Geraint Anderson
Member
Hi,
We've been renovating our house and one of the first things we decided on was that we wanted a big fish tank in the hallway so we had lots of plugs fitted during the re-wire ready. Almost 3 years later we've finally got the tank - a cheap second hand Juwel Vision 260 with a bow front. Originally I thought I would add some gravel, fish and a couple of pots of plants and would be done. Then, I discovered this site.. I was completely blown away with your tanks so decided to set up my own planted tank and many many hours of research later the aquascape is in progress!
The stand isn't the original but it's actually the perfect height for my son to see in (and store his wellies in). I bought some bogwood which luckily just about sank straight away with one piece not quite lying flat) but released lots of colour so I gave it a hot bath.
Two hot baths later and almost two weeks soaking in the tank it was finally ready.
I used Tropica aquarium soil and Unipac Silica Sand to create a beach style. I spent a long time getting a really crisp line between the two which will probably mix as soon as I add fish, but it looks nice for the time being.
I also added some rocks. Plant wise, I settled for the following mixture after many many hours of research. They are all low light and low CO2 in an effort to keep things as simple as possible. I thought I can always add more light and CO2 later if I need but wanted to try without first.
- Moss - Taxiphyllum Barbieri
- Carpet - Eleocharis Pusilla
- Carpet - Marsilea Hirsuta
- For growing on wood: Anubias Barteri Caladiifolia
- For growing on wood: Microsorum Pteropus
- Mid-ground - Echinodorus Reni
- Mid-ground - Cryptocoryne Beckettii Petchii
- Mid-ground - Hottonia Palustris
- Background - Bacopa Caroliniana
I was amazed at the quantity of plants. I only bought one pack of each and was concerned that I wouldn't have enough after seeing how many pots go into the pro designs on Youtube but I watched one video where someone said that you can use individual stems if you have enough patience. I certainly needed patience and was really glad I bought a pair of long tweezers rather than borrowing my wife's tweezers as I had originally planned to do!
Luckily one pot of grass and one pot of Marsilea was enough to cover the soil without splitting into individual stems which I was quite grateful for. I managed wedge some moss between rocks but attaching anything to the wood was really hard. If I were to start again I would definitely tie them on before putting the wood into the tank but as I had already planted tight up to the wood I had to do what I could. I managed to thread fishing line under the wood by gripping it in the tweezers then poking it under but this made a bit of a mess so I only did that once and tied it in a loop. I then tied another piece of line to that and ran it length ways along the wood and tied it at the cave allowing me to trap plants under it, but as it was really fiddly I couldn't get it very tight. Tying plants to the big piece of wood was easier but they are still not very secure. Does anyone know if they need to be tight to stick themselves or will they eventually attach even with an initially loose hold?
5 and a half hours later all the plants were in. After filling to the top only a couple of bits of grass floated to the surface and one Java Fern fell over. When I was done I turned the pump on and found it didn't work. Given the internal filter box I couldn't just buy any pump because it needed to fit in the box. I contemplated cutting it out completely and getting an external but I was a bit overwhelmed at the variety (and cost) of externals, and wasn't sure I could fit a big enough one in the cabinet given it's low height. I also thought it would be simpler to just get a replacement Juwel one which is what I decided to do, but I couldn't get one for another two days, so the water sat there until the weekend.
We've been renovating our house and one of the first things we decided on was that we wanted a big fish tank in the hallway so we had lots of plugs fitted during the re-wire ready. Almost 3 years later we've finally got the tank - a cheap second hand Juwel Vision 260 with a bow front. Originally I thought I would add some gravel, fish and a couple of pots of plants and would be done. Then, I discovered this site.. I was completely blown away with your tanks so decided to set up my own planted tank and many many hours of research later the aquascape is in progress!
The stand isn't the original but it's actually the perfect height for my son to see in (and store his wellies in). I bought some bogwood which luckily just about sank straight away with one piece not quite lying flat) but released lots of colour so I gave it a hot bath.
Two hot baths later and almost two weeks soaking in the tank it was finally ready.
I used Tropica aquarium soil and Unipac Silica Sand to create a beach style. I spent a long time getting a really crisp line between the two which will probably mix as soon as I add fish, but it looks nice for the time being.
I also added some rocks. Plant wise, I settled for the following mixture after many many hours of research. They are all low light and low CO2 in an effort to keep things as simple as possible. I thought I can always add more light and CO2 later if I need but wanted to try without first.
- Moss - Taxiphyllum Barbieri
- Carpet - Eleocharis Pusilla
- Carpet - Marsilea Hirsuta
- For growing on wood: Anubias Barteri Caladiifolia
- For growing on wood: Microsorum Pteropus
- Mid-ground - Echinodorus Reni
- Mid-ground - Cryptocoryne Beckettii Petchii
- Mid-ground - Hottonia Palustris
- Background - Bacopa Caroliniana
I was amazed at the quantity of plants. I only bought one pack of each and was concerned that I wouldn't have enough after seeing how many pots go into the pro designs on Youtube but I watched one video where someone said that you can use individual stems if you have enough patience. I certainly needed patience and was really glad I bought a pair of long tweezers rather than borrowing my wife's tweezers as I had originally planned to do!
Luckily one pot of grass and one pot of Marsilea was enough to cover the soil without splitting into individual stems which I was quite grateful for. I managed wedge some moss between rocks but attaching anything to the wood was really hard. If I were to start again I would definitely tie them on before putting the wood into the tank but as I had already planted tight up to the wood I had to do what I could. I managed to thread fishing line under the wood by gripping it in the tweezers then poking it under but this made a bit of a mess so I only did that once and tied it in a loop. I then tied another piece of line to that and ran it length ways along the wood and tied it at the cave allowing me to trap plants under it, but as it was really fiddly I couldn't get it very tight. Tying plants to the big piece of wood was easier but they are still not very secure. Does anyone know if they need to be tight to stick themselves or will they eventually attach even with an initially loose hold?
5 and a half hours later all the plants were in. After filling to the top only a couple of bits of grass floated to the surface and one Java Fern fell over. When I was done I turned the pump on and found it didn't work. Given the internal filter box I couldn't just buy any pump because it needed to fit in the box. I contemplated cutting it out completely and getting an external but I was a bit overwhelmed at the variety (and cost) of externals, and wasn't sure I could fit a big enough one in the cabinet given it's low height. I also thought it would be simpler to just get a replacement Juwel one which is what I decided to do, but I couldn't get one for another two days, so the water sat there until the weekend.