Davemonkey's 48" Emersed RCS Tank

[davemonkey]

Time for an update. Most of the plants are growing very well, even been able to trim and replant tops to thicken up stands. However, I'm having trouble with the 'Oriental' sword (staying very small and leaves keep mildewing) and the Hygrophila corymbosa 'angustifolia' (supposed to be a large plant, but it is not growing very much at all). I suspect these plants don't like the 100% humidity and the light isn't exactly bright (130 watts PC). I think the humidity is keeping them confused about submersed vs. emersed growth, while other plants seem to know where they're at. Weird.
I added some DIY CO2 and started weekly ferts to the covered tank and that is helping (especially with the plants that were doing well anyway) and my submersed plants are pearling!
I was really counting on the Hygro and the swords to give me hight in the back/corners. I may have to replace them with some very large Anubias sp. or even a Spathiphyllum/house-plant.
Here are some pics:

[TonyO]

I absolutely love, love, LOVE this idea. It's something I've had in the back of mind ever since my Anubias barteri var. nana flowered while completely submerged. . .

I have a 20-gallon terrarium that I had originally designed for dart frogs, and then didn't do anything with. I'm thinking it may work ok for a system like this. If I ever go back to this idea, I may try the same thing, but flip the ratios of land and water.

Keep us updated!

[davemonkey]

Update, I have flooded this tank now to get the plants back in submersed-gear for a new scape. My brother is tearing down his 125 and we're swapping tanks, so, I get to do a 125 set-up. I'll post a journal on that once I get it started (maybe 2 weeks).

The emersed set-up went well, but some of the plants did not do well. Some like high humidity, some don't, so I had to pick what worked best and let the dry-air-lovers suffer. Nothing died, but there will be alot of recovery to be done by the swords.

[TheOldMan]

Let me know if you need any really big anubias. I've still got those big ones growing out of the 50 gallon and some that are at the top.