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Surrey Summer

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.

SmhueBD.jpg

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
 
This looks like a really interesting project. I'm looking forward to seeing it develop. Have you thought about having a really low water level so you wouldn't need to worry about the gradient to reach the top of the tank? A British native version of this would be amazing:
aquascaping-riparium-paludarium.jpg
 
Not a bad idea Mr Teapot - not sure if my skills are quite up to that level though!

I could certainly try with the water level down a fair bit. My one concern is that with less water, the sticklebacks may suffer if we have a spell of hot weather. I don't have an aquarium cooler (prices are eye-watering!) so relying on air movement across the surface to cool it; which might be restricted if the water level is low.
 
Excellent idea, LuckyJim. Looking forward to this.

This looks like a really interesting project. I'm looking forward to seeing it develop. Have you thought about having a really low water level so you wouldn't need to worry about the gradient to reach the top of the tank? A British native version of this would be amazing:
aquascaping-riparium-paludarium.jpg

How do you filter/circulate such a tank effectively?
 
Thinking ahead (in terms of some plants possibly growing pretty high!) - does anyone have any ideas for a cheap way to suspend an Aquasky unit?

I don't mind putting some small holes in the ceiling if that helps, but I'd prefer to try and make sure the fixture is safe!
 
Hi luckyjim,
I was going to suggest Marsh Marigold, but I think it has a short flowering season, nice plant shape though,

For years I had a baby's plastic bath-tub as a pond on blocks in the garden. That had sticklebacks through frozen winters and baking summers, so should be ok. If it gets too hot a 2 litre pop bottle of frozen water will float and cool it down (don't fill and put the lid on before freezing:lol:).
They're native as well, so if they get stressed you can always release them.:D I'd go shallow rather than deeper water level to allow sufficient oxygen.

In my "pond" I had 2 bricks and stones covered in soil, you could maybe try a couple of bricks with terracotta flower-pots for the first summer to see if your concept works: maybe hide them with wood?

if you go bug hunting you need to go to ponds, ditches or probably canals, as most UK river and stream life needs cooler temps and higher oxygen than you can provide.

Devon and Dorset; look for steep wooded river valleys as a lot of them have footpaths along them.

Happy days - out with nets and grapnels made of skewers.

Should be interesting if it works, so keep us posted:)

cheers phil
 
Hi Luckyjim, Wonderful project :cool:

One problem with the tank next to a window is sunlight then Algae.

With the 601 Aquasky lights, Not sure but a hanging kit could work. Plus you can adjust the height . One link below .
https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/18395341612331794542?q=led hanging kit&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.&bvm=bv.89381419,d.ZWU


English aquatic environment :cool: Why the sand at the front ???Small River stones and gravel would be more realistic and natural looking :)

Looking forward to this one:thumbup: Love sticklebacks.I hunted them as a kid with stone loach and bullheads frogs well you name it :D I had some bullheads a while back me and the Grandson went hunting Kept them for a time:cool: Now there in a friends tank.

Looking forward to you updates ;)

One photo of the bullheads

017_zpsagfphhgh.jpg
 
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Thanks for the remarks and advice chaps.

Algae is a worry. Sunlight, plus lack of fast growing stem plants. This compounded by the fact that I won't be able to use a traditional clean up crew. No otos and I am not even sure I could get away with amano shrimp - the stickleback would likely kill them. I think a big snail colony will be necessary. I will dose with easy-carbo as well and I will be putting pressurised CO2 in.

I will include some gravel and pebbles, the sand is really aimed at the sticklebacks breeding. They need a substrate that will allow them to construct a nest by pushing in small sticks and plant debris :)

I also considered bullheads or maybe some gudgeon, but they are egg-eaters and may cause bioload problems. I do love the look of bullheads though, they are full of attitude.

My current thinking on a suspension kit is using 4 very small g-clamps on the aquasky unit corners, and wiring (or rather paracording) these to the ceiling. A bit rough and ready but hopefully cheap!
 
Hi Jim, I laser cut some bracket thingies out of acrylic to suspend my old LED unit, it would work if you took the Aquasky out of it's acrylic mount. Mine look a bit crappy but you could make them look a bit smarter.

I like the tank idea BTW, should be a winner!

dec3.jpg
 
some bracket thingies out of acrylic to suspend my old LED unit, it would work if you took the Aquasky out of it's acrylic mount. Mine look a bit crappy but you could make th

That looks better than what I had in mind to be honest James! I considered tying paracord directly onto the LED, my concern was that the heat might melt through it - does the acrylic withstand the heat OK?
 
:oops: I'm afraid engineering is one of my weak points!

I am going to go for the mini g-clamp solution. It won't look the slickest, but hopefully it will be safe whilst remaining affordable!
 
Hi
really like the sound of this tank, I tagged you in one of my threads in the planted tank gallery. But I think ive since found out tagging doesn't work on this site. So if you fancy finding the thread its under 'windowsill nature'. Not saying it's a go to thread or anything like that but if it's got any info at all that may be helpful then why not.
best of luck :thumbup:
 
Thanks Akwa, I did have a look at your windowsill tank which is fantastic, great little slice of nature. I am impressed that you don't seem to have algae issues which gives me some hope for this one. Then again, you have plenty of shrimp in there, which won't be an option with mine. I suspect I will just need to embrace a level of algae and hope that the plants do not suffer. It will not be a spotless, manicured tank anyway; we'll just have to wait and see!

All of the hardware and equipment has finally arrived. Hopefully I will get a chance to play around and try and build up the hardscape this weekend and put up a few pictures to get some advice (or reassurance!).
 
Cool
No shrimp? Can I ask why.
Also have you thought about snails. I recently got a load of red ramshorn which look great and also do a job.
 
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