Utricularia nephrophylla Lithophyte Experiment

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Started setting up a tank to test out growing U. nephrophylla as a lithophyte. Here is the progress so far. Should get the plants in there tomorrow.

Here is the tank with some laterite added, I would have added more but I ran out!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58478584@N08/5362156280/" title="Utricularia nephrophylla Setup Progress 1 by randallssimpson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5250/5362156280_3bbf37d93d_z.jpg" width="640" height="428" alt="Utricularia nephrophylla Setup Progress 1" /></a>

Added the gravel, rock and filter (TOM Aquarium products - Mini Internal Filter). Siliconed the filter tubing in place, one of them needs redone, I'll get to it later...
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58478584@N08/5361545709/" title="007 by randallssimpson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5246/5361545709_5ae3651de9_z.jpg" width="640" height="428" alt="007" /></a>

Added the water (Little over 1G), lighting (26W 6.7K Compact Flourscent) and turned on the filter. The water is still cloudy, should clear up by the morning.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58478584@N08/5362157028/" title="008 by randallssimpson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5244/5362157028_434c5e95bb_z.jpg" width="428" height="640" alt="008" /></a>

Still have to cut and mount the background in there, that will be a few weeks I think. If all goes well there will be some U. nephrophylla in there tomorrow. I'm going to try just shoving it into the waterfall area first, if that doesn't take I'll try something more complicated.

 

[Dexenthes]

Wow that's a neat looking setup. I'm excited to see how it turns out!

 

[Soopaman]

Looks like a neat set up. Are you going to try to put any other plants in the tank?

 

[amphirion]

lol....great minds think alike! i gave up on trying to fit the branch in my tank...it would do much better out of it...ingenious idea to use that interior filter to keep the media moist! im going to have to copy it!

this setup is going to be way better than my original utric on a stick w/ graminifolia!

 

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Looks like a neat set up. Are you going to try to put any other plants in the tank?

I'm planning on letting the nephrophylla grow where ever it wants too, so I'll be adding other plants in the space it doesn't go towards. Once I get the background in there I'll be attaching somethings to it.

lol....great minds think alike! i gave up on trying to fit the branch in my tank...it would do much better out of it...ingenious idea to use that interior filter to keep the media moist! im going to have to copy it!

this setup is going to be way better than my original utric on a stick w/ graminifolia!

I've been using pumps leading to splitters to add waterflow for years, keeping the pumps clean so they can do there job is really important. Or you will end up with dry plants!

I've shut things off so I can reattach the wayward tube. Hopefully tonight I can add the Utric.

 

[amphirion]

any progress?

 

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any progress?

I added the Utric Monday, but work has been abusing me so it will be a few days before I can get a pic up.

Looks like I put some in a dry area , so that part is crispy. About 80% of it looks fine so far.

 

[swords]

Neat experiment! Can you explain how you rigged up the pump thing with tubes and what model of pump is it? Also what kind of background will you be doing?

 

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Neat experiment! Can you explain how you rigged up the pump thing with tubes and what model of pump is it? Also what kind of background will you be doing?

The filter is a TOM Aquarium products - Mini Internal Filter. The filter comes with a spray bar that you can fit airline tubing onto to relocate the output. The filter is not strong enough to move much water up with all the outputs open, so I closed off 5 of them to allow for more flow. I'm not completetly happy with the flow rate so I might end up with a standard pump running into a spreader or spraybar. So far the filter is working great for the cost/size but I just need more. It seems like a good product but its only been on a few days. I'll probably play around with closing off another output and see what happens. I think I want more than the 3 outputs running water down that rock.

For the background I'm planning on taking a piece of cork bark and cutting it to fit the back wall. I'll be adding great stuff to "waterseal" the underwater part. I should be able to stick gravel/rocks into the great stuff while its setting up to give it a more natural appearance. Now I've never tried any of this so I may be rethinking this after I make a huge mess .

 

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Here is the nephrophylla that was added, I can see some of it starting to "stand" out of the water so thats a good sign.

Also gives a good look at the plumbing, I'll eventually cover it up so it looks more clean.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58478584@N08/5376477076/" title="Utricularia nephrophylla Setup Progress 4 by randallssimpson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5010/5376477076_74e0f930eb_z.jpg" width="428" height="640" alt="Utricularia nephrophylla Setup Progress 4" /></a>

 

[amphirion]

dang, you siliconed the tubing onto the rock?
i ended up using wire and twisted the tubes onto the wood. that way, when it's time to present the piece at a show or something, i can just take it out, and leave the hardware at home. of course i'll be misting the puppy like crazy!

 

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dang, you siliconed the tubing onto the rock?
i ended up using wire and twisted the tubes onto the wood. that way, when it's time to present the piece at a show or something, i can just take it out, and leave the hardware at home. of course i'll be misting the puppy like crazy!

Yep, I've tried many other methods of getting them to stay put. If it was wood I would not have siliconed it, but with rock I can easily remove the tubes without damaging the rocks. So far they haven't moved and I'll get to covering that mess up later so you can't see it.

I have no plans of moving this for a few years.

 

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I was not happy with the flow from that filter, I just needed more so I ordered a Mini-Jet 404. I'm still very happy with the function of that filter and will probably use them in future projects, this project just needed more POWER!!!

With the rather large amount of snow we got today the city pretty much shut down and I ended up with a day off . Everything went in very slowly as expected, but I just finished the first wet run and adjusted the pump to about 25% of its max. Almost perfect. I pulled off one of the tubes while adjusting things so I'm now waiting for the silicon to reharden. Misting the Utric every hour or so is getting old.

With luck I will have everything up and running in an hour or two. I'm so much happier with this flow rate. I'll probably add some live sphagnum moss up top to cover up all that mess.

The Utric. was doing good adjusting before I started all this, it should be fine in a few days.

Here is a close-up of the new lines. Just ignore the pink 1lb weight, I find so many uses for those things. Its holding the tube in place.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58478584@N08/5408540959/" title="Utricularia nephrophylla Setup Progress 5 by randallssimpson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5099/5408540959_0ee8d2dc3f_z.jpg" width="640" height="428" alt="Utricularia nephrophylla Setup Progress 5" /></a>