So you have watched my result on YouTube. And here is the story behinds this tank
I had my house renovated, and it started November last year. It was the reason why I came so often to my friend’s office for work progress. One day after we finished our regular project status update, I saw his huge manzanita log in his office corner. By asking him I was totally aware he just let it there and had no plan for it. By that time I told him my initial idea for a botanical influenced aquarium, then asked him to buy his log. My heart was jumping with joy when he agreed, even generously offered to join the project
This log is 160cm long, and weighing around 20kg. So the common sized 150cm aquarium would not fit. Cut or trim it down to fit 150cm was not my option. Also I could not rescape my 125x50x50cm for the purpose
There was only one option left. Sell my 125cm aquarium set and order new 160cm tank and new stand from Aqua Minh Long
My idea is aiming to mimic a river bed so I choose sand, river pebbles (various size) and plants which can grow without aqua soil.
My experiment with cryptocoryne has seconded that idea. The experiment is not complicated but simply planted the crypt. flamingo in sand, let the mysterious crypt to grow freely off the substrate and in the water column. After few months you would see their new dangling thin roots in the water. And it would create more natural look
I had my tank delivered to my house late December. I bought roughly 30kg large to small sized pebbles, 20kg light yellow sand and started scaping
First tryout
Laying sand
Scaping hard. You are seeing a series of my tryouts during several days with some twists here and there
Final scape flooded
Next step is simply adding african and tiger lily, mysterious and flamingo cryptocoryne
With these pictures you are seeing how my tank is layered. First sand, second small, crushed pebbles, manzanita and other driftwood, then medium to large pebbles , and finally the log on top
Since my tank is slightly oversized, I cannot use common lighting hanging kit. In stead I ordered a custom built kit from this guy
Btw he sells his products worldwide. So if you’re interested, you can contact him through his page
https://www.facebook.com/dalab.vn/
So basically I
- Reuse my filters, lighting, co2 kit
- Buy new tank, stand and lighting hanging kit
And in summary
Tank size: 160x60x60cm
Lighting: Maxspect Razor 175W (set at 70%)
Filter: Eheim classic 600, Fluval fx6
Plant:
Cryptocoryne flamingo
Unidentifiable Cryptocoryne (mysterious)
African lily
Tiger lily
Java fern needle leaves
Fauna
Various rainbowfish species
Various corydoras species
And anglefish