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Orinoco Drainage, Flood Pond, Rio Tomo Biotope/Vichada-Colombia

A

Arifhb’s Aquatics

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Joined
2 Sep 2023
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18
Location
Türkiye
IMG_8233.jpeg

Hi to everyone!

It is a biotope I created, inspired by the ponds formed during the flood period of the Tomo River, a branch of the Orinoco River drainage, one of the longest river systems in South America, close to the Colombia-Venezuela border. In a savanna landscape, terrestrial grasses and reeds grow, in which only members of apistogramma hongsloi and a few hemigrammus sp. It was an area of its kind. Since I see that the hongsloi colony is dominant in the images I watch and the images I look at; I only used trio-shaped hongsloi as a genre. Dimensions of the 50x35x32h tank. At the base, there is quartz sand, reed branches and leaves in 05 mm gray tones. I planted dwarf echinodorus as a plant. Since the region is a pond and reed land, I simulated the materials on the bottom in this way.

Two examples from the region;
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As filtration, I used 501 external filter (300 l/s) and seachem de nitrate, 30 ppi biological sponge and sera crystal clear. I am very satisfied with the filter and it is very very sufficient for such nano tanks. Since the water in the region is slightly tannic, I did not use peat and blackwater additives; dry botanicals in the base were effective in giving this color. I provide the lighting with a 10 watt 1200 lumens 6000k led projector. Visually, sunlight and water waves provide good refraction. This also affects the realism.

Since the water values of the habitat are soft and slightly acidic, I more or less match these values with ro water mixed with 4/1 tap water. Fish are very healthy and enjoyable. This tank has been one of the most appealing tanks in terms of similarity and naturalness among the biotope installations I have done so far.

I hope you like it and it is appreciated. I had prepared for BAC 2023. I will also add the video.

Enjoyable hobbies..
 
DeepMetropolis said:
Looks really nice. I love biotope style tanks and you did a great job.. May I ask how did you get that background effect?
Click to expand...

Thank you. I am a painter; I make a suitable background for this and I make it with light shadow games.

Myrtle said:
It looks amazing! I hope you journal your next biotope, I'd love to know how you got those reed banks to stay like that and not just flatten out.
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I shaped it according to the slope I created on the base and fixed it on the sand. Thank you, I'm glad you like it :). I will add my other biotopes over time.

Arifhb’s Aquatics said:
View attachment 210229
Hi to everyone!

It is a biotope I created, inspired by the ponds formed during the flood period of the Tomo River, a branch of the Orinoco River drainage, one of the longest river systems in South America, close to the Colombia-Venezuela border. In a savanna landscape, terrestrial grasses and reeds grow, in which only members of apistogramma hongsloi and a few hemigrammus sp. It was an area of its kind. Since I see that the hongsloi colony is dominant in the images I watch and the images I look at; I only used trio-shaped hongsloi as a genre. Dimensions of the 50x35x32h tank. At the base, there is quartz sand, reed branches and leaves in 05 mm gray tones. I planted dwarf echinodorus as a plant. Since the region is a pond and reed land, I simulated the materials on the bottom in this way.

Two examples from the region;
View attachment 210230

View attachment 210231

As filtration, I used 501 external filter (300 l/s) and seachem de nitrate, 30 ppi biological sponge and sera crystal clear. I am very satisfied with the filter and it is very very sufficient for such nano tanks. Since the water in the region is slightly tannic, I did not use peat and blackwater additives; dry botanicals in the base were effective in giving this color. I provide the lighting with a 10 watt 1200 lumens 6000k led projector. Visually, sunlight and water waves provide good refraction. This also affects the realism.

Since the water values of the habitat are soft and slightly acidic, I more or less match these values with ro water mixed with 4/1 tap water. Fish are very healthy and enjoyable. This tank has been one of the most appealing tanks in terms of similarity and naturalness among the biotope installations I have done so far.

I hope you like it and it is appreciated. I had prepared for BAC 2023. I will also add the video.

Enjoyable hobbies..
Click to expand...
I used a nitrate size pumice stone in seachem in the filter; i want to fix this.
 
Stunning tank @Arifhb’s Aquatics , great idea to use dried reed poked into the substrate like that, it's really effective.

DeepMetropolis said:
May I ask how did you get that background effect?
Click to expand...
shangman said:
I love the background!
Click to expand...

I love it too, and by coincidence I was actually researching how to achieve this style of background last week, as I intend to implement it on my next tank.

One way (that may differ from @Arifhb’s Aquatics technique), is to create a light box behind the tank.

So you add a film to the rear of the tank, as you normally would when putting a light panel behind it - usually a misty/opaque one. Then create a open box to mount behind that with a gap/void in between. On the rear of the box is a coloured film of the colour you want the finished view to be (typically a blue or green, either solid or graduated). Then in the void between the two films, you add some hardscape - twigs, dried grasses, roots - usually mirroring the in tank hardscape, but perhaps decreasing in size to give the sense of the scape transitioning off into the distance. Finally you illuminate it with some LED's which create additional shadows and depth (RGB ones will allow you to teak the final colour mix.

You can also simplify this but just putting the coloured film on the wall, opaque film on the rear of the tank, and hang the hardscape in the gap between them, with the aquarium lights providing the illumination.

You can see some similar techniques here:

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I had planned to do this on my big tank when I still had the space for it, I was planning to buy a sheet of clear plastic of the right size and add layers of sheer glaze to it. Was thinking I could create a few different sheets in different colours (blue/green, a rich amber/orange/brown, a dark blue/turquoise) to get different vibes for the tank. And of course could paint some sheer twiggy/grassy details too to add further depth, I really like how that was done on this tank.

I still plan on doing it later one when I can set the tank up again in a year or two, but would be good to know how others do it in the meantime! It makes such a big difference to the atmosphere of a tank.
 
Wookii said:
Stunning tank @Arifhb’s Aquatics , great idea to use dried reed poked into the substrate like that, it's really effective.




I love it too, and by coincidence I was actually researching how to achieve this style of background last week, as I intend to implement it on my next tank.

One way (that may differ from @Arifhb’s Aquatics technique), is to create a light box behind the tank.

So you add a film to the rear of the tank, as you normally would when putting a light panel behind it - usually a misty/opaque one. Then create a open box to mount behind that with a gap/void in between. On the rear of the box is a coloured film of the colour you want the finished view to be (typically a blue or green, either solid or graduated). Then in the void between the two films, you add some hardscape - twigs, dried grasses, roots - usually mirroring the in tank hardscape, but perhaps decreasing in size to give the sense of the scape transitioning off into the distance. Finally you illuminate it with some LED's which create additional shadows and depth (RGB ones will allow you to teak the final colour mix.

You can also simplify this but just putting the coloured film on the wall, opaque film on the rear of the tank, and hang the hardscape in the gap between them, with the aquarium lights providing the illumination.

You can see some similar techniques here:

View attachment 210271

View attachment 210274

View attachment 210273
Click to expand...
Ah, I may try this with my Muna Island biotope (I need to update the thread anyway)
 
Wookii said:
Stunning tank @Arifhb’s Aquatics , great idea to use dried reed poked into the substrate like that, it's really effective.




I love it too, and by coincidence I was actually researching how to achieve this style of background last week, as I intend to implement it on my next tank.

One way (that may differ from @Arifhb’s Aquatics technique), is to create a light box behind the tank.

So you add a film to the rear of the tank, as you normally would when putting a light panel behind it - usually a misty/opaque one. Then create a open box to mount behind that with a gap/void in between. On the rear of the box is a coloured film of the colour you want the finished view to be (typically a blue or green, either solid or graduated). Then in the void between the two films, you add some hardscape - twigs, dried grasses, roots - usually mirroring the in tank hardscape, but perhaps decreasing in size to give the sense of the scape transitioning off into the distance. Finally you illuminate it with some LED's which create additional shadows and depth (RGB ones will allow you to teak the final colour mix.

You can also simplify this but just putting the coloured film on the wall, opaque film on the rear of the tank, and hang the hardscape in the gap between them, with the aquarium lights providing the illumination.

You can see some similar techniques here:

View attachment 210271

View attachment 210274

View attachment 210273
Click to expand...
Thank you.

As a matter of fact, there are similar techniques and different touches. I do not give a light support to the background. I make a background blended with a matte frosted paper and drawing ability. The tank is illuminated.
 
Arifhb’s Aquatics said:
I am a painter
Click to expand...
I think this is what makes the difference. You've created an aquascape with personality.
The rest of us who are not gifted artists should better focus our effort on creating healthy habitat for our plants & fish. Creating a piece of art - aquascape - when you're not an artist leads to pitiful results. Look around. Almost all those creations follow the same pattern, use the same substrate and decorations. This beautiful and noble hobby is degraded and effectively replaced by a construction toy like LEGO (for "LEGO" think of "ADA"). It's sad. And, in most instances, quite pathetic. It's like an amateur attempting to make a copy of a painting made by an artist.
Aquarists of the world, disunite and be yourselves.
 
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In some ways it's like the debate between the manicured and heavily managed garden, which is the ADA approach, and the range of designs approaches suggested by biotopes, which are akin to rewilding, in that they allow nature it's 'natural' expression. I do think Maq has a point, that there is a kind of lego tendency, which capitalism tends to produce, where a style comes to be fashionable and the component parts are made available, in the same way as many gardens reflect the garden centres the raw materials come from. Personally I appreciate both, but I think the arguments for healthy habitats and using local "ingredients" where possible, are an important rebalancing of the ADA craze. For me that's the lesson I take: less "be yourselves", more try to help those who wish to create something healthier and more "native", with the paradox that I may be inspired to make an Amazon biotope but using as many UK ingredients as I can find, like oak leaves and alder cones. I do think a lot of fish are happier with more of a tangle of plants, lots of floating plants, and leaves, than swimming exposed above a green lawn, below a bright light, swimming round and round 3 zen stones.
 
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