Andy D
Member
- Joined
- 27 Apr 2013
- Messages
- 1,461
Hi All!
I'll start with a little bit of background on the idea for this tank. Many of you may well be in the same position as me in that your other half is as interested in aquascaping and/or fish keeping as they are being tortured using some medieval contraption. Therefore you can imagine my surprise one day when my wife mentioned that she liked the Platies I used to have.
Not one to miss an opportunity to visit a LFS I gave her the option to pick a group of fish for the empty tank I would soon have. We went to the LFS and without any intervention from me she settled on Celestial Pearl Danios. I was quite pleased with this choice as I have wanted to keep them for ages. I was also impressed that she did not pick any tank busters!
With the fish chosen this dictated certain aspects of the set-up:
- dense planting to cut down on aggression
- dark substrate to show of their colour
- low flow
Given the requirement for low flow I have decided on a low energy approach with a lot of 'easy' plants. The main feature of the set up would be a tree (tree is really stretching the truth a little bit but I could not get that out of my head as the title for this journal ). Details etc:
EQUIPMENT
Tank - ND aquatics 60cm x 30cm x 36cm with Opti-White front.
Lighting - TMC aquabar with dimmer.
Filtration - Fluval Nano filter
Heater - Rena Smart Heater 100w
SUBSTRATE
Pond soil base layer
Unipac black micro-gravel
HARDSCAPE
Pear tree branches
Seiryu rock
FLORA
Bucephalandra 'Green Velvet'
Vallisneria Nana
Hygrophila Pinnatifida
Sagittaria Sabulata (1-2-3 grow)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Brown
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Green
Microsorum Pteropus 'Windelov'
Bolbitis Heudelotti
Anubias Nana
Pistia Stratiotes
FAUNA
Celestial Pearl Danios (once tank is established)
Red Ramshorn snails
FERTS:
Tropica Specialised
I sorted the substrate and hardscape a few days ago. I tried a few different positions for the rocks and settled on this: (ignore the Anubias and Java Fern - they were just chillin' in the tank.)
I got the plants from AE today (excellent quality and service as always!) and got the various epiphytes onto the wood:
I stuck this in the tank and have to say I was very pleased with how it had come out:
Planted the remaining plants. It still amazes me the amount that comes out of an in-vitro pot:
The end result:
I must also give a special mention to the Bucephalandra. What a stunning plant!
I'll start with a little bit of background on the idea for this tank. Many of you may well be in the same position as me in that your other half is as interested in aquascaping and/or fish keeping as they are being tortured using some medieval contraption. Therefore you can imagine my surprise one day when my wife mentioned that she liked the Platies I used to have.
Not one to miss an opportunity to visit a LFS I gave her the option to pick a group of fish for the empty tank I would soon have. We went to the LFS and without any intervention from me she settled on Celestial Pearl Danios. I was quite pleased with this choice as I have wanted to keep them for ages. I was also impressed that she did not pick any tank busters!
With the fish chosen this dictated certain aspects of the set-up:
- dense planting to cut down on aggression
- dark substrate to show of their colour
- low flow
Given the requirement for low flow I have decided on a low energy approach with a lot of 'easy' plants. The main feature of the set up would be a tree (tree is really stretching the truth a little bit but I could not get that out of my head as the title for this journal ). Details etc:
EQUIPMENT
Tank - ND aquatics 60cm x 30cm x 36cm with Opti-White front.
Lighting - TMC aquabar with dimmer.
Filtration - Fluval Nano filter
Heater - Rena Smart Heater 100w
SUBSTRATE
Pond soil base layer
Unipac black micro-gravel
HARDSCAPE
Pear tree branches
Seiryu rock
FLORA
Bucephalandra 'Green Velvet'
Vallisneria Nana
Hygrophila Pinnatifida
Sagittaria Sabulata (1-2-3 grow)
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Brown
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Green
Microsorum Pteropus 'Windelov'
Bolbitis Heudelotti
Anubias Nana
Pistia Stratiotes
FAUNA
Celestial Pearl Danios (once tank is established)
Red Ramshorn snails
FERTS:
Tropica Specialised
I sorted the substrate and hardscape a few days ago. I tried a few different positions for the rocks and settled on this: (ignore the Anubias and Java Fern - they were just chillin' in the tank.)
I got the plants from AE today (excellent quality and service as always!) and got the various epiphytes onto the wood:
I stuck this in the tank and have to say I was very pleased with how it had come out:
Planted the remaining plants. It still amazes me the amount that comes out of an in-vitro pot:
The end result:
I must also give a special mention to the Bucephalandra. What a stunning plant!