Chris Cummins' Small Nature Aquarium Diaries...

[ChrisC]

Hi all,
this is the beginning of the build diary for my small (30ltr) bow front Aqua-40 aquarium. It is mounted on the desk in my bedroom and is my first true attempt at an aquascaped aquarium.

I hope to use ADA products where possible although due to budget restrictions and due to availability here in the UK this will not always be possible.

Equipment
I am currently building a DIY fermentation CO2 setup, and plan to use the Estimative Index as a guide for nutrient dosing. The substrate I plan to use is ADA Aqua Soil. Lighting courtesies of a 30W PC 6500k daylight spiral bulb.

Hardscape
Using some wood I had lying around and some small rocks (sandstone I think), I made a first attempt. Having never read any of Amanos' books, and with this being my first attempt at an aquascape, I'm sure there is a lot which could be improved so please could all of you more experienced aquarists give me a hand here and let me know what you think.



Ridiculously oversize 100W heater and 650lph filter added - these will probably get replaced with smaller models when everything is set up.


First attempt at hardscape. I plan to create a two-tier substrate, with the higher tier being supported by the rocks, and thus raising the wood up another couple of inches. I plan to have stem plants, crypts etc on the upper tier and a carpet of glossostigma on the lower tier.



View from the door and from bed


Chris

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Hi Chris, Nice to know you want to make a serious attempt at aquascaping, that great stuff.

You equipment sounds fine. I would keep your filter, us plant heads like to over filter for biological reasons of which benefit the plants. You will have good strong lighting in this nano, so your going to have to keep your DIY Co2 at an optimum level, this means regularly with out fail refilling!
Also a consideration is the water changes> I cant stress enough how you will need to do regular changes on nano's. With your I would say at least twice a week.
Providing you keep on top of your water changes and keep good Co2 readings along side a regular fertilizing program, you should be algae free.

OK for the part i find much more interesting, the best bit, the most interesting bit, the scaping!!

First your wood.
I think for the position you should move it further toward the back of the aquarium,this will give more of an optical illusion of space in front of the wood.Maybe even spinning it round anti clock wise so that the cut end piece is more to wards the Co2 diffuser.
With regards the cut ends of you would, tyeing moss around these areas will hide the unnatural cut ends.

The rocks formation I'm not liking. If you want to create a tier wall with the sand stone then i would conceder covering them with moss or Anubius nana, doing this may create a sense of dutch layouts, if your OK with that?
Try and avoid the rocks just sitting on you substrate, try and give them a sense of being exposed through age old erosion, and the plants are having to work around them or are using them as support structures.
I think I personally would only use one or two to help build a slop for which the gloss will creep to wards the wood, bridging the hight gaps with Anubius, Utricularia graminifolia and even Blyxia would look nice too.

Try and keep your pant numbers limited, it will look to busy other wise, and this will make you nano feel small which is what you ant to try and avoid.
Try and keep to plants with smaller leaves.

Ok heres my trademark tinker, its just to give you an idea of what i see in your nano, its all about taste and you should to do what you like the taste of.






Regards,
Graeme.

 

[Themuleous]

Nice looking tank and the hardscape looks good, should be nice once the plants are in. Moody's plant plan would make good use of the space, etc (as you would expect coming from Moody! )

Sam

 

[ChrisC]

Thanks for the feedback! Some very interesting points there.

You equipment sounds fine. I would keep your filter, us plant heads like to over filter for biological reasons of which benefit the plants. You will have good strong lighting in this nano, so your going to have to keep your DIY Co2 at an optimum level, this means regularly with out fail refilling!

It's nice how much margin for error there is with regards to fw planted tanks. It certainly is a nice change from marine aquariums! If it wouldn't be pushing it too far, I'd even be tempted to use an old external filter I have lying around, an Aqua Vital 650lph external filter. Perhpas as long as it didn't create too much of a whirl pool I'd plumb that in with some nice glass lily pipes and an external heater.

Also a consideration is the water changes> I cant stress enough how you will need to do regular changes on nano's. With your I would say at least twice a week.

Wow, thats more then I was expecting. Is that due to nutrient build ups or some other reason?

Aquascaping!

I think for the position you should move it further toward the back of the aquarium,this will give more of an optical illusion of space in front of the wood.

Hmm interesting, it was orginally actually further back, but moved it forwards on the assumption that it provide more room for stem plant growth behind the wood.

I think I personally would only use one or two to help build a slop for which the gloss will creep to wards the wood, bridging the hight gaps with Anubius, Utricularia graminifolia and even Blyxia would look nice too.

That's an interesting idea. TBH the rocks are the weakest point in my hardscape and is something which I am more then willing to change. I like the idea of the slope. Perhaps a slope rising towards the back left of the tank? (the tank will be viewed mostly from the direct front and from the right hand side. (i.e. pictures 3 & 5).

I like the tinker drawing alot, cheers! Here's my interpretation, although this will probably change alot as I will hopefully be getting myself a copy of Nature Aquarium Worlds bk I II & III.

Plants:
Rotala Rotundifolia
E Tennelus
Heranthius blah dee blah ....moides (lol forgotten the name)
Glossostigma
Hairgrass



Chris

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Dont forget Takashi Amanos other book Aquarium Plant Paridise, only a small book but quality none the less.And the english versions of Aqua Journal from aqua essentials, and the japanese versions too!!

I would go for Hemianthus callitrichoides ''Cuba'' rather that glosso. HC with suet your nanos scale far better IMO.

 

[ChrisC]

Dont forget Takashi Amanos other book Aquarium Plant Paridise, only a small book but quality none the less.And the english versions of Aqua Journal from aqua essentials, and the japanese versions too!!

Woops yeah I've got Aquarium Plant Paradise. Awesome tanks. I particually like the Glow of the Grove p.19

Chris

 

[Sibelius]

Veeeery nice. I really like both of the computer generated designs. I'd never considered a two tier scape before. What a good idea! I might consider pinching that for mine, but then again I probably wouldn't get it to work though. Keep us posted!

 

[ChrisC]

Hi Sibelius, thanks for the comment. As for two-tiered substrates, I'm not sure who to accredit, but it's something I've seen done with lots of success before.

 

[demonmagus]

another tank Chris

I know it will be awesome, you are really good at scaping and I hope you enter the AGA contest

 

[ChrisC]

Ok new planting plan:




Chris

 

[Themuleous]

Better layout in post 10, if I can make one generalised comment, I found when I first set up my nano that I tried to have too many plants and I lost much of the sense of space, etc. Its clichéd by less is more in small tanks. Pay particular attention to leaf size too, as large leaves ruin the illusion of scale.

And I agree with Moody on the water changes, the more the better, its the only way to keep the water stable is such small tanks, I've upped mine to every other day as George does in his nano.

Looking forward to seeing this develop! The more nano's we have on here the better as they are much trickier than big tanks IMO and the more 'collective wisdom' we can generate the better

Sam

 

[ChrisC]

Better layout in post 10, if I can make one generalised comment, I found when I first set up my nano that I tried to have too many plants and I lost much of the sense of space, etc. Its clichéd by less is more in small tanks. Pay particular attention to leaf size too, as large leaves ruin the illusion of scale.

Yep, ideally I want to limit myself to no more then 5 plant species (if that isn't too much already).

Hemanthus Callitrichoides for foreground carpet
Hemianthus Micranthemoides for mid/background
Echinodorus Tenellus for mid/background
Eleocharis Acicularis for accents/background
+ A background stem plant - I initially thought rotala rotundifolia but it gets too large. Something about 25-30cm tall with small leaves.

Chris

 

[dasmall1]

Maybe try rotala wallichii instead of the rotala rotundifolia. It's leaves are skinnier than pine needles and pretty short.

 

[Themuleous]

How about rotala indica? Nice colour but has small leaves, so should suit the tank.

Sam