Advice on the layout of my tank...

[CODFISHKISS]

Hello Everyone

My girlfriend and I have spent a few hours looking at photos of other people's aquariums. Most are stunning, so we decided ours was due for a revamp.

The tank is well established, and a good size. It has catfish, angels, tiger and tin-foil barbs, a parrotfish, and an elephant fish. We would like to change the gravel for some sand, and instead of bogwood, put some pieces of bamboo in. We thought this effective and eye catching, yet (hopefully) cheap, and fairly easy to look after.

Does anyone have any experience or advice they can give us? Will sand affect our fish adversely? Can we use bamboo from, say, a garden centre, if we sterilize it before use? Or is it not that simple? Any bright ideas on how to fasten the bamboo firm, if that is what we use?

And, for good measure - does anyone have advice regarding growing aquatic plants on the aquarium floor? Many tanks we saw had a beautiful field of green carpeting the tank. What kit is needed? Are the plants in some kind of tray, resting on the tank floor? Do some fish need gravel, and not plant matter?

Many thanks in advance for the advice and help, we will let you know how it goes...


CFK

 

[Dave]

Hi Codfishkiss

Can't help you with all your questions but anyway heres what I know.

If you want to go with sand then I say go for it! It looks far better and is more natural for the fish! Its better for your catfish as their bellies wont be rubbing across hard stones all the time. Also your elephant fish should really be in a sanded tank anyway, because of the way it eats.

If you buy Silica Sand this won't effect your PH balance or anything like that. You could also just get childrens playpit sand! its alot cheaper but it takes alot of washing.

As for Plants you should be ok, the only problem is that the sand compacts and the roots struggle to penetrate the sutrate, but a few Khuli Loaches in your tank and they'll keep your sand churned up

Im new to plants and trying to make it work as well (in sand). One thing I would say though is that your Angels and barbs may well have a good chew on any new plants so put some lettuce leaves in aswell for the fish

Not sure about the bamboo, can't see any problems myself but thats one for the pros I think!

Hope Ive been of some help!

 

[CODFISHKISS]

Dave:

Thanks very much, that has helped us greatly. I'm sure our fish will be pleased when their tank has been redesigned. Glad to hear sand shouldn't be too much of a problem, because we think it looks better than gravel in many cases.

I have just accessed a v.useful site called "Planted Tank Setup with Gravel and Sand" where the author goes into a good level of detail on how to set up a Dutch-style aquarium from scratch - including washing gravel, cutting roots back, etc. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't know it already. He also explained what a Dutch-style aquarium actually is.

http/article.dphnet.com/cat-04/plantsetup.shtml

If anyone has any ideas about the Bamboo, please let me know. Until then - cheers everyone who either helped or had a look.

 

[petitericeball]

if ur getting live bamboo it might work but it may not... i think bamboo should be partly out of the water... but it may not. you could try it and just see

 

[Bol]

Cod,

One thing I'd mention ... while the "plant carpet" look looks nice, most of the "carpet" plants require quite high levels of light to flourish (as in, around 3 watts of fluorescent light per US gallon). Switching to a high-light setup, while certainly feasible, can significantly complicate your tank setup and operation (you'll probably require a CO2 injection system, and will have to be more vigilant about nutrient imbalance).

 

[CODFISHKISS]

Thanks Bol.

I think we'll try something else less ambitious before attempting to grow a "green carpet", as we don't have much experience of aquarium projects and don't wanna bite of more than we can chew.

Have since read bamboo should be 80% out of the water if growing. The consesus also seemed to be that if treated properly it would fine to put in as a decoration.

 

[Silly me]

do you want to grow the bamboo thats a bad idea as most of the baboo needs to be out of the water, but you could add bamboo to your tank. it would cause no harm.
I had a tank with pieces of bamboo cut to hight is the tank and glued to the bottom of the tank and then added gravel, to get the under water swamp look for my puffers, looked good

 

[rsz]

Bits of dead bamboo would be ok, I think. Living bamboo probably isn't such a good idea.

Instead of a 'green carpet' you could get a couple of small bushy plants

 

[Doggfather]

i like the small bushy plant idea

 

[jaywings19]

Can we use bamboo from, say, a garden centre, if we sterilize it before use? Or is it not that simple? Any bright ideas on how to fasten the bamboo firm, if that is what we use?

There was an article in Fish Keeper magazine a few issues ago (had a yellow Cow Fish on the cover) about using Bamboo in an Asian-style tank. It looked really nice, but the author went over the problems surrounding the use of bamboo. From the list, I only remember two of the main problems:

Number One
Keep the bamboo from floating up. I think the author use "dead" bamboo and filled the shaft with sand. He said you had to use aquarium safe sealant to keep the sand in. That will weigh the bamboo down.

Number Two
Bamboo will start to cause a very pungent (funky) odor once it gets water-logged. The smell is caused by the water and warm temperature. He did not give any suggestions how to avoid the unpleasant odor... just that he hadn't figured out how to avoid it yet.

Hope that helps.

 

[CODFISHKISS]

Yeah I agree with what everyone here has said. Bushy plants and dead bamboo sounds like the best idea for us. I guess once we have successfully got the fish established in the new tank we can think about doing something more adventurous.

Thanks everyone

 

[Naomi]

I know you wern't asking about this, but I have had GREAT success with Amazon Swords....they are very low mantance and easy.....I don't do anything except add Leaf Zone plant food once a week. They look really good. you can see some of my plants at http/www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4287248133 The pictures are a little old so I have a lot more plants now....but you can get the idea.