# 28 Gallon Riparium



## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

So for those of you who dont know the story; My neighbor offered me an aquarium she did not want. She told me it was 20 gallons or so and that I could have it for free. Did I take it? Of course! I would be crazy not to. I sized up the tank and according to the dimensions - the tank was 28 gallons! I soon went out and bought a stand for it. I decided to use this tank as an upgrade from my 10 gallon community (home to a female betta, and a few platies and cories).

With this tank I decided to do something different. Something I have been wanting to do for a long time. A riparium. Don't know what that is? then CLICK HERE. I got it setup last week. I transfered everything over, and filled it with a foot of water (roughly 16 gallons) I ordered some suction cup basket things from amazon to use as planters as I dont like the look of the things im currently using to hold up the plants and these are waaay cheaper than the "official" riparium planters. The plants will have more room to grow out in the planters and will look more natural and pleasing. I will also be getting more plants for the terrestrial plants section. I'm currently hunting down diffenbachia (dumb cane), pilea (aluminum plant), and sweetflag grass among others. While still a work in progress, this is a project that I hope to enjoy and make a masterpiece of.

On to the pics! As you can see, it is looking a bit sparse. My goal is to cover the entire back wall with plants.









































If you have any questions please ask.


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## DoNotDeclaw (Apr 1, 2011)

I can't even describe how beautiful I think that is. It's gorgeous! I can't wait to see pictures of it grown in.


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## bettafish15 (Oct 3, 2010)

That looks gorgeous so far!


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## Pekemom (Jan 27, 2011)

Alex, I am totally fascinated with this!! I am very excited for you and can't wait to see your progress. The tank already looks fabulous.

I went on the website (your link). Am I understanding correctly that the little disks shown are the planters? You plant in the little disks and adhere the disks to the tank using suction cups? Doesn't the gravel/plant fall out? Please explain!! Lots of good luck!!


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

Wow, thats cool. I cant wait for *ahem* more pics! *ahem!*

What dimensions are that tank? Its seems really boxy, its so different!

Im jealous, I want one of these now, haha.


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## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

I love it.. it is beautiful! Do you know if there is a list online somewhere of the plants that can be used for ripariums? I am planning on adding a few plants a above the water line with roots submerged in one of my tanks but I am not sure which plants I can use.


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

Awesome - 100% awesome!!!!!


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## LolaQuigs (Mar 28, 2010)

That's awesome, I love ripariums and paludariums! But I can't even keep the simplest of plants alive, so I'll just admire them from afar. :lol:


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Pekemom said:


> Alex, I am totally fascinated with this!! I am very excited for you and can't wait to see your progress. The tank already looks fabulous.
> 
> I went on the website (your link). Am I understanding correctly that the little disks shown are the planters? You plant in the little disks and adhere the disks to the tank using suction cups? Doesn't the gravel/plant fall out? Please explain!! Lots of good luck!!


The planters would look like this when filled. If you look carfully you can see the suction cups which attach to the back wall of the tank. The suction cup organizers I bough from amazon will have little holes though for water circulation.


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Littlebittyfish said:


> I love it.. it is beautiful! Do you know if there is a list online somewhere of the plants that can be used for ripariums? I am planning on adding a few plants a above the water line with roots submerged in one of my tanks but I am not sure which plants I can use.


Dont know of an exact list but Peace lily, Pothos, spider plant, arrowhead plant, and diffenbachia (sp?) are a few that come to mind. Actually, if you go to petco/ petsmart, many of the plants that they sell as aquatic but are actually terrestrial would do fine in these conditions.


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

LolaQuigs said:


> That's awesome, I love ripariums and paludariums! But I can't even keep the simplest of plants alive, so I'll just admire them from afar. :lol:


You would have to have the touch of death to be able to kill pothos. It _is_ also known ad Devil's ivy. hahaha. I swear you can throw that plant into your closet for a month and ignore it and the plant will still pull through the ordeal like nothing happened.


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## Pekemom (Jan 27, 2011)

> You would have to have the touch of death to be able to kill pothos


Sounds like my kind of plant!! Thanks for the pictures - I see now how it works. What I love about it, is that you don't have to use special fertilizer or add anything extra with these particular plants - right?

Also - you are changing out only a percentage of the tank water at a time? Do you remove the plants for water changes?


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## LolaQuigs (Mar 28, 2010)

Do you need any special equipment/lighting for a riparium?


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

*Pekemom: *Nope, no ferts required. Fish waste should be enough to provide nutrients for the plant. I do 30-50% WC once a week. I dont remove any plants from the tank.

*LolaQuigs: *Well you will need to have an internal or a submersable filter as HOB filters wont work for this. As for lighting, it depends. If you will have plants under the water then yes. If you will just have the terrestrial plants then no. Many of these plants are usually tropical plants that live in the shadow of other larger plants in the wild. They need only minimum lighting. In fact, just regular ambient light will often be enough so you wont need to use up any extra electricity if you don't want to. Best thing, is that these plants provide all the water purification benefits of aquatic plants without the need for special ferts, lighting, co2, etc. These plants have "the arial" advantage as they can pull co2 from the air (much more abundant) and as such, can even do an even better job than aquatics. Its all described in Diana Walstad's book: _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_.


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## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

Alex09 said:


> Dont know of an exact list but Peace lily, Pothos, spider plant, arrowhead plant, and diffenbachia (sp?) are a few that come to mind. Actually, if you go to petco/ petsmart, many of the plants that they sell as aquatic but are actually terrestrial would do fine in these conditions.


Thankyou! I actually have some spider plants around here somewhere...:lol:
Right now I just have a few clippings hanging out from my 10 gallon. some of my plants in my tank to root...variegated wandering jew, mexican petunias,and some acorus I bought at petco and found out later it would probably die fully submerged..I am actually using the acorus rubber banded by the root base in front of my filter outtake...made a nice "green" filter baffle.:lol:
Not sure how long the variegated wandering jew and mexican petunias will work out..An experiment of sorts I guess..:-D
I am thinking I may use my 29 gallon to do something similar. I haven't used it yet because I bought it used and I was unable to tell if it was reptile or fish tank and couldn't get ahold of the people I bought it from to ask...hm.....I believe it may work if I fill it only 1/3-2/3 though! This whole thread gave me tons of ideas! And here I was just going to use that big tank as a mini green house for my garden! No way! I am building a riparium!:-D:lol:


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

Alex09 said:


> You would have to have the touch of death to be able to kill pothos. It _is_ also known ad Devil's ivy. hahaha. I swear you can throw that plant into your closet for a month and ignore it and the plant will still pull through the ordeal like nothing happened.


Quoted for truth!!! I have cuttings from a large Pothos I have had for a LONG time that have literally been growing in water for YEARS!!! :-D


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Interesting article I found for anyone who is interested...
http://www.tuncalik.com/2010/01/indoor-plants-for-water-purification-in-aquariums/


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## Kestrel (Jan 17, 2011)

Aha, so there's a name for this kind of thing! I've always thought the ripariums looked amazing, but now I've learned so much about them. They sound a lot easier than fully aquatic plants too, which is good. My only problem would be, I don't like to bother with live plants and plastic plants would probably look out of place with other real ones.


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## Pekemom (Jan 27, 2011)

Great article and extremely interesting website, Alex. Thanks for the link.


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## Omboc (Dec 25, 2010)

Looks great to me! Sounds like something to try one day.


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## denaliwind (Feb 27, 2011)

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


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## mitchkin5 (May 13, 2010)

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


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## MoePaac (Jun 16, 2010)

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).


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## BlueHaven (Jul 17, 2010)

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

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


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

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


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

110% awesome!!!!


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## mitchkin5 (May 13, 2010)

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


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## beta novice (May 9, 2010)

love the gravel colors


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

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


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

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.


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

Alex09 said:


> 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.


Thanks for the info - I will keep that in mind should I decide to try this someday. :-D


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## Pekemom (Jan 27, 2011)

The tank is coming along so beautifully, Alex. I love the way you aquascaped - with the plants on one side. It's quite artistic, I think. Beautiful overall effect! Great job...


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Update. Its been a few weeks. Plants have had a chance to grow in. Added new plants as well


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## jespenguin (Feb 13, 2011)

This is a great idea! I think I am going to try it for my red ear slider's tank so it looks more showy!


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

UPDATES: Added Sweetflag grass to planters  Also a few White Clouds (fish). Had to remove my female betta  She started attacking one of my poor cories. This was the 2nd time it happened. Last time I left her in hoping she wouldnt do it again but she did. His poor fins were tattered. It's been a few weeks and he's made a full recovery luckily.


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## BlueHaven (Jul 17, 2010)

That's so cool. 
Haha
My female betta is not good with tank mates, she thinks they are food or she will keep them in their place by pestering them.
I think it's partly out of curiosity though, 
haha


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## SnowySurface (Apr 25, 2011)

Your tank looks beautiful already. I like the look of live plants, but use fake plants since I don't have to worry about silk leaves dying like my house plants would do. How do you keep the leaves that full and green? I can't keep any plants alive that well to save my life. XD


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

I just use hardy low light plants for the aquatic section and hardy bog type houseplants for the emmersed section. Light is on for 8 hrs a day. Add 2 drops of fertilizer every other day (its super concentrated - 8 drops a day can treat 50 gallons).


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