#24: 450L Aquatic Garden

Andreas Killesreiter Hutthurm, Germany

Comments

Somewhat less plant species and larger groups will make a better impression.
Lobelia "street" can be broadend to create more depth.
— Pim Wilhelm
This composition is a little disorganized. But the biggest problem is that the photos are poor enough quailty that it is really impossible to fairly assess the tank. This is not a photo contest and good photos will not make a winning entry. But the photos have to be at least good enough that we can clearly see the plants and the aquascape.
— Karen Randall

Aquascape Details

Dimensions 150 × 60 × 50 cm
Volume 450L
Background Blue color outside the tank
Lighting 2x 70 W metal Halide Philips CDM mastercolor 830, 36W flourescent Osram Lumilux de Luxe 930, 3x 20W halogen
Filtration Selfmade Biological Filter (Hamburger Mattenfilter). Two power heads, with at least 1000 Liters per hour.
Plants Cryptocoryne crispatula, C. beckettii, C. nevillii, C. wendtii, Anubias barteri var. nana, Bolbitis heudelotii, Ceratophyllum demersum, Ceratopteris thalictroides, Crinum natans, Echinodorus ozelot, E. red flame, E. tenellus, Eichhornia azurea, Eusteralis stellata, Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Hygrophila corymbosa, H. longifolius, H. difformis, Lemna minor, Limnobium laevigatum, Limnophila aquatica, L. indica, Lobelia cardinalis, Ludwigia glandulosa, Microsorum pteropus, Nymphaea lotus, Pistia stratiotes,Samolus valerandi, Vallisneria spiralis, Vesicularia dubyana,
Animals Pangio kuhlii, Apistogramma cacatuoides, Ancistrus dolichopterus, Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus, Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps, Sturisoma aureum, Farlowella acus, Melanotaenia boesemani, Melanotaenia lacustris, Melanotaenia splendida inornata, Glossolepis incisus, Caridina japonica
Materials I wanted to left lot of open space for the Rainbows because they like swimming, so I used many foreground plants. Two pieces of driftwood, one completely overgrown in the back of the tank, one at the left side of the tiger lotus. I tried to make a nice variety of plant colours and shapes. The gravel is out of a small river near my home, the small stones, too.
Additional Information Daily fertilization with a self made dosing pump. Fertilizer is from Dr. Kremser (www.drak.de), based on the formula for PMDD. I need to add some nitrogen, for that I use Ammoniumsulfat (NH3SO4). No soil fertilizers, only for demanding plants pieces of fern sticks from time to time.
The water parameters are: NO3 0ppm, PO4 0ppm, NO2 0ppm, KH 5, GH 7, pH 7,1. Theses are the values of the tank and are identical with the values of the tap water. I use regulated CO2 fertilization. It is an open tank without hood.
I use the three types of lighting to create a sunset in the evening. Normally metal halides and the flourescent on, then switching to flourescent and halogens, later only halogens. The flourescent is mounted in the front of the frame on the tank and is optimized to emphase the colours. The morning sunrise is created by the metal halides, which need about 6 minutes give full light output.

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