[Emersed Setup] DAY 1

I have been wanting to do this for a long time but procrastinated badly. Emersed setups are very cool because the plants that you are familiar with look very different above water. These types of setups have many advantages.

1. They are fun
2. Plants look very different and some even flower
3. Plants that may be difficult to grow under water tend to be easier
4. Some plants grow faster and can be easily propogated
5. You may keep a variety of different plants in case you need to rescape your aquarium in future. This frees up your current aquascape allowing you to choose which plants you wish to use and prevents it from being too cluttered.
6. Did i mention it was fun?

Anyway here is the list i purchased from Bunnings for this setup

1. Green house with included pots
2. Peat moss
3. Osmocote Seed raising Cutting mix
4. $6 desk lamp
5. 6500k 25watt globe
6. ADA substrate (Already have this)
7. Some labels
8. Light timer
9. Osmocote granules

Next I filled the pots in this order

1. First the Peat moss down the bottom to retain moisture

2. Next i added a couple of Osmocote granules above the peat moss. 

3. Next i filled the pots with Osmocote Seed raising Cutting mix

4. Lastly i topped of the cutting mix with some ADA amazonia 

Here are some close ups of some of the plants I will be keeping an eye on:

picture1 - Hemianthus Callitrichoides

picture2 - Pogostemon Helferi 

picture3 - Bucephalandra

I have had trouble keeping Pogostemons in the past. My fish always seem to tear it apart and the 2-3 week settling in period does not help at all. I have decided to grow this particular plant emersed away from the hungry fish before placing it in my aquarium.

Finally a photo showing the overall setup. Thanks for looking and watch for updates!