New 60ltr nature scape

[Swim Shady]

Hi Guys/Girls

First off I'd just like to say a huge thanks to Dave and Steve at Aquarium Gardens for all their help and advice with chosing the substrate, hardscape and plants for my new scape.
The guys knowledge is incredible and the passion they show is outstanding, not to mention the beautiful display tanks in the showroom. I’m so lucky to live 30mins away, if I could justify it I would go every day.
Anyway I’m waffling on……
So the time had come for me to re-scape my fluval spec 60ltr and fancied something a little different to the style I had been used to and I want to challenge myself a bit more.
I had seen a scape that Dave created in a Aquascaper 900 a few years back (with George) and really liked the vibe it gave off so that was the basis for my new scape.

Filtration, Circulation and heating –
Aquamanta EFX 200 external filter with spraybar (going to upgrade to glass pipework flowing from the left of the tank)
Eheim pro 350 skimmer
Aquael heater

Co2 -
Co2 arts dual regulator and Co2 arts inline diffuser
Glass drop checker

Lighting –
Fluval Aquasky 2.0
Fluval Plant 3.0

Hardscape-
Wio Wetland Eonian brown
Tropica aquarium soil
ADA Colorado sand (thin layer to front of scape)
Hugo Kamishi Polario Gravel (to transition from sand to rock)

Planting -
Cladophora aegagropila
Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo'
Anubias nana bonsai
Bucephalandra green velvet
Bucephalandra kedagang
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Myriophyllum Guyana
Cryptocoryne parva
Cryptocoryne beckettii
Ludwiga sp mini super red
Eriocaulon sp Vietnam
A few stem plants to help the grow in period and keep the algae down.

Plants I plan to add in the near future are –
Riccardia chamedryfolia
Fissidens fontanus to replace the current moss
Taxiphyllum sp peacock moss also to replace the current moss and hide the glue marks around the buce.

Livestock wise I have a selection of rasboras (harlequins, henglia and sissortail) 2 dwarf rainbows and a good few loaches and amano shrimp to keep everything clean. I will rehome the loaches to another tank once this tank has fully developed and replace them with a couple of dwarf ottos.

I’m now 4 weeks in so it’s only 1 water change per week of 75% and the photo period is back up to 8hrs.
I’m running the the aquasky spectrum at Red 42%, Green 21%, Blue 1% White 42% and then the Plant 3.0 spectrum at Red 42%, Blue 1%, Cold, Pure & Warm White 50%, this setting seems to be giving good growth but also very little algae and a nice warm colour to the overall tank. Already had to give the stem plants a good trim back and there is clear new growth on the pinnatifida.
The Co2 is running 2/3 bubbles per second and is giving a nice lime green to the drop checker, this is on a timer, so it comes on 90mins before lights on and goes off at 60 mins before lights out.

The only major issue I have encountered so far is the dreaded floating wood situation, but I think I got lucky as it didn’t ruin too much of the planting. I Just had to remove the wood and let soak in a bucket for a week so that it sank again then reattach the Buce, Anubias and moss back on.



As always, I’m open to criticism so let me know what you think and what I could do to improve my scape and or methods.

 

[Swim Shady]

So I happened to be near Aquarium Gardens again yesterday so stuck my head in and managed to get the last few plants for the time being.
I picked up a tissue culture pot of riccardia chamedryfolia, a taxiphyllumsp "peacock moss", a pot of fissidens fontanus, a potted Lagendra meeboldii red and I took a chance on a reduced tissue culture pot of Alternanthera reineckii 'mini because it had been opened but it was only £2.50 and I loved the red tones to the plant so fingers crossed it takes off in my tank.
I have to say again that even though when I walked in Dave was halfway through a major tank clean/waterchange/trim he as always took the time to make sure I got exactly what I was after and was full of advice and tips.
Dam I love that shop and the demo tanks.... might just spend an afternoon in there watching the tanks tbh.

 

[Mark12345]

Looks great

 

[_Maq_]

Too big fish for too small a tank.

 

[LightingBamboozled]

Harlequins and Hengeli might just about shoal together but the scissortails won't consider themselves part of the group and should be kept in groups of at least 5. That being said they need at least 120cm x 45cm to swim in, they get to 12cm long.
The dwarf rainbows again need more conspecifics and will likely be cramped in your tank.
Even without accounting for the loaches (because you haven't specfied species) you're overstocked with just the 11 fish I can see in the picture.

 

[MichaelJ]

@Swim Shady your tank looks great! 🙂

I must agree with what is said above; the fish (scissortails can reach 6 inches) are just too big or soon will become too big for your 60L tank. Consider when the tank grows in (will happen fast with CO2) and the fish becomes bigger, its going to get really crammed in there. For a 60 L tank there are many great choices in the nano fish category (max 3.5-4 cm.).

I am struggling myself with a breeding pair of Angle fish that I keep in one of my 150L tanks - when I bought them as young adults they made a good fit, but now some 3 years later they have outgrown the tank and the tank is really grown in offering only limited swimming space. Sooner rather than later I will have to take them to the LFS so they can find a new home for them.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Swim Shady]

@MichaelJ and @LightingBamboozled yeah I agree the fish are going to get to big for that tank, The sissortails and the rainbows are being transferred to a much larger tank this week and the loaches I put in there as a temp messure to help with the algae during the first few months but these will also be going to the larger tank. My plan is to just have a nice group of Harlequins in the tank as the colours really stand out and a couple of pygmy otto's on clean up duty.