Ripariums for Plant Filtration

[hydrophyte]

I have an update in the journal thread for my 50-gallon setup on the unsual centerpieces plant that I have in there, Cyrtosperma johnstonii. The journal is over in the Catfish sub-forum...

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3764143&postcount=49

That plant has really unusual leaf patternation. Here is the leaf underside.

 

[hydrophyte]

Muni just started a new project in a 55-gallon tank. It looks pretty interestng.

55 Gallon Riparium build

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

ur gettin a bunch of people hooked on these. lol. i want to build one but i got enough project tanks running.

 

[hydrophyte]

That project of Muni's is looking real good, so check it out.

 

[hydrophyte]

I haven't been able to spend much time with it, but tonight I got back to fixing up the 120-gallon riparium setup that I have going over in a public space. I did re-plant it a couple of months and I have just been waiting for some of the stuff to grow to size before trying to better resolve the look of the layout. Here is a quick shot from tonight.

The underwater area is a mess. The rocks are all just piled in a heap and the manzanita branches are laying on their sides in a second heap. The plants are looking good though. I did have a theme in mind while replanting...

1. a carpet of aquatic stems trained to grow across trellis rafts.
2. Acorus gramineus (sweetflag) in several planters as erect, grassy background plants
3. semi-woody flowering bushes (e.g., Ruellia brittoniana, Ludwigia sp. Hibiscus) trained to grow into midground.
   

It will take a while for this to grow in right and look pretty good again. Here is an older shot (dated 20 June 2009) of this tank showing that it had a somewhat different theme, but some of the same kinds of plants.

...and here's another from the same day.

 

[hydrophyte]

The Echinodorus cordifolius 'Tropica Marble Queen' sword in my 50-gallon setup is looking very nice.

This is a great riparium plant. Unlike the species E. cordifolius, which can quickly grow to ~3' tall, this one grows slowly and to only 12" or so.

I got a close-up of the leaf too.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here is another update for the 120-gallon from last night.

A few days ago I moved the plants around some and also vacuumed the gravel.

Here is the picture from last night, with the hardscape moved around a bit and after the dust settled.

I am not satisfied with the rocks. I think I might try including one more large stone to that left of that white one.

 

[stixx]

Alright I understand that some of the planters are placed directly in the water and other may be placed slightly out or above the water so as to not drown the roots of curtain plants. Now my thought, wouldn't having an air stone in each planter help with any possible root rot, and also increase growth in general. My reason for this is that this is one of systems used in hydroponics use to avoid root rot and help with growth. Any thoughts on using air stones?

 

[hydrophyte]

I got a couple of new shots from my 50-gallon setup. Here is a view from above.

I think I have the link to the journal thread for this tank in my sig.

 

[hydrophyte]

I have a few more new pictures for my 50-gallon setup--just quick snapshots that I got last night.

Here is the view from the side that I get when I walk in from around the corner.

I tried to get some more pictures of the C. cutteri cichlid, but didn't really put in enough time. This is the best result that I got.

You can see that he has colored up more. I got this detail with a crop of that last image.