# "Flood Plains" NPT Photo Journal



## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

I was first inspired to set up a tank because I turned up a 30 gallon clunker I'd salvaged a few years back while retrieving some things that needed cleared from my Mother's home for a renovation. Not wanting to chuck the thing, I began scrounging the net for inspiration and knowledge on aquarium set ups and fish keeping. I was instantaneously taken with the breathtaking scenes created by the worlds top aquascapers. I knew I had to have a go at it.

(Edit)
My first attempt did not turn out as planned. As you can see from the pictures below, my inexperience led to purchases of plants which quickly grew out of scale to my hardscape layout. This was also partly due to my enthusiasm to get the tank planted and my inability to patiently wait for the plants I had planned to acquire. 
After a few months, I had a stock of plants more appropriate for my design and things seam to be working out. So far so good. 



















Hopefully the water will be clear enough for a proper photo when I get home later today.


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

sweet setup!
I thought the tank was being set up at an office of some sort. lol


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## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

Very nice~! And top quality hardware! What regulator did you end up going with for the CO2 setup? Looks like an ADA regulator but not too sure.


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

I guess it is sort of an office... My music office 

The regulator is a Dici DC01-01 (Just going by whats on the box here, I got it at AI along with the filter and tank. Plants and hard-scape are from the Menagerie).

So I adjusted a couple things when I got home which made the water a little clouded, but you can see most of whats going on fairly well...


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

looks great the slope is amazing


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

love your jungle!


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

Cheers!

I just picked up a bit more substrate from AI yesterday to emphasize the slopes a little more and keep the tree root in the front left corner from floating to the surface (Which is what I awoke to find the day after I first set this up. I tied rocks to the Manzanita wood and tied all the branches to the trunks. All the Anubias nana plantings are in hopes they will root the sections together (no pun intended) and disguise the fact their not one piece. 

As a result of having so many large dense objects just below the substrate, there are a few areas where i had to wedge a couple plants between wood/rock to fill out the space. However, upon second thought and an evening admiring the tank, I decided some of the placements would look more natural if I added some more substrate, giving me a chance to replant the ones i had wedged in here or there. I also picked up some more Phoenix Moss and the most dainty dwarf form of Rotala with deep red under-leaves. Still can't find any HC Cuba though :/

The levels this morning before I left for the day read:
PH: 6
Ammonia: 2.0ppm
Nitrite: 2.0ppm
Nitrate: 0.0ppm
GH: 7.0 ~125ppm
KH: 6.0 ~107ppm

I seeded the filter with one I had cycled for this exact purpose Sunday evening (which is when the planting photos are from since the day before resulted in a floating mass of Manzanita and plants Sunday morning ).
I'm happy the system seems to by cycling fast, however, the Netlea substrate is designed to keep PH down (my friend informed me of this after reading the packaging which is in Cantonese). Had I known this before hand, I might have picked a different substrate. In any case, I'll be keeping a close eye on the Flora, hopefully things will find a desirable equilibrium over the next week as I'm not interested in using additives to raise the PH.

More photos and a list of plants later today...


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

*Flora:*

Anubias nana 
Aponogeton natans
Cryptocoryne balansae
Cryptocoryne parva
Cryptocoryne wentii green
Echinodorus tenellus 
Heimanthus micranthemoides
Hydrocotyle sibthorpiodes
Hygrophila sp pantanal
Rotala rotundifolia indica

Fissidens fontanus "Phoenix Moss"
Vesicularia montagnei "Christmas Moss"

*Can anyone identify the dwarf Rotala in some of these pictures? Can't figure out exactly what it is :/


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## greg (Apr 29, 2012)

Love the setup. Great pieces of wood and nicely placed - are they from AI as well?

Greg


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

Thanks Greg,

Doesn't even come close to touching your beast of a set up though 
Wood and rocks I got from the Menagerie... Most of the hardscape materials I saw at AI both times I went were not the right scale for a 16 gallon so I didn't get a chance to play in their layout sandbox.  
I'm hoping once the moss takes off, the big tree root on the right will look more appropriately sized to the tree on the left. There was literally nothing else available that looked any good in that spot so I had to compromise.

Where have you had the best luck with finding nice hardscape materials (Assuming you don't do winter camping)?


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## greg (Apr 29, 2012)

I don't have a great place for wood or rocks to be honest.

I've visited at least a dozen retailers in GTA and AI usually has the best rock selection for planted tanks and best prices too. Big Al's Mississauga tends to have the most wood although prices are ridiculous. If I buy wood there I literally go through all the pieces in the bins looking for the right one.

I've always collected rocks on camping trips (no winter camping though) and trips to the east coast so I have huge selection, most of which reside in a small fountain/pond I specifically built to display them. Sometimes I'll steal a piece from there for an aquarium.

Greg


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

So.. It's been a while since my last post, but it was out of my hands :/

First, my computer's hard drive crashed; almost 2 weeks without a computer. This has set me back immensely as I am still in the process of re-building my music library from near scratch. I had been about to apply for an ITunes radio spot, but i now have to hold off.

Second, I've been working 10-12 hour days and hardly even got to spend time with my tanks while the lights were on 

Regardless, here are some flicks...

1 month after planting 


Still more trimming to do, but got it looking a little less overgrown last night


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

*Long over due update*

Soo it's been a while, and much has changed...

The HC has taken an agonizingly long time to still not be fully carpeted, but it is ever so close... Trying to get the reds to be more prominent in the rotala vietnam & rotala rotundifolia planted in the back left and right respectively. Also hoping the wendtii brown will bush out a bit more in between the roots.

After most recent trimming:








Zebra Ottos 








chili rasboras








1 Month ago


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

such a pretty scape


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

Thanks!

Just filmed a webasode of "drunk tank" with hosts Graham and Lisa last night.
They're two fantastic local fish people sharing their passion for fish and aquatic plants on their youtube channel "Drunk Tank Aquaria": 
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZoQgJb0IbjZAF47ldXM6Jg

Check them out and stay tuned for the release featuring this tank!


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## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

Very nicely done. Tank needs to be darker I think


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## Reckon (Mar 6, 2013)

Wow! Looks so natural. What is that you are using for your background?


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

I'm using the blank side of an old poster that I cut down to size and crumpled up before smoothing it back out and attaching. 

I've thought about switching to a mat black cardboard to help reduce the brightness for photos (but I'm not very good at taking pictures of my tanks yet and white looks real good in person)

I'll try elevating the lights next time i take out the camera


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

Yann said:


> I'm using the blank side of an old poster that I cut down to size and crumpled up before smoothing it back out and attaching.
> 
> I've thought about switching to a mat black cardboard to help reduce the brightness for photos (but I'm not very good at taking pictures of my tanks yet and white looks real good in person)
> 
> I'll try elevating the lights next time i take out the camera


how did you get ti on teh background? tape? glue?


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

That is an extremely thick layer of substrate! Any particular reason for that?


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

Kimchi24 ~ 

I used painter's edge tape (the green stuff) to secure the background


Solarz ~ 

In short, yes... 
Both trunk pieces sit barely proud of the water surface at full volume. I didn't want the cut edge of the wood displayed when the tank was filled, though the substrate did turn out to be much deeper than I had anticipated when I acquired the hard-scape. I compensated for this by filling allot of the space with layers of fist sized rocks for better water flow (no root rot yet). This was a much less expensive option than the aqua soil, and allowed me to secure the wood in place. 
Hard to tell from these photos but it slopes down a fair amount to the back left where the filter in-take and heater are located. This drastically improved my water circulation and allows me an extra week between trimming the Stems


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

*Photo Update*

2013/10/21











Plant List:
Hemianthus Callitrichoides, 
Elocharis acicularis,
Fissidens fontanus, 
Monosolenium tenerum, 
Vesicularia montagnei, 
Taxiphyllum alternans, 
Cryptocoryne parva, 
Cryptocoryne wendtii brown, 
Cryptocoryne wendtii green, 
Rotala sp. 'Mini' - Type 1, 
Rotala rotundafolia, 
Rotala vietnam


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

*Drunk Tank Feature*

Webasode of Drunk Tank Aquaria featuring my fish tanks 

Check it out:


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## Reckon (Mar 6, 2013)

Your tank is killer. How do you get that cloudy background?


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

Reckon said:


> Your tank is killer. How do you get that cloudy background?


Thanks Reckon 

For my background, I used a glossy poster with some wrinkles in it. As the poster doesn't sit flat on the glass, shadows of varying degrees are cast on the poster, causing the effect you refer too.

I also like the look in the photos and video. In person however, images from the front of the poster can be seen at times with the room lights on. For this reason, I'd like to try something similar to the rear frosted glass and rear lighting techniques employed in many of the competition entries. Possibly some LED's and a frosted overlay of sorts.

Has anyone put together an inexpensive background of this sort before??


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## Reckon (Mar 6, 2013)

I've been thinking of trying the same frosted background you are talking about. I just had never seen the effect that is seen in your pictures, hence I asked. Let me know if you manage to find a place for that frosted background. I've been busy but I was considering dropping by the local glass repair shop. I'm not liking the idea of something as thin as tinting so hopefully I'll find something thicker.


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

Sorry if that came off wrong, it was not my intention 
It came to be by mere accident ^_^ I was looking for something suitable as a background when I first decided to take some photos; the wrinkly old poster was all I had . It looked/looks cool; happy to share  
I saw Oliver Knott in some video endorse a frosted film of sorts that can be applied with some water and a plastic putty knife or the like. The Green Machine sells a 150cm x 67.5cm roll for £11.99. Not sure if it's available locally


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

*Short update + Free Plants*

This past weekend I moved and re-planted both my tanks... I think I had maybe a nights worth of sleep over the whole weekend (The fish look better than I do atm  )

The tanks are now located on the main floor (lots of windows has me a little worried) rather than in a basement. They aren't in direct sunlight, but there is an awful lot of ambient light and I will likely have to tweak my illumination periods as a result. Fingers crossed; no algae blooms!

I will do a picture post late tonight when I get home from work.

If you want / need some free plants, check out my post in the plant trading thread for a list of whats available: www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?p=357710#post357710


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

*Re-plant / Re-scape*



I managed to remove about 4 Gallons worth of substrate and rocks previously used to keep the Manzanita wood from floating to the surface. As you can see, the substrate along the front of the glass has dropped a considerable amount, giving a heightened sense of depth without changing the substrate level at the back.

I also moved the tree on the left slightly farther to the rear of the aquarium and changed the angles and trajectory of all the roots. I removed the Taiwanese moss from all the roots because I felt that the entire mid section when grown out before, seamed to jut out too much into the foreground. The transition from front to back just didn't feel natural to me, so I hope these few adjustments will give me the final result I desire.

I decided to mix Dwarf Hairgrass with HC "Cuba" in the foreground to achieve a slightly more natural look in the long run.

I don't have enough Paelia Moss to put on the tree root on the right side yet, though it will get it eventually when I have some trimmings for it.

Here's a 30 second clip (A full length video of the move to be released on DrunkTankAquaria in the near future):


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## Yann (Feb 16, 2013)

*1 Month Growth After Moving*

I have been busy, but I now have some videos to share with everyone  (and more to come on my new YouTube channel "Fresh Aquatics")...

A bout two months ago I added some pygmy corys to the 16G. Here's a short video of them in this tank before I packed it up and moved everything to my current residence.





A couple weeks ago, I got my hands on one of the first (if not the first) publicly available shipments of Celestial Pearl Danaos to Toronto since their discovery. They were intended for my 16Gallon, but I found them to be much too aggressive and independent, so all but 1 male & 2 female are currently living happily in my 30 Gallon. Most of the stock at the pet store had an unfortunate accident, but I hope the 10 gallon I'm currently cycling will be a breeding home in the future. 
In the meantime, please enjoy any introduction to the CPDs living in my 16 Gallon:





I am currently battling a soft algae outbreak, so stay tuned for a new video soon and hit that subscribe button.. Your support is appreciated


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