Plants grow very well in blackwater conditions without soil

[anewbie]

As i moved to more amusing wild caught fishes many of my aquariums now run with an ec between 20 and 30 and ph ~5. All my aquariums have inertsubstrate. Here are a few pictures from two aquariums showing how plant life has change during the past 8 or so months:


(these are wild caught cameta orange):





another aquarium:



(one of the fishes in this aquarium)


(I have more but i think 2 is enough); totally unrelated a couple of plants grown emersed:

(one of the cheap helena)



(this is one of the plants sold as platinum anubia - not very platinum )

 

[Art]

I love the biotope look to your aquariums. To me, they seem to be what you would really see in nature. Plant growth seems very robust and healthy.

Well done!

I just ordered one of the DOOA CELL pots for my desk. Hoping to grow an Anubias or Buce in emersed form. Is that an emerged growing setup?

 

[anewbie]

I love the biotope look to your aquariums. To me, they seem to be what you would really see in nature. Plant growth seems very robust and healthy.

Well done!

I just ordered one of the DOOA CELL pots for my desk. Hoping to grow an Anubias or Buce in emersed form. Is that an emerged growing setup?

Yes - it is behind one of my aquariums that is a glass cage designed for amphians so it has a wet portion and a dry portion with a mister. I also have a 5 gallon setup with one of these ultra cheap misters.

That DOOA CELL looks nice but not sure how you mist the plant. It also looks pretty pricey compare to a 5 gallon aquarium BUT of course it looks a lot nicer on your desk. The platinum anubia i have above is a most excellent plant in emersed form the leaves have a lot of texture.

 

[Unexpected]

Tanks look real good. Nice and clean and actually natural looking.

 

[anewbie]

This is another aquarium - it is actually a bit newer setup in oct 24:



One thing i've learned is that par over around 20 at the bottom can cause a bit of algae - i learned this when i put a chiros b on my 10 as a test (i had an ai freshwater); i noticed algae started growing then i went and measured the par on all the aquariums using on of those insanely expensive par meter and realize that at par 40 it was too high - plants at least the ones i have seem to do fine without too much light or nutrients (this tank for example has an ec of 31 and never gets fertilizer other than a couple of root tabs since i use inert substrate and the plants seem to do pretty well though you might disagree

the only 'new' plant the past 8 weeks is the pinto in left front that was added the other day when someone sent me some extra - in truth i don't have room for more plants anywhere. I did find a couple of crypt striolata - here is one growing emersed:

If you look in the middle you see a new leaf unfolding so i have some hope (it is a new plant)

 

[Art]

What's your pH at? I don't know about stiolata but some crypts favor acidic conditions. One of the best crypt growers ever used to grow his crypts in outdoor ponds (Florida) in sand and beech wood litter.

We also don't know enough about how humic acids work in a planted aquarium environment. I suspect some synergistic effect but have no data.

 

[anewbie]

Well stiolata requires very acidic conditions when submersed; my ph is somehwere between 4.7 and 5.5 as the fishes in the aquarium are blackwater species.