Oldwhitewoods 200l Nature Aquarium Journal

[oldwhitewood]

This journal is intended to detail my progress (or most likely failure!) in trying to run a 200L 'Nature Aquarium ' based on the techniques of Aqua Design Amano.

What I'm trying to do is set up as close to an ADA style tank as I can without having to buy everything from ADA, so for example the substrate system ADA use is something I will be getting, but I've made my own tank cabinet and bought the tank 'off the shelf'. I guess it really isn't an ADA tank in the strict sense of the word, but it will be a stab at creating a 'nature aquarium' style setup using the resources available over here in the UK.


Tank Specs

100x40x45cm
~200L
Custom made stand
IKEA made lighting rig

Lighting, Filtration & CO2

Arcadia 100cm T5 luminare
4 39w Giesmann 6500k T5s
Eheim Ecco with additional shepherds crook outlet
D&D Aquarium solutions disposible pressurised CO2 system
Solenoid
Fishvet XL Glass Diffuser

Substrate & Ferts

ADA power sand special
ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia
Tourmaline BC (substrate additive)
ADA Green Brightly Step 1 Liquid Fertiliser

Water Parameters & Photoperiod

ph - 6.5
KH - 3
CO2 - 28ppm

Water change - once per week, 1/2 tank of water
Illumination time - 10 hours - 8 hours with all 4 tubes on, 2 hours with 2 tubes on only to simulate dawn and dusk

Plants & Fish

Pristella maxillaris
Crossocheilus siamensis
Otocinclus affinis
Caridina japonica

Vesicularia dubyana
Microsorium pteropus 'narrow'
Hygrophila polysperma
Ludwigia arcuata
Hygrphila corymbosa 'augustifolia'

Initial layout after replanting

Currently the tank looks like this...

Side shot...

About the aquascape

As an afterthought I feel I must admit that I purposefully try and rip off Amano's style The use of narrow leafed java fern and even down to the positioning of the bogwood is basically me trying to imitate what ADA do. The fact that it still ends up looking not as good, I think I've mentioned this before but I guess that is the point. In trying to copy Amano I've got something which by ADA's standards is not very good, but by my standards it's a good progression in terms of aquascaping. If I could recommend anything it would be to get hold of the following stuff for inspiration...

Nature Aquarium World of course all volumes of...

Aquarium Plant Paradise - this is a good cheap option if you dont want to splash out on Amano's the main books and has a lot of good technical data

ADA 2005 European catalogue - This is really VERY interesting and is right upto date with some of ADA's cutting edge tank designs

Aqua Journal - like the above available at Aqua Essentials, these are ADA's own magazines and although in Japanese offer a wealth of information from the photographs alone

ADA 2005 Japanese - The ADA World catalogue - If you can get hold of this it's amazing, it has different pictures in than the european version and has some STUNNING and I mean stunning tanks.

Recent ADA gallery tour

 

[George Farmer]

At last Neil!

I am very pleased to see this thread. I'm sure it will inspire others and provide a very positive influence to the Nature Aquarium concept.

Well done mate, I look forward to following the journey.

Can we see a square-on shot please i.e. without seeing the underneath of the lighting?

How do you find the Ecco filter?

 

[oldwhitewood]

I've changed it, although the picture is quite crap quality. I'm at work right now so I can't do much with it but at least it's a start! I'll take some more pictures tonight.

The ecco is wonderful, best filter I have ever used, in terms of cleaning and performance. I can only imagine the more expensive eheims would be even better.


And thanks )

 

[George Farmer]

Much better photo. The layout is excellent too, I love the tenellus foreground and the fern positioning is spot on.

What sort of maintenance does the tenellus need, how often is it thinned out etc?

I note the tannins are still present, very Amazonian. I bet the fish love it.

Are you dosing any dry ferts or just the ADA Brighty?

Good work mate, keep those pics coming.

 

[jimbooo]

well done on the tank so far, i've been keeping an eye on your posts and you have some very interesting ideas. i love the whole ADA tank idea. this should provide some interesting reading thanks for putting the journal together and best of luck with it. when i move house (no idea when so dont panic people) i'm stripping all my tanks and selling the lot. i've seen some really nice aquaone ada style tanks in my LFS around the 100G mark, open topped and very little border around the top and bottom i'll probably end up going a simmillar route to you so i'll read this journal with interest.

 

[lljdma06]

The tank looks great! I personally love the tannins, it contributes to a more natural look. Beautiful aquascaping, please keep us posted.

 

[Squid]

Quick question.

people are always talking about anerobic (not sure if thats right) gas build up in the sand, and how you should stir it up now and then.

Now.. if you have a nice floor covering with plants like you do, does this cause any problems.. Or do the plant roots and growth overcome this issue?

Cheers
Squid

 

[jimbooo]

hi squid,

sorry to butt in but it's taken care of by the plant roots and malasyan trumpet snails. you do get the problem under heavy lumps of bogwood though. lifting and prodding every couple of months will prevent any major problems.

if you want any trumpet snails just pm me your address again (if you haven't already got some from the java fern plantlets i sent you, the eggs tend to hitch a ride)

 

[Squid]

Thanks jimboo.. im still toying with the planted route..

You lot keep showing fab tanks like this one (i meant to put that in my first post before i jumped in with a question..sorry), which doesnt help.. But ive got some fishkeeping basics to master first.. then i will increase the learning curve a bit more again.

Cheers
Squid

 

[oldwhitewood]

Much better photo. The layout is excellent too, I love the tenellus foreground and the fern positioning is spot on.

What sort of maintenance does the tenellus need, how often is it thinned out etc?

I note the tannins are still present, very Amazonian. I bet the fish love it.

Are you dosing any dry ferts or just the ADA Brighty?

Good work mate, keep those pics coming.

I will do I will take some more tonight, the background plants have filled out a little and are a bit different now.

Tenellus has not been growing long enough to warrant thinning out yet, a lot of mine has turned a brownish red colour which it is known to do in bright light. Far more important is to keep on top of stray bits of java moss. Once this takes hold in the tenellus it can start to take over and it's particularly tricky to get rid of. I try and syphon it off the 'lawn' when I do a water change.

The tannin's are a major pain, I should have done a bit of soaking and boiling beforehand so I'm paying the price now, it is going down with my water changes and I'm also using activated carbon to try and polish out the water a bit.

At the moment I'm keeping the water column quite lean and only adding some liquid fert sparingly, the plants haven't shown much sign of needing ferts just yet probably because the substrate is a bit rich compared to what you would typically use, flourite, eco-complete etc. I did have a really big algae bloom but that seems to have gone now. It's interesting as the ADA info I have says expect a big algae bloom when first setting up the tank, mine did this that's for sure but now it seems good so far.

The layout is 'OK' but I think I need smaller leafed plants. I was also toying with removing the substrate at the front and using white sand instead, but this would be a massive overhaul. I'm really tempted to do it though...arrahh.

well done on the tank so far, i've been keeping an eye on your posts and you have some very interesting ideas. i love the whole ADA tank idea. this should provide some interesting reading thanks for putting the journal together and best of luck with it. when i move house (no idea when so dont panic people) i'm stripping all my tanks and selling the lot. i've seen some really nice aquaone ada style tanks in my LFS around the 100G mark, open topped and very little border around the top and bottom i'll probably end up going a simmillar route to you so i'll read this journal with interest.

Thanks for that.

I would really consider having an open topped tank, ADA are really onto something with tanks like theirs. OK so their tanks are of an amazing quality the likes of which are really expensive and for UK peeps a pain to get hold of. My tank is ok but I would really love an ADA all glass tank. That aside it's brilliant to have an open topped tank, the idea of using a hood now does not appeal to me. Although you do lose a lot of water due to evaporation.

 

[George Farmer]

Very interesting on the ferts Neil. I'll bear this in mind when I start mine up again using 100% ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia (2 x 9L bags).

Out of interest what does your CO2 test at? I note you're using a ceramic diffuser on the left. Do the bubbles flow around the tank well or do most of them shoot straight to the surface? What bubble rate are you running?

Agreed on the tannins. Some find them attractive but I'm too "clinical" for that look personally.

 

[oldwhitewood]

Very interesting on the ferts Neil. I'll bear this in mind when I start mine up again using 100% ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia (2 x 9L bags).

Out of interest what does your CO2 test at? I note you're using a ceramic diffuser on the left. Do the bubbles flow around the tank well or do most of them shoot straight to the surface? What bubble rate are you running?

Agreed on the tannins. Some find them attractive but I'm too "clinical" for that look personally.

George you are the expert at fertlising not me, I typically try and follow your advice there! But I am not dosing with DIY ferts at the moment as I'm seeing how the tank progresses in these initial stages.

My CO2 levels are 28.46ppm. The diffuser is not really in the flow of the filter but you do get a fairly decent spread, it's hard to achieve Tom Barr's principle with a larger tank.

I'm right with you on the tannins.

Good choice of amounts for the amazonia also.

 

[Solomon]

Intresting thread OWW.

I recieved the ADA catalogue today from Aqua Essentials and have been looking through their pictures and I can definately see the 'clean' ADA look with your tank.

Looking forward to hearing how it develops.

 

[oldwhitewood]

I have updated the initial post with some more info and pictures. Thanks for your comments on this everyone it really means a lot to have some positive feedback. There are a lot of things I would like to change though.

My main bugbear is the background plants dominate and are too overwhelming. The left side for example is at a mature shape but the right side needs to grow in slightly to compensate for this being off balance. I am considering replacing both sides with Rotala rotundifolia spec 'green' from topica and leaving the l arcuata in the middle. The only issue is this plant is quite costly from tropica. My other option is to strip the tank down completely and go for a more hardscaped look and phase out my rio 125. I got my hands on another three pieces of the wood, now my 125 has a huge crop of moss and narrow leafed ferns, I'm thinking of getting rid of it, and moving the fish from there into the big tank, along with the moss and ferns. I really would like to aim for a tank that looks something like the ones I have posted below. The thing that these tanks have is the bare 'beach' like foreground. For years I have been convinced that a planted foreground with a lawn effect is essential, but then Amano goes and flies right in the face of that and it works! I can't believe he did it and I can't believe how well it worked out, he really is a genius.

Check these pictures out to see what I mean...

 

[oldwhitewood]

Intresting thread OWW.

I recieved the ADA catalogue today from Aqua Essentials and have been looking through their pictures and I can definately see the 'clean' ADA look with your tank.

Looking forward to hearing how it develops.

It's great that you have got the catalogue, if I could recommend anything it's that everyone should buy this thing from Aqua Essentials , along with the Aqua Journals are they're fascinating reading. Even if you can't read the Aqua Journals as they're in Japanese the pictures are still mind blowing.