My 75G aquascape has finally matured. I spent some time over the weekend trimming back the Trident Java Fern, removing old leaves from the Cryptocoryne and Anubias plants, and thinning out some of the moss on the wood. Below is the result of that effort, with what will probably be the final picture of this aquascape before I rescape the tank.

75G - Click for Larger Image

The angelfish continue to grow quickly, and remain as beautiful to me as the day I got them. For my money, there are not many other fish that are more majestic than wild-colored angelfish. The Nannacara anomala are still doing well, breeding several times, but never raising up any of the babies. I added some small Ancistrus sp. ‘L279′ awhile back which are also enjoying all of the hiding places this aquascape provides. I’m looking for ideas for the next scape I do in this tank. Please leave your thoughts in the comments area…

I wanted to share an updated photo of my 12G bookshelf aquarium. The aquascape is largely unchanged since the last photo, but the hairgrass has grown in a little bit. I also went to the trouble of removing the equipment for this particular shot. Notice the pleco in the back left. I put those guys in this tank when they were only a few millimeters long.

Rimless Bookshelf Aquarium - Click for larger image

I’m fairly pleased with this aquascape, although I’m not very happy with this Eleocharis sp. ‘Japan’ hairgrass. It just grows WAY too slow. Because of that and some beard algae on the rocks, I’m kind of getting the itch to rescape it. What do you guys think? Comments/critiques welcome!

On Monday, I spent a very long overdue 7.5 hours working in my fish-room. The problem is that I have neglected my tanks for too long that duckweed and algae had taken them over. In addition to cleaning them up, I also decided to swap the stands the my 40G and 50G aquariums were sitting on to provide better light to my aquascaping tank (the 50G).

As you can see above, the two tanks sit side-by-side. That doesn’t mean it’s an easy job to swap their positions. I still had to drain the water, remove the plants, remove the rocks, remove the fish, remove the driftwood, and finally get help to physically move them. In other words, it was nearly the same amount of work as if I were moving to another house.

After getting the aquariums into their new resting places, I decided that it was time to re-aquascape the 50G. I didn’t want to change too much from how it was before, but I definitely needed to make some changes. So, I repositioned the wood countless times until I came up with what you see above.

Then, I replanted the Blyxa aubertii on the back left and added Hygrophila sp. ‘Guinea’ to the back right. Hopefully with some time, everything will fill in and look a lot better than it did previously. I’m still toying with the idea of adding the branches back into the scape to give the feel of a riverbank, but I’ll let the plants grow in a bit before doing that. Comments welcome!

Not much new here, but I wanted to post an updated photo nevertheless. The foreground is just about perfect, but the rest is starting to need some thinning out. I’m beginning to think it’s time for a new aquascape in this tank. This one’s lasted for 7 months!

I’ve long had the desire to simulate a steep sloped riverbank aquascape with tree branches hanging down into the water. After finally securing the branched manzanita that I wanted for the tree branches, I rescaped my 50G aquarium using those branches, as well as, manzanita stumps to create the sloped hardscape. Unfortunately, my idea has been very slow to materialize, with the manzanita stumps radically altering the water chemistry of my aquarium resulting in a few fish deaths and lots of algae.

I think I’ve stabilized the chemistry issue, but am still dealing with some of the resulting algae. Now, I need to let the plants themselves grow in. I’m not 100% convinced that the plants I have (Dwarf Sag, Blyxa aubertii, Rotala sp. ‘H-ra’, and Ludwigia senegalensis) are the plants I ultimately want in this aquascape, but if they can defeat the black-brush-algae, I can go from there. Honestly, I should probably adjust much of the hardscape itself while I’m at it. In any case, I just wanted to share what I was up to, and prove the point that an aquascaping idea doesn’t always work out exactly as you expect; sometimes for the better, sometimes not so much… Suggestions welcome!

I just wanted to provide an updated picture for my 75G aquarium. Since the last update, I have made relatively few changes. The most significant is that I’ve replanted the Glossostigma elatinoides foreground, which has now made quite a bit of progress in growing back. Given a couple more weeks, and maybe one trimming, I think the foreground will be perfect. I probably ought to thin out some of the Trident Java Fern, as it is doing quite well in this aquarium.

75G - Click for Larger Image

Equipment-wise, I have replaced the previous Aquaclear powerheads with two similarly powered Koralia Evolution powerheads. The Koralias draw less power than the Aquaclears, are much quieter, also clog far less frequently with plant matter. I realized just the other day that I had accidentally turned off one of the light strips over top of the aquarium. I bet it was off for at least 2-3 weeks, yet nothing really suffered from the mere 110W of power-compact lighting. I’m glad to have the second 110W (220W total) back in commission however, as I know the tank is better for it long term. Comments/critiques welcome!

Two months ago, I tore down the Riparium that was in my 20H, and replaced it with a more traditional aquascape. I was using it as more of a practice aquascape in advance of an aquascaping demonstration I was giving at the time, rather than an earnest attempt at producing the best scape ever. Despite not fitting that description, I’m rather pleased with how it’s shaping up.

For starters, I’ve always been more successful with larger aquariums in the 40G-75G range, while the 10-20G aquariums never seemed to return the results I was looking for. I think I’ve finally managed to balance out the lighting, CO2, and dosing for this 20H as I don’t have any algae, and the plants are looking really good. I had some initial problems where the plants were melting, but after raising up my metal halide light and adjusting the fan, I think I can attribute that problem to excessive heat.

I’m housing some Super Red Kribs in here along with some white clouds and zebra danios. A few of these fish will likely end up out in my pond for mosquito control very soon. The Ranalisma rostrata has nearly filled in the foreground. The Blyxa aubertii is contantly sending up flowers, and the Bacopa sp. ‘Araguaia’ is poking out of water surface. Comments/critique welcome!

About a month ago, I order my first rimless aquarium from Green Leaf Aquariums down in Florida. The aquarium that I had been eying for some time was their “bookshelf tank,” which is a 36″x8.3″x9.4″ rimless aquarium; dimensions that are unique to GLA’s product line. The alluring and challenging thing about these dimensions are the fact that it is such a wide tank, without very much depth to create a smooth transition from foreground to background.

Three and a half weeks ago, I decommissioned my 20L aquarium that was sitting on a wire shelf and began preparing to setup the new 12G bookshelf tank. Since rimless aquariums generally need more support than traditional designs, I built a small platform out of 2x4s and plywood to for the aquarium to rest on. For padding and aesthetics, I cut down a green yoga mat and laid it over the platform. Now that I didn’t have to worry about the wire-rack bowing and causing a leak in my new aquarium, I set out aquascaping it.

I decided to go with a minimalistic approach for this aquascape, consisting solely of a locally collected crumbly slate, and only two plants species – Eleocharis sp. ‘Japan’ and Blyxa japonica. For substrate, I combined several different bags of old ADA Aquasoil consisting of Amazonia, Africana, and Malaya, and set to work positioning the rock. I built up a prominent structure on the right side, leaving an expansion of loosely united pieces on the left.

Three weeks later, the Blyxa japonica is growing wonderfully, while the Eleocharis sp. ‘Japan’ is exhibiting the same slow growth that I’ve seen in other aquariums. That’s okay, however, as I really like the look of the three mixed Aquasoil types against the Blyxa background.

Click for larger image

For filtration, I’m using a miniature ZooMed canister filter, and have a Hydor Koralia Nano running for added circulation. The tank shares a 20 pound canister with three other aquariums so it has pressurized CO2 running throughout the day. I’m very pleased with the aquarium itself, being a very clear, well constructed, and attractive unit. Comments/critique welcome!

I haven’t updated this tank log since January, but my 75G is finally grown in to about where I want it. Unfortunately, the foreground (Glossostigma elatinoides) is way past its prime. I’m debating whether to leave the aquascape in place, and just replant the foreground, or to rip everything out and try something fresh. I have some nice manzanita branches that I’d like to try in here eventually.

Click for larger version

The Angelfish in this tank are really doing fabulously. They have probably doubled in size since I got them, and are incredibly personable fish. Whenever I enter the room, the fish swim straight up to the glass, gliding back and forth to follow me around the room. I couldn’t be more pleased with them. I still haven’t really spent much time to figure out other schooling tankmates for the Angels, but I’m sure I will find something eventually. Comments/critique always welcome on the aquascape!

This weekend I decided to rescape my 20H aquaruim. Previously, I had been running this as a Riparium, but while I really did enjoy setting up the Riparium, I was ready to go back to a more traditional aquascape. In addition, I am doing a 20H aquascaping demonstration this weekend, and was told that I would have bogwood to use, so I wanted to practice a little bit in these dimensions.

I started by setting up the hardscape using a combination of African bogwood and slate. I was going for a large broken root system look in some form of a loose mound setup.

I also wanted to keep this aquarium somewhat low-tech using plants I had on hand, so I pulled out some standby Trident Java Fern, Anubias barteri var. ‘coffeefolia’, and assorted Cryptocoryne.

In the foreground I placed Ranalisma rostrata, and in the background I used Blyxa aubertii and Rotala sp. ‘Hra’. Of all of the plants in this tank, I would probably replace the Anubias with a smaller nana or petite variety, as the coffeefolia is a little bit too large. I should also probably tie some moss to the wood to make it a little bit softer.

Above is the aquarium shortly after filling it up. It’s definitely not the best aquascape I’ve ever done, but for simply toying around for a little while, I’m not too disappointed with it. Comments welcome!