# Nano riparium



## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

I'm sure you could. I'm sure It's going to take some creative engineering on your part to pull it off.

maybe you could fabricate something out of those plastic spice rank selves that one would use on the inside of a kitchen cabinet. Attach it to the back wall of the tank. Use some small plastic cups with holes as planters.

Go for it!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I don't think it would take a whole lot fo creative engineering; you would just want to select plants that would scale right with a smaller tank.

This 11.4G that I had going a while back had real nice plants for a small riparium.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

hydrophyte - I've looked at your own threads and your site. I really like your efforts. I can see setting up a riparium myself. I'll be sure to come looking for advice and supplies.

So I'm interested how might the OP hang his plants in such a small footprint? I have to think your planters are too big? No?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I think it would work alright with those planters if you used the right kinds of plants and trimmed them to the right shape. How big is a 5.5G front-to-back? 

The riparium planter only sticks out in front about 2.5". With the trellis raft snapper on there it exgtends forward 4.5". For a small setup you could also use it just fine without the raft. The main advantages fo the trellis raft are that with the plants growing on it it helps to hide the planter and you also get more variety of plants by planting on the raft.


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## DishyFishy (Jul 17, 2011)

Well originally I wasn't going to do a riparium but then thought it would be perfect for a Betta. I think the tank is like 16x9x10 and I just have a little spiral CFL bulb. I was planning on just walking around walmart, lowes, and the local plant stores to find things I could use as planters (as opposed to buying them online) and have been searching the web for good plants to use.. was thinking maybe some creeping jenny and some mondo grass, things I could keep under control


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

hydrophyte said:


> ...The riparium planter only sticks out in front about 2.5"...


I didn't remember that from your web store. I guess pics gave me the impression they were larger.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Yeah they stick out about 2.5" and they are about 3.75" wide. Really you can put lots of different kinds of plants in them. I have grown that mangrove leather fern up to 36"+ tall but the same size planter also works well for the little dwarf _Acorus gramineus_, which is only about 4" tall.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

DishyFishy said:


> ...I was planning on just walking around walmart, lowes, and the local plant stores to find things I could use as planters (as opposed to buying them online) and have been searching the web for good plants to use...


You might want to reconsider and talk to hydrophyte. I've read all his threads on the topic. He has a lot of good thoughts and plant advice in them. Know now the correct size of his planters, you might want to not waste your time searching and look at his planters.

Anyway good luck, I 'll look forward to seeing how you do this.


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## DishyFishy (Jul 17, 2011)

Hey Hydro, do you order your emersed plants online or are some of these available in local nurseries? Also, could you recommend a place online where you shop for your planters? I'm going to start going through all your riparium threads now to get some ideas.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

If you look in the Sponsors and Power Sellers sub-forum you will find a number of good sales threads for riparium stuff and you can ask about additional plants and other items that are available.


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## FIT BMX (Jun 5, 2010)

Here are some photos from a different forum ( http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/57563-pics-my-new-constructed-vivarium.html), there are some good ideas on the thread.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Wow that is an amzing project. That guy is highly skilled. 

That setup however is more like a vivarium or paludarium and not really a riparium.


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## FIT BMX (Jun 5, 2010)

I think someone could build a riparium using the same style for the background. After it is painted with silicone it should holed up fine under water.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> Wow that is an amzing project. That guy is highly skilled.
> 
> That setup however is more like a vivarium or paludarium and not really a riparium.


 
What if one used that as a center piece then place planters and rafts around it? That would still follow the definition of a riparium, wouldn't it?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

If your're going to do a riparium it's just a lot easier to just build up the abovewater area with the plants and not try to use much of a hardscape. Unless you do it right it will just end up looking really contrived. There are a _zillion_ different possibilities for using plants in a riparium. I have seen a couple of different cases where hobbyists tried to combine paludarium-type setups with the riparium plants+ hardware and it was just unnecessarily complicated and didn't make a very convincing effect.

It is _so _much easier to just use the riparium plants for a riparium layout. 

If you want to make a paludarium then I would just focus on building up a nice hardscape with plants and not try to squeeze in riparium plants too. If you really wanted one or two larger emersed plants then you could hang a riparium planter from the hardscape and that woudl be a sturdier way to plant it.


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## DishyFishy (Jul 17, 2011)

Ya I don't want anything that complicated for my first go around. Plus my tank is going too be too small for anything of that level. It was a nice looking setup though; and I'm going to check out his thread.


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## shrimpNewbie (May 6, 2011)

hydrophyte=master of ripariums, love his tanks =p
will hopefully set one up one day


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

The bottom line is that ripariums are just really easy to set up. You just have to have a few important points in mind. I have seen people run into trouble with setting them up where they tried to make it more complicated than it needs to be.


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## DishyFishy (Jul 17, 2011)

Well I got some driftwood and the gravel cap.. I'm going to cycle the tank like this and it will give me time to save up money for the riparium planters. I will probably trim some plants from my other tank and add them in the next couple of days. Not sure how the wood will look in a riparium setup but I'll worry about that when the time comes. Excuse the mess on the glass, I just really don't feel like cleaning it up right now


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