28 Gallon Riparium

[denaliwind]

Wow it's gorgeous! Brilliant idea using suction cups for the plants.

[mitchkin5]

That article is great ! Thanks for sharing! I think I would liketo try this!

[MoePaac]

This is very interesting to me. I've done a little outside research and have looked at the links you have sent. I'm a little confused on the planting. So most plants will need a substrate in the basket in which to grow, correct? Some plants it seems can have their roots directly in the water?

What substrate will you be using in the baskets?

I keep NPT's and am a huge advocate of them. I'm now thinking of ways to experiment and combine the idea of an NPT and Riparium. Maybe even somehow incorporate the idea of a paludarium. All of these incorporate the idea of a natural habitat and letting nature do most of the work, which I like. It will be interesting to research the idea of combining all these tank ideas into one and creating a habitat for fish/shrimp, and possibly an amphibian.

(And this is all hypothetical and experimental thinking, I wouldn't suggest throwing a betta into this group necessarily. I'm more interested in the idea of successfully growing the plants and adding in compatible species to complete the ecosystem).

[BlueHaven]

:o

That's a really pretty setup!!
Cute tiny fishies too ~

Are you going to put bamboo (lucky) in it too?

[Alex09]

Some updates. The baskets just came the other day. I am using granite gravel (from my backyard - thoroughly cleaned) mixed with regular aquarium gravel that I had lying around as substrate. I put in a root tab in each basket though I dont believe its necessary. Plants have filled out more :)

[Lion Mom]

110% awesome!!!! :)

[mitchkin5]

That looks really good! You could really make that work for a little red eared slider turtle till he got too big!

[beta novice]

love the gravel colors

[Lion Mom]

Hmmmmm - could you do that with a hood with plant lights, I wonder?

[Alex09]

Probably. You will just need to keep plants that wont grow too tall depending on the size of the tank in question. Also plants that dont mind high light. One problem with the hood thing though is that it might get too humid and fog up the glass. Some people have hoods but leave the door of it open to prevent this.