having trouble getting mine transitioned with some of the shoots rotting and the leaves drying up... just wondering what you did to transition?


The young palm I had on the 20g was the same plant as I have on my 55g riparum and was labeled as "Dwarf Palm Neanthe Bella" but I did get these plants from Giant (food store) so I have no clue how concomitant their supplier is at properly IDing and labeling.

I didn't to much for transitioning, I had both plants for a few days-weeks before putting into the ripariums so they sat by the tank and got the tank's light. They were also watered with tank water during that time (while still in soil). I admittedly over watered while they were in soil as a test/mini prep for being submerged. When rinsing soil off I tried set the faucet temp to be close to tank water temp (70-80F) so not too hot or cold to shock the plant and was gentle but thorough with rinsing soil off. When I put the larger palm in initial there were a few new shoots that had just started which died but new ones sprouted like crazy after it settled in. I just trimmed off the dead parts and let it do its thing.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Well let's hope that my palm fairs just as well... I really like the look as a background for this nano riparium. ..


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

garlic has grown like a monster but no new garlic growing off it yet.. just huge leaves too long to self support. Smells good though ^^



Also fts, added a mini orchid I'm trying out, its epiphyetic-tied to a scrap manzanita branch wrapped in its original sphagnum moss (not its not in direct contact with water, just stuffed back there to get a little humidity). THe prayer plant is trying to block out the purple waffle.. I may have to adjust layout again. Anthurium 'flower' finally wilted but I think I see a new one near the base (pink thing comin' in) we'll see ^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Fish*

So a few updates..
The Anthurium and Alocosia polly moved to the 55g as their huge leaves blocked light for shorter plants. I took the smallest peace lily and Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie' for the 20g (the ruellia was cut and wilted mostly before forming new roots, the stumps of the original plant have several new spouts). All the underwater plants are gone except 1 anubias nana (plants went into 12g to be a snack for the otos and shrimp (covered in diatoms) then moved into 7g and 6g). I added several river rocks so the underwater view of the tank looks like a hill stream sort of setup with the rocks and wood, its simple but I really like it... I'm considering letting the rocks age a bit and finding a hillstream loach or 2 to put in but I'm not 100% set on that yet. I want to add more rocks but then the tank looks too cluttered.
On Monday I got 12 White Cloud Mountain Minnows. They're not super interesting fish but they're active and I got them on a B1G1F deal (though the insanely small print you can't read apparently says only eligible for up to 4 fish...) I'm going to go back to the store when they restock tomorrow and see if I can grab another 8 (aqadvisor says I'd still be under 50% capacity with my filtration). They're tiny but very iridecent if you look closely. I was happy to see them already showing courting activity the day after they were put in within 10-20 minutes of turning lights on. They're inquisitive but get startled easily still, hoping that goes away as they settle in more.
I actually went back yesterday to the petstore to try to buy some more white clouds but the few I'd not grabbed on Monday were gone. I was happy to find that at my stop at Lowes (was getting a new back of MiracleGro organic potting mix) they have.. Dragons Tongue!! Its a cool shin leafed plant with green upper and purple undersided leaves that another member here has successfully planted in their HOB. I've been looking for this stuff since I'd seen their thread. I also grabbed another purple waffle as I just like that plants. I looked at a few other things but a lot of plants were nearly dead... hopefully the new ones convert to riparium life well. I forgot just how dark purple waffle is as a terrestrial plant, look at it next to the one that's been on the water for several months!
My next task with this tank is to test using Krylon Fusion on a basket to make it black as I hate seeing the terracotta colored clay media. If it works I'll gradually rotate out eat basket, dry it, spray and cure it then shuffle the next plant over and repeat. 
I don't think I'll add any more aquatic plants to the tank, just emersed, but we'll see how things go in the spring.
If anyone has any suggestions for fish that can go with White Cloud mountain Minnows (would love a center piece or single fish not another school) in an open top tank I'd be happy to hear your input (70-71F, 7.5 pH, hard water).

Onto the photos!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

So I ended up not getting another batch of minnos. The day the store gets their shipment it snowed, and I suspect the sale would end before the weekend as that's when most people buy so I did not go to check Friday or Saturday. The females are more noticeable as they apear to be egg bulgy now and the males will 'flare' (whats the proper term for them expanding their fins and courting a female/scaring off other males when its not a betta?). It seems theres 4 mature females, a few minnows are small enough and not acting like the males that they may be juvies still so don't know final gender ratio. I hope its more females as I'd rather have a 1:1 than a 1:2 f:m ratio. Sadly they're not easy enough to sex at the store to pick and choose like the cherry barbs. I'd love it if they'd breed for me but there is no real hiding places for fry or eggs so I'd suspect cannibalism with prevent that.The white clouds have adapted well to the tank though and learned the ques for feeding time fairly fast. They even follow my fingers on the glass now (but hide if hands go in tank).
I'm debating about reducing the tank lights to 2 and putting them directly above the riparium in the back instead of the front since I only have 1 lone anubias underwater now.
Sadly my lizards tail plant died.. I'm not sure if its temp, humidity, or pH but it never seems to adapt for me. 
The dwarf taro leaves look deficient again... according to a chart on the plant that should be a sign of calcium deficiency (my hard water makes that impossible) or iron (but I am doing 1 ml a day in the tank, and putting 1/3 of it directly into the basket that holds the taro). I may take it out and pot it to see if I can get it to grow better in soil. 
I wish I could find a place that had small peace lily species as I'd like to get another 1 or 2 but don't want to order online, most places around here sell the breed that gets to 3feet, too big for a little riparium basket! 
I've also been tempted to grab a marble queen pothos at the store to stuck in the HOB to give some color contrast and hide the filter a bit but not sure if I want another pothos... may just give i n and grab it if its still at the store next time I'm near by.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Watching to see how your Prayer Plant does. We've had one in a pot for months and its terribly emo. Happy! Sad  Happy! Sad  every other day it seems like.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

vanish said:


> Watching to see how your Prayer Plant does. We've had one in a pot for months and its terribly emo. Happy! Sad  Happy! Sad  every other day it seems like.


Well I had 2 leaves that spouted.. wilted? I can't say but they did not look healthy so I clipped them but its otherwise doing well. Here is a photo (new leaves are lighter color). For some reason some open green, and then there is that yellow one with red.. not sure whats up with that... going to leave it for now and see what it does. Its odd that no new leaf comes in the same color as the others 




You can see the cut stem here, it took a few weeks but a new leaf is starting just below it now.


I repotted it recently to put a graver on top (looks better than expanded clay media) so the root haven't grown back out of the pot yet.
I dose liquid ferts in the tank for the riparium plants (but no excel as that's a co2 supplement and they do not need it) I dose about 1/2 the recommended amount for aquatic plants since its a non dense riparium only, but I do dose a large bit of iron as I think its the deficiency issue the dwarf taro has (though not sure).
I'm curious what plants will do well as the water is about 10 degrees colder than before now that I have minnows, and at least a few of them are suppose to be more tropical 70s-80sF plants.


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## nchmi28 (Feb 8, 2015)

I have a small Alocosia polly plant that I'd like to incorporate into the planter box filter I'm making, but I'm worried because of info I've found online saying that the roots can rot if they aren't aloud to dry out. Hows yours doing? I've been trying to come up with a design for a container above the waterline with strings to wick the water up to the plant, but it would be so much easier to just put the base of the plant below the waterline. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

nchmi28 said:


> I have a small Alocosia polly plant that I'd like to incorporate into the planter box filter I'm making, but I'm worried because of info I've found online saying that the roots can rot if they aren't aloud to dry out. Hows yours doing? I've been trying to come up with a design for a container above the waterline with strings to wick the water up to the plant, but it would be so much easier to just put the base of the plant below the waterline. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.


Mines doing great, I've moved it over to the 55g because its so big. Its had a new leaf grow and open and has new baby sprouts (not sure the proper term) that will be new plants coming off the larger polly. Its been in water (roots) since end of January/beginning of Febuary. A small portion of the roots are above water line as evaporation brings water down about 1" over a week, but the entire root is not above water so it never really dries out. I've not seen any signs of rotted roots yet so I think it should be ok.


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## nchmi28 (Feb 8, 2015)

Thank you so much, that's very reassuring.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

nchmi28 said:


> Thank you so much, that's very reassuring.


Happy to help ^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Just some growth photos, also grabbed aluminum plants cousin, Pilea involucrata (aka friendship plant) , and dwarf mondo grass (why can't I ever find normal mondo grass??)
The riccia on the hob foam in insanely thick!










Tank is getting covered in diatoms. I'm debating about finding a hillstream loach or letting some otos "vacation" in that tank with free all you can eat buffet for a few days-week.


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## jarury (Aug 6, 2012)

I have bought mondo grass from home depot before is it the same as the stuff that can be used in rips?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

jarury said:


> I have bought mondo grass from home depot before is it the same as the stuff that can be used in rips?


Yes. Simply thoroughly rinse soil from the roots before transplanting.
I only find it here at aquarium stores. It's mis-sold as an aquatic plant but it is NOT. It can have wet roots but leaves should not be permently submerged. It's always already half dead under water here or I'd just grab one.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*updates*

I ended up re-potting a prayer plant that I'd moved off the 20g to make room for the mondo grass which has weirdly thick roots btw.. like pothos thick  (also slapped friendship plant on a trellis raft.. surprisingly no wilting even though I ripped off 95%+ of the roots! guess they just get wilty when cut and have no roots).. Its on the windowsill by Alastor and Magnus in a terracotta pot.. lets see if I can kill it in soil >.>''
My husband likes the idea of filling the house with more plants now that we don't have any cats to destroy them so living room might look more like a jungle by the end of summer (maybe.. if I don't go black thumb on the non tank based plants..)

My 20g long is diatom central, but I've intentionally let that one go crazy.. now I just need to find a local source for hillstream loaches...I've also considered increasing my white cloud mountain minnow count.. I'd seen some golden white clouds at one store.. dunno if they'll hybridize with the regulars (not that I've gotten any babies yet) but I may grab them. The anubias I left in the 20g is being off.. it stopped growing leaves (had a new one that's the same size since I added the minnows) but its roots are going nuts... Its NOT shown nitrate deficiency (crinkling of the leaves or extreme deficiency which is leaf deterioration-turns yellow then brown then breaks down-also happens in rhizome rot but much faster) so I dunno wtf its up to...


>1g glass cube with just 2 marimo and 1 rock.. photo angel gives that mutli mirrored effect.. its next to the 20g so i thought I'd slap it up here...


And photo spam of the tank...



Baby tears (not standard aquarium hc, this is helxine soleirolii) bought for viv but slapped on top of HOB intake and its growing nuts!)


Great for blocking light on the intake where I kept getting nasty algae growth before. (few weeks ago photos before plants were added)


Mostly riccia with some hydro sp japan (clover looking) and fittonia albivenis

Wondering jew aka Tradescantia zebrine (just stock a clipping in water (keep leaves dry)) it'll grow happily!

Flower from one of the grass plants I think stargrass.

dwarf mondo, dragons' tongue, older purrple waffle (converted to riparium)

newer purple waffle (still converting), dwarf taro, peace lily (small species), rain lily (thin tall grass), ruellia brittoniana 'Katie', stargrass (short grass), sweetflag (medium-long grass at end) and friendship plant on floating raft (with some reindeer moss (non aquatic)-white clouds were all "O.O wtf?!" when i put the raft in, was amusing watching them nervously check it out from a short distance (would not go under it) for the first few hours.)


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

just some snap shots of the HOB plants.. growin..


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## StellaStars (May 15, 2015)

Read through the whole thread and I'm super inspired. Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

I really love the idea of the shower baskets... maybe I missed it but what are you using as planting media in them?

Are there any plants you need to look out for not being good for the fish?

Also, could you specify exactly what you do for fertilizer? 

Thanks so much!!!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Val Jungle Here I come!*

Opps forgot to post this here, got some leopard vals in the mail last Friday and stuffed them in the 20g. I ordered 25-30 but the seller generously gave me 50+ (if you count the runners)

Before



After



Hoping it will overrun the tank and give tons of hiding places. Right now I'm just happy it didn't do some mega melt from the transition. 


Due to a disaster with the 55g I'll be moving the cabinate it use to sit on to be the new stand for this tank... Now all I need to do is black out the baskets so they don't show the clay so blatantly... only thing I don't like about the set up atm. I also put in maybe 16-24 ramshorns snails and they've done a bang up job on the diatoms in there.. 'cores with the 55g disaster I wanted to put the otos in the 20g but there was no food left for them >.<





StellaStars said:


> Read through the whole thread and I'm super inspired. Thank you so much for taking the time to share.
> 
> I really love the idea of the shower baskets... maybe I missed it but what are you using as planting media in them?
> 
> ...



I might not have posted it here, but I use left over expanding clay media from my aquaponic adventures (in my 55g journal). Its light weight and absorbs water so if you get a bit of evaporation and have short rooted plants to start they'll still get water and nutrients from the clay media absorbing it up. Many people use hydroton but its not officially made anymore, but some people sell it (guess they bought in bulk when it was no longer produced). I have this stuff:


Any sort of clay media works well. Gavel can work but its heavier so make sure the suction cups are on real good, you may need to line the shower basket with window screen mesh (fiberglass/plastic) to keep gravel from falling out.


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## StellaStars (May 15, 2015)

AquaAurora said:


> I might not have posted it here, but I use left over expanding clay media from my aquaponic adventures (in my 55g journal). Its light weight and absorbs water so if you get a bit of evaporation and have short rooted plants to start they'll still get water and nutrients from the clay media absorbing it up. Many people use hydroton but its not officially made anymore, but some people sell it (guess they bought in bulk when it was no longer produced).
> 
> Any sort of clay media works well. Gavel can work but its heavier so make sure the suction cups are on real good, you may need to line the shower basket with window screen mesh (fiberglass/plastic) to keep gravel from falling out.


Awesome, thank you!!

I was so inspired yesterday I made a slap dash attempt with one of those tiny perforated planters some aquatic plants come in. I still had a few around, and I also had a spider plant start already sitting in water, so I popped it in the basket and used little craft clothespins to clip it to the back of the tank. 

I needed something to stabilize the plant and had some spare java moss around so I tucked that in the basket around the plant. 

Seems to be working for now, and looks like it would be fun for the shrimp I'd like to add at some point. 

As to your comment of blacking out the planters so you don't see clay, do you think moss of some kind would work for that? Either in the basket between the basket and the clay, or somehow encouraged to grow on the outside of the basket?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

StellaStars said:


> Awesome, thank you!!
> 
> I was so inspired yesterday I made a slap dash attempt with one of those tiny perforated planters some aquatic plants come in. I still had a few around, and I also had a spider plant start already sitting in water, so I popped it in the basket and used little craft clothespins to clip it to the back of the tank.
> 
> ...


I think it would be better to encourage the moss to grow on the outside of the basket, maybe wrap he planter in window screen to give the moss something to grow on. Inside the planter it can get crushed as roots grow and make the media shift. Would look cool ones grown in like a mossy shore line ^^


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

what a lovely riparium, great work!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Some update shots


ramshorns have almost all the branches of the manzanita clean


White clouds never hold still long enough to get an in focus shot, they're just blurred streaks zipping by...
No clue what that lil greens tuff is on the wood in the last shot. I never put moss in with this wood...doesn't look like algae.. we'll see if it grows into anything or turns into snail food.




andrewss said:


> what a lovely riparium, great work!


Thank you ^^


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

just caught back up, looking great! I've been looking for mondo grass for a few months. I can't find it local anywhere. 


How hard was it to get the wandering jew to root in the hob? I've tried several times and it just turns to mush. I gave up on the pothos as well. Just rocking the ferns for the time being.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> just caught back up, looking great! I've been looking for mondo grass for a few months. I can't find it local anywhere.
> 
> 
> How hard was it to get the wandering jew to root in the hob? I've tried several times and it just turns to mush. I gave up on the pothos as well. Just rocking the ferns for the time being.



I can't find regular mondo either.. just dwarf at garden centers.. or submerged mondo at lfs (and mostly dead because geese its not a true aquatic and has been under wonder for months slowly dieing...). 

I've not had any issue with the wandering jew but I take a several inch stem with many 'node' points (not sure proper term for it.. the spots where leaves and roots will spout) 7 or more and put 2 nodes below water. The area blow the first node may rot off but I just pinch it off. It starts growing roots within 1 week (little white threads) much more noticeable after 2 weeks.. after a month its usually long enough i need to start training or trimming the vine/stem. 
I guess you can gradual acclimation by taking stems still in soil and over saturating the soil with water for a few weeks. I did this with my first purple waffle, it had no issues with super wet soil or the transition to tank.

Btw I loath you for having such an awesome pond out back!! I want a green house with a nice pond inside so I can get a hold of some sexy anubias gigantea to have growing out of the water.. would probably also do an aquaponic set up in there... someday maybe.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm kicking around the idea of tenting the stream bed and growing anubias under it using light grid and planters. The pond is operational, ive shut it down for now. Its needs to be completely drained, there are years worth of sludge and sticks at the bottom. Bought a wet dry shop vac to do the job. Just need the time now. 
Your tanks forced me to abandon my 29g and set up a 20g long. Thank you for the inspiring me.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> I'm kicking around the idea of tenting the stream bed and growing anubias under it using light grid and planters. The pond is operational, ive shut it down for now. Its needs to be completely drained, there are years worth of sludge and sticks at the bottom. Bought a wet dry shop vac to do the job. Just need the time now.
> Your tanks forced me to abandon my 29g and set up a 20g long. Thank you for the inspiring me.


Good luck with the clean up! And always happy to hear I've inspired people to try something new ^^ makes me glad I share my tanks with everyone.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Shuffle shuffle*

Ok so recently my 55g sprung a leak (seal on bottom pane of glass gave).. after fixing that the tank was placed on a much lower table surface so the riparium was more prominent (really like that) and i took over the 55g's previous cabinet to put the 20g long on as its other table top was.. not as sturdy. Removed everything cleaned snad, put hardscape back most the way it was (+ 1 new small rock) and riparium plants back on.. minus the dwarf mondo grass who's roots had turned black  cut those off and stuck it in a planter by the 55g for now.

last shots before redo:




Mondo, cleaning, and after:


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## skoram (Aug 9, 2012)

Your riparium looks fantastic. Some really great growth and evolution from your early photos. I noticed also that the prayer plant seems to be missing in your latest FTS. Did it end up not doing well in the riparium?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

skoram said:


> Your riparium looks fantastic. Some really great growth and evolution from your early photos. I noticed also that the prayer plant seems to be missing in your latest FTS. Did it end up not doing well in the riparium?


I'm not sure what was wrong with it, roots were ok but every other new leaf came in yellow and didn't look so great so I finally removed it.. but I have another prayer plant on the tank now (put on this weekend), different leaf patter. Hoping it does better. I put a small portion on the 20g long, the larger part on the 55


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Pulled the prayer plant off the 20g (put it in the basket with the rest of its kind on the 55g) to make room for a nice large healthy Fittonia albivenis I put on the right wall with the sweet flag and Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'.

With the warmer weather i unplugged the heater as the tank is staying 73F on its own. If we get some cool weather (doubt it at this point of summer) I'll plug the heater back in.

FTS



HOB?.. what HOB?



Gotta trim that polka-dot pant...




Peace lily has a bloom but it's not open yet.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

so I think I have mondo grass growing on my pond. I had a spot that was bare up until last weekend, now what looks to be mondo grass has come up. If it is infact mondo grass, would you want some if I ship it? I will snap some photos when it's not storming out.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> so I think I have mondo grass growing on my pond. I had a spot that was bare up until last weekend, now what looks to be mondo grass has come up. If it is infact mondo grass, would you want some if I ship it? I will snap some photos when it's not storming out.


Sure! Thank you for the offer. I (finally) found mondo grass at my Home Depot but the rock wool (?) it was in was soooooo nasty I would not touch it much less buy it.
I can stuff it in the far left basket with the star grass .
I'm curoius how regular mondo will do compared to dwarf mondo, which lived but had a black root issue so I potted it in soil. I've not pulled it out to see how roots are doing since then.


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## skoram (Aug 9, 2012)

wow, tank looks great! really lush healthy growth. bravo

Sent from my LG-F240S using Tapatalk


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

skoram said:


> wow, tank looks great! really lush healthy growth. bravo
> 
> Sent from my LG-F240S using Tapatalk


Thank you! ^^


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

AquaAurora said:


> Just some growth photos, also grabbed aluminum plants cousin, Pilea involucrata (aka friendship plant) , and dwarf mondo grass (why can't I ever find normal mondo grass??)
> The riccia on the hob foam in insanely thick!


Sorry if it is mentioned somewhere, but what is the other plant here between the pothos and the riccia?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

dru said:


> Sorry if it is mentioned somewhere, but what is the other plant here between the pothos and the riccia?


There is no pothos on this tank. The purplie-ish varigated green stem/vine in front is wandering jew aka Tradescantia zebrine.
The mostly white veined green leafed plant IN the riccia is Fittonia albivenis 
The blob on the intake pipe (with tiny leaves and stems) is Helxine soleirolii, its turning into a large blob (hoping it starts over handing the hob and hiding it more)

Got it at a local nursery in March-April. Haven't seen it recently though. I did spot a close relative on ebay Soleirolia soleirolii or "baby tears" (garden variety not aquatic type-these are terrestrial plant).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Just some close up of the riparium plants
Spathiphyllum spathe almost opened


Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'


Dragons Tongue


Fittonia albivenis


Purple Waffle


Polka dot/mosaic plant


Helxine soleirolii


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Peace lily spathe finally opened, nothing else to report on..


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Nothing new with the 20g, love how thick the purple waffle is though ^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Some close up shots
found my polka-dot plant has had several flowers! They don't last long, here's a fresh bloom




Purple waffle showing underside of leaf


Ruellia brittoniana 'Katie'


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

20g long I tried splitting the purple waffle.. major wilting on the cutting but it starting to come back. Had to clean the filter foam s pulled out the broken up chunks with riccia on top and put in a solid piece with slits cut for some plants. Thinking of tossing some stems from the emersed setup onto here (maybe ludwigia).
Photo taken before removing the 'Katie' for he riparium package.




Some shots from today.. feels empty without the plant on the right.. maybe I'll go buy something new to try on the riparium. Shreduski was more interested in foraging than getting his picture taken so no good shots o show fin regrowth.. he's getting so fat.. will have to fast the tank for a few days to make him loose that gut. The minnows still don't bother the betta but they're too fast to get a clear shot of.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

beautiful


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

andrewss said:


> beautiful


Thanks ^^


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*fry!*

I need to update more often >.< Leopard vals have been doing well and spreading. I've been dumping plants to flat about in the tank that I'm not sure where to put/if I want to sell yet. The riparium is doing well.. I finally decided to update because... I HAVE FRY!! I went to feed today and notices 1 then 2, .. 5 fry swimming around on the calmer side of the tank (away from the filter) They're so tiny! I wonder if I should get Hikari first bites (wonder if i can even _find _that locally...) for them or just let them fend for themselves.. Here's a photo of 2 of them hanging around some anubias petite. I notices only one doesn't seem to have an irid blue look around its eye (left one in photo), wonder why...


I'd taken off the foam 'sock' pre filter on the HOB a while back but put it back on today after seeing the fry (wonder how many turned into fish pate' from the impeller already?).


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

The fry are doing well, at least 3 from the first spawn and 3 or more from a second spawn now (possibly more densely planted tank means I can't see them easily). Here is a photo of one of the older fry. They've looked like tiny neon tetra with the irid band but the older ones are starting to get some red in their caudal.


A blurry shot of the adults-they're hoping I'll toss in more food-sorry feeding time is over you pigs!


The purple waffle has grown huge and has bloomed!




Also the Helxine soleirolii is trying to grow over and smother out everything else I have on the HOB  Can't even see the filter from the outside now (updated-photo with light on now)



I'm planning on tearing down this tank soon. Underwater plants and hardscape will be going into a 40g breeder. Riparium plants will be split between 2 10gs (but I may move the Helxine onto the 40g)-one of them will hold the white clouds.. though I prefer these fish to have a longer tank my husband wants to keep them so they're going on a windowsill riparium.


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## crazydaz (Mar 18, 2007)

Very nice tank and journal, Aqua! I enjoyed the read!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

crazydaz said:


> Very nice tank and journal, Aqua! I enjoyed the read!


Thank you ^^


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## Goldie818 (Apr 21, 2015)

Wow, what an awesome read! I'm struggling with a low tech planted tank for my goldfish, but have a total green thumb with houseplants...maybe this is a perfect combo for me! Can't wait for more updates!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Goldie818 said:


> Wow, what an awesome read! I'm struggling with a low tech planted tank for my goldfish, but have a total green thumb with houseplants...maybe this is a perfect combo for me! Can't wait for more updates!


I'd actually considered converting my 55g into a goldfish riparium however I'd want to put in false walls (in tank sump sorta of) to keep the plant roots out or reach (also keep filter and heater away from them) but that limits turn around room more so I decided not to do goldfish.


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## TommyLaudani (Jan 26, 2016)

Love the Scape


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

TommyLaudani said:


> Love the Scape


Thanks ^^


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## Goldie818 (Apr 21, 2015)

AquaAurora said:


> I'd actually considered converting my 55g into a goldfish riparium however I'd want to put in false walls (in tank sump sorta of) to keep the plant roots out or reach (also keep filter and heater away from them) but that limits turn around room more so I decided not to do goldfish.


Good point about the roots! You'd never have to trim ever again lol however, Goldfish I feel are tricky when it comes to nibbling. I personally own total lawnmowers, but they're commons and a comet, so I expected that. But then I have seen people who have very docile fancy goldfish when it comes to plant destruction. I feel a fancy, like a ranchu or oranda would probably be best for a riparium, but who knows! I have never heard of having to keep the filter or heater away from them? :icon_conf May I ask what the concern is for you to have to hide them? Also, I may have missed it, but what happened to the mini orchid??

Your tank scapes have been such an inspiration! Love it!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*[4/5/16]*
The Helxine soleiroliiis a real monster now! I have an average size hand and with a hand on it.. its just huge!





For comparison this is a photo of the same plant 4/1/15



I have a hell of a time trying to get photos of the white clouds-they never hold still. My oldest fry are looking like mini versions of their parents now-the neon like irid band is fading and their bodies colored up. I have at least 3-4 other batches of fry in there, I try to toss in leftover thawed baby brine shrimp (I feed to blue eye gertruedea in another tank) but they mostly live on inforsona naturally growing in tank and crushed flake food as they grow larger.

The purple waffle spit out tiny flours daily and the peace lily has a bloom its taking its sweet time opening though...I had planned to try to cross pollinate ti but the pollen from the last bloom has gone bad already I've waited so long for the next bloom to open grrr.

I've wanted try try some new plants on the riparium since I'm not as happy with it as the 55g but not sure what I'd want to slap on....


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Helxine soleirolii still growing





Purple waffle was trimmed back as it was waaaay too big/heavy and falling over into the tank. Has good regrowth and already another bloom. Peace lilies has pollinated seeds growing on them. Dragon tongue doing great begin closer to the light


Under water plants are getting good and dense, the fissidens is spreading across the wood nicely. Hate how the fts always has bad glare >.<


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Big Update*

SO been a long time since I updated this... I moved the white clouds to my 55g then gutted and rescaped the tank. Riparium plants moved onto pond pots and riparium in the goldfish room. I tied java fern: needle, narrow, threadleaf, and Philippine to the driftwood, then put back in most of the vals (+ several just bare roots/crowns floating on surface), some various crypts that have been in there, the micro anubias (still for sale), some nice broad leaf crinium (unsure of exact kind), and still have the Helxine soleirolii on the HOB. I may plant some emersed stem or riccia on the foam I eventually slap over the outflow.






























New fauna stock is not ready yet but I will be doing a betta sorority. They're currently going through quarantine.. plus I need to finish filing out the tank (woudl love some large sag or more leopard vals).

Some of the better photos of the girls (not all girls shown). pardon the poop-photos taken just before daily water change.
My fin rot rescue red vt girl.
IMG]http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss10/aquaaurorapb/aquarium/031_zpszyb587ra.jpg[/IMG]

Finally got 2 of the 3 new hm girls to eat (they'd been stubborn since last sat).. one is still being stubborn =.=, this one

























hm gal a mustard, she's much more lovely than the photos show

























The tiniest gal, shes so cute, photos don't do her justice

























hm girl red and black with green irids









blue with red wash vt female with odd caudal fin tip









there are more but they're not being photogenic.. have 8 in total.









they're easier to qt this way-can keep warm with shallow tank of water+ they get use to eachother but can't hurt eachother. For those that don't know, betta sorties can get ugly, but a densely planted/decorated tank helps+ letting them get use to eachother like this before they go in. 
If you want to try making a sorority: 1 *never *add a male/confirm they are all females before their release date. 2: qt each separately to avoid spreading disease amongst the group, at least 1 month. 3: 10g or larger tank minimum, minimum 5 females for a sorority (larger tanks can hold more), longer tank is better than taller tank. 4: you should not be able to see the tank's back glass when viewing form the front, nor see from one side all the way to the other-DESNELY planted/decorated is a must-mine still needs to grow in more before its ready. 5: when you free the girls into the tank put them all in at once.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sadly the mustard girl developed dropsty so I put her down. A few days before she passed I bought a copper girl from the same store

















The 2 other hms from the 2nd batch of buying still wont' eat, I suspect they'll die soon from dropsy too, not much is known about the bacteria that causes it but it ends with kidney failure leading to buildup of fluids under the scales, resulting in pine coning.. then death.


In lighter news I scavenged my 2.5g vase for some more vals to slowly work on filling in the 20g long... Not much else to update about right now.


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