my emersed grow setup

yesterday at the aquarium co-op swap meet, I was talking with a few people about emersed plants and I said I would post a photo...well I felt a video would be easier.




 

Very nice.

Hmmm, my iPad don't like your video :/

Those look awesome, hobbyorobsession!

fishNAbowl wrote:Hmmm, my iPad don't like your video :/

Worked the second time

Cool little set up!

Cool, I think I was one of the ones talking to you about emersed anubias, I might have to set something like that up for the winter once I get some money coming in (I do have a job now, yay!)

hobbyorobsession wrote:yesterday at the aquarium co-op swap meet, I was talking with a few people about emersed plants and I said I would post a photo...well I felt a video would be easier.

Your containers look fantastic; nice sound track too.

I'm working on setting up my first emersed grow tub.  I have some experience with seed starting and my glosso terrarium, not to mention my dry start tank, but this will be the first setup of mine designed to grow aquatic plants in separate, small containers.

How much water do you keep in the bottom?

Do you use a heater?  

If not, how warm do your containers stay, usually?

My setup has a hardware cloth platform to keep the planters elevated so I can fill the bottom with water that covers a 25w hydor heater and a small pump for circulation.  I just cut the glass panels to cover it over the weekend.  I'm using 2 23W 6500K CFL bulbs in 8" shoplight reflectors over the top of it (it's 23"L x 17"W, x 18"H, roughly).  

My primary concern: how much water is too much?  I was thinking I'd try to maintain the water level at least 1" above the bottom of the planters.  

I have some 3" coconut fiber planters on the way and I cooked some miracle-gro organic topsoil over the weekend so I'm ready when they arrive.

Any comments or suggestions will be helpful.  

Thanks!

How much water do you keep in the bottom? I keep between and inch or two inches of water in the base of the tubs.

Do you use a heater? no, I also do not filter / circulate the water.

If not, how warm do your containers stay, usually? they are on a concrete basement floor covered in carpet next to a sliding glass door. so they are cool. I would say there temp is in the high 50's during the winter and fall, and 70s during the summer.

My primary concern: how much water is too much? I feel that you just want the water level high enough to saturate the root structure of the plants.. if your growing small rooted plants like hc I would want higher water levels as there roots as small. but hygrophilia species will put down a lot of long roots so you don't need as much water.

Thanks for the quick response! It sounds like I'm on the right track. I'll try the heated approach for a while and see how that goes.