# My emersed bin :)



## drewsuf82

Well after viewing the thread up top, and a lot more in here, I've decided to give this a go. This thread will be a copy and paste from my other journal, but I would welcome comments here as well since I know there's members on here who aren't on the other and vice versa 

Wish me luck!

My parts list!


Scissors
Clear Plastic large bin
Shoebox size bins
Topsoil
Light Timer
Humidity Meter
Water
Lights
Some time 
Well I needed some space, so I got rid of my moss growout which wasn't doing anything but growing algae... 










Then I got myself a plastic bin from walmart ($16.77)










And I def took the humidity guage idea to heart($5.97 @ Petco, I could have gotten cheaper on ebay, but I'm impatient today....)










Drilled many many holes, used a pair of nail clippers to take care of the ugly hole blocking plastic that happened with many of the holes










Cleaned out the bin in the bathtub










I then took the lids that came with the shoe boxes and cut them to act as free dividers for multiple species (plus they're free since they came with the box!)










Fill up the dirt 










Get your hands dirty and have fun 










Add water, I've added about 4 gallons here, also added dividers...I've now reduced about a half gallon of water out of the setup since the soil seemed to be super-saturated this morning










Added the lights -- These are the walmart plant lights that they have locally, they seem to be doing the trick so far (I had these laying around, I'm planning on adding a few more possibly, IDK yet)










Humidity showing about 95% about 2 hours after letting the lights run and closing the top, checking everything tonight, plan on adding a few plants tomorrow!










UPDATES FROM TODAY

So everything seemed stable, I've worked plants into 3 out of the 4 bins now.

Humidity was at about 92% when the photo period started, I added a bit of dirt to the bins to take care of the settling/saturation and then reduced the water just a hair, I'll be watching the dirt over the next few days to see if I should add a bit of water back or not, currently the water is approx. 1.5-2" under the surface of the soil.

Found some decent looking HC at the LFS (was very surprised to see that) bought a planter worth and got it in there. Here's hoping it takes off 










Also found some pigmy chain sword, I've wanted to try these guys in the past but have had no room in any of my tanks, so I said why not and decided to go to town with the planter, here's hoping I get some runners  Also decided to try some rotala macrandra japan red in this bin as well.










Some Moneywort and some CW Green, they're small but who knows, if these guys don't work out I'll transplant a bit from my bigger tank, or if they work out maybe I'll transplant some red or bronze over from one of my submerged tanks into the empty bin










Full bin shot as of about 20 minutes ago. I may open up to mist the plants down in a few days but that will be it, going to try to run this guy sealed for 72 hours and then open for gas exchange and mist and then close.










Comments and suggestions are always welcomed  Thanks for dropping by, be sure to subscribe since this will be quite easy for me to update versus a lot of my tank journals.


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## TankAaron

This is an awesome idea. I think I may try this, after I have to tear down my tank.


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## Zapins

Looking good so far! Now we just need a little bit of time for the plants to grow in.


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## drewsuf82

Zapins said:


> Looking good so far! Now we just need a little bit of time for the plants to grow in.


Thanks! I had a good teacher . If you have any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them. Going to try for Sunday updates at least a few pics....


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## drewsuf82

TankAaron said:


> This is an awesome idea. I think I may try this, after I have to tear down my tank.


Thanks, check the sticky up top thats what I'm modeling it after


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## drewsuf82

So I figured that it was time for an update  So it's been about three weeks since I got this up and running, and I'm noticing some growth and some plants are yellowing (maybe losing submerged leaves?)

Anyway here we go 

The Dwarf Baby Tears seem to be doing well, I've seen a bit of expansion so far










Got some yellowing on the PCS but seem to be having a bit of success and growth with the Jap Red 










Crypts seem to be doing alright and the B. Monnieri seems to be doing good, stems are now standing on their own and appear to have some growth going on, another few inches and I'll trim and replant










And here's a view from the top, I opened it today just long enough to take pictures, mist and allow for gas exchange (as I've been doing once a week on Sunday since I got this going)










Thanks for dropping by and if you have any comments or suggestions please feel more than free to leave them!


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## drewsuf82

So it's been about a month, and I thought I'd share some updates.

Growth seems a bit slow, but I have a new light on the way so that should be taking care of that problem 

I've been opening it up about once a week to allow for gas exchange and to mist the plants so they don't dry out when I do that.

Humidity has been maintaining approx. 85% and the plants have been losing some of the submerged leaves in exchange for emersed. Anyway here ya go and as always feel free to leave a comment or suggestion in the replies 





































Thanks again for dropping by!!


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## Zapins

Looking good! The HC in particular looks like it is spreading well.

That's the thing about emersed growth, it is much slower than submersed growth in my experience on a leaf to leaf basis. Sure there is more CO2 around, but the plants have to invest so much more into protecting themselves vs. drying out and into their structure to hold themselves up vs. gravity, and to grow huge root systems to absorb nutrients.

Either way, its fun to setup an emersed tank and watch everything fill in. There really is nothing like opening up a tub of emersed plants and looking at all the greenery in the winter time. Like a little piece of summer.


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## drewsuf82

Zapins said:


> Looking good! The HC in particular looks like it is spreading well.
> 
> That's the thing about emersed growth, it is much slower than submersed growth in my experience on a leaf to leaf basis. Sure there is more CO2 around, but the plants have to invest so much more into protecting themselves vs. drying out and into their structure to hold themselves up vs. gravity, and to grow huge root systems to absorb nutrients.
> 
> Either way, its fun to setup an emersed tank and watch everything fill in. There really is nothing like opening up a tub of emersed plants and looking at all the greenery in the winter time. Like a little piece of summer.


Thanks!

I'm thinking of putting a divider into that bin that's unused at the moment and popping in an anuibas and splitting the HC a bit. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the HC as of yet since I've never had it and don't have the tank space right now to start a HC shrimp tank.

Honestly I'm thinking of selling the plants to go towards another bin, I love watching plants grow and having options for rescaping tanks is nice.

I do have another light coming in that's an LED (which is a bit heavy on the blue spectrum) but I'm thinking of using it on the top which would give me 2 T8 lights and the LED light....might be fun to experiment since I know that algae won't be an issue 

Any idea when I should trim the bacopa and the red mac japan to make more plants?


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## drewsuf82

Update:

Hey everyone! Wow my last update was way back in November. Looking at the pictures from then to now what a difference a few months make!

I haven't really been able to maintain this the way that I would like, however it's been chugging along quite well. I have managed to open it at least once a week for 10-15 minutes to allow for air/co2 exchange and to remist the plants, but I haven't really taken any photos until I got in today.

Today I trimmed the plants and replanted many of the stems that I trimmed. Everyone seems happy and healthy which makes me happy.

So I guess I'll get on with some pictures.

Dwarf Baby Tears are spreading nicely, I trimmed and replanted a few to try to get it to fill in a bit more, and started seeding another bin with it.










The crypts and B monnieri are doing well, I trimmed and replanted them, the crypts are spreading a bit.










The PCS are doing ok, but I'm not happy really with their development. The Rot Mac Jap red is doing well. Not growing as fast as the other stems but it's doing good.










Here's the overall view.










This has been a fun project! Please feel free to comment or sub to this thread, I'll try to get an update in once a month, now that I'm starting to feel a little bit better.


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## marty93aus

Nice work mate!


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## aquariumhobbyist

Any update on your setup?


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## strawberrybob

Heck of a work drewsuf82! Well done. Where did you get the idea of all this? Just amazing. Superb work.


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## sotiris

Nice work my friend!! I like very much just searching and watching emersed setups and the diversity of the plants! I started my setup with a 5630 led strip clear white color. Please could u tell us some details about your lighting; thanks!


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## drewsuf82

Thanks for all the replies everyone, I should get around to doing an update tonight, the bin has been filling with plants and I'm getting ready to sell some plants and what not to get another one started. 

I got the idea from a sticky here on the forum.

As for lights, I'm currently using 2 of the "Plant grow" flourescent lights from walmart and 1 13w 6500k cfl bulb.


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## drewsuf82

Well yall asked for it so I guess it's time for an update.

Been opening the bin and spraying it with RODI about 2-3 times per week. Humidity is keeping around 85-90% depending on the day and the time of the day I check.

Now for the pictures 

First off we have the Dwarf Baby Tears, they're filling in wonderfully and it's about time to thin them a bit and try to raise funds for another bin










The Jap red is doing well, if I don't get any bites on the stems, I will trim and replant them to make more 










The B Monnieri has been growing like wildfire, I've trimmed from here on a monthly basis, last time I took it down to about 8 stems 2" long, that was a month or so ago...










The crypts have filled in and are waiting for new homes










The Alternanthera Reineckii that I started out with 2 months ago with just 4 stems has filled in really nicely, some beautiful reds with it as well!










And now for the full bin shot! I've been itching to make another bin, I do have some A. Nana which has been doing well as well, but the leaves for some reason are a bit pale, not sure if they need some extra nutrients or what not, but I'm itching to get another bin going!










As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing my journal! If you have any questions, comments, etc... feel free to leave them in a reply below and I will do my best to get back to you in a timely manner. Sorry about the delays with some of the responses, I wasn't getting notifications on tapatalk.


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## drewsuf82

Greetings everyone!

It's time for an update  I love doing updates!!!!!!

I haven't been trimming things as frequently because I've been trying to let stuff grow in a bit and now it's turning into a jungle  I love it!

First up my Bacopa Monnieri! Wow this stuff has been growing like a weed, it's even reaching out into other bins!










Next up: Rotala Macrandra Japan Red, this stuff has been a bit slow to get going but it looks like it's doing better now. I trimmed it down to dirt level almost about 6 weeks ago.










In our next little corner we have Alt. Reineckii. This stuff has been growing well for me a rate of about 1" per week on most stems. Nice and healthy and happy!










Now, the money shot (yes I know I didn't do close ups of everyone LOL) The HC is doing well even though I ripped 90% of it out about 6 weeks ago, my A. Nanas are coming along (almost ready to be split) and I've split up the crypts!










Anyways, thanks for dropping by to my humble bin thread! If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to leave them and I'll be happy to get back in touch!


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## drewsuf82

Hey everyone! Just wanted to drop by to let you know that my Bacopa Monnieri has decided to start flowering, well and to share two pictures with you of it of course!



















I'll try to get better pictures once it opens up!


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## HoldingWine

Such an awesome setup. Thanks for the update!


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## mathman

Any updates?


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## DutchMuch

update?


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