New 2.5 Gallon Emersed Setup

[FrostyNYC]

For those of you who read my 10 gallon journal, I took some clippings and put them in an emersed 2.5 gallon tank. I decided to test my plants emersed and see how there growth would differ.

Lighting: 16+- hours a day with a 13 watt screw-in CF
Substrate: Amazonia I
Ferts: None
Water: Daily misting with my soft/acidic NYC water
Flora: M.minuta, Hygro sp. 'bold', Java fern 'windelov', and Java fern 'needle leaf'

The M.minuta has always done poorly in my tanks, but emersed, Im seeing immediate growth. I've had this up for a week, and I have a number of new leaves. One of the new leaves came up segmented. As it transitions to emersed form, I expect more segments leaves and eventially tall four-leaf clovers. The Windelov is starting up two new leaves. It was melting in my 10 gallon after I added it there. Probably because the pH in my 10 gallon is 5.5. I pulled it out, put it in this emersed setup, and the melting stopped completely. And now the new leaves. The needle leaf is not doing much of anything. Maybe the water its in is too deep. I read that emersed java ferns need their roots in standing water. The hygro bold did nothing for 5 days, and in the last two days I have some tiny new leaves. Very maroon in color, and much smaller than the old leaves.

I'll continue to update as these things transition to emersed growth. They're some of my favorite plants, so this will be interesting.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg200/FrostyNYC/IMG_3338.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg200/FrostyNYC/IMG_3344.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg200/FrostyNYC/IMG_3349.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg200/FrostyNYC/IMG_3347.jpg

[DoctaQ]

nice, growing emersed is awesome, no algae!

[dundadundun]

hey, no fair cheating.

idk from the pictures but you might want to pull those rhizomes up just a tad. looks like the ends might be buried.

good luck. you should get better yields that way.

[FrostyNYC]

Dun - Do you mean the java fern rhizomes? I know they're a little buried, but my fear was the roots drying out. I'm keeping an eye on them for any signs of rot.
The M.minuta are also buried a little deep, I should pull them up a bit.

The reason I started this was mainly because my water is soooo soft and acidic (almost immeasurable kh and dh and a ph of 5.5 or so) that Im having some trouble with many plants. I figured Id try emersed to see what the issue might be. Seems to me that CO2 might be the problem, since even under this far reduced lighting (13 watts compared to 40 in my normal tank) and the same substrate, Im having clear growth emersed. Water hardness/pH or CO2? I dunno.

I'd love to scape this a little but right now its just a farm.

[mellowvision]

nice set up!

I've bought silverware trays from the discount store and had them sitting around for ages, with the intention of setting up a farm like this for M. Minuta and HC.... just haven't gotten around to actually setting it up!

I've got the same water issues as you, and have seen much better plant growth in the past WITH Co2... but for now I've been sticking with easier plants that like the water I have, instead of struggling to provide the water the harder ones want. It's made life a lot easier.

I'm also seeing good progress in an emmersed farm I have set up using Riparium supply stuff that Hydrophyte sent me a while back... I think there's a lot of merit in his techniques.

[mellowvision]

I was also thinking, the one risk you run with that set up is stagnation, you might consider using a screen to divide a small area for a pump, with a line running to the other end of the tank. this will allow gentle movement of the ground water and should help keep the substrate fresh. I've also considered mixing activated carbon with the substrate in a case like this, as i've had great luck using this technique in my cloche garden, which isn't as wet as this though.

[FrostyNYC]

Mellow - I've seen hydrophytes stuff. Its nice. And great for open-top tanks.
Regarding stagnation, I lift the cover daily. I was worried about mold, but I think that the acidic nature of the aquasoil will probably inhibit most mold. When I started my 10 gallon, I grew HC in it emersed for about a month with no stagnation issues. That was with eco-complete tho, so the growth was nothing to write home about.

Emersed works great with HC because the emersed and submersed leaf forms are so similar. But with M.minuta, you've got completely different leaf types (clover vs little glosso-type leaf). This tank is more a science project than anything. I do hope my Windelov takes off though. It grows sooooo slowly underwater.