# 50-gallon Riparium Display



## hydrophyte

Hi Everybody, I have had this setup going for a little while. It is a riparium planted into a 50-gallon rimless tank. I started it with the intention of featuring a group of _Synodontis lucipinnis_ catfish. The cats are still small, so I have found space for a couple of other species--a single _Cryptoheros cutteri_ and a half-dozen _Ilyodon furcidens_ (Goodeidae). Here is a shot from a few days ago.










I will probably remove either the cichlid or the _I. furcidens_ as the synos grow up. I understand that they will grow to about 3.5".

I know that this is nothing like a biotope or representation of anything in nature, but the fish get along well and make a nice display. The emersed plants will grow in some more and I also intend to add some Amazon swords underwater to brighten that area.

I have an update from today. The red-patterned plant near the center of the emersed area is an unusual tropical swamp aroid, _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_. I wondered if it would grow in here, but so far it is doing great. Here is a picture from tonight with a new leaf slowly unfurling.










The leaves have this strange reptilian underside.


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## hydrophyte

I just started a thread on using those _Pilea_ sp. plant sin ripariums. It's over in the Aquarium Decorations forum.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=206610

_Pilea_ are some of the best plants for this and I have some good ones going in this setup.


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## mlancaster

such a great tank, I cant wait for the plants to fil in some more.

Thanks,
Matt


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much. The plants are getting close to grown in. I don't want them to get too large because I hope to have plenty of light shining down into the water.

That _c. johnstonii_ plant is definately the star of the tank right now. The leaf petioles are beginning to develop many soft spines and have this crazy leopard spot patternation.


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## iplaywithemotions

opcorn:


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## MSUDawgs56

Great Pics!


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## JWerner2

I love these tanks. Been years since I had one but I had one for newts as the main eye catcher.

I find that a clean and well designed one is a great display tank and a discussion starter in the living room.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks so much. I have a number of other pictures that I could put up. I was recording some of the progress of this tank in a thread in the Tank Setups forum.

MSUDawgs56 I think that I still owe you photos. Sorry I have been so busy. I just need to go and round up a few of them.


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## hydrophyte

Here is another quick shot from today.










Algae is growing on the rocks, which I sort of like. The fish like it too. The tan wall is imparting that yellow tinge to everything. I think that I will paint the wall white for picture-taking. I put a couple more (ratty-looking) plants into the underwater area. I want to find a couple-three decent Amazon swords to use there.

The catfish are eating well and growing fast. I need to stack up a few more rock piles for them.


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## Bachachi

Interestingly nice set up! Have never seen anything like this before. :thumb:


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## hydrophyte

Thanks Bachachi!


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## football mom

What sort of filtration do you have? I think I'd like one of these myself!


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## hydrophyte

This tank just has one of those Fluval Filstars that I got on sale for $89.99. Here is a shot under the stand from a while ago.










One advantage of these riparium setups is that you can have lots of green foliage, but since most of the plants grow up in the air they do not require CO2 injection.

This tank just has the lighting, filtration and a heater.


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## Decoder

It looks very peaceful. I d like to see the cutteri.


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## hydrophyte

Oh yes here is the _C. cutteri_.










He has a real nice shape. When I put him in this tank he was very pale and shy for some time, but now that he has settled in his colors are deeper.


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## hydrophyte

Here are the other two kinds of fish.

This is one of the _Ilyodon furcidens_.










This is just about my favorite aquarium fish of all time. The setup has a group of five of these. They are pretty hefty (~3") and as the catfish grow up I will probably replace them with a smaller shoaling species because it will get to be a lot of bioload.

I still do not have any good pictures of the _Synodontis_--they are quick! Here they are acclimating in the bag.


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## hydrophyte

I have another quick update from tonight. I have moved the stones around some more.










This is not such a good picture--the water was still cloudy from my disturbances. I acquired a couple of swordplants and they are presently in quarantine. They will brighten the underwater area and create some dimension there when I add them to the tank.

I got a quick shot of one of the _Synodonitis lucipinnis_.










What a cute little fish.


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## Decoder

The cutteri looks great! Almost like a barred midas. I like the algy rocks too.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks Decoder. I really like that cutteri too. He has a great personality and he gets along great with the other fish.

I like the look of the algae on the rocks too. I am tying to grow an even layer on all of the rocks. It takes some time for that thin crust of algae to grow.


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## beavis

Outstanding setup!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks beavis. I'm working on adding more underwater plants. I hope to have more pictures this weekend.


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## hydrophyte

The _Bacopa_ stems are finally beginning to cover well as a dense carpet. You can see just a couple of little corners of the foam trellis raft around the edges.










It took some time and training to get it to grow like this. As the stems have grown longer I have snipped them off where they reach past the edge of the raft. This encourages branching and more compact growth.

I am still unsure about which _Bacopa _ this is. It looks like _monnieri_, but I have some of that too and this one has leaves about 2X bigger. Does anybody have any opinions? The closest that I have seen while looking around is _B. madagascariensis_.


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## Toasted

This is inspiring. I'd love to do somthing similar.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks so much Toasted.

I hope to have more pictures soon. I think that I need to re-paint the wall in a color different form that creamy yellow. The foliage just doesn't look right with that as background.


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## hydrophyte

Tonight I was admiring the _Echinodorus cordifolius_ 'Tropica Marble Queen' sword.










This is a great riparium plant. Unlike the species _E. cordifolius_, which can become large and unruly, this cultivar grows rather slowly and stays short (~12") by comparison.


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## hydrophyte

I got a leaf close-up too to show that white variegation.










I need to work on getting more good pictures of this fish, but I have one decent shot of an _Ilyodon furcidens_.










I love these fish. This picture shows the really attractive finnage better. I will probably need to move these fish out as the _Synodontis_ grow up to size because it will get to be too crowded.


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## straitjacketstar

Very impressive set-up. The fish and plants look wonderful!


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## why_spyder

Holy $%^&, had no idea there was anything this nice in WI. :lol:

How often do you have to do waterchanges?

Great thread by the way!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks so much straightjacketstar. Do you have any photo threads?

I don't currently have any cichlids in there, but I was digging around in my 55-gallon setup last night and got some more plant shots. This is an emersed _Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia_ in a riparium planter.










I like this plant a lot. It grows rather slowly, but it is hardy. I also routinely see blooms on these plants and this specimen had one open spathe.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much why_spyder.

I have a pretty hefty fish load in here, so I change about 70% of the water each week.

I am sure that the plants do help some with nitrate reduction, but the foliage is still pretty small relative to the fish biomass in there.


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## hydrophyte

I got a few new pictures tonight. Here is a shot quartering from above.


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## mlancaster

It is looking really nice, filling in... I really like your centerpiece plant with the red viens...

Thanks,
Matt


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## hydrophyte

Thanks mslancaster. Yep, it is getting there. I hope to get video sometime pretty soon.

That centerpiece plant is _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_. It's my new favorite plant. The leaf underside is pretty cool too.


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## hydrophyte

Here is the FTS.


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## Uknowho

Nice tank.


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## hydrophyte

Thank you Uknowho!

I got a few more quick pictures today. That plants are all looking happy enough. I think that the _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_ and _Pilea cardierei_ go together nicely.










I am setting up for some full-tank shots. Here is a view from the side.










As I was formatting that shot I noticed a nice area of detail in the center of the frame.


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## hydrophyte

Here is another shot of the tank from the other angle.










I tried to get some more pictures of the _C. cutteri_, but didn't really put in enough time. This is the best result that I got.










You can see that he has colored up more anyway. I got this detail with a crop of that last image.


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## hydrophyte

I had put it off for some time, but tonight I finally got around to replacing that beige wall color with a better background, plain white.










This sets up much better contrast for the foliage. Tomorrow night I'll come back with a new full-tank shot.


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## hydrophyte

Here's another similar shot.










I've had my hands in this tank much of the afternoon. I am going to let the water clear, then do my best to get another good FTS or two.


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## hydrophyte

I can't stop taking pictures of these plants, especially the _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_. Here's another view...










...and detail cropped from that picture.










I think I have explored just about every angle.


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## kriskm

OK, just gorgeous. I love your selection of plants. How about a full tank shot including the water in the tank?


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## hydrophyte

Thanks kriskm. I am working on that. I have more than a hundred picture files here and I hope that I got at least one or two good FTS. I don't have more time for sorting until tomorrow. The underwater area really hasn't changed much since that picture from the end of January.


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## hydrophyte

I'm trying to wade through these new image files. Here is a quick _in situ_ shot.










I'll have more on the way. Two of the _Ilyodon furcidens_ dropped fry and I have pictures of that too.


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## hydrophyte

I finally got some video of this tank--I have been meaning to do so for some time. Here's the YouTube link to the first file that I uploaded.















I need to work on this some more. These first videos that I got are all very grainy and I don't know why. This one gives you an idea of how crazy the fish get anyway when I throw some food in the tank.

The display is currently stocked with one _Cryptoheros cutteri_, five _Ilyodon furcidens_ and seven _Synodontis lucipinnis_.


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## newby101

i love this setup!


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## hydrophyte

Thanks newby101. I hope to get more of these video files uploaded and posted later today.


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## hydrophyte

I got another video loaded. This one shows the whole tank along with a couple of close-ups. Here's the link.






It seems that video has even more of that bright glare washing out the foliage in the emersed area. I have this problem with still photos, although it's less severe. I need to look into fixes for that.


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## kriskm

That last video is great. What are your water parameters like? I'm just wondering how often you need to do water changes. Seems like with all those plants, your nitrates probably stay pretty low.


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## hydrophyte

Thanks kriskm. I haven't checked water params in some time. I do perform regular water changes for this tank (~60%/week) because it has a high bioload.

There are a lot of plants in there, but I don't think they can keep up with the fish.


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## hydrophyte

Here's another quick video. This is a macro close-up with fish going after algae wafer.






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## hydrophyte

I got a surprise a few mornings ago. Look for the little lavender spot in this picture.










The _Limnophila aromatica_ plant had a single bloom on it. The delicate little flower goes well with this plant's fine foliage.










Here is a cozier macro shot.


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## hydrophyte

I haven't been back to this journal in a while and today I got back to picture-taking. I have a bunch of files to process, but here's a quick one while I start organizing them.










I like the look of the tank from this angle. The _Limnophila_ and _Bacopa/I] have grown in so densely that they have covered up the rafts and planter cups really well._


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## hydrophyte

I got a close-up of the newest leaf on the _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_, which is really stunning.










That gold and pink coloration around the leaf tip is new. The older leaves just had the green leaf color with red veins.


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## hydrophyte

This layout has been torn down. I tried to get as many pictures as I could before taking it apart. The plants were pretty much at their peak.










I have some more shots on the way I just to format them and load 'em up.


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## El Zilcho

Planning a new design? Keep us updated if so, fantastic looking setup!


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## LSBoost

Your tank is too beautiful, I keep on visiting this thread.


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks very much. I do plan to start a new design in here. Actually I didn't move the rocks or fish, just the plants. I want to start again with mostly new plants.

I am still processing these last pictures. Here is another one.


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## hydrophyte

Now I'm using this setup as an unofficial riparium plant propagation tank. There are plants hung on all four panes of glass. It's not much of an aquarium display at the moment, but looks kinda cool from above.


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## hydrophyte

I don't have much else in updates for this tank. The planting is still a mess, but I still have all of the substrate and the same fish in place. The _Synodontis_ are growing up, so it is starting to get a bit crowded. I love having them in the display, but I wonder about moving the livebearers out.

The syns are getting to be more friendly as they get larger. They still spend most of their time in hiding, but I see them swimming about more while the lights are on.


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## hydrophyte

Check out the amazing leaf petioles on the _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_ plant.










There is another new leaf opening up. The plant is now getting to be about 30" tall and I had to raise up the light again. Here is another shot of the previous new leaf from a couple of months ago.










It looks as though the newest leaf will have even more of the gold and pink coloration.

It needs some extra room, but _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_ really is a fantastic plant for growing in a riparium. I just can't stop looking at it. This plant can grow to >6' tall eventually, but it should be a simple matter to just keep taking those divisions from the base and starting them as the main stalk gets to be too large.


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## hydrophyte

I was reminded that there is a quick demo video on using those riparium magnet planters and trellis rafts over at http://www.plantedbox.com/. Here is the link to the Vimeo video.






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## hydrophyte

I took the _Cyrtosperma johnstonii_ outside for a shot in the sunlight. This new leaf has more of the gold and pink.










This is a great plant, and pretty easy to grow in a riparium provided that you can give it some vertical space.


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## roonas

that is serious work, good job looks great


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## hydrophyte

Thanks roonas!


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## hydrophyte

I have re-done this tank. For a while I was just using it as a messy propagation setup, but then I got tired of that and decided to make a real display again.

Last night I figured out a general theme and got a few plants in there to illustrate. This is still only half-planted, but you can imagine the general idea--a background with the grasslike _Acorus gramineus_ and few other plants with unusual foliage as accents.










I will also add stem plants on trellis rafts all along the emersed midground. This will cover up those planters and create more visual depth.


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## hydrophyte

I have a pretty good idea for a midground plant, and I already picked one up at a local garden center. Basket grass (_Oplismenus_) grows as a sprawling plant in moist and shady spots, and it has this terrific foliage.










The small, broad and dark green leaves of this plant will set up a good contrast with the _Acorus gramineus_. I am going to plant up most of the midground trellis rafts with the basket grass. Here is a shot of these two combined from the 65-gallon tank that I had going a while ago.










I have found that _Opllismenus_ does not root so well in the gravel in a hanging planter, but it grows just fine with its roots right in the water, so it's a good choice for planting through the holes on a nano trellis raft.


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## Csababa

Hi,
I like you riparium very much.
Cs


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## Buckalew

That is an awesome piece


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## hydrophyte

Thanks very much. I hope to get some more pictures up soon.


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## Csababa

Can't wait to see them.


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## hydrophyte

OK Csasaba I have some new picture updates. Everything is looking pretty good. The _Oplismenus _grass and _Pilea_ had gotten to be overgrown and leggy, so I trimmed them and replanted before taking this picture. The fish seem healthy enough. There is virtually no algae in the tank now.


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## Csababa

Thank you, nice growing.


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## zitadel

That is soo beutiful aquarium :thumb:


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks you guys. I worked on this tank a bit more this weekend and I hoep to get some new pictures up.


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## hydrophyte

Here's a quick update for this setup. These plants are at their peak right now. I'd say that I selected a pretty good combination for this layout. I like the way that most of them are a similar shade of green. It worked real well to develop the background mainly with that _Acorus gramineus._


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## Manoah Marton

Sweet! What's your current stocklist, and do you have any pics. of them?
Keep up the good work!

Manoah Marton


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## why_spyder

Seein' your tank is always a pleasure! You ever go the MAAH meetings?


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## hydrophyte

Thanks so much! Yeah I have been to a couple of MAAH meetings but not since last year. I hope to make time for that this winter.


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## Caton

Funny seeing you here hydro....


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## FedEXguy

Is the Cutteri still in there?


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## hydrophyte

Yep the cutteri is still in this tank. I don't anticipate switching him out anytime soon. He gets along well with everybody.


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## hydrophyte

I have a couple of quick pictures. Here is the flower of _Hygrophila corymbosa_ 'Siamensis'.










And here is a shot of foliage with the flash.


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## Manoah Marton

Beautiful shots. Can I see a FTS? I absolutly love this tank.

Manoah Marton


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## hydrophyte

This right here is the best recent FTS that I have.










I might have another one pretty soon to post.


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## Manoah Marton

wow! your tank is really amazing. it looks like you've put a lot of work into it, and it's definetly payed off.

MM


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## hydrophyte

THanks so much! I might have some more new photo updates here pretty soon.


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## hydrophyte

Here is another quick photo update from this evening. I have a couple more pictures to post too I am in the middle of formatting them.


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## hydrophyte

Here's another view from the other angle.


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## hydrophyte

Here's a quick FTS from the other night.


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## mlancaster

Hi hydrophyte,

As I noted in your other thread: great FTS, I like the action of the fish. Both the underwater and marginal plants look great.

I additionally posted here because I subsequently wanted to ask about your lighting:

1) What type of lighting fixture and bulbs do you use?
2) Wattage?
3) Approximate cost?
4) It appears you hang it from the ceiling; is this out of necessity or preference?

Thanks, 
Matt


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## hydrophyte

Thanks so much Matt. That light is a Tek light 4 X 39 watt HO T5 fixture by Sunlight Supply. New that fixture costs several hundred dollars, but you can get a similar result by just using those T5 hydroponics strip lights, which only cost about $50 each for the strip + reflector.

I did hang the light from the ceiling. This was the easiest way to mount it and it also looks great.


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## hydrophyte

I have a quick YouTube video update for this tank and here is the link...


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## why_spyder

:thumb:


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## hydrophyte

Hey thanks why_spyder!

That upload was actually a little screwed up. This link goes to a better version of the same file...

http://www.youtube.com/user/ripariumsupply?feature=mhum

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## why_spyder

Very nice. I subscribed - had no idea you had videos of your tank uploaded already. :wink:


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## hydrophyte

Here is another quick video.






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## hydrophyte

Here is another quick new photo update. Everything is still looking good. I might chop all of this up pretty soon and start over again.










This image is a montage that I made to correct for exposure.


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## hydrophyte

I haven't been back to this thread in a while.

Since I tore down the planting this setup has been a ratty mess, but I have some cool plants in there. I am mainly using it just for growout now.










I have been trying to think of ideas for a new setup. I got some really great stem plants in trade from *Crispino Ramos* and I am considering a planting with a real lush underwater foreground mainly with stems, and the emersed riparium area also with stems.

I might put together injected CO2 for this idea, although several of those stems are doing well and growing fine with no extra carbon.


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## hydrophyte

I haven't been back to this thread in a while!

I redid some of the fish stocking for this tank, but I have the seven _Synodontis lucipinnis_ that have been in this setup all along.










This species is definitely one of my favorite aquarium fishes.

And here are some of the _Limia vittata_. A lot of wild type livebearers are more like collector fish, but this one is also a great display fish. They look great all the time and I love those splotchy markings on the sides. Tehy swim aroudn out in the fron tof the display and they look great.








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## FedEXguy

One of these days, I'm going to set up a riparium, solely because of this thread. Truly inspiring.


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## phinexswarm35

fedexguy great for jumping the thread, we want a update


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