# IWGF's Riparium w/ ADA style LED (9/7)



## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Wow that's some DIY skills!


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## palufreak (Mar 1, 2011)

Nice job. I personally think it would look better if the branches didn't overhang on the left but still nice!! 
Good luck


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks guys! I agree it's a little unbalanced right now, but I plan to have the majority of the riparium plants on the right side.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

That driftwood is AMAZING!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

You know what I imagine looking awesome with that driftwood is a _Colocasia fallax_ dwarf taro.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Wow! Another very nice variation on a riparium. Having the wood that prominent is something I don't remember seeing on another riparium. I think I would want low growing small leaf plants in the planters, but I have a hard time visualizing what a setup will look like before trying it.

The LED light is very nice, and a good way to finish off the heat exchanger. What type LEDs are they - Cree XP-G's? And what current are they running at, with what LED driver?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

That plant does look very nice Hydrophyte! I'm not sure which ones I want to go with yet other than an aluminum plant as well as that red one you have in your 11.4 gal riparium.

Hoppy, the LEDs are epistar's running at 700ma using a meanwell driver. It's the same set up as in my other LED light, these were the left overs. I had originally planned to use all 36 LEDs and 3 of the meanwells but I ended up only using 24 LEDs and 2 drivers.

The LEDs were cheaper than the CREEs when I bought them but they've since gone up in price so if I build another one I'll try CREEs out, but I'll probably keep using the meanwell drivers. They're really simple to set up and are pretty much all in one, they don't need a separate power supply or anything like that.

The sfbaaps par meter is now 60 miles away so I'll have to wait til it makes the rounds to test this light out, but it should be fairly low light since it's lifted up so high off the tank.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

That is one badass piece of driftwood!
Nice LED DIY too.


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

Nice driftwood, looks crazy. It would look awesome once the plants fills in. 

Btw I'm going to take down my riparium for a different project, I have a crap load of this plant. I don't know the exact name since I got it from Devin a long time ago. Let me know if you want some. I can send them to you for the cost of shipping. 

These grew very easy and well for me once they settle in.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

That looks awesome Boun! What's that grassy plant on the far right of your tank?


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Great build!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

boon said:


>


Wow Boon that _Oplismenus_ basket grass grew really well for you!


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

This is a nice build. I cant wait to see the final result!!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I want to try to grow mint to help my room smell better haha


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Oplismenis would look great with that big piece of wood. But, I didn't have nearly as much success with it as boon had. One plant I keep wanting to try is a mint plant. I started looking for it just as the season was wrong for nurseries to sell it. It should do very well, though. Just pinch a leaf a day and bad smells go away!


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## defiesexistence (Sep 13, 2010)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> I want to try to grow mint to help my room smell better haha


Mint is good, also try some creeping thyme. It makes a carpet that releases this awesome scent that fills the room. All you have to do is ruffle it a bit.


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> That looks awesome Boun! What's that grassy plant on the far right of your tank?


I have no idea what the plant is called. I'm horrible at names so I am sorry I can't give you an answer. All I know is that it is a very hardy plant, it hasn't grow or die on me. Hoppy and Devin should know though. 


Can't wait to see how yours turn out. You should try to grow something on that driftwood. Or get a bird that will perch up on top of that left side.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

A bird would be interesting but I'll pass haha

There's a creek right behind my office and there's an awesome hydrocotyle looking plant that's all over, I'm going to go down there and take a few stems to use, hopefully I'll have that creep over the driftwood then hang over the sides.

As for the wood sticking out the left side, I want to find a nice flower that would do good attached to wood with some roots in the water or something, or I'll just leave it bare to show off the "dragon's head"


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Ok, drew up a mock up of what I what it to look like, using which plants and such. I just hope that these plants are readily available and I won't have to search TOO hard


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

I have both grass plant when your ready. Im taking it down next week. Just let me know.

The mock up looks really good. You got skills.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks Boon! I'll send you a PM.

Question, on a plant like mint, could I just go to the super market and buy some and plant those? They look like just any other stem plant to me, would it throw down roots or would I have to get the ones that are potted?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

You are a good drawer.

That looks like a good general plan to me, although the scale might be a bit outsized for a 10-gallon. Several of those plants though are very good choices.

You could try mint, although there are a number of emersed aquatic stems that will definitely do well in a situation like this. I have a _Bacopa_ here that is my favorite for making a floating carpet. 

I have found _Hydrocotyle_ to grow well in a riparium, but spindly. They don't seem to form a dense carpet very well, but they can make a nice little accent if you stick a bit in a hanging planter with another larger plant.

Aluminum plant is a nice thing to include and easy to grow rooted on a trellis raft. _Pilea grandifolia_ is another good one too and grows just like aluminum plant.

The setup sure looks nice the way you have it now, although for the riparium you might want to cover the real panel of glass with black. If it stays open like this the riparium planters will be very conspicuous against the lighter background.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey this video shows pretty well the way to plant that _Oplismenus_....

*http://www.kickstarter...ted-ripariums-a-new-kind-of-...*





*


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

ooh interesting, I didn't think of using the rafts to plant stems. I thought I'd use them to drape the hydrocotyle over it, we'll see when I get the planters in person.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

You can plant certain plants directly through the holes in the trellis rafts, but they are a select few kinds that can grow well with their roots right in the water. Most plants need to be rooted in a nutrient rich substrate to grow very well.

The list of plants that you can plant like that is pretty short. Here are the ones that I use the most...


_Pilea_
_Oplismenus_
_Fittonia_

For closed-top, high-humidity setups _Anubias_, Java fern and Java moss are other good ones to plant right on the trellis raft.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Is Fittonia something that could be found at say, a lowes or home depot? Or maybe a regular nursery? I'm pretty sure there's no stores around here that carry plants specifically for ripariums

edit:
ok I guess I can, ran a google search. 

Woot! Those planters can't get here soon enough haha


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Fittonia is a pretty common houseplant.

I'm gonna send you a PM about plants.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

ah ok, very cool. I'll check out the local nurseries soon and see what I can round up


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I got my riparium planters in the mail yesterday thanks to Hydrophyte. They're very well built and come with EVERYthing you need, including substrate, very nicely written instructions on how to use it, planting instructions and even suggestions for plants to use. Highly recommend this if anyone is considering a riparium









Also got some staurogyne in from a buddy on SFBAAPS. I'll try to get a FTS when I get my riparium plants.

I'll be going to lowes and other garden centers to see what I can dig up. I may try UG attached to the wood because I've seen that it flowers, but right now I have some fissidens sticking out of the water on the wood, we'll see how those go.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey I am glad that you got your box OK! 

It looks like you have some good leads on plants. Remember that there are several houseplants that work especially well in ripariums...


_Spathiphyllum_
_Pilea_
_Fittonia_
certain _Dieffenbachia_ and certain _Anthurium_


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey I got your box with plants in the mail. I have a few notes about planting them I'll just write into this thread. 

The _Colocasia fallax_ was a real nice little division. You should plant it with the roots down in the hanging planter, but the little *tuber and the rhizomes up on top of the substrate*. 










The _Pilea grandifolia_ in one of the best riparium plants and it is very easy to plant. Just stick the cut ends through the holes in a trellis raft, then put it in the tank.










The _Fittonia_ nerve plant is planted the same way as the _Pilea_. I sent the white-veined kind. Here is a quick picture of the red-vein kind planted into a raft attached to a planter with a _Schismatoglottis_.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Awesome! I can't wait.

I went to Lowes and picked up a few plants to try out, got some sort of fern and a pinkish plant, can't remember the names off the top of my head. I also got a pot of mint and a tomato... I have no expectations for the tomato but my girlfriend thought it'd be funny if I were able to grow a tomato in my tank.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I hope that you will see that box maybe Friday.

I would suggest focusing on the plants that are the proven good ones for ripariums. There are quite a few that do real well in ripariums and serve as nice parts of scapes, and many others that either don't grow right to use in a scape or just can't grow at all in a riparium situation. Tomatoes definitely will not grow right in a riparium. They can grow well in hydropinics, but a riparium is different. I have seen lots of people start ripariums with just random assortments of houseplants, and plantings like that usually do not go well and just end up as wastes of time and money. 

There are certain plants that _grow well and look fantastic_ in riparium setups.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I also sent tow different kinds of _Acours gramineus_, 'Ogon' and the dwarf one that I'm not sure of its variety name.

_Acorus_ grows with a rhizome the same way that _Anubias_ does. When you plant it is important to make sure that the rhizome is _on top of the substrate_. This picture with the dwarf _A. gramineus_ shows this.










Here is another view...










Notice that the planter is mostly filled with hydroton. _Acorus_ grows better with hydroton filling most of the space in the planter, and with finer clay gravel on top.

_Acorus _only grows new roots from the lead tip of the rhizome, so it is important to seat the rear cut end of the rhizome as far back in the planter as you can. This plant doesn't have a lot of roots, so it is a good idea to also wrap a couple of those waterproof rubber bands around the planter from top to bottom to hold the rhizome in place.

If you get it going in several planters _Acorus gramineus_ makes an awesome riparium background plant.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey there is one of the sort of plant that I included in the box. There are several different kinds of stem plants and the most common one is the _Bacopa_ shown here in this picture...










This is the best way to plant emersed aquarium stems in riparium planters. You should put quite a few stem cuttings (>6) in the planter so that the plants will fill in more quickly. As the stems grow the will cover up the planter and the trellis raft snapped into place in front. You can get them to grow more bushy if you trim the stems right as the grow past the trellis raft. 

Have you seen that box yet? Hopefully it will get there tomorrow if you don't already have it.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I got my plants in from hydrophyte (very happy with it! Thanks Devin!), and found a few on my own at lowes. I'm not too sure if they'll survive but I tried to match the requirements on the little slip with a plant I know works in a riparium setting. 

Also, much thanks to Liquidity for the staurogyne foreground!

Tank is still cycling... dang that aquasoil. So shrimp will have to wait a week or 2 more.

I was able to do a PAR test on my fixture as well. The LED light puts off 40umols of par at the substrate level from 30 inches... a LOT higher than I thought. Might have to raise it a little bit, I don't want to run co2.

Anyways, enough talk, time for pics


























I can't wait til it fills in.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Nice going! Those plants will look sad for awhile until they can get some new roots growing. The riparium plants will throw a good deal of shade, so you might be OK with the bright light. I like that fern over on the right I'll be interested to hear how that one does.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

The plants have started to pick up. 
Still waiting to find that REALLY red plant. Will have to keep searching I guess.

I've added my shrimp to the tank, and now I just wait for the plants to grow in...

Updated pic









A little video I put together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JntSTs293F8


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That's looking great!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I got this shrimp in a big order last week. Is this a SSS+ or a SSSS?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey how are those plants doing in there? Is that fern on the right still going?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Nope haha. Fern died, mint died, pretty much any plant I bought that you didn't send me died. I'm going to stop looking in the house plant section.... 

I'm waiting on that shipment from that pond place so I'll take pics when they come in. The taro plant you sent me is doing really really well!


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## jimko (Aug 17, 2007)

I don't want to start a riparium. Why did I have to look at your post? 

Great job T-ups that thing looks awesome!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Nope haha. Fern died, mint died, pretty much any plant I bought that you didn't send me died. I'm going to stop looking in the house plant section....
> 
> I'm waiting on that shipment from that pond place so I'll take pics when they come in. The taro plant you sent me is doing really really well!


Yep somehow the idea got around that any kind of houseplant will grow in a riparium. Not true! There are some real good ones for riparium (Spathiphyllum, Pilea, and a couple others) but most houseplants are from upland forest areas in nature and they need good soil drainage. They can't live with their roots in an oxygen-poor underwater situation.

Let me know if you need anything else to fill in I just got a shipment yesterday with some real nice stuff.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

that looks great...looks like a SSS+...it has headgear..I thought SSS+ is SSSS...the headgear gives it the + or the extra S....whatever...it's nice anywhoooo


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## AoxomoxoA (Apr 22, 2010)

Wow this is so nice. I really love the wood, & this is just what I needed to push me into Ripariums (aside from a really cool article I read last week roud
I really like the idea of the mint etc., nice smelling things are... well they're just nice.

SSS/SSS+ varies according to who you're asking. Some will say there is no grading above SSS, but things change to put it nicely.
I'd bet most would call it SSS+ with headgear though, a better shot would help tell if flower, bolt, crown, etc...
A very nice shrimp regardless. 

Once again, very nice setup man, & the "dragon" wood is incredible. Dunno how I missed this thread till now, but officially subscribed. Please keep sharing pics & progress.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Time for a long overdue update!

Been playing around w/ my new d3100, haven't really gotten the hang of it yet but I think these look decent.

This tank is due for an update anyhow. Most of the plants I had before died. Turns out you can't just use any old plant and expect it to work. You gotta use marginal plants that are used in ponds.
FTS









Pilea grandifolia









Not sure what plant this is, but it threw out a tiny little flower









Grabbed this from a LFS being sold as an aquatic plant, it's called a purple waffle plant









Taro plants. The one on the right is green taro, the left is imperial taro.









Thanks for looking!


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Very nice riparium setup. I really like the way you incorporated that piece of wood as a traveling point between the aquatic and immersed sections. Great job! You have officially made me add Taro's to my new plant list...


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks RipariumGuy! I was afraid the taro would look out of scale since its such a small tank, but I think it works, and when the leaves get too big I just clip them.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

that's a hot looking tank!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That's looking real good. You did nice incorporation of the driftwood. 

You can trim those Colocasia leaves with the burnt edges for a ebtter look and that will also help prevent that plant from getting too big. I started noticing that same leaf burn on my plant that I have here. Are you using straight tapwater for this setup? I have wondered if it might be caused by flouride in the tapwater. I started using 50% RO and now I think I see less of that leaf burn.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks guys!

Hydrophyte, I actually use pure RO/DI water in this tank since it's my shrimp tank. I add a little bit of the shrimp supplements and stuff. 

As for substrate, I have aquasoil so theres a lot of nutrients in it, and the only underwater plants are a few crypts and mosses so it's not using up a lot. In the planter cups I put some of the rootmedic rootferts. 

I'm just glad that they're growing. Can't for for some of the plants to start flowering!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Is this setup still going?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Yup! Everything is just growing in really well, no flowers yet though.

I'll try to get some new shots of the tank soon.


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## zachary908 (Feb 12, 2011)

Nice riparium! Makes me want to try one!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Do it! Hydrophyte will help you with everything you need to be successful!


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## zachary908 (Feb 12, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Do it! Hydrophyte will help you with everything you need to be successful!



hehe, I probably would If I had the room. Currently I'm trying to stop myself from setting up a dartfrog terrarium.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Quick and dirty update before I get everything prepped for the AGA contest.


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

Sick tank man! I attempted something similar and failed horribly, haha. Good going! I haven't followed this thread (I haven't been around on here for a long while) but what is the fauna?


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Beautiful riparium


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

SearunSimpson said:


> Sick tank man! I attempted something similar and failed horribly, haha. Good going! I haven't followed this thread (I haven't been around on here for a long while) but what is the fauna?



Only shrimp, fire reds and CRS... well.. I have a red whiptail catfish in there too but it's small and shrimp safe (i hope).


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


>


Wow that is looking great! The _Colocasia fallax_ grew really nice in there.


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## silvawispa (Oct 11, 2011)

Damn. This is a wonderful set up.

Now I'm looking at the old 30G high, corner tank in the garage with thoughts of 'diamond saw'

I could easilly be persuaded to try a setup like this...


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks! 

I love this tank, there's almost no maintenance at all, I do a water change maybe once every month or 2. 

Sadly, this tank will be going down soon. I'm selling it to a member of my local club so he can give it to someone as a xmas gift.


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