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Aleman's Amazonian Adventure

Aleman

Member
Joined
28 Mar 2022
Messages
81
Location
Blackpool, UK
I stumbled across this forum when looking for information on EI and lean dosing. At least it proved to my mind that what I thought I was doing was NOT lean dosing, just not dosing nutrients ... I had issues :D

Anyway I'll dump this picture here to act as a bookmark, for when I get back from the stables to document the last 6 months in my planted tank / aquascape / biotope

20210908.StartingOut.jpg


I'll just say that that tank has been in my living room in that state for the last 25 years!!! :eek: Yes I am married! :eek: My other half has horses ;)
:lol:
 
Yeah, well that didn't quite work out as intended ... A bit like the tank above :D. I got into fish keeping when I was about 14, and I gave up when I left for uni, Time rolled on and about 30 years ago I got a 3 foot tank to "start again". I found that whatever I tried I couldn't keep plants ... but then it was never going to happen with an under gravel filter and inert gravel :oops:. We had an alcove in our lounge that would be perfect for a big display tank, and after encountering a few "Dutch Style" tanks at an aquarist exhibition I was determined to succeed.

After a lot of looking about, I found a company called Fit Filtration at Castle Donnington, spoke with Tim, and he built the tank (with the internal filter) to pretty much fill the space available. It measures 134 By 43 by 60cm, is braced, and I built the supports from 4" concrete blocks. Lighting was by 5 or 6 fluorescent tubes, which was way to hot and caused overheating, which was why really nothing was done with it until LED lighting came along.

20190624.Fireplace.jpg


That wall, and the fire we never really liked so it had to go recently, and I had to find another way to support the front of the tank. The sides and back are supported on a wall built of concrete block.Having removed the wall and put in a new fireplace, just what are we going to do with this? It was always my intention to have some sort of Amazonian biotope, but I just didn't really have a clue with how I could achieve what I wanted. It dawned on me recently, during lock, down that perhaps I could get some inspiration from the internet ... Oh boy ... talk about inspired. I'll be able to raise my game thanks to @georgefarmerstudios, @aquascapingamsterdam, and @juri_js.

I've been ordering stuff and squirreling it away, since lock down, time to get busy and remove the cork bark and wood to be a little bit more creative ... plus I need some way of supporting the front of the tank, but I started ordering stuff, and squirreling it away. Has to be some benefit to working from home.

20210917.StuffArriving.jpg


As you can probably tell, I'm going high tech, with two Dennerle Trocal LED light units, and CO2 injection, but first, lets sort out the "Cabinets", as well as removing that "hardscape". I think I'll have enough sockets ... yeah turns out not so much! Still those railway sleepers should be sufficient to support the tank. I also raised it 34mm so that the base was the same height as the new mantlepiece :D

20210923.BuildingWork.jpg


Ordered plenty of plant "media" ... there is also a 50Kg bag of swimming pool filter sand that is out of shot as well. ... hope it's enough. (Lava Rock, Various Grades of Nordic Gravel, and some fine 2-3mm gravel) Yes it's all inert, what the blazes will the plant roots feed on? :eek:

20210924.Media.jpg


There was nowhere in the kitchen to fit the RO unit, so it had to go in the "wet" side along with the filter pump, and the Cerges CO2 reactor.

20211006.ROSystem.jpg


For those interested, the tank filter is designed by FF, and consists of (R to l) the pre filter, really effective, needs to be rinsed daily. The second chamber is for biological filtration, with a chunk of Biohome media and twin DLS (Double layer spiral) filters, and finally a trickle filter for nitrate reduction. With 30 years of hindsight, it's dead easy to say that I would be better off with an external sump ... having never got on with canister filters in the past ... however this is what I have, so it will have to "do". Actually it won't, but that will be taken care of a bit later ;)

20211024.Filter.jpg
 
Oooo, someone with a sense of humor failure didn't like my Lean Ironing vs Estimative Ironing comment! :rolleyes: "Oh well, never mind, there, there, have a hug" 🤗 Yeah, the posts removed were off topic, and mine in particular was a tongue in cheek reference to the 1000+ posts Lean Dosing, Pros and Cons thread, That's just my, somewhat warped, sense of humor :D

Anyway, on with the show. Having started this "journey" again on the 8th of Sept 21. It's now the 10th of November, mainly due to delays in getting hardscape ... three huge pieces of bogwood ... So the scape is going to approximate a planted bank / flooded forest / sandbank somewhere in the Amazon region ... I'll say right now though "I don't do aesthetics!" The cable ties are just used to hold things in place while I mess around. I'll be using the cotton wool pad and superglue to fix things in place.

20211110.Hardscape1.jpg


The black tube is a Bioplast "Bodenfluter", basically an undergravel heating system. 30 years ago it was all the rage at Dennerle and Bioplast, and as a good proportion of my plant growing stuff was from that era, I thought I may as well use it. Turns out it wouldn't stay hidden under the substrate, so I ripped it out I just couldn't be bothered messing with it. So lets add the third piece, that's 10Kg of volcanic lava rock in the bags which will be used to add some height, and support the bogwood "hardscape". It's also a great place for microbes to colonise apparently.

20211110.Hardscape2.jpg


Did I mention that I don't do aesthetics :D :D :D The two pieces on the left are fine forming a nice V which is on the intersection of the "Rule Of Thirds", but the other pieces don't really do anything. Move a few things around, and hide the glare from the polystyrene tiles under the tank base.

20211110.HardScape3.jpg


Well I suppose it's OK, eye moves top left down to the V, then up, before descending, but it doesn't really "flow". Having an inert substrate isn't really condusive to growing plants. But Bioplast sold an additive that remedied this, called terramineral. You basically spread it over a coarse substrate, then cap with a finer one. Through microbial action it gradually releases nutrients. So it was spread across the 10-30mm lava rock.

20211110.Terramineral.jpg


Finally the hardscape was glued in place and a layer of 6-8mm Norwegian granite gravel spread over the back to create height. Oh yeah, you may have noticed that I rearranged the hardscape slightly.

20211111.CoarseGravel.jpg


This was then capped with a fine gravel of about 2-3mm, again trying to add to the height at the back. The reason the hardscape was changed, was to allow greater height at the back without the substrate sliding forward.

20211111.FineGravel.jpg


Scattered liberally over the gravel were opened Tropica nutrition capsules. Some were pushed deeper into the substrate at the back where the stem plants and swords would go. Then it was time to cap it with sand, as I'm using swimming pool filter sand, within reason, I can have quite a deep layer, which will be good for plant roots.

20211112.Sand.jpg


Carpet plants are on order from Horizon Aquatics ... using Tropica 1-2-grow ... can't wait for them to arrive.
 
Hi all,
I'm interested in this as well.

Years ago I tried cork tiles as a backdrop. They both sagged horribly and produced the most amazing amount tannin (which at least hid the sagging) after a few months I conceded defeat and removed them.

I'd done it <"with cork bark"> and it was fine, it was just the tiles.

cheers Darrel
 
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Well, the good thing is that they were well attached by Tim at Fit Filtration, so no sagging, they are a bit ugly, which is one reason I've gone for the "Moss Mud" method, and Amano's chop moss up and rub it on, approach. The moss is growing in quite well :thumbup::thumbup:

Tannins? Yes, they do leach quite a bit, but to be fair so does the bogwood. It's quite amazing the decrease in "pearling" over the week from one water change day to the next, but then this IS an Amazonian influenced set up, so some blackwater is permitted :D.
 
Finally the plants arrived ... That's not a comment on the service from Horizon, which is always superb, but more that I finally decided to continue catching up with my journal :D
A small haul of Tropica 1-2-grow pots, probably the usual culprits, as I'm trying to keep it "Amazonian".
20211116.PlantsOne.jpg

Grabbing an idea from Jurijs Jutjajevs on youtube, about using the pot labels to plan your plant layout.
20211117.PlantingLayout.jpg

Given that I am going to have a couple of Echinodorus "Reni" as specimen plants, planted on the thirds (the V on the left, and at the base of the branch on the right), should I move the Alteranthera reinekii to join the other pot on the right? Then the "Reni" can either go where the reinekii is, or directly in the V leaving space for a Staurogyne repens or Monte-carlo carpet.

Decisions decisions 😁

Given that I want a "full carpet in the foreground, I have two choices, buy a lot of pots, and go for a "dark start" with water, or start off with fewer pots, but do a "dry start". As you can see from the layout, it's going to be a dry start.



As you can see from the video, over the 51 days of the dry start, the plants have grown in well, but there are places still to fill in, but it's time to add the stem plants, and even fill it with water :eek:
 
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