I had a space in my kitchen that was just right for a Juwel Lido 120L and after scouring the second-hand market for months I finally got one
The tank is 60x40x50cm, tall and fairly deep so I thought it would be well suited to an island scape and this is what I came up with
The plants are mostly narrow leaf java fern, Taiwan moss and monoselenum tenerum. There is some mini java fern and trident java fern dotted about, cuttings from my other tank. There is a crypt becketti on the left and crypt undulatus hidden behind the wood on the right - I'm hoping this will grow taller. There's a few other spare plants e.g. C. parva in there too.
The tank had been standing neglected for several years in someone's garage so it was a mess when I took ownership. I ripped out the old internal filter and cleaned off the muck, replaced the lights and evicted a small army of spiders from inside the cabinet.
The tank now has an external Eheim Classic 2213 filter and an external Hydor 200W inline heater. Here's the heater at the back of the cabinet
Finally, the tank cleaned and good as new!
I wanted this tank to be light and bright so there is no backing apart from a thin frosted film, which I managed to tear slightly so I'll probably need to replace at some point.
The pipes and wires behind are painted white, the best I could do since the only outlet for pipes is at the rear of the tank and not the side.
I chose some long pieces of Mopani wood and rocks from my favourite LFS. The wood is secured in place with aquarium epoxy resin but this has proved to be a weak bond and some of the wood pieces are loose already. I'm relying mostly on sand to hold them in place and I suspect it's a matter of time before I knock one of them over
I'm dreading fixing them when it happens.
Substrate is Tropica plant growth capped with Unipac Maui fine sand. They call it fine sand but the grains are actually very coarse which is how I like it. Not so fine that it will compact, not too coarse to make planting difficult. I really like this sand. The Tropica (pic above) is probably overkill, it's just for the crypts really as nearly all the plant biomass is actually tied to the wood or rocks!
First plants went in on 19th October, two weeks after I got the tank. All of the moss on the outer branches is offcuts from my other tank - I had a ton! I cut it all up into tiny pieces and wound fishing line around in the hope that it would stay. It worked really well and the moss is already creeping across the wood and looking very natural.
I decided to call this tank the 'Eternal Cycle', partly because the wood reminds me of a dead hand reaching out of the ground
and the plant growth will symbolise the cycle of death into new life. Also because I'd like this setup to last a long time! and finally as a joke on my first fishless cycle which lasted an eternity
I decided a few more rocks and plants were required so I bought some taller needle fern and some anubias petite from someone's tank. This has only been a limited success, the needle fern looks nice but arrived covered in snails... all of my tanks have been snail-free until now!
The anubias petite subsequently melted but I hope it will recover. If not I will get more from a more reputable source!
I'm messing about with yeast CO2 in this tank, this will be my first attempt at any kind of CO2 injection, although I supplement with EasyCarbo as well. It won't be super high tech but I'd like to try to get a little carbon enrichment in there, I'm not allowed to have pressurised CO2
. The plants are all deliberately chosen to be undemanding so I'm not aiming for a lime green drop checker! You can see a ceramic diffuser in the last pic, I had trouble getting sufficient pressure to make this work so now I'm using an airstone as a makeshift solution. I know it won't last with CO2 bubbling through it
This was two weeks ago, you can see that the tank was a little cloudy and this is gradually clearing up. The wood is still leaching tannins, although not as much as I feared. I hope by the time I post the next picture the tank will be much clearer and brighter. It's currently cycling and I expect to be able to add fish within a couple of weeks. Stocking will be a few male platies (need to get them away from my females
), harlequin rasbora and possibly threadfin rainbowfish.
That's it for now, hope you like it!
The tank is 60x40x50cm, tall and fairly deep so I thought it would be well suited to an island scape and this is what I came up with
The plants are mostly narrow leaf java fern, Taiwan moss and monoselenum tenerum. There is some mini java fern and trident java fern dotted about, cuttings from my other tank. There is a crypt becketti on the left and crypt undulatus hidden behind the wood on the right - I'm hoping this will grow taller. There's a few other spare plants e.g. C. parva in there too.
The tank had been standing neglected for several years in someone's garage so it was a mess when I took ownership. I ripped out the old internal filter and cleaned off the muck, replaced the lights and evicted a small army of spiders from inside the cabinet.
The tank now has an external Eheim Classic 2213 filter and an external Hydor 200W inline heater. Here's the heater at the back of the cabinet
Finally, the tank cleaned and good as new!
I wanted this tank to be light and bright so there is no backing apart from a thin frosted film, which I managed to tear slightly so I'll probably need to replace at some point.
I chose some long pieces of Mopani wood and rocks from my favourite LFS. The wood is secured in place with aquarium epoxy resin but this has proved to be a weak bond and some of the wood pieces are loose already. I'm relying mostly on sand to hold them in place and I suspect it's a matter of time before I knock one of them over
Substrate is Tropica plant growth capped with Unipac Maui fine sand. They call it fine sand but the grains are actually very coarse which is how I like it. Not so fine that it will compact, not too coarse to make planting difficult. I really like this sand. The Tropica (pic above) is probably overkill, it's just for the crypts really as nearly all the plant biomass is actually tied to the wood or rocks!
First plants went in on 19th October, two weeks after I got the tank. All of the moss on the outer branches is offcuts from my other tank - I had a ton! I cut it all up into tiny pieces and wound fishing line around in the hope that it would stay. It worked really well and the moss is already creeping across the wood and looking very natural.
I decided to call this tank the 'Eternal Cycle', partly because the wood reminds me of a dead hand reaching out of the ground
I decided a few more rocks and plants were required so I bought some taller needle fern and some anubias petite from someone's tank. This has only been a limited success, the needle fern looks nice but arrived covered in snails... all of my tanks have been snail-free until now!
I'm messing about with yeast CO2 in this tank, this will be my first attempt at any kind of CO2 injection, although I supplement with EasyCarbo as well. It won't be super high tech but I'd like to try to get a little carbon enrichment in there, I'm not allowed to have pressurised CO2
This was two weeks ago, you can see that the tank was a little cloudy and this is gradually clearing up. The wood is still leaching tannins, although not as much as I feared. I hope by the time I post the next picture the tank will be much clearer and brighter. It's currently cycling and I expect to be able to add fish within a couple of weeks. Stocking will be a few male platies (need to get them away from my females
That's it for now, hope you like it!
