Riparium Plants & Peace Lily Planter

[Guppysnail]

They both are. One is the normal Zebrina purple and the other is nanouk pink

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

These are fish tank safe? Really?

[Isaac M]

I do something similar with the planters except I use stainless steel wire instead of the suction cups(much stronger, especially once you lower the water level and they do not have the help of buoyancy) and expanded clay balls for the substrate. I also use black canvas as it helps hide the planter with a black background and helps keep smaller substrate in and smaller fish out haha 

[Sandra the fish rookie]

No idea why but I can't find those soap/shower caddy's in any store anymore but ordered them from amazon. I currently use Poth-o-carry's that I got from Etsy but they don't work as well for peace lilly or bamboo. I think the caddy's will work better. I have Pothos ( A LOT of it) and red mangrove on my 20 and 40 gallon and just pothos on my smaller tanks.. they grow like CRAZY. Its a major conversation topic when people come over and see all these plants coming out of the back of my tanks! First they can't believe the plants inside are real, and trip out over the ones that are growing out of the back.. LOL. Some of the roots are almost to the substrate and even in it. The shrimp and fish like darting around in them. I even have one in a little 2.5 G I use for snails and plant clippings. 

I do find I have to top off my tanks more frequently.. anyone have a trick/hack for that? 

[Darth Mollusk]

@Sandra the fish rookie Your tanks look amazing! All that green must be so soothing. I tried a soap dish off amazon and couldn't get the suction cups to stick for the life of me. 🤦‍♂️ 

I suspect we're all just resigned to doing top-ups... Even with a tight-fitting lid, the plants are still turning that water into new growth. I suppose if we just did a cup a day or something, maybe it wouldn't seem so laborious? Bit of fish food, splash of water.

Not that I would ever count on me to keep up with that. 😅

@Isaac M nice!! I toyed with the idea of substrate--I think some plants would benefit from it. I might get a second of these trays and fill it with something clay or lava rock based and do some plant experimentation. 🧐

[Jenja]

About a month ago I got the pothos and a couple baby spider plants from my sister. The pothos had one new leaf started when I got it and this week I noticed two new ones started (one on the side where I cut the vine she gave me so that was extra exciting). I'm pretty sure the spider plants have grown a bunch of leaves since I got them - stupid me never thought to snap a photo when I added them.

The lucky bamboo I got back in early March, it was at the 4 when I added it - decent growth there I think 😁 When I got the bamboo I initially had them in my aquaclear but that was a pain to move every time I wanted to rinse my sponges - plus I worried the roots would eventually get in the pump. A marina slim and some lava rock gave me a permanent planting solution that I hope to never need to worry about roots again (even if it was a baseless worry, lol).

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/21/2022 at 6:19 AM, Odd Duck said:

My best grower by far is my pothos.  I just trimmed my vines back because they were going crazy.  Some had gone behind a bookshelf, some were actually digging into the wall!  I cut the vines into 2 leaf sections

I just bought a Pothos but I’m not sure where to cut the vine so it will grow in the tank. 

[Darth Mollusk]

On 6/29/2022 at 6:46 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I just bought a Pothos but I’m not sure where to cut the vine so it will grow in the tank. 

Just cut it so you can still have a node (the little brow nubs). New roots will shoot off from there.

There's little white roots sprouting from the  nodes on these after a week of being in the tank.

ETA: nodes are usually opposite stem or leaf growth. I try to leave at least three leaves on a cutting; I find it does better, personally. Possibly because it can catch more rays.

Edited June 29, 2022 by DarthMollusk

[Odd Duck]

On 6/29/2022 at 5:46 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I just bought a Pothos but I’m not sure where to cut the vine so it will grow in the tank. 

I usually cut so there are 2-3 leaves left on the section of vine.  If they are big leaves, I only do 2 of them since the vine has to suddenly support the leaves by taking up water directly instead of through the roots as normal.  If the leaves are small, or one is newly developing at the very tip of the vine, I’ll do 3.  I cut the vine a short way above a leaf so there is minimal vine left above the upper leaf since that part always dies and I don’t want to go back and cut off a chunk of dead vine.  Plus I want to leave plenty of vine below the lowest leaf since the vine will sometimes sprout roots along the side of it and not just at the node.  This lets the vine get the most possible water and nutrients into the start.  See all the brown bumps along the vine on a couple of these stems?  Those can develop into roots, too, so I leave as much stem as possible to extend into the water.  That pale sprout is a root developing since I popped these in the water about 9 or 10 days ago.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@DarthMollusk @Odd Duck pictures & everything; you guys are awesome! I made the cut; I did two. I put them in the hob for now; wasn’t sure if the juice at the cut site was fish safe or if I needed to wait for the roots to grow first. 
 

 

[Guppysnail]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea I usually rinse mine first not for juice toxicity but to get the dust and any potential chemicals that may have been near them off and jam them right in the tank. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@Guppysnail I rinsed these as well and rubbed the leaves and stems to remove any stuff that might have been on there.

[Odd Duck]

I rinse dust off and cram them right in the tank (sponge caddy) or HOB depending on which tank.