My Tank

[ciarantropicalfishman]

brilliant tank love it ,it is amazing i have got a tank i gonna plant it up and put lots of neons hopefully it will look half as good as urs

 

[Ginge]

The thing i love about this tank is the size of the tank and the fact that it looks so good with no added driftwood.

 

[Themuleous]

Cracking tank, really nice, you planning on having any more plants in there? Is that HC as well? Will look great once is carpets a bit more.

Sam

 

[PaulEbs]

This is the sorta stuff I was hoping to see at Blue Planet Sam.

Beautiful set-up 'lilt man', very inspiring!

Paul.

 

[Neal]

Neal - The plant on the front right is a crypt (i'll post the full details later this week if you would like more info) . They are relatively easy to look after once the basic rules are adhered to.

I thought it could have been, but it looks alot more bushier and green that i've seen, mine is more of a dark green sort of colour, and isn't as neat as yours.

Neal

 

[mattb]

I must say this is probably the best looking tank i have ever seen! How did you create the carpet effect at the front of the tank?

 

[netcode]

I like the look.. kinda looks like a nice lawn with hedges

good work its very unique. maybe add a few more plants, maybe not because i do enjoy the lawn look to it.

anyways keep up the good work

 

[QuotheRaven]

Purely stunning I have wanted some Oto's and Croaking Gourami's for awhile to

 

[Lilt Man]

Hello again - thanks very much for the comments everyone....

To answer a few of the questions that seem to be 'cropping up' time to time and more specific ones:

George Farmer - The design is based on a lot of Amano's aquascapes without the hardscape, this was because i noticed a lot of his and many other tanks have driftwood, rocks etc... as main focal points. I decided to base the concave layout with planting and use a 'softscape' (java moss) as the main focal point instead.
I believe the balance of the tank will improve when the Bocopa on the right grows a bit more - but this will be limited to 1/3 to max 1/2 the total height available which should give an improved balance to the display.


Lighting - Arcadia I-Bar with 2 x plant grow tubes, reflectors
CO2 - 90 Bubbles per minute via ceramic diffuser \bubble counter (Fishvet) controlled by an ADA needle valve
Liquid ferts - 30ML of pre-mixed dry trace elements once a week.

Nitrates & Phosphates are provided by the fish - I used to use Pottassium Nitrate & phosphate but stopped as the plants did not seem to be affected by their removal.

I use a 50% RO \ Tap water mix during water changes 25% once per week - this seems to provide the plants with all the macro nutrients they need as they are very healthy and pearl most evenings for about 5 - 6 hours.



For the more general questions\ replies

I do not intend to add any more plants to the tank as this will begin to fill in the scape and give the appearance that the tank is smaller than what it is - i have tried to create a vision of space whilst still maintaining a planted\natural feel.
The carpet effect is produced by the Glostigma which has been left to spread - this was part of the original plan.

I did have driftwood in the orignal setup (for two weeks) but decided that i wanted something different with a slightly more unique appearance - plus the driftwood gave a brown tint to the water which i did not appreciate.
I do not intend to use any hardscaping in this layout.

As time goes by, the growth of the bocopa by the tubing will cover it and should give the tank a more balanced appearance. If this does not - then i will have to re-visit the drawing board again, i believe that will be the layout i am looking for though.

The only advice i can give everyone based on my experience - time will develop the layout for you, somehow everything develops by it's own accord once you have the fundamentals of planting and pruning in place. Try to keep it simple.

Thanks again for your generous comments, if there are anymore questions please feel free to ask i will do my best to answer where i can.