# Fangorn Forest (21 litre)



## James Marshall (20 Jul 2009)

Hello fellow aquascapers

Before embarking on my next serious attempt, I thought it would be a good idea to set up a play tank, in which I could experiment with some new plants, hardscape materials. equipment and techniques. This is the result.






Tank volume :  21 liters

Tank size :  36 x 22 x 26 cm

Plants :    Riccia fluitans, Rotala rotundifolia, Taxiphyllum barbieri,
                 Staurogyne Sp, Hemianthus callitrichoides

Hardscape:       Grape vine root, Metamorphic rock

Lightning :   Two 24 Watt cool white power compacts (over tank)
                       One 7 Watt warm white tulip bulb (backlight)
                       For 8 hours per day

Fish :   Endlerâ€™s Livebearer

Ferts::   1.5 ml Tropica plant nutrition+  per day

CO2:  45 bubbles per minute for 10 hours per day

Substrate:   Eco Complete and Red Sea flora base


I based this scape on Fangorn forest from the Lord of the Rings movie. (a bit tacky I know, but good fun nevertheless), unfortunately the scape failed at about 5 weeks old, the reasons are as follows.
Once the Riccia tree tops grew to their intended size and shape they blocked out the light to such an extent that the plants directly below suffered from very poor growth. 
Also the tree tops blocked the flow from the filter, causing dead spots which quickly became infested with algae ( I could not adjust the flow as I have a â€œhang on backâ€ filter behind a permanent cover).
Because the Riccia sat just 4 inches form 48 Watts of T5 lighting it grew so fast that it needed pruning every other day.
Iâ€™m not sure if grape vine root is completely fish safe, as my half of my fish died over the 3 weeks they were in the tank, I tested the water for everything I could think of and found no explicable reason. After removing the roots the health of the remaining fishes improved significantly.

I hope this is of interest.

Regards James


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## Themuleous (20 Jul 2009)

Nice, you def get the sense of it being a wood/forest.

Sam


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## Steve Smith (20 Jul 2009)

That's a really good start, and great learning scape.  When did you put this together James?  What would you say were the main things you learnt from this scape?


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## James Marshall (20 Jul 2009)

Thanks Guys

I put the scape together, i think, 10th June, and was brolen down about a week ago, when i decided that the grape vine root was the cause of the fish deaths
This experiment taught me much, the main findings are as follows:
#    It's best to use tried and tested hardscape materials, and not to experiment at the cost of your fish. 
#    In nano tanks, Riccia is not an ideal tree top plant, as it does not naturaly grow the in right shape (Vesicularia christmas is probably a better choice)
#   If you create trees or other overhangs, it's best to have bare rock or sand in their shadows.
#   In the high tech planted tank, good circulation is of the upmost importance
#   The position of equipment, such as filters, should not govern your scape design (this point has led to the installation of an Eheim 2213, and a DIY inline CO2 diffuser)

Cheers James


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## George Farmer (20 Jul 2009)

Smart little layout, James.  Well done.

Thanks for posting the lessons learnt too.


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## Steve Smith (20 Jul 2009)

It's great when you can take something away from a scape, whether it was 100% successful or not


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## Mark Evans (20 Jul 2009)

SteveUK said:
			
		

> t's great when you can take something away from a scape, whether it was 100% successful or not



each scape contains a ton of info for me personally.but often repeat the same mistakes  :? 

James! your a huge fan of riccia i see. also a daring scaper.


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## James Marshall (20 Jul 2009)

Cheers Guys

Each scape is a lesson through it's mistakes and through it's happy accidents. Often for me some aspect of the scape will turn out very different from that which I expected, and give me ideas I would not have otherwise had.

I am a fan of Riccia, I feel it has possibilities yet unexplored. Also it grows very fast and densely under high tech conditions, so works well as an algae buffer.

Regards James


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## TDI-line (20 Jul 2009)

Nice forest James.


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