Cryptocoryne Riparium

[hydrophyte]

Hello Everyone, I have some pictures here of my 212-liter riparium that features the emersed and underwater growth of various Cryptocoryne species and varieties.

I have had this tank going for some time. I enjoy comparing the underwater and above-water crypt foliage.

Here is a picture from a couple of months ago.

[hydrophyte]

I have gotten some pretty nice specimen shots of plants from this tank. I was in there recently to prune and move plants around, and took the opportunity to take a picture of one of the two good-sized Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia.



This plant had an open spathe on it too.

[Stas]

Awesome!

[Jur4ik]

nice, have to do something similar one day too

[hydrophyte]

Thanks very much. Here is one more picture that I took that day.



This is a Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'. This plant can grow to a larger size emersed and that specimen was close to 30cm across. It had started to shade the neighboring plants, so I clipped off the largest leaves.

That photo would have been better against a white background.

[andhara]

Wowwww....nice plant you have...
At glance, it looks like Crypto Huduroy's leaf.

[hydrophyte]

Thank you andhara. I'm pretty sure that it is C. wendtii 'Tropica'.

Here is another specimen picture showing leaves of Cryptocoryne usteriana.



I only got this plant a couple of months ago. It has begun to grow in the riparium, but very slowly.

[hydrophyte]

I tore this tank down, then set it up again. Now it's at a local garden center shop. Here's a long shot...



...and a close-up.



I added hardscape (rounded stones + manzanita driftwood) too after getting that picture.



The hardscape is really simple and I just threw it in there in a few minutes. I'll add fish probably Thursday if I can make it over there again.

[EFM]

can you take a picture of the side of the aquarium? i would like to know how are this plants mounted

[Jur4ik]

again nice work

[hydrophyte]

Thanks again you guys.

For this tank I mainly used the magnetic riparium planters to mount the plants.



The midground emersed plants are planted on trellis rafts.

I got fish into here the other night too.

[EFM]

Thank you hydrophyte ! amazing work !!! Am going to look for some of thouse planters

[elmagico82]

hi , i love your work.
you could specify the technical side?
light, filter, fertilizer

[hydrophyte]

Hey elmagico82 this is basically a very low-tech setup. The tank is 120cm wide and is lit with a single 54-watt HO T5 lamp. I use a Filstar for filtration and water circulation. The plants are undemanding and don't need much fertilizer. They get along with the fish waste products and I also add some chelated iron and K2SO4 from time to time.

[hydrophyte]

I was over there at the garden center servicing the this tank today and I got a couple of shots. The plants have grown up quite a bit. Here is a view in through the top.



I have a full tank shot or two also--just need to go image-edit those and post them.

[hydrophyte]

Here's that FTS. The fish were all hiding in the shade--I should have thrown a food wafer in there to draw them up front.



The stem plants have grown up quite a bit.

[Jur4ik]

looking great
by the way, do you remember what I pleased you?

[hydrophyte]

Thanks. Like I said I wish that I had gotten the fish into that shot. The underwater area would look more cheerful with fish.

Yes I do remember your question. I have been so busy here, but I think I have a good idea for that. I will plan to send a PM.

[Blue_dolphin]

The red plant in that pic is Amaranthus sp.?
Very unique tank!

[hydrophyte]

Thank you blue Dolphin. I believe that red plant to be an Iresine sp..

I put together a blog post about moving this tank over to its new spot there at the Paradigm Gardens store. Here is the link...

http://hydrophytesblog.com/?p=1799