Well today I started my Amano inspired makeover. Hopefully over the next few weeks I and everyone else can see how hard it is to create an 'Amano style' aquarium. I'll share my success or failure with you all and hopefully receive some much needed advice along the way.
This is what my tank used to look like. Very nice but i wasn't very happy. I suffer from the 'tank never looks right' syndrome.
The tank i hope to achieve is something pretty close to this. Rocks as the main focal point and a carpet of Glosso. Simple yet stunning.
First thing I did was buy some Granite rocks from B&Q and figured out the layout that looked best and fitted into the 'golden ration' rule or whatever its called. I not too convinced about the rock on the right. It doesn't seem right to me, anyways...
Next I stripped the tank bare, put all the fish into buckets and added the rock. At this point I mixed the laterite up into the sand a little so that some was nearer the surface. Hopefully this should give me better growth.
Next stage was the one I have been dreading since I decided to start this whole project. Cutting the Glosso into tiny bits and using tweasers to insert each bit into the sand.
Unfortunately my Glosso has been sitting in a bucket for the past 4 days waiting for the arrival of my new lights. I paid for 48 hour delivery and they arrived 4 days late! Anyway thats a whole new story in itself.
So heres my Glosso looking slightly worse for ware.
Another major drawback is i refuse to pay £15 for tweasers that i'll use once so i used these tiny tweasers that came with a Swiss army knife.
I began by filling the tank up half way with water. You can see the mess my room was in, and the buckets with my fish in them.
It was no easy task to plant each bit of Glosso into the sand and took me almost 3 hours to plant it all.
I started out with all good intentions of doing it perfect but after an hour and a half i resorted to just puting it in as quicly as possible. I didnt want my fish to get too stressed in the buckets.
Glosso was now all planted and i started to fill the tank up again. I think the rock on the right might get taken out once (if) my Glosso grows. I think its too similar to the other smaller rock.
Then all i had to do was put back my fish before they all died on me.
Luckily they all seem fine and are all now swimming about quite happily. I kept some of my plants inside the tank to prevent an all out algae attack. It will probably happen anyway but hopefully once the system has balanced again everything will be ok.
My rams are taking a bit of time colouring up but they appear to be un affected by the change. I was pretty concerned that they might die with the shock. Fingers crossed everyone makes it through the night.
So thats my first stage of my Amano tank makeover. Tomorrow i'll make up my CO2 mix to give me 30ppm and i should be receiving some Potassium Sulphate through the post next week.
Hopefully over the next 3 weeks or so i'll see my Glosso growing horizontal and not vertical. I nor my fish could handle another major tank change.
Stay tuned.
Paul.
This is what my tank used to look like. Very nice but i wasn't very happy. I suffer from the 'tank never looks right' syndrome.
The tank i hope to achieve is something pretty close to this. Rocks as the main focal point and a carpet of Glosso. Simple yet stunning.
First thing I did was buy some Granite rocks from B&Q and figured out the layout that looked best and fitted into the 'golden ration' rule or whatever its called. I not too convinced about the rock on the right. It doesn't seem right to me, anyways...
Next I stripped the tank bare, put all the fish into buckets and added the rock. At this point I mixed the laterite up into the sand a little so that some was nearer the surface. Hopefully this should give me better growth.
Next stage was the one I have been dreading since I decided to start this whole project. Cutting the Glosso into tiny bits and using tweasers to insert each bit into the sand.
Unfortunately my Glosso has been sitting in a bucket for the past 4 days waiting for the arrival of my new lights. I paid for 48 hour delivery and they arrived 4 days late! Anyway thats a whole new story in itself.
So heres my Glosso looking slightly worse for ware.
Another major drawback is i refuse to pay £15 for tweasers that i'll use once so i used these tiny tweasers that came with a Swiss army knife.
I began by filling the tank up half way with water. You can see the mess my room was in, and the buckets with my fish in them.
It was no easy task to plant each bit of Glosso into the sand and took me almost 3 hours to plant it all.
I started out with all good intentions of doing it perfect but after an hour and a half i resorted to just puting it in as quicly as possible. I didnt want my fish to get too stressed in the buckets.
Glosso was now all planted and i started to fill the tank up again. I think the rock on the right might get taken out once (if) my Glosso grows. I think its too similar to the other smaller rock.
Then all i had to do was put back my fish before they all died on me.
Luckily they all seem fine and are all now swimming about quite happily. I kept some of my plants inside the tank to prevent an all out algae attack. It will probably happen anyway but hopefully once the system has balanced again everything will be ok.
My rams are taking a bit of time colouring up but they appear to be un affected by the change. I was pretty concerned that they might die with the shock. Fingers crossed everyone makes it through the night.
So thats my first stage of my Amano tank makeover. Tomorrow i'll make up my CO2 mix to give me 30ppm and i should be receiving some Potassium Sulphate through the post next week.
Hopefully over the next 3 weeks or so i'll see my Glosso growing horizontal and not vertical. I nor my fish could handle another major tank change.
Stay tuned.
Paul.
it's just too difficult using fingers and even worse in a tiny tank.
And all my local fish shops dont store any plant food except for the trace element stuff.
