Josh's Planted Nano Tank

Hi everyone!

So I recently moved my swarm of guppies to my 60l tank to give them a bit more space., and by doing this it freed up my 25l tank for a complete make-over! I've always liked the naturalistic setups so had a go at a minimalist design and carpeting plants. My plan is to house some brightly coloured schooling fish in the open upper section to contrast the black rocks and white sand - with possibly some shrimp or a small school of corydoras to mingle around in the sand.

Here are the pictures:



For the carpeting plants, I hope to have the whole back section covered but do not currently have enough plants to cover it all. Any tips on propagating the plants would be much appreciated
Additionally, if anyone has any suggestions on what fish would do nicely in this tank I'd also love to hear them!

Thanks again!

 

Very nice foundation

 

Looks good!

The plants will take time, but they will grow Just try dosing with Seachem Flourish for a while, it worked like a dream for me!

As they grow, you can use those trimmings to cover more of the floor

 

If you aren't concerned about getting the fish in as soon as possible, you can try the Dry Start Method.

You'd need to drain the water as low as you can, specifically so that the leaves of the plants are above water. Then, you cover the top of the tank in something like cling wrap to keep the humidity in. The leaves then have access to atmospheric levels of CO2, which are significantly (almost 100 times more than a low-tech tank), and should propagate like crazy. You'll need to keep an eye on it and mist when it's starting to look a bit dry. I'd suggest leaving a section of cling film off for about 10 minutes each day, while you mist them. The new leaves will have a different shape and size compared to the old ones, as they will have a different environment. There is a risk that the plants will melt away completely, but if you get it right they grow like a bomb. Once it gets to the coverage you want, you can fill the tank back up. The plants will then struggle for a while, as the leaves are all emersed form, but they should bounce back and be ok.

I've done this with Glosso, Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis, Christmas Moss, S Repens and Hygrophila Pinnatifida. The hygrophila and s repens struggled to adapt back to submerged growth, but the rest did amazingly well.

Other question - is it just sand, or do you have some kind of aquasoil underneath it?

 

Tank looking very, very nice. I like the clean contrast of the rocks and white sand

 

Yes it is just sand, no aquasoil unfortunately, although there is some activated charcoal at the very bottom of the tank.

That sounds interesting, I might give this a try, thanks!

 

That could be cool! some bright shrimps at the bottom of the tank could look awesome.
Also glad to hear the guppies are doing well! They were certainly rescued from my tank and put into a life of luxury
This is the current 60l guppy tank (inspired by your jungle tank):


The big female guppy has just given birth again and I've been struggling to keep my tank at a healthy number of fish but the batch I gave some of to you has started exhibiting some iridescent colors which is very exciting!

 

@MariaS Thanks!

 

That shell looks really cool!

 

Wow this looks amazing
Hahha your little guppy is obviously very happy!
Good luck with the babies

 

Thanks! There is plenty of shrubbery for them to hide in so I'm sure the babies will be fine they only have to watch out for the loaches