"Sort of Wabi kusa" build

[Howsie]

Hi everyone! This is a little project that I decided to start today that was new and thought it would be a little bit of fun. Note that if you want to copy this little project know that I have little idea what I'm doing. I like to think of it as Im testing it out so you dont have to.Enjoy:

This build starts off with a massive 450...ml glass that looks very similar to the one below but has a crack in it

I the added some rinsed Compost. (I didnt make a clay ball thing that most other wabi kusa use)

I also added a JBL clay ball

After that I found some moss growing on the lawn (which we havent sprayed of fertillized for ages). I think its sphagnum but im probably wrong

I ripped some out and placed it in the glass gently but firmly enough

I then took lots of pictures and posted it on here.

If you know any other plants I could put in please tell me.

Thanks

[Adrienne]

Are you going to keep the substrate wet? If so you could try some anubias nana petite. I'm not sure of your plan here but putting a piece of gladwrap over the top would increase the humidity.

[Li@m]

:iag: Add water(don't flood it just make it wet.) & mist several times each day. Try grow an emersed crypt.

[Howsie]

Are you going to keep the substrate wet? If so you could try some anubias nana petite. I'm not sure of your plan here but putting a piece of gladwrap over the top would increase the humidity.

I am going to keep the substrate wet and at the moment I do have glad wrap over the top but at the moment I haven't yet added any aquarium plants yet. I was thinking Anubias.

:iag: Add water(don't flood it just make it wet.) & mist several times each day. Try grow an emersed crypt.

I will mist multiple times a day and would like to try Crypts.If this project works I might convince my mum to let me make more with different parameters.

What crypts would you suggest (amongst other plants) ?

Do you think I need to add a light or could I sit it in a window. If I used a light what would you suggest (what & where to buy)?

[Adrienne]

SamH would probably be better to ask than me about a light for a small container but I am sure he will be reading this thread anyway

Crypts, you would need the smaller growing varieties, I have seen one in a newt setup that looked good but not sure what it was. The other thing you could try is some of the plants sold at the likes of animates. Most of these (not talking about anubias, ferns or mosses here but stem plants) are grown submersed and will happily continue on in a setup such as yours.

[Howsie]

Im thinking of trying some dwarf sag to see what it looks like and maybe some Alternathera Reineckii to see if that grow as its not doing great in my tank. I might be able to get another on made from a nutino jar which could look better when plants grow up a bit and might suit bigger plants like crypts. Anyway I'll get cracking and post some pictures later on.

Thanks

p.s I saw my lemon tetras spawn this morning which was cool (not expecting anything though)

[Howsie]

After talking about lights I decided to have a look around home to see if i could find anything and then I remembered the lights to my old siamese fighter tank and luckily it still worked. I also made another planter out of the Nutino jar but this time Im going to try java moss instead of sphagnum moss. In the new Nutino jar I addded a cutting of Anubias (Barteri?) as well as a java fern plantlet. To the original cup I added some Alternathera Reineckii, a piece of Sagittaria subulata and a small plant i got given as Baby tears.

Heres a shot of where I have placed everything

This is an early stage in the second glass. Still need to add moss which ill get in the next week.

Here is the first glass with a few extra plants as stated above

here you can see the condensation which i hope means its fairly humid.

This might need to be placed in the trade and exchange but I will be after Crypts, hydrocotyle, glosso, mosses and other plants to try out in the near future so if you've got some and want to sell them pm me :thup:

[Adrienne]

Have a look at this link http://www.fnzas.org.nz/?p=620 - its on the FNZAS main site. There are other articles there if you haven't had a look around. Just click on the FNZAS Home logo and the menus will appear.

[89crwreck]

last lot of pics not working for me :dunno:

[SamH]

last lot of pics not working for me :dunno:

I think that's cause he moved them. Here's the album http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/Howsi ... t=4&page=1

[Howsie]

Sorry. Ill have a go at fixing that

[Howsie]

I think i fixed the pictures. Not much in the way of updates. I added a small amount of java moss to the second glass and another little plant which I think is hygrophila polysperma. I also added a piece of water sprite that was almost growing emmersed in the tank. Ill put up another picture when i get some new growth.

[calculator]

There looking good, looking forward to seeing progression.

[alanmin4304]

There are two main ways to grow aquatic plants emersed. One is to do what you have and keep the plants and the atmosphere moist---often called the bell jar method. The other is to keep the media moist but leave the plant dry. The first can develop algae problems but is better for converting submersed to emersed, the second has less problems in my experience but requires that you start with emersed plants. You can do this by allowing stem plants to grow out of the water then nipping them off and sitting them in a glass of water until they develop roots. Virtually all aquatic plants can be grown emersed.

[Howsie]

There looking good, looking forward to seeing progression.

Thanks

There are two main ways to grow aquatic plants emersed. One is to do what you have and keep the plants and the atmosphere moist---often called the bell jar method. The other is to keep the media moist but leave the plant dry. The first can develop algae problems but is better for converting submersed to emersed, the second has less problems in my experience but requires that you start with emersed plants. You can do this by allowing stem plants to grow out of the water then nipping them off and sitting them in a glass of water until they develop roots. Virtually all aquatic plants can be grown emersed.

That first method seems similar to what I'm doing at the moment. I haven't heard of algae being a problem but have read about mould growing. The second method seems fairly easy. When my plants in the tank grow a bit more I think I'll try that. It seems that after the roots start growing it would take off quicker. I could have tried that before my tanks big rescape the blue hygrophila was always growing right out of the water.

[alanmin4304]

Before the shakes I had a small glasshouse full of plants grown that way.

[Howsie]

Its been a while since the last update and I have got some decent growth from the Alternathera Reineckii and the "baby tears". Tha plants i put in a while back like the Water sprite and the unidentified plant have adjusted well. I might be able to remove the gladwrap off the original glass and have in room conditions. Anyway pics

Heres some new growth on the Alternathera reineckii

A comparison shot of the Baby tears and the Alternathera

New growth on the Baby tears

This is the unidentified plant. I previously thought Hygrophila polysperma but now think some sort of rotala maybe?

A birds eye view of the original glass. I think the tiny piece of grass that came with the sphagnum moss might be growing

The sphagnum moss is growing

I didnt take many pics of the second glass as there wasnt much growth. I bought some more java moss and will put that in this weekend.

[reptilez]

Nice growth!!!

[Howsie]

Hello again. I thought I should update the project. I have got some new growth and have put some more moss in the second glass. I also found a couple more glasses like the second one which I might use but at the moment Ill just keep them from being chucked. Any way here's some pics:

As you can see I added the moss as well as another piece of Alternathera reineckii The anubias or java fern hasn't done much and am considering moving on to something else. Maybe a crypt???

Here you can see the Bacopa reaching right out of the glass. I have taken the plastic off this one so I don't damage the plant and so it can continue to grow on. I'm wondering if I should move it to another glass to see if it will carpet. Does that stuff even Carpet??

Here is some awesome root growth. This is right under the reineckii so i assume that's what its from.

Bit of a strange shot but you can see the indian fern has put out a new leaf.

I would like to try a crypt surrounded by some sort of carpet plant if i did a good looking one. What species of carpets would work. Do we have any small Hydrocotyle? Also would some thing like this work with a lower humidity when established?

Thanks

[alanmin4304]

Plants can vary a lot depending on conditions but your alternanthera is redder than the roseafolia I used to grow which emersed was green on top and red underneath the leaf. There were a couple of other varieties about so suspect it is one of those.

[Howsie]

Plants can vary a lot depending on conditions but your alternanthera is redder than the roseafolia I used to grow which emersed was green on top and red underneath the leaf. There were a couple of other varieties about so suspect it is one of those.

Im not sure if it really is Alternathera Reineckii, I got it as "assorted stem plant". I assume it is but could be something different like you say. It could be my tank but it didn't grow at all underwater and I know there are some Alternathera that only grow emmersed so could be one of them? Once it grows more its true identity may be easier to see.

[alanmin4304]

All Alternanthera will grow a characteristic white flower where the leaf meets the stem. Roseafolia is the one most suited to submersed growth.

[DennisP]

I think I'm going to give this a shot this weekend.

Do you have any suggestions?

I think I'll follow this layout:

Is there anything you've discovered so far that you didn't expect?

[Howsie]

I think I'm going to give this a shot this weekend.

Do you have any suggestions?

I think I'll follow this layout:

Is there anything you've discovered so far that you didn't expect?

I wanted to do some thing closer to that but didn't have any suitable containers and think it would take a bit more effort to make one of those balls. I would like to try one as soon as i find a nice glass bowl or something though. When making one of those balls I would try using mostly clay with sand (might need to test that combo cause its more of a guess than anything) to keep it a ball and not mud. It could take some experimentation to get the right consistency. Something I didnt expect was that it would work so well. The plants are growing really quickly and took suprisingly little time to acclimate to emersed conditions. some of the plants I used however were more suited to emersed growth i think. One more thing which is probably pretty simple but for some reason didnt occur to me is choose a container that will allow the plants to grow without being restricted. Some of the leaves of the Alternathera are pressed up against the glass and the babytear/bacopa stuff is now growing out of the cup. Might have to transplant. Hope atleast some of this helps.

Ill post some updated pics tomorrow

[DennisP]

Sound good. I might have a look to see if I can find some sort of glass to try. A flat and shallow one.

I was going to put it in a jar but it will get restricted.