SMALL FRESHWATER TANK

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

The small reef tank was not looking very happy and as I was looking for the change that all reefers look for after a few years I decided to go for a freshwater planted tank.

Plans were made for a high tech set-up with 300 watts of metal halide lighting and CO2 injection. As the front of the tank had become badly scratched with the constant glass cleaning it was turned through 180 degrees so the far cleaner back became the front. I bought a Tetratec EX1200 cannister filter and planned the aquascaping and then the energy company dropped the bomb of promising to substantially increase their charges unless I reduced my consumption.

Rather than give up my plans I decided to go low tech and bought the Diana Walstad book "Ecology of the planted Aquarium" and Peter Hiscock's "Aquarium Displays Inspired by Nature". They are both inspirational and set me on my path. Rex's Guide to Planted Tanks is an invaluable on-line resource as is The Barr Report - Non CO2 Methods

My LFS had some very nice vine roots which I was able to arrange tastefully using the Golden Mean; you can see the guide lines on the glass. The three pieces were very light and I had to weigh them down by tying them to pieces of slate. The slate was rested on egg crate and three bags of washed Fluorite added.

Next I added two bags of washed fine aquarium gravel and I must say I was very pleased with the result.

I bought the Tetratec filter for this tank and then realised that five times tank volume turnover was probably overkill so tried a Maxijet 1200 but this proved too powerful as well. Eventually I used a small powerhead I had laying around instead and it has proved to be ideal.

Having read about balancing fish waste with the needs of the plants and the need to plant at least 75% of the substrate with stem plants to outgrow any incipient algae I ordered 200 plants from my LFS. Unfortunately there was no guarantee that the Singaporean exporter would deliver as ordered and so it proved. I got 100 Hygrophila corymbosa and 100 Hygrophila sp. (?salicifolia). A couple of days later I added the first 12 of the planned 42 Neon Tetras.

Ten days later the plants were already showing considerable growth and I continued to add Neons, 12 at a time, till I reached 42. Snails looked like becoming a problem so I added a Dwarf Chain Loach and it really kept them within acceptable limits. To clean the bottom four Peppered Cories and to control algae ten Amano Shrimps joined the community which I now considered compleat.

A month after this the plants had reached the surface and the replacement for my six foot reef tank had arrived. When that was ready for plants I cut the plants in the small tank in half and removed all of them from the front to augment the two plant collections I bought from Greenline Aquatic Plants for the main tank.

After this major disturbance of the substrate I did a 10% water change, the first so far, and unless there are any more major disturbances I do not intend to do another unless things go badly wrong.

I had become used to seeing the Neons weave in and out of the stems and was not alone in thinking that the tank was very pleasing and it certainly looked a little bare after the pruning even though I bought some Marsilea hirsuta. Earlier on I had tied some Java Moss to several places on the wood but the shrimps had pulled some off and it migrated to the front of the tank where I decided to leave it just to see what would happen.

I noticed that on-line companies were selling Creeping Jenny and as I had some on my allotment I brought a few stems home to put in the tank as an experiment. It was successful of course and later I brought a bagful home to act as a background plant.

On a trip to Taunton Aquarium Centre with a friend the first thing I saw as I walked in the door was a gorgeous piece of Alabama Swampwood sitting in a bare 3' tank and fell in love. I had no idea what I would do with it but I knew I had to have it. It was not supposed to leak much tannin and to only need re-hydration so I put it in a bath of water for a few days. Three days later I noticed that the bath enamel was becoming stained so I took it out and put it in the tank reasoning the Neon Tetras would appreciate a blackwater biotope.

I then had to bleach the bath white again! But the wood looks great.

To enhance the blackwater feeling I taped some black bin-liners to the back of the tank and the Neons not only look good but seem to be happier.

At about this time some plants were offered on a bulletin board and I got some Cryptocoryne beckettii "Petchii", Microsorium pteropus "Narrow", M.pteropus "Windlov", M pteropus "philippine", M pteropus (Java Fern) some Limnobium laevigatum (Amazon Frogbit) and some yellow Bacomba. The ferns were all tied to wood, mainly the new piece, or pieces of slate sunk in the gravel but the Bacomba didn't really look right so most of it was pulled out and replaced with a pot of Hygrophila difformis.

I had always intended that as the plants in each of the two tanks needed pruning I would make use of them in the other tank and I have started with some Egeria densa into this tank.

All I have to do now is be patient and watch the tank develop.

Three months after the last picture and the tank is looking good.