Below is a video of the current state, the creatures in it, and the progress since the beginning.
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| Planning the layout |
After I found a suitable arrangement, I thought that it might be a bit risky to have the rocks stand upright without any support to keep them in this position. They weight approximately 5 kg and although they can stand on the gravel unassisted, it was not extremely stable if the tank needed to be moved.
I planned to have the base substrate and gravel approximately 10 cm deep. I made two perspex bases for the rocks that would be buried, to give additional support. These were epoxied to the rocks and left to cure for a few days.
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| Gluing the base to the rocks |
The bases were designed in such a way that the rocks would be able to stand in the position I wanted, even without the support of the gravel. With everything in place they are very secure and I am not worried that they will fall over.
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| Rocks standing on their own - looks almost as if floating in the air |
The setup of the tank was a lot of fun and in only a short while the plants seem to thrive. I had to trim them a few times already.
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| Setting up the tank, substrate for the plants, covered by gravel |
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| Slowly adding water |
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| Plants after only a few weeks |
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| A few more weeks |
There was one week where the sun shone directly on the tank in the afternoon. I was not aware that this was happening and a small algae problem arose (during this time I was on holiday). After I noticed that this was happening I closed the curtains and the problem resolved itself (I did spend a bit of time cleaning the glass and also got 2 Netrite snails to help with the problem). Currently the sun does not shine through this window and the problem will only occur for 3 weeks, twice a year where I should remember to close the curtains in the afternoon.
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| The small algae problem |
Recently I got a few Rams-horn snails from a friend, who also provided me with a lot of information on keeping fish and lending me several books to help me get going - Thanks Per.
I am quite pleased with how this whole project turned out and slightly worried more aquariums may show up in our house in the future.
R&C
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Specifications:The tank is a Fluval Edge 46 liter. I use rainwater and tap water in a ratio of 2:1. This keeps the pH at approximately the right level but also ensure that there is few minerals in circulation. I do not add other chemicals and do a 15 % water change once a week.
Sock:
- Chilly Rasbora - 7 (added first and the only inhabitants for approximately 4 weeks)
- Celestial Perl Danio's - 5
- Pygmy Corydoras - 5 (they are quite shy and tend to stay under the plants - they also find the hole to gulp air without any problem, I was worried about this at first but after a few days I think they learned where the hole is)
- Endler's Livebearers - 14 (I only got 5 BUT they spawned 3 times and now I have too many. Luckily this is easily remedied and I will sell/give away some of them soon)
- Cherry shrimp - 5
- Red onion snails - 2
- Rams-horn snails - many.
