Growing Aroids in Planted Ripariums

**d*@xantusidesign.net**

Michael,

There is some evaporation from my setups that have open tops, but it is
not so difficult to manage. The little 20-gallon setup with the
Spathiphyllum and Alocasia probably only evaporates a liter or so of water
per week. The much larger 120-gallon tank, on the other hand, probably
loses 15 liters per week to evaporation. It is easy to replace this lost
water because I perform water changes once or twice each week for every
tank for the sake of maintaing favorable conditions for the fish and
plants.

I keep an almost completely closed top on the 55-gallon setup that I have
planted with Cryptocoryne, Anubias and emergent aquatic ferns because
those plants require high humidity. There is very little evaporation from
that tank.

We have very hard tapwater here, so I mix conditioned tapwater with RO in
a 1:1 ratio. I draw the water for changes the day before use and let it
sit in an open 5-gallon plastic pail so that gas concentration and
temperature can stabilize at closer to the values in the fish tanks. I
also use small amounts of a (inexpensive) commercial aquarium water
dechlorinator to ensure that chlorine is removed, although some chlorine
also evaporates from the open pail.

Really I just use the same standard methods for water changes that are
already widely used by aquarium enthusiasts. I do add some fertilizers to
the water column and to the planter cups to maintain plant health and
growth. Specific fertilization methods depend upon the requirements of the
specific plant variety and the conditions in the aquarium.

Cheers,

Devin

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