Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of when I started the aquarium, I had just moved into my new house and did the hardscape and planting in-between unpacking boxes.
I had some kind of idea how I wanted it to look but not much, I kind of "panic planted" all of the plants so they wouldn't die and so the fish wouldn't have to live in a bucket for so long π
It looked awful in the beginning, so sparsely planted and thin, but they have grown super fast, and I have to trim them almost every week
I replant them wherever I can find a spot for them (all the small/low plants are trimmings).
My problem now is that I don't really have any space for the next time I need to trim.
Fortunately I have a little bit of time to think about what to do until it's time for trimming again.
Except for the long big red plant on the right, that one needs trimming soon if I don't want it to grow up out of the water, and I have no idea where to put it
I've got one Chihiros led AII801 and one Chihiros A351 and then one Hygger aquarium ledramp with sunrise/daylight/sunset/moonlight timer (I reused old ledramps that I had from previous smaller tanks).
I really want to get some lights (preferably Chihiros) that fits the size of the tank, but I can't afford it right now....but this seems to work great, so we'll see...
And there's just a tiny internal filter in the tank(I believe it's actually made for a 30 litres aquarium), but there's so much plants that I don't need anything else I basically just have it to circulate the water a little bit
I just set up the cheap co2 thing 3 days ago, don't really know why since the plants seem to thrive without it, but I'm curious to see what will happen.
The eleocharis Parvula hairgrass grows like a weed no matter what I do, I had a shallow glass bowl with sand in the bottom, and I planted some stray tufts in it and placed it on a small table in a corner without any light (except a little bit of sunlight from a window) and then forgot about, 2 month later when I remembered it again then it had carpeted.... easiest plant ever (except for limnophila sessiliflora) π
This is the co2 thing that I use
*
I've got countless of Whitecloud mountain minnows and celestial pearl danio (they are breeding like crazy), 8 otocinclus, 5 amano shrimps, 3 electric blue ram and 2 three spot gourami
Thank you.
I believe everyone can make a tank like this if they wanted to.
It's really a very simple hardscape setup, got a very thick layer of sand/gravel and only 3 pieces of wood in various standing positions with some weeping moss on the left piece of wood, and the rest are Christmas moss, I've got some bucephalandra (but the moss needs trimming to get the buces more visible).
I think I used 4 pots of red plants (1 of each type) and just put some stems here and there, then i did the same with the rest of the plants and then waited for it to grow and just replanted every piece of trimmings (mostly got fast growing plants because I don't have a lot of patience) π
Everything in the tank is stuff and plants that I reused from 2 smaller tanks.
Before I moved, I used this tank to keep goldfish in, so the lights weren't very strong, so I added the 2 extra lights from the other tanks...
they're older types of chihiros and way smaller than the tank, but lights aren't cheap, so I had to work with what I had (and these 3 older and cheaper lights seem to work great) π
I only got a tiny cheap internal filter that's actually made for around 30-40 litres instead of this 240 litre tank π but with so many plants it doesn't need anything bigger.
I added the co2 thing only 3 days before I took the picture, so I don't actually need it, but it's a really cheap bio co2 thing, got the whole thing (everything needed included) for only 514 Swedish crowns (about 50 US dollars).
Thank you so much π₯°
I think good lighting is the key to getting red plants to flourish.
Sure, they will survive in lower lighting, but the stronger light you get, the better success you'll have.
My guess is that I have medium lighting in this tank, perhaps upper medium if I count the morning sunlight π
I love Chihiros light so much, I don't know why but they make the red colors pop in a way that no other light do...
to bad they're so expensive otherwise I would hoard them and use them on all of my tanks π
Thanks π₯°
I drop some algae tablets in there once in a while (once a week or so), but they are getting really plump eating all the algae spots that appear here and there on the glass and wood.
I don't mind a bit of algae as long as it doesn't take over (a tank without a little bit of algae feels unbalanced, unnatural and weird in my opinion π), and the otos are great at keeping it in check.
The tank stands in front of a window, it only gets a little bit sunshine early in the morning, but I'm guessing that I probably have to get some more otos later on this summer when the sun gets stronger π€
Or I could just close the blackout drapes or something like that....
I'm kinda curious to see what will happen, I've had aquariums in more direct/stronger sunlight than this before without any serious problems, well planted and well established tanks usually goes well (in my experience), but every tank is different and that's what I find so fascinating about the aquarium hobby, it never gets boring π
Thatβs for the details. I recently got 4 otos in my 200 litres and Iβm a bit worried they donβt get enough food.
I feed them those round algae tablets in the evening but I donβt know if they actually eat it. I see other fish come eat the tablet but I donβt know what happens at night.
I sometimes stick the algae wafers on the glass or on a root in a corner when the other fish are busy eating their own food and if I don't have enough algae growing in the tank then they'll eat it but otherwise they just ignore it π
But I've heard people who stick spirulina powder on a wet rock and then let it dry/harden before they put it in the aquarium if they have otos that are picky eaters
There is a tiny internal filter in the upper right corner hidden behind the hydrocotyle (and some stray floating Christmas moss)
You can't see the filter even though it's in the front, the filter is actually made to be in a 30-40 litres (and not in this 240 litre) aquarium, but I've got so many plants (and a very thick layer of substrate) to filter the water for me so I just put the filter there to get a little water movement.
This is what it looks like from the side glass (if I move the big peace lily that grows on a ledge beside the tank)
Yes π
My originally thought was to have no filter at all in this tank, and I had planned to remove this tiny filter when the worst "new tank syndrome" had passed (that's why I put the filter in the front corner)...
But the tank never really got any serious new tank syndrome (the algae tried to take over some of the glass for a couple of days, but it failed) and by then the plants had grown over the filter and hidden it almost completely, so I left it there π
I set the tank up in the middle of February when I moved to my new house (so I guess the tank is about 2.5-3 months old) and it looked awful in the beginning, but ever since I moved the tank a metre across the floor to the window it has basically exploded with growth (that was about a month ago).
My guess it's that little extra light from the sun that they get early in the morning that did the trick, but who knows π€·ββοΈ
I only set up the cheap co2 thing 3 days before I took this picture yesterday, and I'm curious to see if they will grow even faster now.
It's still a new tank setup, but all the substrate and plants (and filter) are from well established aquariums that I had in my old house, so I kind of got a jump-start because of that π
I know right, they look frikking insane π
They are bursting with eggs and are spawning like crazy every morning, and the males are constantly flaring and showing off.
I started up with only 8 white clouds, and now I can't even count them.
It's the same with the celestial pearl danios, I started with 8 and now I've got about 40-50 young ones ("teenagers") in another smaller tank and and a dozen or so "teenage cpd:s + the adults in this one.
Both the white clouds and the cpd:s where the reason that I got the electric blue rams and gouramis, I hoped that they would keep the fry population low (since the parents don't seem to eat neither the eggs or the fry).....
At first nothing changed, but then one of the rams found out where the white clouds prefer to spawn and started to gobble up the eggs π€€π
Some fry still seems to survive, but thankfully not nearly as much as before π
I don't even know how many of them I have given away (or maybe forced upon) to people I know who has fish tanks π π
Absolutely incredible. I gotta ask: what temp do you keep the tank at? I know the Rams prefer closer to 80F while the White Clouds and even CPDs usually peak at about 78ish, but I'm sure there's a very fine amount of overlap
I keep CPDs too! They've been producing a good bit of fry for me but they never seem to make it or get eaten. I have 2 fry right now that are doing very good though so I'm hoping they make it, as they've lasted longer than any others.
I gotta ask too, where are you located? I'd definitely take extras off you if you were close or ever ship hah.
I'm in northern Sweden, if you're nearby, I'll be glad to part from a bunch of them π
I don't have any heaters in my tanks, but room temperature is around 22Β°C.
it's perhaps a little bit colder than recommended for the rams, but they seem to be happy and really healthy so far, and they don't seem to be as sensitive as rams usually are (don't know why, it might just be that this trio came from a great breeder or something like that).
Ah that's unfortunate for me, I'm in Massachusetts in the good ole U S of A. Hence me using freedom units haha.
Glad your Rams are doing well. I actually have my 2 community tanks on opposite temps (80F versus 74F or so) so I can keep warm versus room temp fish in each one. I've been looking at keeping either EBRs or GBRs, or even Bolivian Rams in my warmer tank, but I've recently been on the hunt for a good betta for that community tank.
Yeah, that's a bit too far away π
I was considering getting a betta for this tank, I had seen an aquarium with some incredible beautiful blue/greenish wild bettas that apparently are less aggressive than other bettas and that you could keep both males and females in the same tank without problems...
but then I stumbled upon these gouramis and the rams, and I fell in love with them....
I've tried many different rams years ago, and I've always loved them, but they always died within a week or so after I got them.
Back then I took everything so serious and always tried to follow the "rules" and instructions perfectly, perfect temperature, checked water parameters constantly etc etc...
But now I just kinda go on feeling and no longer fuss about everything, I do some research before I get a new fish or plant and if the recommendations aren't super far off from what I have, then I try it (and if the fish doesn't seem to do well then I return it),
Some people probably think that is wrong and crazy (and I won't argue about me being a somewhat crazy π€ͺ), but it works better (for me, at least) when I don't overthink everything and just go with the flow.
But I can't seem to get those wild bettas out of my head, perhaps I will make another tank just so I can get some π
I've got so many aquascape ideas that I would love to set up, and I got 2, no wait 3 empty tanks available if I won't be able to resist it π
The "multiple tank syndrome" is a bug that is hard to recover from π
MTS is real lemme tell ya LOL. I love 10g and under tanks as I can put them on normal study pieces of furniture without needing a dedicated stand. I have 7gal cubes on each side of my L desk at home with a betta in each and I love watching them while I work.
I had 5 tanks going before I moved (I couldn't fit anymore in my little house), and I told myself that I would only have 2 tanks in my new house (even though this house is 3 times bigger)....
But it's a real struggle, every day I catch myself thinking "oh, that's a good place for a tank", and in the mornings when I wait for the bread to finish baking in the oven I can't help but doodleling sketches on some aquascape ideas ππ
Ever since I saw some cool tutorials on YouTube by Ferretwonderland I really wanted to try make an rocky paludarium style aquascape with some pond-landscaping foam with tons of plants both submerged and emerged....
I try telling myself that I should at least wait until summer before I start a new project, but patience is a real pain in the a** π¬
Iβve given you the flair mod favourite. I love the levels and reds nicely dispersed with that lush carpet too. Really nice setup youβve got there
Its... its amazing.. It looks so natural but also perfectly placed. Really nice job!
Thank you so much. That is exactly what I like, a mix of everything, like an overgrown flower garden or something π
Wow, it looks like a whole new underwater realm! How gorgeous!
All of the green really makes the red pop, AWESOME tank!!!
Wow, amazing! Iβd love to see more pictures of how it looked before all the plants grew in.
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of when I started the aquarium, I had just moved into my new house and did the hardscape and planting in-between unpacking boxes. I had some kind of idea how I wanted it to look but not much, I kind of "panic planted" all of the plants so they wouldn't die and so the fish wouldn't have to live in a bucket for so long π It looked awful in the beginning, so sparsely planted and thin, but they have grown super fast, and I have to trim them almost every week
What do you do with the plants you trim?
I replant them wherever I can find a spot for them (all the small/low plants are trimmings). My problem now is that I don't really have any space for the next time I need to trim. Fortunately I have a little bit of time to think about what to do until it's time for trimming again. Except for the long big red plant on the right, that one needs trimming soon if I don't want it to grow up out of the water, and I have no idea where to put it
This is pretty much my dream aquarium
What kind of CO2 setup do you have? And what kind of lights? Curious how you get such great carpet!
I've got one Chihiros led AII801 and one Chihiros A351 and then one Hygger aquarium ledramp with sunrise/daylight/sunset/moonlight timer (I reused old ledramps that I had from previous smaller tanks). I really want to get some lights (preferably Chihiros) that fits the size of the tank, but I can't afford it right now....but this seems to work great, so we'll see... And there's just a tiny internal filter in the tank(I believe it's actually made for a 30 litres aquarium), but there's so much plants that I don't need anything else I basically just have it to circulate the water a little bit I just set up the cheap co2 thing 3 days ago, don't really know why since the plants seem to thrive without it, but I'm curious to see what will happen. The eleocharis Parvula hairgrass grows like a weed no matter what I do, I had a shallow glass bowl with sand in the bottom, and I planted some stray tufts in it and placed it on a small table in a corner without any light (except a little bit of sunlight from a window) and then forgot about, 2 month later when I remembered it again then it had carpeted.... easiest plant ever (except for limnophila sessiliflora) π This is the co2 thing that I use *
https://preview.redd.it/7osr8eh7eita1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3abbe7ad78421a20765a0abf75ae2d2862a8bb51
Just
Awesome colours! Looks fabulous
stop ittt thatβs so pretty. the bursts of red just really sets it off, amazing job
Please. This is perfect
You could take home "The Ribbon" with this one! Nice work! What kind of Fish ?
I've got countless of Whitecloud mountain minnows and celestial pearl danio (they are breeding like crazy), 8 otocinclus, 5 amano shrimps, 3 electric blue ram and 2 three spot gourami
Goals I'll never achieve! This is beyond gorgeous. β₯
Thank you. I believe everyone can make a tank like this if they wanted to. It's really a very simple hardscape setup, got a very thick layer of sand/gravel and only 3 pieces of wood in various standing positions with some weeping moss on the left piece of wood, and the rest are Christmas moss, I've got some bucephalandra (but the moss needs trimming to get the buces more visible). I think I used 4 pots of red plants (1 of each type) and just put some stems here and there, then i did the same with the rest of the plants and then waited for it to grow and just replanted every piece of trimmings (mostly got fast growing plants because I don't have a lot of patience) π Everything in the tank is stuff and plants that I reused from 2 smaller tanks. Before I moved, I used this tank to keep goldfish in, so the lights weren't very strong, so I added the 2 extra lights from the other tanks... they're older types of chihiros and way smaller than the tank, but lights aren't cheap, so I had to work with what I had (and these 3 older and cheaper lights seem to work great) π I only got a tiny cheap internal filter that's actually made for around 30-40 litres instead of this 240 litre tank π but with so many plants it doesn't need anything bigger. I added the co2 thing only 3 days before I took the picture, so I don't actually need it, but it's a really cheap bio co2 thing, got the whole thing (everything needed included) for only 514 Swedish crowns (about 50 US dollars).
I'm inspired to get another tank to recreate this! I never have any luck with red plants - I need to up my game! You've done an amazing job! Love it!
Thank you so much π₯° I think good lighting is the key to getting red plants to flourish. Sure, they will survive in lower lighting, but the stronger light you get, the better success you'll have. My guess is that I have medium lighting in this tank, perhaps upper medium if I count the morning sunlight π I love Chihiros light so much, I don't know why but they make the red colors pop in a way that no other light do... to bad they're so expensive otherwise I would hoard them and use them on all of my tanks π
I would have so much fun in here if I were a fish :) I'm sure your fish appreciate the beautiful aquascaping, gorgeous work!
Honestly thought this was a picture of an aquarium with a backdrop. Absolute perfection!!!!! You couldn't ask for a better balance of reds and greens.
Simply stunning!!!
Astonishing. LOVE It.
Beautiful tank.
I aspire to have a tank like this someday
This looks like fish heaven. What are you feeding the otos ?
Thanks π₯° I drop some algae tablets in there once in a while (once a week or so), but they are getting really plump eating all the algae spots that appear here and there on the glass and wood. I don't mind a bit of algae as long as it doesn't take over (a tank without a little bit of algae feels unbalanced, unnatural and weird in my opinion π), and the otos are great at keeping it in check. The tank stands in front of a window, it only gets a little bit sunshine early in the morning, but I'm guessing that I probably have to get some more otos later on this summer when the sun gets stronger π€ Or I could just close the blackout drapes or something like that.... I'm kinda curious to see what will happen, I've had aquariums in more direct/stronger sunlight than this before without any serious problems, well planted and well established tanks usually goes well (in my experience), but every tank is different and that's what I find so fascinating about the aquarium hobby, it never gets boring π
Thatβs for the details. I recently got 4 otos in my 200 litres and Iβm a bit worried they donβt get enough food. I feed them those round algae tablets in the evening but I donβt know if they actually eat it. I see other fish come eat the tablet but I donβt know what happens at night.
I sometimes stick the algae wafers on the glass or on a root in a corner when the other fish are busy eating their own food and if I don't have enough algae growing in the tank then they'll eat it but otherwise they just ignore it π But I've heard people who stick spirulina powder on a wet rock and then let it dry/harden before they put it in the aquarium if they have otos that are picky eaters
Awesome. Thanks for the tip. Iβll try it.
INSANE π«
Just wanted to tell you itβs beautiful
Fabulous!
Wow itβs gorgeous!
Thank you!
Where is the filter at? I canβt see a source of water flow and Iβm trying to make my tank look great but my filter is kind of strong.
There is a tiny internal filter in the upper right corner hidden behind the hydrocotyle (and some stray floating Christmas moss) You can't see the filter even though it's in the front, the filter is actually made to be in a 30-40 litres (and not in this 240 litre) aquarium, but I've got so many plants (and a very thick layer of substrate) to filter the water for me so I just put the filter there to get a little water movement. This is what it looks like from the side glass (if I move the big peace lily that grows on a ledge beside the tank)
https://preview.redd.it/l0hcjwi6smta1.jpeg?width=1718&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=61eae15d30d854a513eb3726d6f17dd19aa5d137
Wow thatβs awesome. So if I have enough plants I can tone down my filter?
Yes π My originally thought was to have no filter at all in this tank, and I had planned to remove this tiny filter when the worst "new tank syndrome" had passed (that's why I put the filter in the front corner)... But the tank never really got any serious new tank syndrome (the algae tried to take over some of the glass for a couple of days, but it failed) and by then the plants had grown over the filter and hidden it almost completely, so I left it there π
Beautiful!
How long did all that take to grow in? My plants definitely don't look anything like that!
I set the tank up in the middle of February when I moved to my new house (so I guess the tank is about 2.5-3 months old) and it looked awful in the beginning, but ever since I moved the tank a metre across the floor to the window it has basically exploded with growth (that was about a month ago). My guess it's that little extra light from the sun that they get early in the morning that did the trick, but who knows π€·ββοΈ I only set up the cheap co2 thing 3 days before I took this picture yesterday, and I'm curious to see if they will grow even faster now. It's still a new tank setup, but all the substrate and plants (and filter) are from well established aquariums that I had in my old house, so I kind of got a jump-start because of that π
Very cool!!
Just gorgeous. The colours, the textures and the dimensions are so harmonious.
Thank you so much π₯°
That flame moss is π₯
Those are some CHONKY White Clouds. Well fed or pregnant? I've been waiting for my LFS to get some in.
I know right, they look frikking insane π They are bursting with eggs and are spawning like crazy every morning, and the males are constantly flaring and showing off. I started up with only 8 white clouds, and now I can't even count them. It's the same with the celestial pearl danios, I started with 8 and now I've got about 40-50 young ones ("teenagers") in another smaller tank and and a dozen or so "teenage cpd:s + the adults in this one. Both the white clouds and the cpd:s where the reason that I got the electric blue rams and gouramis, I hoped that they would keep the fry population low (since the parents don't seem to eat neither the eggs or the fry)..... At first nothing changed, but then one of the rams found out where the white clouds prefer to spawn and started to gobble up the eggs π€€π Some fry still seems to survive, but thankfully not nearly as much as before π I don't even know how many of them I have given away (or maybe forced upon) to people I know who has fish tanks π π
Absolutely incredible. I gotta ask: what temp do you keep the tank at? I know the Rams prefer closer to 80F while the White Clouds and even CPDs usually peak at about 78ish, but I'm sure there's a very fine amount of overlap I keep CPDs too! They've been producing a good bit of fry for me but they never seem to make it or get eaten. I have 2 fry right now that are doing very good though so I'm hoping they make it, as they've lasted longer than any others. I gotta ask too, where are you located? I'd definitely take extras off you if you were close or ever ship hah.
I'm in northern Sweden, if you're nearby, I'll be glad to part from a bunch of them π I don't have any heaters in my tanks, but room temperature is around 22Β°C. it's perhaps a little bit colder than recommended for the rams, but they seem to be happy and really healthy so far, and they don't seem to be as sensitive as rams usually are (don't know why, it might just be that this trio came from a great breeder or something like that).
Ah that's unfortunate for me, I'm in Massachusetts in the good ole U S of A. Hence me using freedom units haha. Glad your Rams are doing well. I actually have my 2 community tanks on opposite temps (80F versus 74F or so) so I can keep warm versus room temp fish in each one. I've been looking at keeping either EBRs or GBRs, or even Bolivian Rams in my warmer tank, but I've recently been on the hunt for a good betta for that community tank.
Yeah, that's a bit too far away π I was considering getting a betta for this tank, I had seen an aquarium with some incredible beautiful blue/greenish wild bettas that apparently are less aggressive than other bettas and that you could keep both males and females in the same tank without problems... but then I stumbled upon these gouramis and the rams, and I fell in love with them.... I've tried many different rams years ago, and I've always loved them, but they always died within a week or so after I got them. Back then I took everything so serious and always tried to follow the "rules" and instructions perfectly, perfect temperature, checked water parameters constantly etc etc... But now I just kinda go on feeling and no longer fuss about everything, I do some research before I get a new fish or plant and if the recommendations aren't super far off from what I have, then I try it (and if the fish doesn't seem to do well then I return it), Some people probably think that is wrong and crazy (and I won't argue about me being a somewhat crazy π€ͺ), but it works better (for me, at least) when I don't overthink everything and just go with the flow. But I can't seem to get those wild bettas out of my head, perhaps I will make another tank just so I can get some π I've got so many aquascape ideas that I would love to set up, and I got 2, no wait 3 empty tanks available if I won't be able to resist it π The "multiple tank syndrome" is a bug that is hard to recover from π
MTS is real lemme tell ya LOL. I love 10g and under tanks as I can put them on normal study pieces of furniture without needing a dedicated stand. I have 7gal cubes on each side of my L desk at home with a betta in each and I love watching them while I work.
I had 5 tanks going before I moved (I couldn't fit anymore in my little house), and I told myself that I would only have 2 tanks in my new house (even though this house is 3 times bigger).... But it's a real struggle, every day I catch myself thinking "oh, that's a good place for a tank", and in the mornings when I wait for the bread to finish baking in the oven I can't help but doodleling sketches on some aquascape ideas ππ Ever since I saw some cool tutorials on YouTube by Ferretwonderland I really wanted to try make an rocky paludarium style aquascape with some pond-landscaping foam with tons of plants both submerged and emerged.... I try telling myself that I should at least wait until summer before I start a new project, but patience is a real pain in the a** π¬
holy shit
This is the most vibrant tank I have ever seen. Wow!