Re: My Corner Tank - Venezia 190 - Jul 2007 to Jan 2011
Tom said:
Not your everyday scape, really quite unique 🙂 I like it 😀 I'd like to see more of that Hydrocotyle in places too
Cheers, it's not really a deliberate scape thou.
😀
Since I was busy as hell renovating this house i quickly setup the tank during xmas eve preparations last year (2009, the tank was at the end of the dinner table). Since it was extremely cloudy the planting was entirely guesswork and my planning was somewhat rushed. It did look ace when the lights came on though, which was pleasantly surprising.
Then over time various issues had led to a slow change in plants and eventually removal of 2/3 of the hardscape due to constant BBA (ill come to that later).
When i moved house I decided to address some of the issues i had with the corner tank, which in turn created more in different ways.
I took out the internal outflow stalk and put in a lily with a larger 405 filter. I added the hydor external heater and a co2 reactor. Basically taking out as much of the kit from in the tank as possible.
The xmas 2009 planting was alot of different swords and crypts and other plants i'd never tried. For hardscape there used to be three "stumps" around the tank, in the photo above there is only one left.
A year ago a made a classic mistake with the substrate in my xmas eve rush, i was aiming to have oliver knott soil in three plant heavy areas around the stump bases. then to save money use sand and gravel for the paths that were going between them. but the ratios of each were completely wrong. over time the gravel sunk to the bottom, in other areas the oliver knott was too close to the surface and constantly floating around or in other areas not enough to give good root based ferts to the crypts and swords. just rushed bad planning then being too busy to fix it.
The changes to the hardware initially rocked and I was very happy, things grew well. But after a while i was having persistent BBA on the wood. I upped the CO2 made sure the ferts were good. Nothing helped. Then looking at the flow noticed how badly the extra kit on the outflow of the 405 was reducing the turnover, added an extra koralia and after a green water outbreak added a little internal UV filter for more flow.
Over time the plants were growing well but i was taking out the swords as each one got INSANELY bigger then any of the suppliers descriptions. The Echinodorus x "Rainers Kitty" was AMAZING but had me taking 14 inch leaves back to the shop to show to the suppler that this was NOT a fore to midground plant. God bless EI for showing LFS owners what plants should look like when properly grown. 8)
The BBA issue still wasn't clearing up even with constant cleaning and liquid CO2 additional and without that extra 30 minutes a day spare i decided to take out the two smaller front stumps and concentrate on the back one.
A little revelation came to me the other day about why I am getting this bad BBA these specific bits of drift wood, as it is also bad on another large piece of the same batch i lent to a friend for his tank.
These bits of wood are pieces i bought with my first set-ups and for a couple of years were left uncovered in the shed after coming out of my first corner scape. In my rush to set-up that Xmas eve I did not scrub the wood to remove any of the slight surface rot that had occurred in all those years in the shed. During maintenance in the last few months there is a soft layer on these pieces what comes off with your nail. Once removed the area's beneath (not rotten) were much less likely to get BBA, especially since i sorted the flow issues.
Oh the benefit of hindsight!!!!
ALWAYS SCRUB YOUR WOOD. 8)
Overall, things are looking quite pleasant in the tank. A planned scape no, a nice thing to come out of a near disaster, yes. The photos never really do corner tanks justice. They are viewed from 90 degrees worth of angles so the straight on shot is never the whole story. Probably why they are so damn hard to scape.
I am however in the processing of winding this tank down permanently. My aim is to transfer all the fish and many of the plants to my first "proper" shaped tank!!! I have a Rio 180 that i have been gathering bits for waiting to go. I am so looking forward to working with something that you all consider the norm!!!!
Although i have enjoyed my "journey" (to coin an xfactorism) in corner tanks, it has taught me a massive amount, i will be glad to see the back of it for the following reasons.
- 1. The majority of planted tank rules/guides/advice is based on normal shaped tanks
Be it calculating how much light you have, how deep your substrate is, how many fish you should stock, nothing for corner tanks for novices is a documented as it is for normal shaped tanks. Making it more difficult to learn.
2. The variety of scapes you can do is very limited.
Because of the dimensions you have a very odd/small floor space to work with. Limits to how and where you can put hardscape.
3. Flow is a nightmare.
Well it was for me, especially when you start adding in tall hardscape. Spraybars would have helped, but that curved front makes it all more difficult/complicated to eliminate deadspots.
4. Harder to clean and maintain.
I don't know if it is just the height of the tank i have but the extra width and corner aspect meant that reaching parts of the tank involved standing on a chair and leaning right in. Especially the back and corners. Looking at the Rio 180 which is the same amount of water, can can happily reach all parts for planting and cleaning, even when it is mounted on a much higher base.
5. The fish don't like it.
Probably the most important of them all. I am convinced my fish don't like the front curved pane of glass. In all the years i've had this tank other then the mosquito rasbora (who are just nuts brave) no fish want to be near the centre front of the glass. They are all exceedingly skittish when I compare them to friends fish or fish in shops. Any movement in the room or slightest vibration everyone hides. Most turn nocturnal over time and spend most of their time around the back corner hidden. Think about it, the fish at the front, facing out, has a massively distorted view and probably cannot see anything clearly 90 degrees each side of it through the glass. Thereby is in constant threat warning mode, why chill out there, when the back of the tank is much calmer and has less crazy flow.
SO anyone considering a corner tank as their first big tank, like I did, i advise you
not too. 5 years of learning later, i now think i know ALOT about planted tanks. But I think i would have had an easier time of it with a rectangular one.
😀
Good bye Venezia 190
Hello Rio 180.
Thank you all for reading,
I'll be back shortly in another journal.
Best Regards,
John
7th Jan 2011
My favourite period of this tank.
I too have a corner unit aquarium albeit not quite as fantastic as yours 
