15-gallon Riparium

mellowvision said:
that looks sweet.

I've been looking for something more like this though... to cap the substrate.
Click to expand...
that moss is called ''pillow moss'. its a terrestrial moss that likes bright light and a moist wet and cool enviorment. you can usually find it in most chain pets stores dried. the dried stuff will come back. also if you throught the dried pillow moss in a food prossesor and make it to a powder.tthen soak the powder in cool water so it makes a paste and spread it over the substrate. in no time you'll have an awesome moss floor. just dont let it dry out
 
I painted a background on the tank. It goes to a bit higher than 2/3 up. I will fill it to even with the top of the paint, so there will be about 3 1/2" of seem above the waterline.

17-iii-10-tank-i-m.jpg
 
looking good hydrophyte.
 
Here is a shot of the leak test. It looks OK so far. I do need to shim up the right side a bit it looks about 1/8" lower than the left.

17-iii-10-tank-ii-m.jpg


I got a few plants into the tank last night. The dwarf A. gramineus is really a great plant and perfect for a nano setup like this one. Sometimes Acorus are a bit tricky and resist growing, but these plants are doing well and already have good root development inside of the planter cup.

17-iii-10-acorus-gramineus-i-m.jpg


Notice that the cup is filled to more than 1/2 full with hydroton. It seems this plant does better with a coarse-grained substrate. As is true for Anubias plants, it is also important for the creeping rhizome to be on top of the substrate. It will rot if buried down in the gravel.

17-iii-10-acorus-gramineus-ii-m.jpg
 
YOu know, I have a mystery plant, that I've had for years... it never does very well, but it doesn't die. I forget I have it, and then find it growing through a piece of wood, or floating in the back of the tank.

It looks like that. Maybe I should yank it out of the water and try it emmersed.
 
I think that your mystery plant is likely not an Acorus--they can't make it long-term underwater and are bound to drown.

I got all of the riparium plants into this setup. Here's the whole planting as I have it now.

17-iii-10-acorus-gramineus-iv-m.jpg


This is subject to change--I will probably move the plants around some. It definitely has that "just planted" look, but it should start to shape up as the plants grow in. The plants will also cover that foam and plastic as they get bigger.
 
Here is another view of the planting. Those planter cups are conspicuous from this angle, but that is in part because of the light reflecting up from the bare glass tank bottom. The planters will become more obscured as the plants grow in and throw more shade.

15-iii-10-tank-v-m.jpg
 
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