Planted Nano Journal

[MHunt]

I'm re-scaping what was my Cory fry aqua one 320. The fry came out into a hospital tank as I couldn't keep up the maintenance on the sand, and it was making the fish ill. I started with a fine gravel substrate, as I want to put the cory's back when they are better. I have had the tank running for a week or so, with gravel and bogwood, and went to plant some cuttings out of my main tank. They wouldn't stay in the gravel unfortunately, so i tried with a bit of soil an gravel in pots, this didn't work either and i ended up with a cloudy muddy mess! I have bitten the bullet and put some soil in there for a soil substrate. I will plant into this then put a thin layer of gravel over that, then the hardscaping such as bog wood etc.

Am i right in thinking that it is as simple as putting some soil in the tank, soaking it for a few weeks, then i can plant and set up as normal, or is there more to it than that. I did read the recent article in PFK which gave me the idea.

Any comments, ideas, suggestions from what has worked for you? Or even what hasn't!

 

[afroturf]

I don't know that much about soil substrates, although i am currently planning one. From the little info i gained from Tom Barr i will as you say soak it for about 3 weeks, i will then mix it 1 part soil to 2 or 3 sand to about 3" in height and then a further 1" of plain sand on top.

A little more info here.

 

[MHunt]

Ok, after a few weeks and a few changes of idea, this is where this tank is at the moment.

The substrate is a soil/gravel mix, couldn't tell you the percentages as i just added enough till the substrate felt right!
I have two pieces of bogwood for the hardscaping. I have planted with Rotala rotundifolia, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, Cryptocoryne parva, Hygrophila polysperma, Microsorum pteropus, and Echinodorus amazonicus.

I'm not adding CO2 at the moment, just king british plant fertilisers with the water change every week. The tank is filtered with a Fluval2+ and the temp is set to around 27degrees C.

When the aquascaping is finished there will be pics added. I'm thinking also of the PFK aquascaping competetion, but we'll see what it turns out like later.

I'm thinking of stocking the tank with 4 endlers livebearers, 6 lampeye killifish, and a couple amano shrimp. Probably getting the shrimp tomorrow. Any other fish ideas or suggestions? it's an AquaOne320. About 10 gal ish.

 

[MHunt]

Quick update.

Went to the LFS this morning and got two pairs of endlers livebearers, and two algae eating shrimp. I'll give it a couple of weeks before the next additions, and now i can't decide between the lampeye killifish, ember tetras, harlequin rasbs (actually one of my first choices) or microrasboras. I also like the look of the sparkling gourami, I might fancy a pair or trio of those.

 

[Maximumbob]

if you like harlequins you will love espe's rasbora. They are very similar, but the espe has a beutiful copper coloured hue more so that the normal harlequin.

I googled them for pics and got this and this as well as this excellent article on danio's