# www.RipariumSupply.com



## hydrophyte

Riparium Supply is running a fall aquascaping sale now through [strike]October 15/[/strike] *November 30*. Every item in the online store is marked down *15%*.

*Riparium Supply Fall Sale* 










There are still quite a few extra divisions to spare from our riparium plants that grew outside this summer. Most of these are "pond-type" marginals, such as white rain lily (below), that will bloom with attractive flowers in moderate to bright aquarium light. We can send some of these along with orders for additional modest S&H charge.


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## hydrophyte

I just put together a quick Article page and loaded it to the site:

Planted Ripariums: An Overview

It is a short one, based on a one-page brochure, but there are a few important important concepts in there.

Hey while you are here check out the thread that I just started about the International Aroid Society. That really is a great organization and they have a cool site.


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## hydrophyte

I have a couple more new things on the site--I just loaded pdf format instruction manuals for the Small Hanging Planter and the Nano Trellis Raft. Here are the links: 

Small Hanging Planter Tri-fold
Nano Trellis Raft Tri-fold

These pdfs link from the online store page. I will load pdfs for the other two product packs sometime soon.


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## malaybiswas

Nice array to products hydrophyte. Ever since I saw this I wanted to try one, but right now my tanks are in mid maturity and don't have room for more, so I'll have to wait before I change one to riparium.

I have been toying with idea of "Nature Riparium" like Nature aquarium. That would be pretty cool given that, with more plants growing outside water, the issues of CO2 injection and algae are greatly reduced.

The only issue I am trying to overcome in my mind is how to soften the water line and make the submerged and emerged parts more cohesive in the "nature picture". 

One idea is to lower the water level and have most plants grow emerged with a few foreground type plants grow underwater. The water can probably be used to highlight open space and mimick a lake or water edge. In nature aquariums people have used sand or bare tank bottoms to do the same. This might be a new way.

Also the famous sand waterfall nature aquascape can also be brilliantly replicated in riparium since you can have the filter outlet (with little modification) directly serving the purpose of waterfall and the water level below makes a natural pool. Personally I like this idea the most and probably would start with this one when I am ready.

Do you have information on any floating plants with fine leaves and paler leaf color? Thinking of a nature scape where these (if any) can work as floating clouds and can soften the water line for farout type scapes.

Anyways, these are just some ideas. Since you already have all the gear, maybe you can try doing one if you like them


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## hydrophyte

*malay*, I agree it would be interesting to explore the idea of a nature aquarium type riparium. Here are a few ideas that come to mind, informed by some concepts used in nature aquarium garden design and by observations on growing plants in riparium:


negative space.
finer-textured foliage, especially "grass-like" plants.
subdued colors. 
repetition of textures, colors and shapes in underwater and emersed areas
convincing use of substrates

I think that the following recent picture of my 65-gallon riparium setup provides a useful contrast for demonstrating several of these ideas. This tank doesn't conform to the nature aquarium concept, and is instead a good example of a "jungle" type layout:










This tank has (had) plenty of visual interest, but differed from most nature aquarium layouts in its lack of negative space. Most of the space with the aquarium frame both above and below the water is occupied by foliage. Notice also the several plants with large leaves, including a couple of hefty _Echinodorus_ swords and a _Colocasia_ taro. A central principle in nature aquarium design is the development of layouts that seem to occupy large spaces. Plants with big leaves create the opposite effect.


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## hydrophyte

Special deal available now through December 15th: _Riparium Starter Package_, with free shipping! 

*Store-Special.html*



Cheers,


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## hydrophyte

Hey we still have the _Riparium Starter Package_. 

*Store-Special.html*

This includes planter cups and a few trellis rafts--and free shipping!--that you can use to start some plants while planning a larger riparium display.


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## CL

Cool deal. Those are a lot less expensive than I thought I remembered when you first debuted your site (back in the day) One thing that I never realized until now is that you get say two- 3 packs of [product] I never realized that it was two packs, I only thought is was two of [product] instead of 6 total of [product]. I worded that sentence very badly (lol), but do you understand?


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## hydrophyte

Yeah it's a pretty good deal. This small combination package isn't really enough to plant up a whole tank, but it would be handy for getting a few plants going in a 10-gallon or other small container while planning a bigger riparium setup.


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## MrJG

hydrophyte said:


> Hey we still have the _Riparium Starter Package_.
> 
> *Store-Special.html
> 
> *
> This includes planter cups and a few trellis rafts--and free shipping!--that you can use to start some plants while planning a larger riparium display.


Just to chime in on this one. If you are someone who is interested in trying out a riparium setup (which I highly recommend!) the "Starter special" would indeed be good to start growing out plants for a larger display.
But if one combines the "starter special" with one of Devin's swap&shop sales of plants *already in planter cups* they would have plenty of material to get a nice start on a 20H or 29G tank. On top of that theres the Emersed fern and eppi-trellis raft offer as well which I'm totally considering for myself!

Case in point my 29g which currently only has 5 planter cups and 3 trellis rafts:









If you are on the fence... DO IT! We haven't even scratched the surface of what types of plants will work in this kind of setup. Plenty of time to get set up and tanks settled in before the really neat stuff starts showing up at your local plant suppliers in the spring!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks MrJG! Those really are good deals that you link again there.

There are so many new options that can be explored in riparium plant culture and aquascaping. I have had a lot of fun observing the varied responses of plants to emersed growth. The other night I got a few pictures of a _Cryptocoryne_ in a Hanging Planter that grew into a huge monster plant in my 55-gallon setup.


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## hydrophyte

The fall sale is still effective. I think that the Riparium Supply site still mentions 15 November as the sale end date, but it has been extended to *30 November*, so place your order soon.

www.RipariumSupply.com/store.html






*


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## hydrophyte

*Magnets!*

We have added a new product to the Riparium Supply product line. The Small Hanging Planter planter cup is now equipped with a pair of super-strong sandwich magnets for easy and secure mounting in the planted riparium. Visit our Store-Special page to learn more.

*RipariumSupply.com/Store-Special*










The sandwich magnets are remarkably powerful and do require some care while handling. I will follow this post up with another note on safe magnet use.


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## hydrophyte

I just loaded a new short article that offers guidelines for safe use of the powerful sandwich magnets supplied with the Magnetic Small Hanging Planter. Here is the link.

*www.RipariumSupply.com/magnet-use.html*


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## trackhazard

Magnets are a great idea! I was thinking about them as I was playing around with the cups.

-Charlie


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## hydrophyte

They really do work pretty well. Those heavy-duty suction cups also function well, but the magnet planters are easy to position and make a real secure mount. Like I mentioned they are quite powerful, so it is important to review the instructions before use:

www.RipariumSupply.com/magnet-use.html

Several of the planters in my new 50-gallon setup have the sandwich magnets. An additional advantage is that since they do not have suction cups protruding from each side, each planter occupies about 5/8" less space on the glass pane, so you can probably squeeze another planter or two into the tank.


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## hydrophyte

It took me the better part of the night, but I just wrapped up some reconfiguring of content and navigation in the Online Store.

*http://RipariumSupply.com/store.html*

I split it up into four different pages. I hope that it will be less unwieldy this way. Please let me know if you spot any broken links or misspellings or other problems.




*


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## hydrophyte

We have a new product in the online store. *Riparium Planter Gravel* is now available on the Substrates & Fertilizers catalog page.

*http://RipariumSupply.com/store-Substrates-and-Ferts.html*










Riparium Planter Gravel is comparable to other baked clay products used for planted aquariums. However, prior to packaging it is rinsed, then allowed to air-dry until slightly moist. Some other planted aquarium gravels are packaged wet and are difficult to use with planter cups because they clump and stick to fingers. Riparium Planter Gravel pours easily, has little dust and does not severely dry roots during planting. It is also packaged in a conveniently small bag, which contains enough material to fill six Small Hanging Planters.


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## hydrophyte

The *Magnetic Small Hanging Planter* is now available as a regular catalog item in a 2-pack bag.

*http://RipariumSupply.com/store.html*

These things works great.


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## MrJG

Is it possible to retrofit a set of magnets to cups ordered with the suction pads? If so is there any chance you could make those available for purchase?


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## hydrophyte

Do you mean a retrofit for a planter already with plants in it? That would be possible, but I think that the mailing back and forth would be pretty rough on the plant. We could also do that retrofit for an empty planter, but with the extra shipping costs and charge for handling just a single piece I imagine that it would be more economical to just purchase some new magnetic planters.


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## MrJG

I was thinking more along the lines of purchasing the magnets directly then putting them on my cups the next time I strip things down. I guess this would only work if my assumption is correct that they are affixed to the cups using some kind of gnarly adhesive.


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## hydrophyte

The adhesive used to bond those parts is special and all that I have are the bottles that I got from the manufacturer. There is no good way to ship a small quantity of the glue.


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## MrJG

I kinda had a feeling it was. I have no issues at all with the suction cup planters so far. Just thinking that that extra bit of room I could get back with the magnets might let me slide another planter cup into the display.  
I might try to grab some around springtime but hobby funds are a little tight at the moment.


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## hydrophyte

You got it man. Just let me know whenever you might need anything else. You are right it is a nice feature of the magnet planters that they take up less wall space. 

I have more fun plants here too if you might ever want to try out some different plants.


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## hydrophyte

I have a quick notice to post. The customer service email, support "at" ripariumsupply.com has suffered a service disruption. It has been down now for more than two days. 

I have contacted my hosting service provider and I hope to get this resolved soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions it would be best to just use PM here on TPT. 

I'll post again when I get this figured out and the email is working again.


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## hydrophyte

...it took all day, but email service has been restored.


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## BobB

Do you have a list of plants you have?


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## hydrophyte

BobB, We do not offer plants as regular catalog items, although we do have extras of quite a few good ones on hand that we can include in orders. If you look among my posts you can get an idea of which kinds of plants I have. If you would like to order some riparium plants I can suggest some good ones among the kinds that we have if you give me an idea of general setup specifications, such as tank size, lighting, fish selection and so on.

During cold weather I ship plant orders in insulated boxes with heat packs and so far this winter I've had very good results with plants arriving alive and in good shape.


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## BobB

I have a 36x18x21 tank, lighting is a Tek 5 36 In 4x 39w Bulbs. I am thinking of aquarium with 3 or 4 magnetic boxes and plants of course. I would like to have some swordtails and tetras as fish go. BTW is their a site where I can check out some plants.


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## hydrophyte

That is a nice tank shape for a riparium. With a small group of magnetic planters you could make a nice little island planting on the rear pane.

For that fairly bright lighting I would recommend something like the planting that I currently have going in my 50-gallon setup.










I can come back with details on plants--gotta run right now--but in the meantime you can look around posts here on TPT for the most important plants in that tank...


_Cyperus_
_Bacopa madagascariensis_
_Limnophila aromatica_
_Echinodorus_ 'Marble Queen'
_Pilea_


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## hydrophyte

I don't have them in there yet, but I'm working on adding three new items to the Riparium Supply online store:


Clay Pebbles (Hydroton)--this material is already packaged in small bags with the hanging planters. It is used to line the bottoms of the planter cups. For certain plants that do best with free water diffusion around their roots (e.g., _Anubias, Spathiphyllum_) it is best to fill most of the planter cup with the clay pebbles, so this larger amount will be useful.
EPDM Rubber Bands--rubber bands are handy for securing top-heavy plants inside riparium planter cups. Such specimens are susceptible to tipping out of their planters until they form strong root systems. These rubber bands are black in color, so they are inconspicuous in the riparium layout. Unlike regular natural rubber bands, they are also resistant to decomposition in water.
Suction Cups--these heavy-duty vinyl suction cups are the same ones packaged with the Large Hanging Planter and Small Hanging Planter planter cups. While they are long-lasting and maintain a sturdy maintain a sturdy mount inside of the riparium, they do tend to lose their suction strength after a time. This replacement pack will come in handy for switching out worn suction cups.

I hope to get these items into the catalog soon, but I have a lo-o-o-ong to-do list. Please send me a note if you might like to receive any of them sometime soon.


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## CL

Hydro, you should make a link to riparium supply in you signature 

That substrate looks like it would be good for bonsai when mixed with soil.


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## Craigthor

CL said:


> Hydro, you should make a link to riparium supply in you signature
> 
> That substrate looks like it would be good for bonsai when mixed with soil.


 
You setting up a riparium now CL? :icon_mrgr


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## hydrophyte

*Quick Demo Video!*

PlantedBox.com produced a quick demo video for the Riparium Supply Magnetic Hanging Planter and Trellis Raft. The pieces are not assembled quite right, but the video picture quality is excellent. Look for more of these to come.

*Riparium Supply on Vimeo*





*


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## hydrophyte

We have a fun new update! After having worked on it for a couple of months, I finally picked up the foam order with the new Nano Trellis Raft design. These things work really great and they are an improvement over the previous design. 










You should see the catalog listing for these pretty soon. I might start a thread in the Equipment forum with more details about them.


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## hydrophyte

I have been busy getting another new product line ready to release--it has been a lot of work. I just posted an introductory For Sale offer over in Swap-n-Shop for a *Tank Planters* combination package.

Here is the link.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/swap-n-shop/110192-fs-tank-planters-introductory-offer.html#post1088680

These things work pretty nice for certain applications.


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## OverStocked

Looking Good! Can't wait to try them out!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks again for participating. You should see them in your mail soon.


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## hydrophyte

You should see the Tank PlantersTM product line pretty soon there on the Riparium Supply site. I have been working on this a lot.

These things work great and are the perfect solution for setups where you might want to have just a few bottom-rooted plants. Here is a quick shot of the very happy _C. wendtii_ 'Green Gecko' that I have going in a Tank Planter.


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## A Hill

Those planters look pretty neat. I've been doing simple black sand substrate for a while now since I'm focusing on mosses and ferns and stuff, but the only issue is if I want to toss a few crypts, swords, or lilies they need something more substantial, this could be a great solution.

-Andrew


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## hydrophyte

I added a new catalog page, Store-Accessory, that includes a 10-piece replacement pack of the heavy-duty vinyl suction cups packaged with the Large Hanging Planter and the Small Hanging Planter. 

It is a good idea to get one or two of these with your regular Riparium Supply so that you will have some on-hand. Here's the link.

*http://ripariumsupply.com/store-accessory.html*

If there are any existing US customers reading this who might like to get this replacement pack of suction cups without meeting the store minimum charge and without paying for Priority Mail shipping, then send me a PM or email. I can send some your way cheaper via 1st class in a bubble mailer.


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## hydrophyte

I found I think another good plant for planting on those Nano Trellis Rafts, Windeløv Java fern.










i scored an amazing big clump of that via an RAOK from YaTeS. Thanks again man!

Attaching the Windeløv was real easy. I just used a couple of water-resistant rubber bands. It is important to make sure that the rhizomes are not squeezed too tight. If pinched ny the rubber band they will die.


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## hydrophyte

It came together late, but I am pleased to announce that we will be running a vendor's table the *2010 American Cichlid Association--Cichlid Fest* in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, July 22-25.

This will be an excellent event. Check out the convention homepage. 

*http://www.aca2010.com/*





*


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## RipariumGuy

hydrophyte said:


> It came together late, but I am pleased to announce that we will be running a vendor's table the *2010 American Cichlid Association--Cichlid Fest* in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, July 22-25.
> 
> This will be an excellent event. Check out the convention homepage.
> 
> *http://www.aca2010.com/*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *


That would be so much fun to go to! I wish...


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## hydrophyte

That's too bad that you can't go because it's not all that far away for you Jake. You'll just have to save up for when you do get a chance to attend. The ACA convention is one of the largest aquarium hobby conferences that there is.


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## hydrophyte

I'm here at the convention. I have seen a lot of really fantastic fish and met some nice folks too. I haven't had time to open my computer but I hope to get some pictures up pretty soon


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## RipariumGuy

hydrophyte said:


> I'm here at the convention. I have seen a lot of really fantastic fish and met some nice folks too. I haven't had time to open my computer but I hope to get some pictures up pretty soon


Thats sounds sweet! I wish I could talk to other fish fanatics, but I know none in the GB area! I guess "foruming" will have to do....:icon_cry:


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## hydrophyte

Well hopefully you can make to another one sometime before too long. 

Hey Jake I haven't forgotten about your plant question I have just been so busy. For a grassy SA plant I would suggest that it might be difficult to find something that is truly a biotope selection. It would be just as wise I think to choose something that will give you that "grassy" look in two or three planters for the background. _Acorus_ sweetflag would be good and so would _Cyperus alternifolius_ var. _gracilis_. It will take a long time to grow up but your baby panda bamboo would be another good one for that effect.


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## hydrophyte

I have a start on something like a riparium tutorial as a journal a thread here on TPT, *Riparium How-to: High-humidity Setups*. It is over in General Planted tank Discussion. Here is the link to the first entry.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/115353-riparium-how-high-humidity-setups.html


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## hydrophyte

I just completed another entry into one of the how-to threads that I have been working on.

Please have a look at it--these things take a while to write...

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1163374-post15.html


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## RipariumGuy

Very good artical Devin! Great job as always!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks for reading Jake!


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## hydrophyte

I have just started working on a video series. It will probably be a slow evolution, but I hope to keep working at it. I uploaded a couple more new videos tonight. These are quick demos of the Small Hanging Planter and Nano Trellis Rafts. The second video shows them planted with Windelov Java fern (on the raft) and _Crypt. pontederiifolia_ (in the planter).

*12-X-10 Riparium Planters Demo Scratch I*

*12-X-10 Riparium Planters Demo Scratch II*

These videos are too dark. I need to work on setting up a better little studio area.


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## hydrophyte

I'm working on a revamp of the website. I hope to relaunch it pretty soon with lots and lots of improvements.


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## RipariumGuy

hydrophyte said:


> I'm working on a revamp of the website. I hope to relaunch it pretty soon with lots and lots of improvements.


I look forward to the relaunching of the site!


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## hydrophyte

No new site yet...but I am doing some problem-solving.

Here is a quick picture of a new riparium project that I have going in a Mr. Aqua 11.4G tank.


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## hydrophyte

We have more new products on the way, and I hope to have the updated site ready pretty soon. So stay tuned!

That Mr. Aqua is sitll looking good. It is a very easy little setup. I might be switching out the fish for some new stuff in a week or so.


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## RipariumGuy

New products! You have me exited.


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## hydrophyte

I have the newly-configured site almost ready to launch here. I am switching hosting and I want to get it all done during the early part of the week so that it will be ready for weekend shopping. It might be down for a day or two during the migration.


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## RipariumGuy

I look foreward to the new site. Good luck with the move!


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## hydrophyte

I am going to try to transfer the domain and open the new site tonight, but it might take a couple days to get it all resolved. 

The planting in my 50 is looking pretty alright. I redid it last night.


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## hydrophyte

OK I am in the middle of the move right now. I see that the site is down but I hope that it will be running again with the new style and everything. If anybody is super bored I would appreciate testing and opinions about the functionality and style and so on.


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## hydrophyte

I am still adding more new content, but the new site is live! Check it out...

*RipariumSupply.com*


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## hydrophyte

Hey if you haven't been to the Riparium Supply Facebook page yet please check it out...

*http://www.facebook.com/riparium.supply*


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## hydrophyte

Come visit Riparium Supply on Facebook! 

*http://www.facebook.com/riparium.supply*

I do my best to update there every day.


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## hydrophyte

I have the new live plant selections loaded to the online store. Check it out...

*Riparium Supply: New! Live Riparium Plants*

This is exciting! I have tried lots and lots of different plants in ripariums, but these selections are the ones that have proven to be the best performers of all. I am working on adding a couple more additional ones and there will be more too during the next few months.


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## hydrophyte

Just two more "likes" and the Facebook page will have 200 fans!

*http://www.facebook.com/riparium.supply*


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