# Back at it...



## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Hi All,

I have not been on this site for years, in fact I have not had aquariums for years. Work took me away to different countries but now I'm back home in Canada, and of course the old flame of plants has returned and it's time to get back at it.

Everyone knows how popular orchids have been over the past couple years, phalaenopsis in particular. My wife has had several given to her, and they were kicking around the house in various spots suffering away in north facing windows (that's all we have).

I decided to get a light to cheer them up, and at the same time talked my wife into allowing me to set up a reasonably aesthetically pleasing emersed setup.

I had to do it on the spot, so it's a little rough when it comes to final planning but here it is:










It's basically a random 24'X12"x6" custom tank someone had made for a bath-tub for snakes I got at the LFS for $40.

I threw 2 bags of Eco-complete in it, a Fluval Nano filter, and an Ebo-jager heater. I plan to grow maybe 8 or so Echinodorus, planting them directly into the substrate, and letting them grow up and out. The tank is about half full of substrate, so lets say 2.5" Eco complete, 3" water, substrate is also spiked with Seachem Flourish tabs.

Lighting is provided by a 4x 48" T5HO, only 3 bulbs atm. 1 Giesemann Mid Day 6000, 1 Giesemaan Aquaflora and 1 bulb that came with the fixture which is a 6500k 5000 lumen grow bulb with "japanese phosphorus" whatever that means. One socket is empty for now. Don't want to burn anything.

Here is my old setup in 2002:










Here is a shot of 2 days worth of growth in the above setup:



















Here you can see a Cryptocoryne wendtii tropica adapt it's grown over just a couple leaves:










Here are a couple pics for fun:


































So my new setup is going to be for Echinodorus, I had a lot of fun with Cyrpts back then but never got to try out Echinodorus much.

What do you guys think of potential issues for my new setup?


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

That's a really fun tank size for this sort of thing! (Although I must say I like the old setup too.)

You might want to try adding some of the bog/terrestrial aroids to your collection—a couple of Spathiphyllum, Philodendron, Syngonium, or maybe even a few different types of orchids—you could make a little indoor jungle. 

In any case, welcome back to the hobby (and APC)!


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Thank you asuka,

I love your idea. While many of the suggestions you made do get quite large, too big for a table top at least, I may be able to find something down at the local garden center I could use to fill in the edges a bit. 

My wife already heard my suggestions of using our spare bedroom which is mostly empty right now for an indoor nursery, so the sky's the limit there. I do want to get this started first however, and make something pleasing since it is in our living room.

I'll save the seedling trays for the nursery/bedroom


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

Fair enough-you know the size of your table better than I do (also, I have no idea if you want to leave space to put other stuff on the table... if it were me, I'd just fill the whole thing with plants!). Though I will point out that most swordplants can get pretty large, too.  On the other hand, I suppose they don't trail all over the place like a Philodendron would. Smaller Syngonium cultivars would definitely work, though-they don't get any bigger than swords.

Also, if you can find them (no idea what Canada's orchid market is like), some jewel orchids (Macodes/Ludisia/Anoectochilus) would _really_ brighten up the display.


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Canada's orchid market exists on 98% phalaenopsis.

I will fill the whole table, for sure. I'm going to get you an updated pic once I get something in there.

I was worried about humidity dropping too low for the swords (or growing algae before I get any in there now) during the winter, but I hoped the amount of evaporation from the tank will fix that with the rapid surface agitation, which I will slow as necessary.


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

Might be worth it to throw a couple guppies or something in there to be a constant source of plant food  Humidity-wise, swords are adaptable. As long as the change in humidity is gradual, I suspect you shouldn't have too much trouble. As long as it stays humid enough for the orchids, it should be humid enough for the swords.

LOL the U.S. market isn't much different, though only maybe 75% is Phalaenopsis and the next 20% is Dendrobium. But there are a scattered handful of specialty growers, and I suspect you could track down one with some googling should you want something unusual.

Next random thought: maybe get a big piece of driftwood as a backdrop and stick Tillandsia all over it. 

Looking forward to pics of your progress!


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

Oh man that reminds me of all the Bromeliads I used to grow in terrariums for poison dart frogs. Man I loved those things. I'm sure they need more humidity than I have here, but I COULD mount up that whole back wall with some tree fern panels and go to town.

Or I could just stick with finding some swords to plant in the tank for now.


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