I’ve been thinking and talking about doing a landscaped planted tank for a good while now so I figured I might as well bite the bullet and get to work. The main aim of this tank is to grow a couple of plants that fit a specific design that I have had floating around in my head. I know exactly what I want the tank to look like but it is getting it to look like that, which is my main goal. The other goal I have is to do this project as economically as possible. Luckily enough I have a good bit of the equipment already but it is old and used looking and needs to be renovated. I’m going to entertain myself and hopefully some of you guys by writing a brief journal and throwing in a couple of photos as it progresses. This is not going to be a speedy project, as I have not sourced all the necessaries yet nor do I have all the required knowledge I will need to do this, so for those of you who want “automatic results” you will not find them here. If at any point you think I could benefit from any of your suggestion please do not hesitate to throw in your two cents, as they will be greatly appreciated. Two cents is better than nonsense!!!

I suppose I should try and convey what the landscape I am trying to recreate looks like. It is a typical grass and rock set-up however I am going to try for an aged look with rounded weathered rock and only two species of plants. One that will give a carpeting effect and one largest palmate species sporadically planted among the rock
“Outcrops”. To try and convey what I am “trying” to go for here are some snapped I stole form the internet.












That’s the idea and hopefully it will be achievable.


The tank I am going to use is the first tank I ever bought. It is roughly 90 litres with dimensions of 76L x 32W x 36H it has been unused for well over a year and shows its age.



The black plastic needed to be revamped so as not to detract from the overall look of the tank. I want the display to look as bright as possible to I decided to spray the plastic with white appliance enamel. The enamel dries very hard and is durable and water proof. In order to do this I removed the upper plastic rim and silcione. I didn’t remove the lower one as it was far too embedded in the silicone and could do without the headache of having to reseal the tank. I think the pictures below will explain the process better than I can word it.












In my opinion it looks a lot fresher and cleaner than it would had I left it black. That’s all for the moment before I bore the eyes of you out! I have nearly finished the over-tank light kit with the new 20W T-4’s (on trial for plant growth) and I will post the results tomorrow.


Regards

Denis

well done, it should be a very interesting project.

Good luck with your project - it looks far better white than black - good idea.

Excellent reading - I can't wait for the next episode !

Thank you for sharing this with us !

Regards,
Valerie

Thanks for the encouraging remarks folks.

This next instalment involves creating the box for the light fixtures and an elevating stand under the tank to give the tank a look of being framed. The box for the light kit was fairly simple, I cut out the required sides and top from a sheet of 12mm MDF, although I’m handy enough with the power tools it’s fairly difficult to get a dead straight edge with a jig saw. As a result I had to incorporate some polyfilla so that no light would be escaping through gaps in the joins. I’ve seen homemade light boxes where light is beaming out through gaps in all sorts of direction and I wanted to avoid the same effect. Plus the pollyfilla will give the edge a finished (all one piece) look. The light box will hold three 20W T4 suspended over the tank. I’m unsure as to how much heat will be given off by these tubes but that is something I must look into. After the box was assembled and filled I added three coats of pure white gloss so that it would match the tank. The box is the same size as the “elevating stand” however it is a bit deeper to accommodate the light fittings.
















The elevating stand is not a stand as such, it is really a couple of piece of 2 x 2 joined together so that when the tank is placed on it, the tank will looked framed between it and the over-tank light kit. Hopefully, when the light kit is placed over the tank enough light will run down the outside of the tank an illuminate the elevating stand. I think it gives a very nice presentation to the tank. I hadn’t seen it done before so I’m pleased that it turned out so well.



Regards

Denis

This is the second time I have had to write this post so it might be a bit shorter than normal. I haven't had a lot of time to work on the tank but I think I have done enough to write about.

The light box is nearly finished and only requires the bits to hold it above the tank. Originally I was going to suspend the box above the tank with wire, cables, chain etc but considering this tank will be heavily planted, I wanted access to be as easy as possible. For this reason I have used a single large back strut with a large door hinge which means that the box can be flipped back and rest against the wall. The hinge has also got extra support within the hood so the screws will not pull out. The area around the hinge has also been pollyfilled so that it will be flush with the top panel when painted.




The fittings going into the box are T4's. These puppies are said to have 3-5 times the lumen out put of T8's. So, hopefully 2 20W tubes will provide adequate lighting for plant growth. They are very simple to install and only require you to wire a plug. The other handy part about these fittings is that you can join up to ten fittings together with the handy joining cable they provide. Plus each fitting has its own on and off switch if you don't want all of the lights to be on.










Regarding substrate; Can any users suggest a quality plant growth medium. I was looking at a bag of "Azoo plant bed growth medium" it seemed better value that eco-complete and has better reviews on the Internet.

Also, I was pondering about the idea about mixing the substrate with a soil based compost (john Innes No.3, top soil). Would this help the growth of the plants or should I just stick with 100% aquarium plant substrate?

Hey Dennis, cheers for the excellent project write-ups - great reading

In both my planted tanks I have used the "JBL AquaBasis Plus" substrate. Its not trying to compete with Eco-Complete or any of the other expensive Seachem ones, but at less than half the price I cant complain.

Basically, its iron content will expire in a few months, but you then add JBL 7+13 AquaBalls at the base of your plants and this is suppsoed to give them targetted nutrients including iron for about 12 months! The Aquaballs are fairly cheap for a box of 50 and so far, Ive had good results.

I cant say they are better than anything else though, as all Ive used is the JBL system; but it certainly helped on my low budget!

Good luck mate.

P.S. Personally, I wouldnt use the John Innis (or any non-aquatic compost/fertiliser) as I have read they are very high in urea, hence ammonia. Perhaps they would be fine, but because I dont know whats in there, Id be worried about putting into into our closed system tanks.

Hi Cardnim, thanks for the information regarding the plant substrate. I've used root tabs/balls in the past and they work very well for plants like amazon swords and crypts that are very demanding in terms of root fertilization. However, I hope to have a carpet effect of plant growth in my tank so using individual root tabs to increase the iron content in the soil may prove to be difficult. The good thing about the Azoo plant substrate is that it will last (so says the bag) for roughly 14-15 months and then additives will be required. This is more than enough time in my opinion as by that stage I will have most likely wanted to have changed things around. Plus it is also relatively expensive and I should have enough substrate in about two 5kgs. Each bags cost about 17 euro so it wont be breaking the bank.

Azoo Plant Growth Bed link

As for the project; I have nearly fishing the majority of the required construction work and the only thing that remains to do is drill a hole in the back of the lid for the lights power cord. The hinge looks very discrete and I'm impressed with the over all look of the tank/lights and when I have a few minutes I will mount the light kit over the stand for the tank.







Let there be light!!



I added a few reflectors to the hood but I am concerned that the areas at either end of the tank might not get sufficient light as the tubes are a little on the short side. Would people recommend that I add two 6w T4's in a perpendicular position at each end to the existing lights to avoided this problem or should it be ok?

I'm looking forward to assembling the tank. However, it will be another month at least before any water or plants go it. The next couple of things to do on my list are selecting a few nicely shaped rock, try and copy Zig's receipt for DIY plant ferts and choose the plants I would like to have.

Regards

Denis

An update! I had a little extra time on my hands this evening and because I'm typically a very impatient person I decided I would moved the tank in from the shed. Since everything was ready to go, it was only a matter of screwing the light kit into the back of an existing stand that has previously been made for a Rio180. Personally I am very pleased with the results but I might have to put an expander in between the hinge and the support as the hinge lets the hood fall forward slightly and it looks uneven (see if you can spot the comb that is being used temporarily). The only other concern that I have is that the light kit might be a little too high above the tank, resulting in to much light escaping outward. This can be remedied very simply by cutting a length of the upright off.

In general I'm pleased with the way the hinge on the lights worked out and flipping the box up to gain access to the tank is a sinch and will mean that I will be far more enthusiastic about putting the hand in the tank for pruning and maintenance.






As for the T4's and the reflectors, see for yourself! It looks like a football stadium in my room! These tubes use a fraction of the energy of normal T8's but the light output is massive Lets just hope they allow for plant growth .



Here are a couple of snaps with the tank in place! Its pretty much the design I was going for with straight lines and lots of 90 degree angle corners. Plus, I think the white looks very clean, which in turn should make the green of the plants sing.









And for those of you who don't like looking at empty tanks here are two snaps of the typical view that I hope to be taking of my nicely planted tank in the future (these are not the rocks that I will be using, although they are the same rock type).







Slating and Rating is welcome, as I would like some suggestions as to what I could do to improve the setup. Plus, I'm big now so I will not be offended by any strong criticism.

Regards

Denis

I’ve been doing a bit of reading on the plants I would like to use for this tank. I’ve been using the book Nature Aquarium World No.3 by Takashi Amano and taking the latin names of the plants I like the look of and seeing if they are available on Tropica.com which is one of the main suppliers for the shops in Ireland I think? So far, my choice for low growing carpet plants that do not need to be attached to rocks are limited and the ones that are available have already been seen in the beautiful tanks created by Zig. However, I have been giving the ebay address of a reputable plant seller somewhere in Asia that I still have to check out and maybe he might have something different. Please see the plants I have selected below and if anyone has any opinions on their potential or a negative opinion about them please let me know.

Background and around rocks

Eleocharis acicularis
Eleocharis parvula
Echinodorus tenellus

Foreground (carpet)

Hemianthus callitrichoides
Glossostigma elatinoides

Also if people have ideas about other plants that I might incorporate please let me know. The brief for the plants I am looking for is;

Background; grass like of thin leaved plants that will grow to no more than 7-10cm

Foreground; very low growing carpet forming plant that does not require to be attached to rocks or sticks.

Cheers

Denis

Ps. Check out this cracking tank with a tree growing in it!

Now this is a Landscape