| KEITH'S NEW REEF | SMALL FRESHWATER TANK |
As mentioned on the Small Freshwater page when the energy company dropped its bombshell I converted both tanks to low tech densely planted tanks. This means no CO2, no water changes and sufficent fish to provide enough waste to fertilise the plants.
Since the front glass of the large tank had become badly scratched over the years I ordered a new one of the same size.
The old tank on its way
Rather than plan a layout in detail I decided on a driftwood feature, offset to the left under the 'rule of three', two plant collections from Greenline Aquatics and a load of cuttings from the small tank to fill in the gaps. Time would tell which plants would thrive and which would fade.
The back and left sides of the tank were painted with blackboard paint and the driftwood arranged on a bed of Fluorite and gravel. At first I added a raised area held in by slate to give some added height but the substrate depth came to six inches and I decided not to risk the danger of aerobic zones building up and removed it.
The Tetratec filter that was originally intended for the small tank fitted nicely in the cupboard under the tank and would give adequate circulation. Filtration would be taken care of by the plants so all the internal media was removed except for some filter floss in the top compartment. At first the lighting was two Arcadia originals and three Arcadia freshwater tubes on electronic ballasts giving an output of 290 watts but I soon reduced this to two of each for 232 watts, mainly to allow me to raise and lower the D.I.Y. hood more easily.
This is the tank after the first planting.
On the left is on 25th July and on the right 10th August.
The stocking plan was 60 Cherry Barbs, six Julii Cories, a Dwarf Chain Loach, six Ottos, ten Amano shrimp and a few Cherry Red shrimp and this was achieved within three months.
Below are some of the inhabitants.
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Amano Shrimps just added.
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Amano Shrimp
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Cherry Red Shrimp
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Cherry Barbs
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Female
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Male
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An Otocinclus
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An Otocinclus
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A Cherry Barb, two of the Corys and an Oto
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Corydorus julii
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Anubias in flower
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Aponogeton flowers
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Aponogeton flowers with Lotus leaf
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Having bought a nice piece of branching bogwwod from Leicester Aquatics I was just leaving the shop when a friend spotted a beautiful chunk of wood. We dragged it into the centre of the floor, measured it and moved it around to admire it and I part exchanged it for the piece I had just bought.
The only container I had that was big enough to soak it in was the dustbin which was duly scrubbed and there the wood sat, with frequent water changes, till January 2008.
In mid January I ordered some Anubias plants and when they arrived I attached them to the wood with cable tacks which should be fairly easy to remove when the roots have taken hold in the wood. I also had some baby Narrow Leaf Jave Ferns from the other tank and together they provided what I hope will be good cover.
As the wood was 21" long and 18" wide at its widest point it came far too close to the front of the tank which is only 24" wide, so one rainy night a friend came round to lend a hand and we sawed off a lump. We then placed it in the tank and moved it around until it pleased me, took it out to attach the plants and put it back again.
All in all the evening went very well, I was pleased with the result and we didn't get too wet after all.
The previous week I had rearranged the left of the tank to move the wood closer to the glass and when done I was so happy with the result I was tempted to leave the tank as it was. But then what was I to do with a large lump of wood sat in the dustbin?
When all was done this was the result.
