# My first emersed plant setup



## chris_todd (Dec 18, 2008)

Well, I've caught the emersed crypt bug from fellow GWAPA members, and bought a 40g breeder and set it up as an emersed setup. So far, I have planted c. wendtii, anubias sp. 'Gasser', and c. usteriana, though I have plans for a bunch more (c. beckettii, c. albida, c. x willissii, c. affinis, and anubias barteri var. coffeefolia) . I'll post some pics of my setup sometime in the next few days, but I'm using about 3" of water, with a heater set to keep the water temp around 76* F (it's in my basement, where the room temp is about 66-68* F), and I also have a small powerhead to circulate the water. The 40 breeder has a glass top that seems well sealed, and I have a 2x40W T-12 fixture overhead. There's lots of condensate on the sides and top to the tank, so I think humidity must be nice and high, though I have no way of measuring it. I'm using 4" diameter terra cotta "orchid pots" I picked up at Home Depot, which have drainage slots in the sides, in addition to a hole in the center of the bottom.

I've used sphagnum moss, flourite, or ecocomplete as substrates (experimenting with different combinations, mainly), but I had some questions about fertilizing. I've read elsewhere on this forum and the GWAPA forum that pretty much most plant fertilizers will do, though you want to dilute them ("fertilize weekly, weakly" . I've also watched Jan Bastmeijer's presentation from the 2004 AGA convention on growing crypts emersed, in which he compared several different fertilizers, and concluded there wasn't much difference. So I picked up MiracleGro Tomato Plant Food, which has an 18-18-21 N-P-K ratio (I couldn't find anything with *exactly* a 20-20-20 ratio), with 0.5% water soluble Mg, 0.10% chelated Fe, 0.05% chelated Mn, 0.05% chelated Zn, and 0.05% water soluble Cu. I have not yet used this stuff, though, so I could still return it if I've bought something completely inappropriate.

I know DelawareJim prefers urea-free based fertilizers, but look as I may, I didn't find any in the Home Depot.  This stuff contains 14% urea Nitrogen, 1.4% ammoniacal Nitrogen, and 2.6% nitrate Nitrogen.

So my question is this: the directions on the box suggest 1 tbsp/gallon of water; should I use 1/4 to 1/2 that much? And do you dissolve that in tap water, or distilled water? So far, I've added tap water to the tank (my tap water is about 8* GH, 4* KH, pH ~7.6). I haven't yet fertilized the pots in the setup, which has only been up and running for a few days.

Do you guys bother doing water changes on these kinds of setups? How often do you fertilize? Based on what I've read, monthly seems common, but the "weekly, weakly" comment by DelawareJim suggests I could do it more frequently. Given that I do normal tank maintenance on the weekends for my other tanks, it would make sense for me to fertilize the emersed setup weekly.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice you can provide, I'm really excited about growing crypts (and anubias, and other stuff) emersed.

Chris Todd


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

i have a couple of similar set ups and i dose with dry ferts (KNO3, CSM +B, KH2PO4 and K2SO4) mixed as instructed for aquarium fertilization. i pipette small amounts in an unscientific way right onto the substrate surface twice a week. i think that the fertilizers diffuse down into the little pots pretty well and also out into the shallow water. i do a 50% water change 1X/week.

i had a bad experience once burning some plants with a urea container fertilizer (Osmoscote).

here is a shot of one of my culture tanks.










i am actually turning this tank and some of the plants into a display.

hydrophyte


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