Friends for the 1.5g jarrarium

[Dawn T]

We have friends! I set up 2 more jars. Well... PARTIALLY set up. Awaiting some plants, and I need to order one more I want to use in one of the setups. Both are about a gallon each.

#1 contains quartz rock with driftwood and an Anubias nana (that I might replace with a nana petite when I can order one). I want to add Java moss to this one, and I'm going to put a miniature version of Arrowhead vine that will grow out of the top in the background. I'm giving serious consideration to breaking the largest rock that's in there, but I'm waffling.

#2 contains basalt rock that's common in our area, along with black fluorite gravel and sand combo. Also contains a single piece of knotty driftwood I fell in love with and a Java Fern. I plan to put more plants in, but I'm not sure yet what I want to add. It's only about 8" tall, with the water at about the 6.5" mark, so I'd like to stick with plants that stay smaller. Any suggestions for low-light plants?

[OceanTruth]

That knotty driftwood is amazing. Great find.

[mustang_eas]

I'm diggin em, I think Crypts would look good, either Wendtii or Lutea 🙂👍

[Dawn T]

Well... I've redone these 2 jars. I really wasn't happy with the one - that white rock was just too big for that small of a container. Plus some bog/marsh/terrarium plants I had ordered arrived. I made a HUGE mess redoing the white one and tweaking the layout in the black one. Neither is done yet, since I decided to order a couple of plants from AC to finish them. I decided the Anubias nana in the one with the white rock was too big, so I've ordered some nana petite to go in there instead. Have java moss coming, too, which will go into the one with the black rocks. As a result of the redo, I've gone paludarium with both instead of nano aquarium. Will post pictures once I can get some decent ones.

[Dawn T]

Latest photos showing the redo on these 2 jars. No critters of any kind on them, and pretty sure I won't put anything in either, except MAYBE a pond snail. Very little water in both.

White-rocked one. I added Sweet rush (Acorus gramineus variety) in the background. It's a bog plant but doesn't tolerate being fully submerged for very long. Great for this type of use though. I removed the Anubias nana I originally put in here and replaced it with a nana petite I just received today. I found a 6" plastic houseplant saucer fits perfectly on top to prevent evaporation and keep the humidity inside high. That one piece of driftwood in the center is doing that weird biofilm thing, and the water is doing some of the bacterial cloudiness. I'm just leaving it alone to see how things progress. Sorry about the glares on the glass.

The other one with the black rock, I added a miniature variety of Syngonium (arrowhead vine) that supposed to stay small and compact. We'll see how that goes, as it's a new-to-me plant. Like the Acorus, it can't be grown fully submerged long-term but should do well in this sort of layout. I resituated the rocks, which meant I needed to move the Java Fern I originally put in there. I also added some Java Moss I received in the mail today, which finalizes this one. Like with the jar above, a 6" plastic houseplant saucer works well as a clear lid to keep evap down and humidity inside up. I wasn't sure how the Java Fern would handle being converted from fully submerged to mostly above water. So far, no leaf die-back or shriveling, probably because I have a lid on it.

[Dawn T]

The black-rocked jar is doing great. So far, so good with the plants I put in there. I keep it covered except if I have to check on plants, so humidity stays high and water doesn't evaporate out.

The white quartz jar, not as good. I had to do a 100% water change today and clean out a bunch of detritus. The anubias petite in there was complete mush. NEVER saw that before, but the rhizome was still solid, so I cleaned off the mushy leaves and stems and put the rhizome back in place. Maybe it'll regrow. Maybe not. I figure it's worthwhile to see what it'll do.