madFrankie
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- Frank
Hi Everyone,
Since I've had a bunch of questions and wonderful feedback on my Axie tank setup I thought I'd start a new thread on aquascaping.
I'll start it as "Aquascaping Guide, Frank-style" but invite anyone to contribute their own ideas and pics.
So... to get started, the tank that I'll be talking about in this thread is the one that my Axies currently live in:
This will pretty much take the form of "How I made this setup" but you can apply the principals in any situation...
Step one: Substrate
The first and most important rule for substrate in an axolotl tank is "Don't use gravel that they can swallow and get impacted on!"
There's a bunch of threads here about impaction and appropriate size for substrate, so I won't go into that in this one.
If you're planning to have a planted tank like this one then it's going to help the cause a lot if you use a substrate that's designed for planted tanks.
There's a few of them out there, the one I use is Flora Base, by Red Sea: http://www.redseafish.com/Prod237.asp (Sorry, John, if this isn't appropriate linking...) which is a good choice for several reasons:
For a smaller tank, or if you're willing to cough up the cash, you can easily use your plant substrate over the whole base of the tank.
If you're taking the cheapy option as descibed above then you'd be well advised to have a look at your empty tank before you start and try to visualise where you're going to want to put rooted plants.
When you have a picture in your mind of how you'd (roughly) like your arrangement to go you can bung in your substrate as a sort-of patchwork between the plant substrate and the sand.
Ok... to summarise the substrate:
By "Architecture" I actually mean "rocks and stuff", but architecture sounds much cooler
So this is the section where we build some height and interest in the tank. I use a mixture of different types of large stone and driftwood. Most aquarium shops have lots of interesting stones and wood to sell.
Stones: You can use whatever you like really, as long as you give them a good clean and make sure they aren't harbouring anything hazardous that'll leach out into the water. In the picture above you can see two stones in the middle (behind the Axie hogging the spotlight). One of these is a plain old field-stone from my garden and the other is the rather nice piece of sedimentary rock that I bought for around AU$10 from my local aquarium shop.
Driftwood: Care must be taken with driftwood choices, as it can cause issues in a tank. The points to think about are:
Construction:
Ok, so we've now got a great heap of interesting stones and driftwood. So what do we do with it?
Here's how I approach it.
First of all, it's really good to have a creative counsel for this part - my wife provides fantastic input on this stage for me and tells me if something doesn't "work" with something else.
This stage is all about shuffling around and being creative. Use your stones and your driftwood together, pile them up a bit, be a bit chaotic.
I try to think "riverbed" when doing this, trying to imagine that the stones and wood have fallen into the river and sunk to the bottom.
If you've chosen a huge stone or huge piece of wood as a centrepiece then put that in first and work the other stuff around it.
Stack things up, make caves and hidey-holes (the Axies will love you for it) just be careful that anything piled up is secure and won't collapse.
To summarise:
Now the fun really starts!
So, we've got a tank with lovely fertile substrate and a bunch of rocks and things, now lets add some greenery!
Axolotls, as we know, don't like it too warm or too bright so this narrows our choices for aquatic plants a bit. You have an axie tank that you want to put plants in, not a plant tank with axies in it!
Lighting:
I have a Hagen Aqua-glo 40W light: http://www.hagen.com/usa/aquatic/product.cfm?CAT=1&SUBCAT=112&PROD_ID=01015870020101
This light is only 40W so it's not too bright, but it is specially designed to promote plant growth (sorry Zoe, I know it's not purple) and it really brings out the vibrance of the colours in your tank.
This light comes on at 5pm and stays on until about midnight every night, giving the plants their dose of light. For the types of plants in my aquarium this is very adequate and they're happily growing away being in the dark for the rest of the time.
Temperature:
All of the plants in my tank (list a bit later) are happy in temperatures of around 16-18C (61-65F) so what I've done is put in a heater that serves the purpose of not letting the temperature fall below 16 degrees. The result of this is a very stable water temperature (it's a battle when it gets really hot in the summer, but the ice-bottles do the job...).
One day I'll bite the bullet and cough up the cash for a better temperature control system, but the upshot of what I'm saying here is that you can have a successful planted aquarium without stressing your Axies with high temperatures.
"Tropical" plants, as they're almost always advertised in pet shops, are not necessarily tropical and many will do fine in lower temps.
Important things when considering plants:
The complete list of everything I have in my tank is:
Design:
Once you've chosen the plants you want, it's time to get designing! Again, a creative consult is useful here.
Plants generally fit into 3 "zones" (fore, mid and background) but these aren't rules by any means. You can use tall, leafy things like java fern and afelii as great background plants, but you can equally use them elsewhere to create an effect.
I like to plant the tall ones first, then the shorter ones and then plant my lawn-like plants everywhere else.
Creativity and a bit of chaos is again the order of the day here, and don't be afraid to go a bit crazy. Substrate is boring - plant grass on it!
From the list above there's a variety of ways to plant each one, most will be best planted in the substrate but some (e.g. Java Fern and Java Moss) will rot if planted into the substrate. Just have a bit of a browse around the net for planting instructions on each species you buy.
Care of plants:
So we've covered lighting, temperature and design. Now what else do we have to do?
There's all sorts of stuff that you can buy and spend a fortune on that is <ahem> ESSENTIAL for success in the planted aquarium - CO2 systems, fetilisers etc. etc.
I don't have any of that stuff and my plants are doing just fine.
All I use is "Flourish" liquid plant food and "Flourish Excel" from Seachem. Excel is a carbon supplement that supposedly replaces the need for a CO2 system and doesn't put axie-harmful carbon gas into the water. I'm no scientist, but it seems to work pretty well - my plants love it and my axies aren't bothered at all by it.
Step 4: Finishing it off
The last thing I like to do for finishing touches is scatter large riverstones (see the picture) over the bare areas of substrate. These look stunning and tie the whole job together - it will really start to look like a lush riverbed.
You can buy these stones in a bag from hardware stores and landscaping suppliers - they're about AU$15 for a 20kg bag.
Step 5: Ongoing
So, aside from the plant food, what else do you have to do differently on an ongoing basis?
Well... nothing much, really.
Cleaning is a bit harder, you've got to suck up waste and general settled crud from the bottom so a little care and patience is required here to clean around all the lovely stuff in the tank.
I don't have the problem of rotting uneaten food because I feed them earthworms by hand. If they don't eat it then it gets taken straight back out.
I'm sure for those who feed with a dish or other methods you could incorporate a "feeding area" into your design - a bare patch somewhere in the tank that you can easily clean up after dinner is done would work great.
Summary:
It seems like a lot of work but it's totally worth it. With a bit of thought and care (and no, you don't need any special skills or talents - anyone can do this!) you can have a tank that is a comfortable home for your little friends, stunning to look at and a beatiful addition to any lounge room.
Wow... that was an absolutely MASSIVE post! I humbly bow to anyone who's actually read their way through the whole thing, you have great patience for reading my ramble
Since I've had a bunch of questions and wonderful feedback on my Axie tank setup I thought I'd start a new thread on aquascaping.
I'll start it as "Aquascaping Guide, Frank-style" but invite anyone to contribute their own ideas and pics.
So... to get started, the tank that I'll be talking about in this thread is the one that my Axies currently live in:
This will pretty much take the form of "How I made this setup" but you can apply the principals in any situation...
Step one: Substrate
The first and most important rule for substrate in an axolotl tank is "Don't use gravel that they can swallow and get impacted on!"
There's a bunch of threads here about impaction and appropriate size for substrate, so I won't go into that in this one.
If you're planning to have a planted tank like this one then it's going to help the cause a lot if you use a substrate that's designed for planted tanks.
There's a few of them out there, the one I use is Flora Base, by Red Sea: http://www.redseafish.com/Prod237.asp (Sorry, John, if this isn't appropriate linking...) which is a good choice for several reasons:
- It's small and soft so no impaction risk.
- It doesn't mess adversly with the water chemistry.
- It's easy for rooted plants to get established in.
- It (going by what Red Sea say here, but it seems to work) has a bunch of nutirents for plant growth.
For a smaller tank, or if you're willing to cough up the cash, you can easily use your plant substrate over the whole base of the tank.
If you're taking the cheapy option as descibed above then you'd be well advised to have a look at your empty tank before you start and try to visualise where you're going to want to put rooted plants.
When you have a picture in your mind of how you'd (roughly) like your arrangement to go you can bung in your substrate as a sort-of patchwork between the plant substrate and the sand.
Ok... to summarise the substrate:
- Use a planted-tank substrate, but check that it won't mess up your chemistry.
- Make sure it's deep enough (about an inch or so) for the roots to establish in.
By "Architecture" I actually mean "rocks and stuff", but architecture sounds much cooler
So this is the section where we build some height and interest in the tank. I use a mixture of different types of large stone and driftwood. Most aquarium shops have lots of interesting stones and wood to sell.
Stones: You can use whatever you like really, as long as you give them a good clean and make sure they aren't harbouring anything hazardous that'll leach out into the water. In the picture above you can see two stones in the middle (behind the Axie hogging the spotlight). One of these is a plain old field-stone from my garden and the other is the rather nice piece of sedimentary rock that I bought for around AU$10 from my local aquarium shop.
Driftwood: Care must be taken with driftwood choices, as it can cause issues in a tank. The points to think about are:
- If it's very red or brown in colour and looks "woody" or sort-of "fresh" then it WILL turn your tank water brown. It will leach tannins, these won't harm your axies (and there are several schools of thought that say it's actually good for them, but that's not what this thread is about) but it will make your water look mucky.
- Some types of driftwood slowly disintegrate in the water and fill your tank up with ugly crud that's a nightmare to clean out.
- Stuff loves to grow on some types of driftwood, so you can end up with "furry" wood that'll need to come out for a cleaning every now and then.
- Some driftwood can mess around with your water chemistry.
- Driftwood that is grey and looks really "hard", this won't go skanky or leach any tannins.
- Mopane (pronounced mo-PAH-nee) wood - this stuff is awesome! it looks fantastic and doesn't disintegrate, grow wierd fur, leach tannin or muck up your PH. You can get it from aquarium shops or by mail order.
Construction:
Ok, so we've now got a great heap of interesting stones and driftwood. So what do we do with it?
Here's how I approach it.
First of all, it's really good to have a creative counsel for this part - my wife provides fantastic input on this stage for me and tells me if something doesn't "work" with something else.
This stage is all about shuffling around and being creative. Use your stones and your driftwood together, pile them up a bit, be a bit chaotic.
I try to think "riverbed" when doing this, trying to imagine that the stones and wood have fallen into the river and sunk to the bottom.
If you've chosen a huge stone or huge piece of wood as a centrepiece then put that in first and work the other stuff around it.
Stack things up, make caves and hidey-holes (the Axies will love you for it) just be careful that anything piled up is secure and won't collapse.
To summarise:
- Be creative.
- Use a bit of chaos.
- don't restrict it to low-down, reach for the sky!
Now the fun really starts!
So, we've got a tank with lovely fertile substrate and a bunch of rocks and things, now lets add some greenery!
Axolotls, as we know, don't like it too warm or too bright so this narrows our choices for aquatic plants a bit. You have an axie tank that you want to put plants in, not a plant tank with axies in it!
Lighting:
I have a Hagen Aqua-glo 40W light: http://www.hagen.com/usa/aquatic/product.cfm?CAT=1&SUBCAT=112&PROD_ID=01015870020101
This light is only 40W so it's not too bright, but it is specially designed to promote plant growth (sorry Zoe, I know it's not purple
) and it really brings out the vibrance of the colours in your tank.This light comes on at 5pm and stays on until about midnight every night, giving the plants their dose of light. For the types of plants in my aquarium this is very adequate and they're happily growing away being in the dark for the rest of the time.
Temperature:
All of the plants in my tank (list a bit later) are happy in temperatures of around 16-18C (61-65F) so what I've done is put in a heater that serves the purpose of not letting the temperature fall below 16 degrees. The result of this is a very stable water temperature (it's a battle when it gets really hot in the summer, but the ice-bottles do the job...).
One day I'll bite the bullet and cough up the cash for a better temperature control system, but the upshot of what I'm saying here is that you can have a successful planted aquarium without stressing your Axies with high temperatures.
"Tropical" plants, as they're almost always advertised in pet shops, are not necessarily tropical and many will do fine in lower temps.
Important things when considering plants:
- Those "bunch" plants you can get at the petshop are horrible things. With the possible exception of Elodea they will universally die, rot and go skanky in your tank. Avoid.
- "True aquatic" is the term to look for - this means that the plant you're buying is an actual aquatic plant and is meant to live underwater.
- Choose plants that can handle low-light and low-temperature situations, you don't want to blind and boil your axies just to keep your plants alive...
- Research! there's HEAPS of information on the net about aquatic plants, what conditions they need and how to care for them. I am inherently lazy so all of the plants in my tank are low-maintenance that need very little in the way of care.
- They need feeding too! more on this a bit below.
The complete list of everything I have in my tank is:
- Anubis Nana - great plant, virtually indestructible, chuck it anywhere and it's happy.
- Anubias Afelii - Again, very tough, taller than the Nana.
- Anubias Barteri - just like the Nana, but a bit bigger and with rounder leaves.
- Java Fern - one of the toughest aquatic plants you can get, grows anywhere!
- Java Moss - grows anywhere as well, can be made into a sort-of "carpet"
- Lilaeopsis - this is like grass, you can make a beautiful lawn in your tank with it.
- Eleocharis (Hairgrass) - same as with Lilaeopsis tends to be a bit taller though.
- Pongol - this is actually Mondo Grass, so it's not a true aquatic but survives (doesn't grow, just survives) for ages submerged, not really recommended.
- Congensis - quite striking for a centrepiece plant.
- Bella Palm - not sure about this one, looks great but is apparently not a true aquatic. I've only just put it in so will have to see how it goes...
- Riccia - again, new in the tank. This is mostly an experiment. supposedly you need lots of light to get this to work. Will see what happens.
- Narrow Chain Sword - another grassy-type thing. looks pretty, grows happily.
Design:
Once you've chosen the plants you want, it's time to get designing! Again, a creative consult is useful here.
Plants generally fit into 3 "zones" (fore, mid and background) but these aren't rules by any means. You can use tall, leafy things like java fern and afelii as great background plants, but you can equally use them elsewhere to create an effect.
I like to plant the tall ones first, then the shorter ones and then plant my lawn-like plants everywhere else.
Creativity and a bit of chaos is again the order of the day here, and don't be afraid to go a bit crazy. Substrate is boring - plant grass on it!
From the list above there's a variety of ways to plant each one, most will be best planted in the substrate but some (e.g. Java Fern and Java Moss) will rot if planted into the substrate. Just have a bit of a browse around the net for planting instructions on each species you buy.
Care of plants:
So we've covered lighting, temperature and design. Now what else do we have to do?
There's all sorts of stuff that you can buy and spend a fortune on that is <ahem> ESSENTIAL for success in the planted aquarium - CO2 systems, fetilisers etc. etc.
I don't have any of that stuff and my plants are doing just fine.
All I use is "Flourish" liquid plant food and "Flourish Excel" from Seachem. Excel is a carbon supplement that supposedly replaces the need for a CO2 system and doesn't put axie-harmful carbon gas into the water. I'm no scientist, but it seems to work pretty well - my plants love it and my axies aren't bothered at all by it.
Step 4: Finishing it off
The last thing I like to do for finishing touches is scatter large riverstones (see the picture) over the bare areas of substrate. These look stunning and tie the whole job together - it will really start to look like a lush riverbed.
You can buy these stones in a bag from hardware stores and landscaping suppliers - they're about AU$15 for a 20kg bag.
Step 5: Ongoing
So, aside from the plant food, what else do you have to do differently on an ongoing basis?
Well... nothing much, really.
Cleaning is a bit harder, you've got to suck up waste and general settled crud from the bottom so a little care and patience is required here to clean around all the lovely stuff in the tank.
I don't have the problem of rotting uneaten food because I feed them earthworms by hand. If they don't eat it then it gets taken straight back out.
I'm sure for those who feed with a dish or other methods you could incorporate a "feeding area" into your design - a bare patch somewhere in the tank that you can easily clean up after dinner is done would work great.
Summary:
It seems like a lot of work but it's totally worth it. With a bit of thought and care (and no, you don't need any special skills or talents - anyone can do this!) you can have a tank that is a comfortable home for your little friends, stunning to look at and a beatiful addition to any lounge room.
Wow... that was an absolutely MASSIVE post! I humbly bow to anyone who's actually read their way through the whole thing, you have great patience for reading my ramble
