luckyjim
Member
- Joined
- 26 Jan 2015
- Messages
- 156
Hi everyone,
I have a little project idea, but before I jump in I would really like to hear your views and any advice.
The idea is to create a six month aquatic garden using UK native aquatic and marginal plants. The goal is to try and have a variety of native flowers emerging during the summer. I live in a flat in central London, so it would be nice to bring in a little slice of an English aquatic environment in bloom. I also plan to keep my favourite aquarium fish - sticklebacks. Hopefully they will display their famous and dramatic breeding behaviour over the course of the summer.
I will preface the plans with the fact that I an almost total novice to aquascaping, aquatic plant keeping, and gardening, so this will probably end up as a heroic failure! If so, at least a few people might learn from my mistakes. I have searched around to try and find out if anyone else has done something similar. George Farmer's (rightly) prize-winning scape The Great British Biotope is obviously a helpful reference. However, the only emergent plants are an unknown variety of rush; and I also believe it was only set up for a short while. Also interesting, and very beautiful, was Stickleback's ultra-low tech The Banyan Forests of Stickleback Island. However, I can find anything involving emergent flora. Maybe I am using the wrong search terms, if anyone knows of any examples, please let me know.
My hardware is high quality but tank dimensions probably not ideally suited to the task in hand, but needs must. I was lucky enough to get a great deal on a lightly used ADA 60p alongside a load of other stuff, including a stand/cabinet for the tank, 601 Aquasky lights, C02 kit, ADA lily pipes, Fluval 106 filter, and some other bits and pieces. Also some year-old ADA aquasoil. Hopefully I should have pretty much everything I need bar the flora and fauna.
The hardware should arrive next week. In the meantime, I am thinking about how best to approach the hardscape, and what plants to use. The most obvious challenge is that lots of the flowering plants will need very shallow water, and as the 60p is relatively tall this will mean a big - perhaps implausible - gradient on the substrate.
Here is a very rough sketch of the sort of thing I had in mind. Apologies for the appalling MS Paint work.
You see what I mean about a steep gradient. I suppose I could also try to use some of the depth of the tank and have some substrate piled up against the back as well? I thought hairgrass for the submersed plants (essentially a carpet). Does this look possible, or should I abondon the emersed / flowering plants idea at the outset?
The other challenge is the lighting. The tank will be next to the window (although there is a white translucent blind) so will get sunlight. But I will probably need some way of suspending the Aquasky led unit as well. This might be a bit of a bodge job!
My initial thoughts for the flowers/plants. A bit random as there is loads of native plants to choose from!
Nymphaea alba (White water lilly)
Butomus umbellatus (flowering rush) [up to 50cm deep]
Juncus ensifolius (flying hedgehogs) [up to 5cm deep]
Water mint [up to 30cm deep]
Lesser spearwort [up to 20cm deep]
Forget me not blue [up to 10cm deep]
Water violet [10 - 20cm deep]
[And underwater]:
Hair grass
Willow moss (on wood)
With fauna, I plan to stick to sticklebacks and maybe some snails for algae clean up purposes, but I will think about adding some insects as well.
I am off to Devon / Dorset this Easter weekend, so I will keep my eyes peeled for inspiration!
Thanks for reading
I have a little project idea, but before I jump in I would really like to hear your views and any advice.
The idea is to create a six month aquatic garden using UK native aquatic and marginal plants. The goal is to try and have a variety of native flowers emerging during the summer. I live in a flat in central London, so it would be nice to bring in a little slice of an English aquatic environment in bloom. I also plan to keep my favourite aquarium fish - sticklebacks. Hopefully they will display their famous and dramatic breeding behaviour over the course of the summer.
I will preface the plans with the fact that I an almost total novice to aquascaping, aquatic plant keeping, and gardening, so this will probably end up as a heroic failure! If so, at least a few people might learn from my mistakes. I have searched around to try and find out if anyone else has done something similar. George Farmer's (rightly) prize-winning scape The Great British Biotope is obviously a helpful reference. However, the only emergent plants are an unknown variety of rush; and I also believe it was only set up for a short while. Also interesting, and very beautiful, was Stickleback's ultra-low tech The Banyan Forests of Stickleback Island. However, I can find anything involving emergent flora. Maybe I am using the wrong search terms, if anyone knows of any examples, please let me know.
My hardware is high quality but tank dimensions probably not ideally suited to the task in hand, but needs must. I was lucky enough to get a great deal on a lightly used ADA 60p alongside a load of other stuff, including a stand/cabinet for the tank, 601 Aquasky lights, C02 kit, ADA lily pipes, Fluval 106 filter, and some other bits and pieces. Also some year-old ADA aquasoil. Hopefully I should have pretty much everything I need bar the flora and fauna.
The hardware should arrive next week. In the meantime, I am thinking about how best to approach the hardscape, and what plants to use. The most obvious challenge is that lots of the flowering plants will need very shallow water, and as the 60p is relatively tall this will mean a big - perhaps implausible - gradient on the substrate.
Here is a very rough sketch of the sort of thing I had in mind. Apologies for the appalling MS Paint work.
You see what I mean about a steep gradient. I suppose I could also try to use some of the depth of the tank and have some substrate piled up against the back as well? I thought hairgrass for the submersed plants (essentially a carpet). Does this look possible, or should I abondon the emersed / flowering plants idea at the outset?
The other challenge is the lighting. The tank will be next to the window (although there is a white translucent blind) so will get sunlight. But I will probably need some way of suspending the Aquasky led unit as well. This might be a bit of a bodge job!
My initial thoughts for the flowers/plants. A bit random as there is loads of native plants to choose from!
Nymphaea alba (White water lilly)
Butomus umbellatus (flowering rush) [up to 50cm deep]
Juncus ensifolius (flying hedgehogs) [up to 5cm deep]
Water mint [up to 30cm deep]
Lesser spearwort [up to 20cm deep]
Forget me not blue [up to 10cm deep]
Water violet [10 - 20cm deep]
[And underwater]:
Hair grass
Willow moss (on wood)
With fauna, I plan to stick to sticklebacks and maybe some snails for algae clean up purposes, but I will think about adding some insects as well.
I am off to Devon / Dorset this Easter weekend, so I will keep my eyes peeled for inspiration!
Thanks for reading