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Green Pekoe Pond - 40 litres

Hi,
This picture here that you took:

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what are the plants right bang in the middle with the little leaves? is that the glosso you are talking about, or was that your culture of HC that you put on the outside of the tank a while back?
Really impressed with the quality of your photos and the angles you get. amazing job! I hope the new growth of the heliamphorais will acclimatise alright!

Might i ask, what test kit do you use for your water parameters (gH and kH) as well as your macro and micronutrients.

Cheers

Laurie
 
Hi Laurie, That's right - HC. Grows really well above the water even in the dry, central heating air. Overgrew the moss and Utricularia graminifolia already attached to the twig after a stray clipping started growing after a carpet prune. I love the way the plants battle and retreat over time! The big loser in my tank is hairgrass - almost completely gone, outcompeted by the other plants. [edit:This is how looked in November]:
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The colony of glosso I noticed popping out from under the heart's tongue fern a couple of months ago. The fern was given a big haircut a couple of weeks ago and the glosso has just taken off (pics coming).

Never used a liquid test kit - I did use cheap ebay a pH pen once to see what was happening but didn't really give me anything I didn't already know. TDS pen gets dipped in a couple of times a month out of curiosity but other than that no testing. I use RO water with 25% changes twice a week and just squirt a few pumps of Tropica specialised afterwards. I like it simple… have a search for Darrel's duckweed index.
 
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Ah ok, that epic that the HC has grown out. I just find it completely fascinating the mix of submerged and emersed plants you have haha!

Thanks you letting me know your testing methods. Do you use an RO unit or do you make your own RO water from boiling etc? Sorry for the bombardment of questions!
 
No problem with the questions. I use my own RO machine. Takes a few hours to produce the water for a couple of weeks WCs. It was one of those experiments early on in my tank's life I stuck with. My tetras enjoy soft water and the tank is so small it takes no effort or time to produce it… I would use rainwater but the pollution in the London area isn't very nice at the best of times.
 
Amazing!! I'm almost drooling.. And i'm your clonebaby.. The same idea's 🙂
Instead of acrylic hanging pots i was thinking of making me a small elongated acrylic tank and make an auquaponic filter system out of it, filled with excotic plants. And hang it behind the tank against the wall.
Anyway that is my next project when aquarium is done.

Just an idea, maybe something for you as well, maybe it's also allready done.. Never found something about an acrylic decorative filter..

Split the main filter outlet to fill the auquaponic filter and drain in back to the tank with a bell sifon.

I'm planing on making it al in minature 60cm x 15cm x 15cm all acrylic with bell sifon compartment in view. But maybe even smaller..
 
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Nice pics. Very beautiful tank. One of my favourites! Quick question. I've noticed you don't have a bubbler, and neither to many of the tanks. Is it purely from the plants providing o2 during the day? I thought that it wouldn't be enough as night time the plants AND fish utilise the o2 in the water.
 
No bubbles but I do have a lot of flow across the surface and top to bottom water movement. I'm very aware of keeping the water surface clean of muck and run a surface skimmer on a timer.

From my understanding, direct gas exchange from bubble to water isn't the most efficient. The bottom to top flow caused by the airstone is the largest cause of gas exchange.
 
Ah oki thanks. I've just taken my bubbler attachment to my internal filter out and put a spray bar on, pointing up towards to surface. I'm planning on getting a fluval 106 for my 50l. Do you reckon, if I have enough surface movement it would be good enough. Sorry I don't mean to hijack this or anything. Thanks for your reply.

Still loving the emersed hc! Amazing
 
I wouldn't like to say, I reckon a case of the more oxygen you have available for your tank and filter the better. The gold standard would be an overflow draining into a wet/dry sump - but on a small tank you have to be realistic about what you can achieve.
 
Laurie Dear said:
ideas for this tank
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Yes, lots of plans and ideas usually involving multiple tanks… but I'm going to have to settle with enjoying watching this one evolve at the moment. I'd really love to make another twin tank next door to this one - a 'Green Pekoe Spring' or a 'Green Pekoe reef. Currently I have far too many other priorities to have another tank.
 
I have been looking for some inspiration for my empty 45P sat in the garage ….think i have found it after seeing this really unusual scape. Love it.
 
This really is very inspiring! This is fine art...

Zozo - Looks a very interesting project.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the help!!

A hanging aquaponic garden above could sprinkle a nice rainy day above a tank like yours.. 🙂 Or a waterfall, Niagara!!
 
Hi Mr.Teapot I love your tank! I have a question for you. Where is all the emersed growth attached to? I realise that most of it is on your driftwood but is it all in one piece or have you also placed odd pieces of wood in there as well?
 
There's quite a large amount of anubias and moss attached to the wood. These take a strong hold and form a good foundation for the other plants. There's also a little Perspex pen holder at the back with my sundew. Other than that, there's no other wood except what's in this earlier picture:
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Interesting how the plants have used each other to build on. There's quite a large void under all the plants - the fish really like exploring these darker areas and gives the shrimps lots of hidding places.
 
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