Tom43
Member
Hi everyone, I just joined the forum and thought I'd post progress on my tank project. I've been reading this forum for a few months, and often got results from here on Google search. I started the project end of May with brainstorming ideas and researching second hand tanks. I bought a tank in June, and it was planted and cycled at the end of July.
The tank has been running for 2 months and is my first nature aquarium having had a Biorb 15L for a few months. My vision was to create a natural habitat for the white mountain cloud minnows that I started with in my Biorb (I had just 3, but the dominant fish bullied the others for hours every day, so I knew I needed more fish and more swimming space), and to create something inspired by the nature aquariums I have been admiring online.
The tank is a Juwel Lido 200L, bought second hand (2 years old) off the internet from a lovely local guy. It was used for a salt water setup so needed a lot of cleaning, and removal of the fake rock that was a bit tired and didn't fit my plans. I also removed the internal filter as I wanted more of a blank canvas. It came with two external filters thrown in, so I refurbished the Fluval 306 and replaced the filter media; I also replaced the standard pipes with clear acrylic ones with glass inlet/outlet. I hid all the electric cables in a white pvc tube that blends with the white wall in the background.
You can see a circulation pump two thirds of the way down to help circulation at the bottom of the tank, and to create some river-bed-like flow for the minnows to play in. I have CO2 gas injection using a CO2Art kit with single stage regulator with solenoid, for sodastream bottles. CO2 and lights are connected to timers.
Since the tank is deep, I have raised the filter outlet to agitate the surface water and hopefully get more oxygen circulating. The CO2 checker still shows green, so the plants still seem to get plenty of CO2.
I've really enjoyed the learning curve, though it has been very steep given my complete lack of fish-keeping experience! I bought one of Amano's books to guide my acquascaping process, and employed Zen garden design principles I was already familiar with from my back garden project.
I did lots of mock-ups of the hardscape layout just using the rocks and wood I'd sourced, laying it out on an old table. The main challenge was how to use the height of this aquarium, and how to achieve a river bank effect with different levels of substrate. I decided to use rock to separate the river bank from the river bed, and sourced some black rock to create a bedrock bank effect; in hindsight, it would have been nice to have gone a bit higher with the river bank but doing so would have raised the wood above the lid of the tank which houses the built in lighting. That was just one step too far, and the black frame at the top of the tank wouldn't work with the wood poking out of the water anyway. Maybe next time...
I used rocks to support the weight of the 'tree trunk' (two pieces of hard driftwood zip-tied together, and which weigh a tonne by themselves). The raised planting area was filled in with Seachem Flourite (red stuff) and covered in fine grade AquaSoil. The Seachem Flourite was cheaper than the ADA equivalent, and I liked that it absorbed ammonia (which the AquaSoil releases in the first few weeks) and nutrients, and that it contained iron which the stem plants would like. The only problem has been the Amano shrimp rolling the AquaSoil granules over the edge of my river bank and onto the gravel below!! They are an industrious crew, and I've just accepted now the soil and gravel will mix a bit!
I penned a rough planting plan and researched the plants and their growth rates and heights, and lighting needs. I started by choosing stem plants native to the part of China the minnows come from, knowing they like fine leaved, dense planting. The rest of the plants were chosen based on aesthetics, borrowing inspiration from nature aquariums I'd been bookmarking in the web browser. Something I particularly like is moss growing on wood, as it gives that aged mature look, so this had to be included. I didn't go for the full carpet plant treatment as this would not work with my river bed theme, and anyway sounded like too much maintenance.
Plants are as follows:
Taxiphyllum barbieri
Rotala rotundifolia
Limnophila aquatica
Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping'
Fissidens fontanus
Eleocharis parvula
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Blyxa Japonica
The minnows' behaviour has changed drastically in the last few months. Going from 3 to 12, the bullying reduced markedly. But the fish didn't school very much, and the tank felt a bit empty. So I increased the numbers to 30 in two stages, and suddenly they started schoaling a lot of the time, only scattering when feeding or hungry or when the males were displaying and mating started.
My livestock list is:
30x White Cloud Mountain Minnows (one third are the gold variety) which occupy the top and middle of the tank most of the time
6x Peacock Gudgeons/Gobies (3 pairs) that like the bottom and middle of the tank, and will become territorial about the gravel and caves as they mature, which should be entertaining
17x Amano shrimp for the clean up team, plus my services to clean the windows, and rake the gravel and cut the lawn
4x Assassin Snails (bought to neutralise the suspected baby snails that turned up on the glass)
I did originally want some Stiphodons, but after discussing with my LFS decided on the peacock gobies. I'm still in two minds about adding these as I'm smitten by them; but I'm not sure they'll be happy alongside the peacocks, and I may just wait for the next project (probably a hill stream style project that might suit them better).
Please do comment with your suggestions and feedback on things you would do differently, or that you suggest I try (this time or next time). I'm really keen to improve my aquascaping, and keep learning.
Also please comment on the fish stock, and particularly my choice of bottom dwellers. I want to keep the minnows the focus of this tank, but I'm open minded...
The tank has been running for 2 months and is my first nature aquarium having had a Biorb 15L for a few months. My vision was to create a natural habitat for the white mountain cloud minnows that I started with in my Biorb (I had just 3, but the dominant fish bullied the others for hours every day, so I knew I needed more fish and more swimming space), and to create something inspired by the nature aquariums I have been admiring online.
The tank is a Juwel Lido 200L, bought second hand (2 years old) off the internet from a lovely local guy. It was used for a salt water setup so needed a lot of cleaning, and removal of the fake rock that was a bit tired and didn't fit my plans. I also removed the internal filter as I wanted more of a blank canvas. It came with two external filters thrown in, so I refurbished the Fluval 306 and replaced the filter media; I also replaced the standard pipes with clear acrylic ones with glass inlet/outlet. I hid all the electric cables in a white pvc tube that blends with the white wall in the background.
You can see a circulation pump two thirds of the way down to help circulation at the bottom of the tank, and to create some river-bed-like flow for the minnows to play in. I have CO2 gas injection using a CO2Art kit with single stage regulator with solenoid, for sodastream bottles. CO2 and lights are connected to timers.
Since the tank is deep, I have raised the filter outlet to agitate the surface water and hopefully get more oxygen circulating. The CO2 checker still shows green, so the plants still seem to get plenty of CO2.
I've really enjoyed the learning curve, though it has been very steep given my complete lack of fish-keeping experience! I bought one of Amano's books to guide my acquascaping process, and employed Zen garden design principles I was already familiar with from my back garden project.
I did lots of mock-ups of the hardscape layout just using the rocks and wood I'd sourced, laying it out on an old table. The main challenge was how to use the height of this aquarium, and how to achieve a river bank effect with different levels of substrate. I decided to use rock to separate the river bank from the river bed, and sourced some black rock to create a bedrock bank effect; in hindsight, it would have been nice to have gone a bit higher with the river bank but doing so would have raised the wood above the lid of the tank which houses the built in lighting. That was just one step too far, and the black frame at the top of the tank wouldn't work with the wood poking out of the water anyway. Maybe next time...
I used rocks to support the weight of the 'tree trunk' (two pieces of hard driftwood zip-tied together, and which weigh a tonne by themselves). The raised planting area was filled in with Seachem Flourite (red stuff) and covered in fine grade AquaSoil. The Seachem Flourite was cheaper than the ADA equivalent, and I liked that it absorbed ammonia (which the AquaSoil releases in the first few weeks) and nutrients, and that it contained iron which the stem plants would like. The only problem has been the Amano shrimp rolling the AquaSoil granules over the edge of my river bank and onto the gravel below!! They are an industrious crew, and I've just accepted now the soil and gravel will mix a bit!
I penned a rough planting plan and researched the plants and their growth rates and heights, and lighting needs. I started by choosing stem plants native to the part of China the minnows come from, knowing they like fine leaved, dense planting. The rest of the plants were chosen based on aesthetics, borrowing inspiration from nature aquariums I'd been bookmarking in the web browser. Something I particularly like is moss growing on wood, as it gives that aged mature look, so this had to be included. I didn't go for the full carpet plant treatment as this would not work with my river bed theme, and anyway sounded like too much maintenance.
Plants are as follows:
Taxiphyllum barbieri
Rotala rotundifolia
Limnophila aquatica
Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping'
Fissidens fontanus
Eleocharis parvula
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Blyxa Japonica
The minnows' behaviour has changed drastically in the last few months. Going from 3 to 12, the bullying reduced markedly. But the fish didn't school very much, and the tank felt a bit empty. So I increased the numbers to 30 in two stages, and suddenly they started schoaling a lot of the time, only scattering when feeding or hungry or when the males were displaying and mating started.
My livestock list is:
30x White Cloud Mountain Minnows (one third are the gold variety) which occupy the top and middle of the tank most of the time
6x Peacock Gudgeons/Gobies (3 pairs) that like the bottom and middle of the tank, and will become territorial about the gravel and caves as they mature, which should be entertaining
17x Amano shrimp for the clean up team, plus my services to clean the windows, and rake the gravel and cut the lawn
4x Assassin Snails (bought to neutralise the suspected baby snails that turned up on the glass)
I did originally want some Stiphodons, but after discussing with my LFS decided on the peacock gobies. I'm still in two minds about adding these as I'm smitten by them; but I'm not sure they'll be happy alongside the peacocks, and I may just wait for the next project (probably a hill stream style project that might suit them better).
Please do comment with your suggestions and feedback on things you would do differently, or that you suggest I try (this time or next time). I'm really keen to improve my aquascaping, and keep learning.
Also please comment on the fish stock, and particularly my choice of bottom dwellers. I want to keep the minnows the focus of this tank, but I'm open minded...
