My First Attempt At A Planted Aquarium

[stubzy]

Hi i am new to this forum and thought i would like to share my new project. First a little bit about myself, I set up a simple community aquarium roughly 3 years ago for my young daughter, its a 150 ltr tank with fake plants and bright gravel, (something simple and easy to maintain as it was my first ever tropical aquarium). This tank is doing great, it has a mating pair of bristlenose catfish and 4 of their young, 6 x-ray tetras that spawn quite frequently, 1 silvertip tetra and 1 zebra danio (these are 2 of my fish left from when i first started the tank) and a pair of gold koi angelfish that are also spawning frequently. So after taking care of this aquarium for a couple of years, i decided that i wanted to take this hobby a bit further, and did some reading on takashi amano and fell in love with his iwaqumi aquascapes, and so a new project started.
 
I bought myself an aquanano 40 55ltr aquarium. This is what i have so far (will update regularly)
 
http/img805.imageshack.us/img805/658/iwagumimountainscapeunp.jpg
 
side view:
http/img706.imageshack.us/img706/658/iwagumimountainscapeunp.jpg
 
 
This was the best hardscape i could create with the limited amount of room.
 
The plan so far is for HC (baby dwarf tears) carpet, some dwarf hair grass for the middle and rear and a rataj (echinodorus xinguensis) to hide the co2 tubing at the back.
 
Co2 is provided from a fire extinguisher with a 4-1 super diffuser.
 
The fish i am planning to put in are either galaxy rasboras or cardinal tetras and a small colony of cherry shrimp or amano shrimp to provide algae maintenance.
 
Will post updates once its planted

 

[leighton_87]

I'll definitely be following this - head over to the planted section of the forum for tons of ideas.

There are some stunning tanks in tiny spaces - check out Ps3Stevo's work

 

[stubzy]

any chance i could get this moved to the planted aquarium journals forum please? thnx

 

[stubzy]

Planted the tank this morning.
HC along the front and mid ground
Dwarf Hairgrass back right corner and background
Raja at the back left corner
week 1: http/img545.imageshack.us/img545/6214/iwagumimountainscapepla.jpg
 
side view week 1: http/img823.imageshack.us/img823/6214/iwagumimountainscapepla.jpg

 

[Joshwainwright]

Looking good!
 
I'm tempted to start with Co2 but I'm not too sure about it. It's a lot of messing about for something I don't know anything about 

 

[RCA]

Looking good, are those bubbles along the side walls?

 

[stubzy]

ye they are bubbles from the water fill and co2. trust me co2 is so easy. i was very apprehensive at first and this is my first time ever using co2. its so simple, and quite cheap, i spent £65 on the whole system, £14 for the co2 fire extinguisher, £35 on the regulator and £10 for the diffuser

 

[Joshwainwright]

ye they are bubbles from the water fill and co2. trust me co2 is so easy. i was very apprehensive at first and this is my first time ever using co2. its so simple, and quite cheap, i spent £65 on the whole system, £14 for the co2 fire extinguisher, £35 on the regulator and £10 for the diffuser

 
Wow, that really is cheaper than I thought - especially for the extinguisher. Where did you get it from?

 

[stubzy]

ye they are bubbles from the water fill and co2. trust me co2 is so easy. i was very apprehensive at first and this is my first time ever using co2. its so simple, and quite cheap, i spent £65 on the whole system, £14 for the co2 fire extinguisher, £35 on the regulator and £10 for the diffuser

 
Wow, that really is cheaper than I thought - especially for the extinguisher. Where did you get it from?

fire extinguisher from ebay  http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2kg-Co2-Fire-Extinguisher-/230946911061?ssPageName=ADME:AAQ:GB:1123
regulator and everything else (inc plants, drop checker, bromo blue, diffuser and tubing) from aquaesentials: http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/
 
all u need to set this up is an adjustable wrench. ensure the safety pin is on the fire extinguisher, unscrew the hose from the FE with the wrench and screw on the regulator, ensure that the regulator is fully closed (the needle valve on the regulator) the remove the safety pin and squeeze the FE, there will be a small release from stored pressure at the top, then just attach the tubing, it really is simple. here is a vid of how to do it: http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2KchsR8Bd8

 

[RCA]

That looks awesome, thanks for sharing.  So is the benefit that it works out heaps cheaper than the commercial C02 systems?
Can you readily get the fire extinguisher refilled with C02?
Any ideas yet on how long it lasts?

 

[stubzy]

yes, anywhere that refills extinguishers/co2 systems for bars and soda streams etc will refill a fire extinguisher. commercial co2 systems are exactly the same thing as this, they are just a co2 cyclinder with compressed co2.

 

[Joshwainwright]

Ah, I need to keep an eye out on eBay then! Thanks for that 

 
Edit: the thumbs smiley looked rude, it was supposed to be thumbs not middle fingers!

 

[stubzy]

the fish are added. Ended up getting 12 ember tetras and looking to get 6-8 neon tetras once the tank has settled again

 

[Joshwainwright]

Sounds good, cue the photos

 

[Shelster]

Yes I'd love to see some updated photos too please, this tank is one up from the betta set up I have recently done so am very keen to see how you are getting on.

I may upgrade to this size in the future