• 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

Fangorn Forest (21 litre)

James Marshall

James Marshall

Member
Joined
14 May 2009
Messages
316
Hello fellow aquascapers

Before embarking on my next serious attempt, I thought it would be a good idea to set up a play tank, in which I could experiment with some new plants, hardscape materials. equipment and techniques. This is the result.

1_Fangorn_Forest.jpg

Tank volume : 21 liters

Tank size : 36 x 22 x 26 cm

Plants : Riccia fluitans, Rotala rotundifolia, Taxiphyllum barbieri,
Staurogyne Sp, Hemianthus callitrichoides

Hardscape: Grape vine root, Metamorphic rock

Lightning : Two 24 Watt cool white power compacts (over tank)
One 7 Watt warm white tulip bulb (backlight)
For 8 hours per day

Fish : Endler’s Livebearer

Ferts:: 1.5 ml Tropica plant nutrition+ per day

CO2: 45 bubbles per minute for 10 hours per day

Substrate: Eco Complete and Red Sea flora base


I based this scape on Fangorn forest from the Lord of the Rings movie. (a bit tacky I know, but good fun nevertheless), unfortunately the scape failed at about 5 weeks old, the reasons are as follows.
Once the Riccia tree tops grew to their intended size and shape they blocked out the light to such an extent that the plants directly below suffered from very poor growth.
Also the tree tops blocked the flow from the filter, causing dead spots which quickly became infested with algae ( I could not adjust the flow as I have a “hang on back” filter behind a permanent cover).
Because the Riccia sat just 4 inches form 48 Watts of T5 lighting it grew so fast that it needed pruning every other day.
I’m not sure if grape vine root is completely fish safe, as my half of my fish died over the 3 weeks they were in the tank, I tested the water for everything I could think of and found no explicable reason. After removing the roots the health of the remaining fishes improved significantly.

I hope this is of interest.

Regards James
 
Thanks Guys

I put the scape together, i think, 10th June, and was brolen down about a week ago, when i decided that the grape vine root was the cause of the fish deaths
This experiment taught me much, the main findings are as follows:
# It's best to use tried and tested hardscape materials, and not to experiment at the cost of your fish.
# In nano tanks, Riccia is not an ideal tree top plant, as it does not naturaly grow the in right shape (Vesicularia christmas is probably a better choice)
# If you create trees or other overhangs, it's best to have bare rock or sand in their shadows.
# In the high tech planted tank, good circulation is of the upmost importance
# The position of equipment, such as filters, should not govern your scape design (this point has led to the installation of an Eheim 2213, and a DIY inline CO2 diffuser)

Cheers James
 
SteveUK said:
t's great when you can take something away from a scape, whether it was 100% successful or not 🙂
Click to expand...

each scape contains a ton of info for me personally.but often repeat the same mistakes :?

James! your a huge fan of riccia i see. also a daring scaper. 😀
 
Cheers Guys

Each scape is a lesson through it's mistakes and through it's happy accidents. Often for me some aspect of the scape will turn out very different from that which I expected, and give me ideas I would not have otherwise had.

I am a fan of Riccia, I feel it has possibilities yet unexplored. Also it grows very fast and densely under high tech conditions, so works well as an algae buffer.

Regards James
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top