Emersed Tank Journal

[Mikaila31]

My little 2.5 gal wasn't doing to good as a planted tank with my betta in it. So I got ambitious this weekend. I move the betta, tossed all the old plants cleaned the tank and sand then set everything back up again. So its basically a planted tank, but the water level is about even with the substrate and I put plastic wrap over the top to stop things from evaporating and to keep it humid. Added a bunch of different plants from my other planted tank. I have no idea if they will survive, but I will find out. This is what I ended up with. But the tank is still trying to give me a hard time. I soaked both pieces of wood before I put them in the tank. The one on the left keeps drying out and I have to mist it, it has been 3 days and the one on the right hasn't dried out at all. I think that the left piece is plotting against me .

 

[garuf]

Both Sam and I have tried emersed, It works but its the most slow thing in the world. Even slower than cricket!

What's that plant on the sand? It's not marimo ball is it? That's an algae and won't grow out of water, I'd remove it for something nicer, this tanks scape is very strong it'd be a shame for it not to flourish.

 

[ShoC]

It works but its the most slow thing in the world. Even slower than cricket!

you make me laugh

 

[Colin_T]

20/20 cricket isn't that slow, but test match is

most plants actually grow faster emmersed rather than submersed. Put some Hygrophilla ruba in the tank. it has nice purple flowers.

 

[garuf]

Yeah I was lead to believe that it would grow faster, in practice it seems much much slower. I'd never describe it as rapid, my hc although nice has done essentially nothing but change the tone of green and give out a tiny amount of growth in 3 weeks.

 

[Themuleous]

BTW that plant in the back right looks like a house plant to me, which will grow, until you flood the tank and then it'll die.

Sam

 

[Mikaila31]

Both Sam and I have tried emersed, It works but its the most slow thing in the world. Even slower than cricket!

What's that plant on the sand? It's not marimo ball is it? That's an algae and won't grow out of water, I'd remove it for something nicer, this tanks scape is very strong it'd be a shame for it not to flourish.

The plant on the sand I bought as Plagiomnium Trichomanes. It seems happier there than in my other planted tank. Hopefully it will grow, but I don't expect it to be very fast. Other than that I have some Anubis "petite", pennywort, java moss, dwarf hairgrass, and a few other things.

BTW that plant in the back right looks like a house plant to me, which will grow, until you flood the tank and then it'll die.

Sam

Yep, I took that one from outside. I will probably put it back out there once spring rolls around.

 

[garuf]

You're using an inert substrate right? you'll still need to dose so get out your kno3 etc.

 

[Mikaila31]

This tank has been setup for about a week. I have only been fertilizing nitrogen and I just add the fertilizer to the spray bottle I use on the tank. Not much has grown, except the Plagiomnium Trichomanes which as surprised me and the pennywort has grown a little. The P. Trichomanes was fully submerged in my other tank for almost two weeks and didn't really do anything, the stuff I moved seems really happy in this tank. It isn't spreading, but it is growing higher. There are also little shoots coming out of it. I'm pretty sure they are some different kind of plant. They are growing out of all the pieces of P. Trichomanes(2nd pic).

Also that one piece of wood is still giving me trouble. Most of the plants on it have dried up even though I am misting it about twice a day. I still haven't misted the right piece at all, it's weird .

 

[garuf]

I looked up Plagiomnium Trichomanes, it's non aquatic therefore that's why its growing now but not previously.

 

[aaronnorth]

couldn't you seperate Plagiomnium Trichomanes more to get better coverage, it will get a better effect or is it just one plant?

 

[Mikaila31]

Update 3/23/08:

Everythings been going fine. The pennywort is growing pretty good along with Plagiomnium Trichomanes. I moved the few remaining pieces I still had submerged over to this tank. The Plagiomnium Trichomanes can be broken into smaller pieces, but the bigger pieces are growing better than the small pieces. I should of thought that it might not be aquatic . None of it is spreading very much, but I'm still getting lots of vertical grown. I'm also getting lots of those little sprout plants(last pic) coming out of the Plagiomnium Trichomanes theres about 30 of them now. I bought the Plagiomnium Trichomanes from some place in Singapore , I'm kinda curious to see what they will turn into. I've started to add more ferts to see if it makes any difference in the amount of growth I get. All the other plants are growing very slowly

 

[GobyMaster]

That's a really interesting idea!

It looks really good!

 

[Themuleous]

Looks like your getting some interesting and different growth from the plants, which is a new twist in this

Sam

 

[GobyMaster]

Would it be even remotely possible (or ethical) to keep some species of amphibian in a tank like that?