• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Advice wanted for an Australian biotope (on a budget) please

Animal Mother

Member
Joined
29 Sep 2009
Messages
54
I'm picking up my Osaka 320 tomorrow and I'm looking to set it up over the next couple of weeks. I want a planted biotope (Australian biotope) but don't know how best to go about it.

For those who've never seen one, this is an Osaka 320.
20537_1_OSAKA-320-Aquarienkombination.jpg


Spec on the system will be:

320l
fluval 405
fluval 205
Life-Glo & Power-Glo T5HO Bulbs
CO2

Any help for the following would be greatly appreciated. :thumbup:

1.I am restricted by budget so can't afford to fill the bottom with AS or costly equivalent. What can I use instead?

2. What plants would be best? I want to stay as true as possible to the Australian biotope.
I'm thinking of:
Foreground - Marsilea hirsuta
Background - Vallisneria nana
Anything else?

Thanks. :D
 
We've an australian member who posted on here many months back he offered a link to a shop that specialises in aus natives if you search it up you should find it, I'm pretty sure the thread was called something like <1wpg native tank.
 
Nope, it was sub 1wpg and it was native because he lived in Australia.
I'll try and find it now.
The best substrates are ones with a high Cation exchange, so get nature soil, aquasoil or tropica. All of them are good but each have their own plus' and negatives.

I've always used ADA but I fully understand it's expensive for what it is, it is bloody great though and fully reusable.
 
Looks like we posted together, woops. :D

I'd love to use Aquasoil as I've found it easy to use so far. The trouble is that I will be covering an area of 4ftx2ft with the substrate and it should be about 4 inches deep I think. That would probably be about £120 of aqua soil. :thumbdown:
 
I'd guess it's probably a lot more, I used 18l worth in my 2foot by 1 foot...
 
Hi, I live in Australia and I am running an Australian Bio-Type tank. I have wendii, HC and anubias nana in there aswell which arent from here, but they look good.

I buy most of my plants from a site here in Aus so I can't help you there. I get alot of my plants locally from my own little adventures.

I am currently experimenting with Marsilea hirsuta as a carpeting foreground plant. It grows along the riverbanks here. Also the singapore phoenix moss and willow moss grow locally here also.

The link to the site I buy my stuff from is: http://www.aquagreen.com.au you can find alot of plants there which may help you see what are australian plants and see if you can source them locally from where you live.

Where are you from if you don't mind my asking?

The site I mentioned above is also useful for finding aussie fish aswell. I believe that some rainbow species are very common internationally.

Here is a pic of my tank...

tank1-1.jpg
 
Back
Top