Substrate ... yet a different approach

I have been inspired by DeeDeeK to journal this tank good or bad.

I have to go back several months to rethink how it began.

I started with an idea I had 30 years ago or so and it developed from there.

I am no expert on anything. Sometimes what I know today, by tomorrow I may forget. Complications of my disease, stress as a result of my disease, IDK, no one knows. I invite you to check out my blog here on the forum.

So on with what I have in the glass box.

It a Standard 10 Gallon aquarium.

It has about 1 inch of Leaf humus on the bottom.
The leaf humus was fully aged for at least one year out in the open.
Then aged under Water for two weeks to remove floating debris ans the water was changed on a daily basis along with any floating debris. After the two week period that which remained submerged found its way to the bottom of the 10 Gallon tank.

This leaf humus was then cover in varying depths with paver sand. The depths vary from 1/2 inch to 2 inches. The paver sand is common paver sand that can be purchased at your local building supliy center (i.e. Home Depot, Lowe, etc.). The paver sand was used in an unwashed state.

It is heated to 82 degrees F

It has a Marineland Penguine Biowheel 200B HOB Filter. The flow is slowed with floss.

Lighting: CFL's 1x 50w (200w eq)(5500K) (CRI 90+); 1x 26w (100w eq) (6500K). The lighting is about 18 inches from the bottom of the tank.

Flora:
Sawtooth Hygro (Now in in tank)
Dwarf Hair Grass (Eleocharis parvula) (Now in tank)
Water lily (To be removed later)
Aquatic Onion (To be removed later)
Aponogeton bulbs (To be removed later)
Java Fern (To be added to tank later)
Anubias nana (To be added to tank later)

Fauna:
MTS (Now in in tank)
Black worms (Now in in tank)
1 Guppies – (Poecilia reticulata) (Now in in tank)
5 x Kuhli Loach (Pangio kuhlii) (To be added to tank later)
10 x Glowlight Tetra (Hemigrammus erythrozonus) (To be added to tank later)

Well There you have it.

Thanks for looking.

Best wishes,
Wes

Mikey5924 said:

Sounds very interesting set-up, I will surely keep looking into this thread. I am considering a similar set-up in a few months. Except I was going to use some soil from the local creek and sand with a layer of peat/compost sandwiched between the two. So I will surely use any information/advice that you learn from your expierence with this one.

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It's Already going for about four months now. Pictures can be found here: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220587

and here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/v...-introduction-build-125-gallon-terrarium.html

Look for a user here DeeDeeK She has a thread that has more insight on Freash water deep sand beds than I can ever hope to rember. In fact, Here's the link to het thread: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215174

Thanks for looking.

Best wishes,
Wes

SubRosa said:

A good system but I know an aquarist who has been doing it since the 1950s. She learned about it from a woman in central PA who I believe was named Rothrock. There's very little that's truly new in this hobby, or even as new as 30 yrs old!

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Never meant to imply that I was doing something new just a little different that your run-of-the-mill tank. Ans to record my results here for the benefit of others. Good or Bad.

Thank looking,

Best wishes,
Wes

A little more about the tank.

I began with the background … I suppose most people start there.

The background has a coat of “Great Stuff” (GS) polyurethane expanding foam. It was allowed to cure for more than overnight, probably a couple of days. After it cured it was carved to a contour that I wanted and coated with black silicone and black gravel sand. This too, was allowed to cure and set. It set for about three months as I prepared the 125 Gallon Terrarium it is now enclosed inside.

See the build for that here:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220587

and here:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/vivarium-terrarium/100934-introduction-build-125-gallon-terrarium.html

I will very slowly build the bio-load with the inhabitants of choice. Over the next several days I will be working on sinking my driftwood root.

Thanks for looking.

Best wishes,
Wes

So the background is a little different.

I used to have Tanks like T. Amono with the back and side black and what not. They looked realy great. But there was something missing I could not put my finger on.

I was surfing around This past year about Terrariums. When I stumbled upon the idea of a foam type backgrond. I did a little research into it a was asured enough that it was at least not goint to killing anything in the tank.

Then I had to change the type of coating from the one demonstrated in the original posts from coco-fiber so that it would not rot in the tank. That gets me bank to black sand and the T. Amono style tank.

Here are some images from that build:


This image shows how black silicon is used to hide the foam on the sides of the tank. One could use the same technique to cover the ends of a larger tank for more of a diaroma effect.


This image shows how deep pockets can be carved into the foam for a more textured effect.


This image shows the overall texure of the foam before the black silicon and black sand is added.


This image shows how the black silicon and black sand are put in place in small areas so that the silicon does not skim over before the sand is applied.


This image shows the semi-completed background. The bottom needs a bit of washing out.

Tanks for looking.

Best wishes,
Wes

jm1212 said:

i would have to advise against putting soil you find outside in your tank. there probably are numerous heavy metals, pesticides, and other chemicals in the soil around your house, especially in a creek that catches runoff water from the surrounding area.

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+1 on that.

Unless you live in very high elevations. But even then one has to concider the toxins we pump into our environment via industry every day.

But that is a whole other thread to debate.

Let's just look at what I am doing here.

Thanks for looking.

Best wishes,
Wes