# Big Wood



## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

Howdy!
It's been some time since I've worked with aquatic plants. This summer after 10 years of keeping almost exclusively Tangs I decided that I'd return to the planted side of the hobby and flip my display tank to a planted setup.

I've never chronicled the process before and it actually began in July, but I'll make a couple of posts when I have the time to catch everyone up and then hopefully I can plan regular updates to follow the process in real time.

Anyway, what I have to work with is a drilled tank with the dimensions 6' long, 24" wide and 20" tall. It has tight fitting glass tops and I run it with a sump. My stocking for the tank will tend towards smaller fish.

Here's what I had to work with starting in July:









During a trip to the cottage in late July I scoured the shoreline and swamps in order to dig up a piece that would fit the space. I really wanted to play with the scale and the concept of space. Its not unusual to see large driftwood relative to the space in small aquaria, but this typically doesn't happen with larger setups. My plan was to put a large central piece of wood in and then stock the tank with nano fish. What I was shooting for was more of the "classic" submerged forest motif. I couldn't find any driftwood that really suited my purpose for that motif. What I eventually dredged up from the bottom of the lake was quite large, too large to fit in the tank, but fit with my theme for the tank.









Using an axe and appropriate PPE I cut the driftwood down to size, I'll have to check with my partner, I think she has some images of this. I also picked up a 3-D background that would fit my tank with some alterations to make room for the inlet and outlet as well as reducing the height to 20"









I think that's as far as I can get right now given that I have to clean up my garden as winter is coming, but I hope to follow up at least this weekend.


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## Wiccandove (May 19, 2012)

That driftwood is amazing! Should just get a bigger tank to put it in


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

That is a really nice piece. Looking forward to seeing your progress


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

Thanks for the early feedback already. Yep, its hard to post regularly kudos to Greg for doing it as long as he did.
We're not even caught up yet and I can tell already that this will be a growing process.... Anyway by mid-October I was finally able to get it together and cut the wood to fit, cut the background to fit and rinse the silt out of 250lbs of sand.... mostly.
I do have some progress pics. Firstly here's the wood actually in the aquarium along with the background before I cut out the overflows and before I put in the sediment.










As I began to fill it up what I knew would inevitably become a problem percolated up to the surface....










Ofcourse the wood was no longer entirely water logged so she did want to float... I estimate it'll be at least a year before I can remove the rocks weighing it down.

Ultimately I did manage to get the tank filled up without incident but it was difficult to see just how things had settled out... despite my thorough rinsing of the sand....










The following day things were a little better, the outlines of the wood began to make an appearance.










A couple days later I was finally able to discern more or less what I'd done.










And here is where I'll have to leave it. Next time I post I'll give an up to date equipment and stock list and put up more recent images. I'm also prepared to receive some criticisms as I know already I've made some brutal plant choices, both in species and in placement. I think the stock list is solid though.


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## Dis (Apr 16, 2010)

The hardscape looks very nice. Well done


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## Fisheye (Jan 13, 2015)

I'm pining for a super huge tank now! I actually love the massive boulders in there. Look forward to seeing more pics!


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Crazy driftwood. Looks like natural habitat for plecos.


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