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Resurrection (EA900)

Now I've planted the tank and I'm started to see the scape through the cloudiness, I'm feeling like I can really start to make more decisions about planting and what this scape will be. I've been throwing around all sorts of ideas but I'm not going to stick with them all - I'm just not interested enough in the idea of all native biotope to stop myself buying lots of lovely plants from everywhere lmao, because I now think that some normal aquarium plants mixed in would look really good to add balance and fill in gaps. The front is also got nothing going on yet either which isn't right.

My basic structure was not right for an entirely pond plants/biotope tank, the shape is good but the surface of it needed to be entirely covered to look good, this is partly cos I just wanted to start it asap and be cheap with hardscape lmao. If I did it for biotope in mind, I would do exactly as @Wookii said earlier with a layer of glue and sand and roots and things over the top first.

So I think this tank is more like a fantasy garden wabi kusa aquarium pond. I think the Sticklebacks would look great amongst some carpet plants and grasses and things that I just can't get with normal pond plants. But at the same time, I really love these pond plants and love that they're something different with great leaf shapes and flowers. Best of both worlds!! Off to shop... 👀

Also, I think I want to add cull cherry shrimp too? 👀 🤔

Hi all,

They are Tipula (Cranefly) larvae. They can be terrestrial, or aquatic/semi-aquatic, dependent on species. We usually get <"Tipula maxima"> in the kick samples from the stream on campus and they can be pretty sizable. I don't think you can get an ID from a larvae.

cheers Darrel
Fabulous! I knew you'd know, thank you. 😊 They are very large, quite ugly. I think I will net most out and put in a pond bowl instead, there are quite a lot which is a bit unnerving 😅

@shangman Checked on the pond earlier today and the fry were swimming around. I might hatch some baby brine shrimp to make sure they've got some food.
Huzzah! Sounds like a good idea, they are lil bebes, and then you could train them onto the flake too.
 
Thought I'd take another picture before I do a big waterchange to show you how it's looking atm... I'm feeling quite pleased already, especially with the left blob. Obviously a lot still needs to be planted, I don't want a full carpet, but I do want more plants around the base of the blobs and creeping out from there. The small bottom plants will be Hydrocotyle verticiliata and Lilaeopsis brasiliensis. I'm also going to add some Cyperus helferi here and there to mimic the grass at the top of the left blob. I think I also need some sort of pond grass for the righthand blob (the grass I got for the left one dies if it goes below 5cm of water annoyingly). The hottonia is doing a lot of heavy lifting, and I'm going to get more of that next week too. I think I need some small pebbles to add texture the bottom too. On the blobs themselves I'm adding a bit of monte carlo to hide some of the base structure.

I've read that Ludwigia palustris is actually a native plant, so I'd like to add a bit of that. Anyone got any I can nab? I have some in other tanks, but wary in case those tanks have TB still tbh.

Will update in a day or two with a clearer tank! Just got the new filter sponges and will install them, then do a massive wc.

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Nice, this reminds me of those posters we had at elementary school of the fresh water underwater life, only thing missing is a pike.
I know exactly what you mean!! 😂 I had those on my bedroom wall as a kid, along with loads of ripped out wildlife pics from National Geographic. Maybe when it's done I'll try to make some posters with the photos inspired by that 😅
 
I know exactly what you mean!! I had those on my bedroom wall as a kid, along with loads of ripped out wildlife pics from National Geographic. Maybe when it's done I'll try to make some posters with the photos inspired by that
I always loved those posters. As a kid I was always fascinated by the waterline and the secret world underneath. Maybe it's why I love riparium/paludarium style set ups you can get back in that moment and take a peak underneath.
Have an big amazone poster from Natgeo in my music studio that Ive got from my wife. Its always inspiring to look at.
 
Really love this. And you have a great selection of plants in there. And SO MANY different types! Almost as many as I have in my ponds😂. Looking forward to seeing this when the water clears up. Have you thought of a 'water lilly' type plant? I can give you some Nymphoides peltata to try out. Its leaves are really small compared to water lillies but same shape.
 
As a kid I was always fascinated by the waterline and the secret world underneath. Maybe it's why I love riparium/paludarium style set ups you can get back in that moment and take a peak underneath.
Have an big amazone poster from Natgeo in my music studio that Ive got from my wife. Its always inspiring to look at.
Beautifully put, and I feel exactly the same. I would put my face right up to the pond or rock pools surface and stare in, hoping to catch a glimpse of something and hoping I could see something really interesting, see IN at the pond creatures lives. Creating that feeling again in my own aquariums is the biggest aim - how to maximise the delight!? A major reason why I chose to do a pond tank is my love of the riparium/waterline plants that grow above and below. I'm convinced that many fish love these plants the most too, and the habitat they create. Totally with you.

looks great, following
Thanks!

Really love this. And you have a great selection of plants in there. And SO MANY different types! Almost as many as I have in my ponds😂. Looking forward to seeing this when the water clears up. Have you thought of a 'water lilly' type plant? I can give you some Nymphoides peltata to try out. Its leaves are really small compared to water lillies but same shape.
Thank you!! I didn't use everything on my "what I like" list... It's maybe 11 species so far. I would like to expand that to about 25 though... I would love to try some Nymphoides peltata, yes please! Anything you have spare if love to try 👀 the plants in this tank are growing VERY fast, so even small bits are fab. I'll update this journal with more stuff tomorrow and Tuesday I think, it's crazy how fast things are growing. I'm so happy with the progress so far, it's actually working quite well. Hopefully it continues this way!
 
Wow, coming along isn’t it!!

The immersed are looking great already and I reckon this is going to look fab when ur all done.

It’s great to hear you so excited and clearly enjoying it too. 👍😊
 
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Pond tank's doing well :) Will do a bigger update later this week.

Looks like a great concept! 😊 I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

When ur done, can you nip round and re-do my pond for me. 😂
I'm enjoying it loads! Love this concept and have already been thinking of other nice versions.

Pond-tank, yes. Actual pond? I think @killi69 is the one for that!

I think your idea of going British biotope stylie with Sticklebacks would be brilliant. They are such characterful looking fish!
Thanks! I'm gonna be honest it looks NOTHING like a biotope, but it does look quite nice. Sort of wish I had a big school of ember tetras in there for the aesthetics, but the sticklebacks are a fascinating fish to keep. I accidentally acquired my first Stickleback on last Monday, and he's an odd little fellow, I'm intrigued to see what he's like in a bigger group!
 
WALL OF TEXT with your FULL TANK SHOT. Have done so much aquarium stuff lately, it's been fabulous. And exhausting! But I'm certainly not complaining! It's been a welcome distraction from job hunting, which is a form of torture lols

Last Monday I went to Wildwoods World of Water with @Courtneybst once again to pick up some more mud, stones and plants for this tank, and for my outdoor pond too, and my indoor pond bowl which needed some fancy rice fish (finally sourced some lovely ones!). I always really enjoy visiting, everyone there is super knowledgeable and we always end up having long chats about everything aquarium and pond. I also ended up picking up my first stickleback - Mr Stickle, who I spotted in their large river shrimp-filled feeder tank. We think he is a bycatch from an estuary while catching the shrimps, and he was all alone in there so I took him. He had to go in my outdoor waterlily pond bowl for a week while I prepared the big tank more, as it still had a low amount of ammonia, but after 2 100% waterchanges over a week and even more plants, it's now fine and he's in the big tank! Of course will not add more fish for a bit longer, and keeping up on big waterchanges so he is safe. He is very shy of the camera atm, although he does come to the front a lot when it isn't out. He's very fast and zooms about, constantly on the lookout for food and other fish, definitely a tiny predator. I've been feeding him live food as he doesn't seem to understand anything else yet, when I have some more I'll try to acclimate them to bug bites. I'm looking forward to adding some "friends" for him in the next few weeks, fascinated to see the dynamics! CarpCo now also sell minnows, I'm not sure if I should get both, but I would quite like to lmao.

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Something I love about this pond tank is that it's not too expensive to set up - the pond mud was about £10 for a big bag ( I used 2 bags), the pebbles were £8 for a big bag and I've only used a little of it so far. Many of the pond plants I'm using are £2-3 a bunch, so I can get quite a few for not much, and the more expensive plants (around £8) are generally very big and established. I've really filled it up now, adding native Ludwigia palustris in green and red varieties... and then also some Ludwigia repens cos they looked similar and I like red lols. I added a large grass at the back left to see what would happen, annoyingly I've lost the name! Will have to go find it... There's also now the beginnings of a carpet, with Hydrocotyle verticillata, with Hydrocotyle vulgaris (another native) and some lilaeopsis brasilensis (a classic pond plant and tbh just a plant I seem to put in all my tanks atm). Truly, if someone dangles a nice plant in front of me I cannot resist! Speaking of which, I also got 2 Trapa natans horned nuts, one of which is already growing strong. Oh! And I added some monte carlo from Courtney here and there in areas where I wanted the shape to be seen more, but not see the base structure. This plant always died on me before, so we shall see.

I'm very fast and loose with the nativeness of this tank (it's about 70-30), but it's more important for me to have fun with it than make it a biotope. Honestly, it looks nothing like a pond or a biotope, it's definitely more wabi kusa vibes, it reminds me of flower arranging with my mum when I was a kid. I'm really enjoying thinking up kinda weird hybrid tanks like this! I visited @George Farmer on Weds with Courtney and we made a very fast scape that I'm actually really pleased with, I'm very happy to even have been asked! It really inspired me to think more about this hobby as an art practice and something I could try and merge with my design side of life. I've finally started going outside and living life more again and been telling a few artist friends about what I'm up to and many of them revealed that they're already watching aquarium and terrarium videos to relax, and are very up for making cool stuff together. It's really exciting, I hope I get to make many more fun tanks alone and in collaborations :) I would love to introduce more artists and designers into the hobby, there is so much cool stuff that could be done, and great to spread the nature love. As much cool stuff as is already being done, I feel there is so much more untapped potential. The visit also made me REALLY want a better backlight to this tank than my quick DIY one, so will have to build that too. I think it would just really elevate the tank to that next level and make it fancy af.

The growth in this tank has been fantastic, with almost all the plants growing very well. The only plant that is uphappy is the Hippuris vulgaris, which just can't deal with the waterchanges. It grows great for a week and then has to start again and it doesn't like that, it needs consistant water level. A shame as it's very nice, I will take it out and put it in my pond instead. The Hottonia is converting from the underwater form to the emergent form, I think because of the CO2 and is looking great. The starwort is doing the same, and has lovely lush leaves. I'm hoping I can grow a lot of this and have swaths of it as it's a lovely bright green that waves in the flow nicely. I haven't dosed any ferts yet... not sure if I should, and if I do when that should be! Nothing is looking very deficient yet which is great. This scape is such a difference in growth compared to the last scape where many plants dropped dead on me or hardly grew at all for months and months. On some plants I'm seeing 15cm a week! I think in a month or two it's going to be soooooo lush and fabulous. The difference compared to the last tank is why I'm so pleased with it already, not perfect yet of course, but on a nice tragectory. It also looks better irl, I need to get better at photography and staging to represent it properly.

I am at the diatoms stage of the setup now, but not worrying about it. Trying to be chill about things like this and letting it happen instead of being filled rwith rage and trying to buy my way out of it. It will pass :)

On Saturday I visited the fabulous garden of @killi69, it was so lovely to meet such a likeminded creative and kind person, and I loved the way he described his garden and the design of it in a similar way to how we design aquariums!! Since starting this tank I have really begun to realise the enormous potential of merging knowledge, ideas, plants, etc from aquariums, ponds, gardens, everything together in one big fabulous pot and create hybrid nature spaces. @killi69 is already doing this in his garden and it's just beautiful, and it will jsut continue to get more beautiful each season and year. I can't wait to visit again in August when it will be even more luscious and flowering like mad! I probably should've taken some pictures, but I just enjoyed the chat and the vibes and staring into the ponds at all the different pondlife. I particularly loved to see the fish, they looked in such good condition, so natural and chill in their large pools (check out Courtney on Instagram to see some vids). Particularly beautiful to me were the fat black and blue male Aphanius mento, which look a bit like Pokemon with a big anime eye. Andre very kindly gave me and Courtney some fry of the Aphanius mento, which have gone in my pond that I had originally planned to put my sticklebacks in. It gave me an idea...

Last Spring, my dad found a lovely second hand tank of 100cm lx40cm dx30cm h online for rather cheap, so of course we couldn't resist. We imagined it in our living room as a fabulous blackwater with emergent houseplants and rare fish, but my mum veto'd it. She is understandably nervous about my antics, as when I was a child my dad went mad with tropical pets in tanks and we ended up with way too many. Eventually I hope the tank will go in the house, but until then it's just been in the allotment shed. Then I realised... it would go perfectly in a lovely shelted spot in the garden by the (nice) shed and patio! This has been accepted by the family as a good spot, so I'm going to set it up as an outdoor pond aquarium for the Aphanius mento, and really get to see them in their full glory. There is electricity in the shed, so I might try to rig up a little pond pump or filter so it does get some flow/filtering. There would be no heater, and no light (unless it really needs it) we're hoping sunlight will be enough.

Andre also gave me some lovely plants for my current pond tank - Mentha aquatica, Pilularia globulifera, Chara algae (looks like a stem plant), and beautiful Potamogeton crispus which have all gone in and look great. The chara I'm particularly interested in, I'm not sure if it will survive but we'll give it a go!
 
Something I love about this pond tank is that it's not too expensive to set up - the pond mud was about £10 for a big bag ( I used 2 bags)

The tank looks great Rosie. So what is this 'Pond Mud' product - do you have the brand/product name - it looks ideal for a biotope set-up - have you just used that 'neat' with no capping? I assume its not high in organics then?
 
Thank you for the kind words Rose. Your tank is looking really good! So nice to see pond plants presented in this different way, so intermingled. I was also wondering whether this is maybe more a temperate tank than a pond tank? By pond tank, are you aiming to capture the essence of a still amd small body of water (as opposed to a river or lake) - which would not neccesarily have to be temperate. Or is it more about using temperate plants? Or maybe both??

In any case, I think the idea of an outdoor aquarium is super interesting as well. There are real health benefits for temperate and subtropical fish to be kept outside which makes them look so much better, and perhaps might even help stimulate their natural behaviour. It would be interesting to see to what extent an outdoor aquarium could capture some of that and help you observe the difference.

The Aphanius mentho would be a good choice as they can enjoy relative high temperatures and day v night temperature fluctuations also. Would be interesting to see how to overcome challenges to keep such a tank looking good (algae), with all that outside light, and light fluctuations.
 
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I love it. For me it's similar to Courtney's cool edible scape, being familiar but seemingly very different to the norm at the same time.
 
The pond tank is looking really good, as are the photos!
Thanks! The next thing I really want to work on is good photos, vids and staging tbh, wanna get it all looking it's absolute best. So annoying when it looks cool irl but doesn't quite translate.

The tank looks great Rosie. So what is this 'Pond Mud' product - do you have the brand/product name - it looks ideal for a biotope set-up - have you just used that 'neat' with no capping? I assume its not high in organics then?
Thanks! It's "Westland - Aquatic Planting & Potting Mix", just what they had on a big stand at WoW basically. I was originally planning to have the front substrate just be sand, and the pond soil hidden in the structure, but once I started adding it I thought looked nice so didn't bother, no cap. DANGEROUS LIVING. It feels like it's got a lot of clay and sand in it, and when I plant into the bottom it does kick up a lot of stuff. I will keep reporting on how annoying or not it is. When I did my 2 main planting sessions, I did 100% waterchanges afterwards to get rid of the stuff in the water, but if you're just doing a little it's fine and the filter gets rid of it quickly. I have no idea if it's high in organics tbh, or if it's longer term a terrible idea, but I thought I'd try it and see what happens, as you said it does look really nicely natural.

Thank you for the kind words Rose. Your tank is looking really good! So nice to see pond plants presented in this different way, so intermingled. I was also wondering whether this is maybe more a temperate tank than a pond tank? By pond tank, are you aiming to capture the essence of a still amd small body of water (as opposed to a river or lake) - which would not neccesarily have to be temperate. Or is it more about using temperate plants? Or maybe both??

In any case, I think the idea of an outdoor aquarium is super interesting as well. There are real health benefits for temperate and subtropical fish to be kept outside which makes them look so much better, and perhaps might even help stimulate their natural behaviour. It would be interesting to see to what extent an outdoor aquarium could capture some of that and help you observe the difference.

The Aphanius mentho would be a good choice as they can enjoy relative high temperatures and day v night temperature fluctuations also. Would be interesting to see how to overcome challenges to keep such a tank looking good (algae), with all that outside light, and light fluctuations.
Thank you!! Pond tank was so named because the plants in it are mostly pond plants, and it just is a name stuck in my head. I think it is a temperate rather than pond tank, as I have kept the 2 filters going so there is a high flow to it, I think ponds have more pleasant stillness as you say. I am also just starting to explore how I can create more sculptural abstract forms and different materials into my tanks, so that has definitely bent it in a different way than if I was going for a very naturalistic vibe. There are sooooo many ways to do an outside tank/pond tank, so I've just gone for one version so far that brings in this arty side of me. There's great room for experimentation, I hope lots more people give ti a try. Especially with electricity bills rising, an unheated tank is a great way to make it a bit cheaper too. My outdoor aquarium will be more traditionally done with wood and stones, since I think it being outside is probably different enough for now, and as you said there are enough challenges in the algae and sunlight to keep me busy. I'm also intrigued by it in winter, I think I should wrap it up like you did your tubs? What would you do?

It will also be more of a pond aquarium tank, as it will only have a very small filter and be lowtech, not enough flow to make things move much. As soon as I saw the Aphanius mentho in your pond, I knew they would need their own special place as those males were so beautifully black and blue, and my actual pond they're in right now is quite dark with dark pond liner sides, I won't get to appreciate them in there so much... hench, outside aquarium! I'm always up for a challenge! I think if it's successful, I will keep it for qite a few years and experiment with keeping some indoor fish outdoors for a few months to see their condition change and for breeding. I will be on the lookout for a pair of the paradisefish too for next year.

I love it. For me it's similar to Courtney's cool edible scape, being familiar but seemingly very different to the norm at the same time.
Yes!! Thank you Mort, that is what I'm going for. I think that's why Courtney and me get along so well, we have similar mindsets that love to try something different by remixing and collaging. There are so many different intrigueing options out there, it's irresistable to try them! So much potential for interesting unusual aquariums that use different materials and building techniques, and still create great habitat for our creatures.
 
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