Just stunning ... simply stunning!

 

this is a beautiful tank.
Is there any water movement, or is it stagnant?

 

Amazing tank! It's always "open", I mean, without any lid?
Regards

 

Breathtaking tank. Instantly goes on my all time great list. Could you or your friend tell us more about it? Anything from species to age to technical specifics would be great. Might be the tank to beat at AGA!

Great pictures too. Thank you!

 

is that riccia in the water or something else?

 

I think he said it was UG

 

Oh and this is definitely a GREAT tank, is now one of my favorites!

 

i must say that is an impressive display of UG since i dont seem to find a co2 unit.

 

lets get some stats on that thing please

 

superb!.... How to combine carnivorous plants that hate mineral water, with immersed stem plants that needs good root nutrition...

 

Here are more photos for you all to enjoy.

 

I would first like thank my friend JoJo who is the owner of Aquascapes here in Honolulu, Hi. His shop is an ADA themed shop with everything you need to create the scape of your dreams. His awesome creations and displays in the shop exemplifies his knowledge, experience, and dedication to the hobby. Also a big mahalo for the pictures he took. Very professional and well done!

To all of you who commented to this thread, Thank you very much for your kind comments. I'll try to answer all of your questions here. The scape created here with this tank is an emersed aquatic, carnivorous plant bio in an bog layout.
The tank is an ADA 60F, lighting is provided by a suspended hydroponics (4) 24" 24w 6400k t5's, and an Achmea 24" 36w 6500k t5 for a duration of 14-16 hrs.
The substrate used is a 50/50 mix of peat and sand, a basic mix used for carnivorous plants that require an acidic low nutrient soil.
The carnivorous plants used in the layout are found naturally in bog conditions include Dionera-the venus fly traps, Drosera-the sundews, Sarracenia- the American pitcher plants, also various emersed Utricularia:U. Gramnifolia, U.Livida, U. Monanthos, U. Prehelensis, Other CP's grown in moist but not wet environs include Pinguiculas, Australian pitcher plant-Cephalotus, 'Wooly sundews also from Australia of the Petiolaris Complex, and a few others. The emersed grown aquatic plants included eleocharis sp. hair grasses, various mosses, HC-Hemiantus callictriodes, Hydrocotyle 'Sib', A few Rotalas- Indica, mini, floaters - mini water lettuce, frogbit, and azola.
The tank is an 'open top' tank with no cover or humidity dome, temperature and humidity are monitored by a digital hygrometer that normally stays in the low-mid 80's, and 70%-80% respectively. The plants are misted or squirted with a baster once in the morning and evening. There is no filtration used nor co2, and no fertilization regiment, CP's will not tolerate ferts in an enclosed enviroment. RO is used as sole water source initially and is filled to a level just above the roots of the plants. Utricularias appreciate a little flooding above their leaves once in a while, other cp's should never be submersed. The bog and pond areas are stagnant and will need to changed every other day or so with fresh RO water. I use a turkey baster to suck water out and for refilling. The only other thing that I added to the tank initially and with every water change is an very effective product called EM-1 which is an live Microbial Inoculant of effective Microorganisms that will keep your substrate and water features "sweet".
All plants used in this layout were grown and propagated from my various collection of Rainforest CP's, and other CP's in wetland environs under green house, semi- shade conditions or full sun. The plants suffered a little when brought indoors under artificial lighting from their transition of outdoor cultivation. For the first few weeks supplemental lighting was added with two clip on
cf spirals 100w 6500K ea. Most sundews can handle as much light as you can give the without burning. A small table fan on its low setting was also used for air circulation.
Again, thank you very much for your nice comments and interest. I hope I covered all questions?

 

Thanks Maestro for all of the information. Again, awesome tank!!!! Thank you for the kind comments also.

 

wow thats great and i thought i was doing good with a 4x4x4 in tank with HC in it

fantastic

 

Absolutely gorgeous! How ingenious! I love all the colors and textures. When you add to it that these are carnivorous plants it's just too cool! I'm loving the entire scape!

 

Thank you Tex Gal for the nice comments. The melding of an emersed /carnivorous plant scape is very challenging one that requires daily tending, for replenishing evaporation, trimming more aggressive emersed aquatic plants ex: HC, various hair grasses, Hydrocoytyle "Sib", and others that tends to overrun the more slower growing carnivorous plants, and other aquatic gardening chores. The hours spent on maintaining this layout goes unnoticed as it returns and rewards you with it's beautiful array of colors, it's wonderful, almost all-season display of blooming flowers, and the surprises with new growth that crops up often. The carnivorous plants/emersed aquatics layout offers a interesting up-close experience of how these weirdly beautiful, "Avatar" type creations attract, trap, and utilize these foods (small bugs, gnats, ants, and other insects for their nutrition. . .simply amazing. . .It also allows you a physical interaction with them through supplemental hand feeding. They'll will await you with gaping 'mouths', and sticky fingers, seemingly saying, "feed me, feed me" Definitely a scape/layout to try for those who need to be challenged. Happy aquascaping!

 

So how do you feed these guys? I see you say hand feeding but the bugs have to come from somewhere. Quite a turn of events - bringing bugs inside the house. It looks like you maintain this inside. I don't think I see one dead leaf or stem! (Talk about daily maintenance.... a labor of love!)

it's beautiful array of colors, it's wonderful, almost all-season display of blooming flowers, and the surprises with new growth that crops up often.

That's one of the amazing thing about these plants. Many times it's just the leaves of the plant that offers the same cornucopia of color that a full bouquet would offer. The blooms are just a little extra spice. It's just amazing the beautiful things the Lord has made. ...and we haven't even discovered half of them!

 

Thank you LIUXIANGFEI for your bump! I don't know how your post got deleted

 

Simply stunning! thanks for sharing!!!!

 

Absolutely amazing set-up! Do my eyes deceive me, or do I see some type of Erio or Lachnocaulon? Perhaps those are just different hairgrasses I'm seeing?

 

There's always interesting plants that seem to magically appear without planting. The plant in question seems to be an 'Erio' of some sort, I haven't identified it, but it emerged next to a Austrailian Wooly sundew dressed in a pot with NZ long fibered sphagnum moss. It could easily be confused with close relatives, Lachnocaulon or Syngonathus. I just added it to the scape because it fit in to the flora
of the 'Bog' layout. And thank you also for your nice comments.

 

IMHO, I hate people like you. You always make me feel bad about my tank . Great job on the tank though, really a nice layout:hail:. I hope my tank will get that good some day .

 

Aloha 'Shark'! Thanks for your comments. I'm sorry that it gave you a 'negative' emotion. I was hoping to produce an 'Inspirational' reaction to creativity in future aquascapes for those who had the interest and the need, to be challenged. I'm positive that your tank and your scape/layout will eventually be as inspirational to others someday! Learn and understand the provisions, needs, and requirements of the flora and fauna of your aquatic garden. Love your tank.... Tend to it religiously, and exercise patience, and it will return it's beauty as your reward. You are the Creator of your own 'Eden', if you've spent hours admiring the end-product of your creation, then that's all that matters....stand proud, give yourself a pat on the shoulder. . . .you are on your path to an awesome scape! Happy growing. .

 

Well done. Unique. Thanks for sharing.

 

Really neat set up.

 

Thank you 'Newt' and Aloha!

 

Thank you '4f1hmi' and 'brighty K' for your kind comments. And thank you APC for allowing us, the aquatic plant hobbyist around the globe, a place to learn and educate ourselves in the hobby thru sharing our knowledge, our experiences, and our creativity's with each other.

 

Wow this is very beautiful and wonderful! I love CPs and have some myself but they are in regular pots outside lol.

 

Thank you 'Aelyph' for your kind remarks. Of all the exotic terrestrial, epiphytic, and aquatic emersed/submersed plants that I keep, the CP's are one of my favorite. 99.9% of all my variety of CP's are maintained outdoors. This particular tank was created for an Aquascape lay-out contest/show to display and promote a 'different perspective' to aquascaping. Aquarium keeping is no longer just an enclosed habitat for housing our fish, pets, or plants...it has sinced progressed to being exhibited and maintained as an Aquascape, a terrarium, a vivarium, a palludarium. and most recently as a ripparium. The Neo-Aquarist now has the opportune to express his/her artistic creations thru natural aquascaping, biotope replication, or by ingenious creativity.

 

hi what type of light fixture are you using.. it looks like it can just clap and old it's still up from the back of the tank.. I like that. is that custom are does some company make those legs. thanks.

 

Hi, there's two lighting fixtures that I use as the main lighting for this layout. The fixture in question is a clamp on manufactured by Archaea. It provides 36w of 6500K T5 lighting in an aluminum 24" fixture. It has an excellent polished reflector, and a unique telescopic leg and swivel for choice options of height and light illumination angles. The other lighting supply is a suspended system above the tank, is a Hydroponic set-up and has four 24" 24w 6400K T5 lighting in a polished, mirrored reflector. The combined set-up has an illuminating duration of 14-16 hours and provides a total of 132 watts of light.

 

I love that you're consciously using this tank to break rules and traditional ideas about aquariums, maestro.

And congrats for your well-deserved place on APC's front page!