# Planted Tanks > Vivariums >  Emersed 1.0

## Danialavr

It all started out with trying to grow HC emersed and I kinda got carried away, with the added poison from my friend of course hahah. Just sharing my emersed setup with diy led lighting.
I am still new to growing orchid species and i have two in this setup. Would love to get more advise on them from experts here  :Smile: 
Species count at 12 now.
Lighting: DIY led, 3x3W
Ferts: None
Plants list:
1. _Hemianthus callitrichoides_
2. _Drosera spatulata
_3_. Dendrobium gregulus
_4._ Cadetia sp.
_5._ Nepenthes mirabilis
_6._ Hydrocotyle sp.
_7. Dwarf hairgrass
8. random Bucep (trying to see if they would convert to emersed form)
9. Star moss
10. Flame moss
11. Mini fissiden
12. Unknown moss

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## TS168

nice setup. sorry , i cant find them in the picture, where is the bucephalandra? 
they will grow well in emmerse setup ....

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## AQMS

Awesome!!! 
like to see the DIY light,any close up pics?

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## Danialavr

> nice setup. sorry , i cant find them in the picture, where is the bucephalandra? 
> they will grow well in emmerse setup ....


The bucep is really tiny. It was submerged for very long and all leaves are in submerged form now. kinda worried it would just die haha

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## Danialavr

> Awesome!!! 
> like to see the DIY light,any close up pics?


Just a simple 3W led mounted to heatsink and acrylic stand, the base of the acrylic stand is slotted underneath the tank. Heres a closer pic.

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## Danialavr

Hydrocotyle flower is really tiny! And it looks pretty cool too.

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## Danialavr

_Drendobium gregulus_ flower!

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## limz_777

> Just a simple 3W led mounted to heatsink and acrylic stand, the base of the acrylic stand is slotted underneath the tank. Heres a closer pic.


how the mounting point look like ?

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## Danialavr

> how the mounting point look like ?


The led is mounted to the heatsink using heatsink compound and the heatsink is mounted to the acrylic stand using mounting tape. I did this so that i can reuse the module for a different setup if i changed the layout in future.

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## limz_777

my bad , meant to say the leg , how it mount onto the tank ?

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## Danialavr

> my bad , meant to say the leg , how it mount onto the tank ?


Oh the leg is not mounted to the tank. I raised the tank slightly using stick on rubber pads just enough to slot the acrylic stand underneath. here is a pic showing the full acrylic stand.

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## periphery

very nice, word of advice for orchids, do not mist them as frequently as the aquatic plants. maybe once a week or so. check the roots, if they are green means they have enough water, it is better to under water than over water orchids  :Smile:

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## Danialavr

> very nice, word of advice for orchids, do not mist them as frequently as the aquatic plants. maybe once a week or so. check the roots, if they are green means they have enough water, it is better to under water than over water orchids


Thanks for the orchid tips!  :Smile:

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## gyjd

Nice setup, thanks for sharing.
Where did you buy the acrylic stands? Price?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## Danialavr

> Nice setup, thanks for sharing.
> Where did you buy the acrylic stands? Price?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I built it with sheet acrylic. Just a simple cut, heat form and drilled holes haha. Didnt finish it properly though, raw cut edges.

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## Donut the Donkey

Gorgeous! I really like how you DIY the light stand. Very simple yet looks very "class". And all three at different heights gives an overall modernistic look. Great job! Gonna camp here.

Do you have the heating equipment for bending acrylic at home or did you go to some workshop and did it there?

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## Greentank

Nice Setup with artistic outcome  :Well done: 

What is the arrangement to keep plants moist?

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## Danialavr

> Gorgeous! I really like how you DIY the light stand. Very simple yet looks very "class". And all three at different heights gives an overall modernistic look. Great job! Gonna camp here.
> 
> Do you have the heating equipment for bending acrylic at home or did you go to some workshop and did it there?


I would love to have those heating equipment haha but unfortunately i dont, so i only used a hand held blowtorch.

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## Danialavr

> Nice Setup with artistic outcome 
> 
> What is the arrangement to keep plants moist?


The setup is water-logged, the substrate is pretty much drowned in water lol. As for the moss on the wood, I built a water drip system using airpump and some connectors and tubes.
Heres a closer pic of the water drip system powered by an airpump.

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## Danialavr

Added another 3W led module to increase the lighting for the orchids.

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## Danialavr

The orchid, _Dendrobium gregulus,_ in full bloom!  :Grin:

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## limz_777

is the _Drosera spatulata doing well ?
_

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## mUAr_cHEe

> I would love to have those heating equipment haha but unfortunately i dont, so i only used a hand held blowtorch.


The cooking kind of blow torch?

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## Danialavr

> is the _Drosera spatulata doing well ?
> _


Yup! Dew formation is good but i suspect it is not having enough light to turn red lol. The growth rate is amazing though, if only other plants can grow as fast haha

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## Danialavr

> The cooking kind of blow torch?


Yup those kind, i just aim the tip of the flame on the acrylic and heat evenly to prevent bubbling and hot spots.

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## mUAr_cHEe

Wow. You must have damn good control.

I am looking to buy one of those as well. More for cooking actually but I am not sure where I can find more affordable ones.

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## Danialavr

> Wow. You must have damn good control.
> 
> I am looking to buy one of those as well. More for cooking actually but I am not sure where I can find more affordable ones.


You can find cheap ones on ebay! Or those bakery shops too which usually sell larger ones.

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## Danialavr

About time for an update!
Day zero was around 3 months ago and this is the growth report:

Thick HC growth even without fertilizer supplementation.





Emersed mini fissiden and Star moss. The flame moss dried up partially unfortunately hahah.



And here's a close up of the setup!

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## Danialavr

Anyone knows the exact species of this Hydrocotyle just by looking at the picture?

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## limz_777

> Anyone knows the exact species of this Hydrocotyle just by looking at the picture?


from the wild or bought ?

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## Urban Aquaria

Looks great!  :Well done: 

Just curious, with the low-profile container design, how do you mist the plants regularly so that the water droplets don't end up on the table, walls or furniture, and how about bugs visiting the plants? I keep emersed cultures outdoors and do mist them regularly too, but i don't worry much about over-spray which lands on the outdoor flooring and decking (they are weather resistant anyways) and all the bugs are kept outside.

The risk of indoor furniture/wall paint deteriorating over time due to excess moisture and bugs crawling about are some of the things holding me back from having an emersed setup indoors so far. Would be keen to run such a setup though.  :Very Happy:

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## Danialavr

> from the wild or bought ?


I bought it from seaview and there it only stated hydrocotyle sp. Can you identify the species?

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## Danialavr

> Looks great! 
> 
> Just curious, with the low-profile container design, how do you mist the plants regularly so that the water droplets don't end up on the table, walls or furniture, and how about bugs visiting the plants? I keep emersed cultures outdoors and do mist them regularly too, but i don't worry much about over-spray which lands on the outdoor flooring and decking (they are weather resistant anyways) and all the bugs are kept outside.
> 
> The risk of indoor furniture/wall paint deteriorating over time due to excess moisture and bugs crawling about are some of the things holding me back from having an emersed setup indoors so far. Would be keen to run such a setup though.


I only water it directly on the soil using those squirt bottles from daiso, no misting required since water for the moss is fed by the drip system so my desk is nice and dry haha. I do get occasional visits of bugs but they are mostly those random fruit flies which would sometimes end up becoming food for the sundew. Other than that, no major bug issue so far. A jumping spider got caught once by the sundew though but that is pretty much it haha.

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## gorilla83

> I bought it from seaview and there it only stated hydrocotyle sp. Can you identify the species?


Hi Danialavr, just a guess, I think it could be Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides.

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## Urban Aquaria

> I only water it directly on the soil using those squirt bottles from daiso, no misting required since water for the moss is fed by the drip system so my desk is nice and dry haha. I do get occasional visits of bugs but they are mostly those random fruit flies which would sometimes end up becoming food for the sundew. Other than that, no major bug issue so far. A jumping spider got caught once by the sundew though but that is pretty much it haha.


That air pump powered drip system is interesting, i'll try it out too. Thanks!

Plants that trap insects are also on the to-get list.  :Very Happy:

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## Danialavr

> Hi Danialavr, just a guess, I think it could be Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides.


Wow! Thank you gorilla83! i think it could be this species!  :Grin:

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## Danialavr

> That air pump powered drip system is interesting, i'll try it out too. Thanks!
> 
> Plants that trap insects are also on the to-get list.


It is a very low powered drip system at only 3 watts hahah but i have upgraded it to using TOM aqua lifter since it can be noisy sometimes when the water level is too low and it starts pumping more air than water.

Please go for it! Emersed setups are way too easy to pass.

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## limz_777

> I bought it from seaview and there it only stated hydrocotyle sp. Can you identify the species?


difficult to tell , quite a few sub-species and look the same

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## gid

Great work bro.

Could you please share more info and pics on how you use an air pump for the drip system?

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## Danialavr

> Great work bro.
> 
> Could you please share more info and pics on how you use an air pump for the drip system?


Hi, i try to explain the concept to the best of my knowledge. There is 2 inlets, one for air from the air pump (labeled in red) and the other for the water from the tank itself (labeled in blue). 

When air reaches the Y connector, it has two ways to go which is either towards the outlet with the green arrow or towards the water inlet but in this case, it would choose the path with the least resistance which is towards the green arrow due to the higher pressure exerted by the water level with reference to the water inlet (blue) as compared to almost no resistance if the air is to flow towards the outlet marked with the green arrow. So this is the concept of using air to push water up the tube.

To start the drip system, all the tubes and connector have to be filled with water. As the air pushes out via the outlet marked with the green arrow, it also pushes water up the tube and this creates a very minute suction at the water inlet.

It is relatively the same concept as those air bubble filters powered with an air pump.

I hope my explanation helps  :Smile:

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## Goalkeeper

Very nice and creative setup!!

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## atwin

Very nicely done.. love those lamps! Like suspended steps..

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## janazr

Well done and very neat … cool !

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