The aquascape...

2 To bring height to the tank and allow me to position some plants higher up, I’ve used three pieces of grapevine wood. Because these float, each of them has been glued to a rock to anchor them down. The pieces were each glued at two points, using a cigarette filter and superglue. Note that grapevine is notorious for developing fungus on it when initially placed underwater, and so it’s anticpated that within the first couple of weeks it will be smothered in white growth. This is normal and passes in time.

Additional planting soil is now added to the rear left of the tank to raise it up—this is where I’ll be adding stem plants that grow long and trail over the tank. Some soil is also added to the spaces between rocks and wood so that I can plant there as well.

1 I’ve used an Oase Scaper Line 60 tank which measures 60x35x35cm and holds 75 litres. A deep bed of Oase ScaperLine soil is added to the base, as I want to grow carpeting plants. Dragon stone has been chosen as the core hardscape, and to create an island effect with a central focal point, the rocks have been placed roughly symmetrically. Note that they’re also placed around halfway between the width of the tank, front-to-back, to allow plants to be placed behind.

I’ve used an Oase BioMaster Thermo 250 external canister filter with built in heater, and the pipes are positioned now so that I can work out where other decoration and plants can sit in relation to them. This filter is rated for a much larger tank, but I have chosen to use it for the additional flow it provides.

Lighting is provided by an OASE Highline 45 Premium LED.

3 I moisten the soil (I find it easier to plant this way) and add my lower-growing plants for the foreground. I’m solely using Aquadip plants for this set up as they have always been my preferred. Around the rocks I have used Staurogyne repens from in-vitro pots (these are young plants grown in an agar solution), as these will reach around 5-8cm once grown in, though in-vitro plants tend to be initially slow-growing compared to their potted counterparts.

In the lower part of the right-hand side, several Cryptocoryne lucens are divided up into smaller plantlets and clustered together. These will form an area of thick growth that transitions into stem plants towards the rear. In the foreground, several pots of Eleocharis parvula (dwarf hairgrass) are divided up into small springs and planted uniformly. It will take around three months before they form a complete, lush carpet.

4 Now things really speed up. Several pots of Rotala

rotundifolia are divided up and planted into the rear-left corner, while a large Microsorum pteropus (Java fern) motherplant is split into two halves and glued directly to the back and side of the central piece of wood. This brings immediate height and presence, though Java ferns are slow to grow. Six Bucephalandra theia ‘green’ are removed from their pots, their roots cleaned of any rockwool, and are then glued to the wooden branches. Bucephalandra can extract nutrients directly from the water and are happy growing this way, but they are a gamble in a new tank as they are likely to react badly to the surge of ammonia from the substrate in the first few weeks. I would usually advise adding these when the tank has been running for six weeks or so.

Lastly, Vesicularia dubyana (Christmas moss) is divided up and glued across the wood and some of the rocks. Like

Bucephalandra, this plant can be gamble early on as ist is likely to react badly to the surge of ammonia.

The tank is then filled. I place some bubble wrap in the tank before pouring water over it, so as not to disturb the substrate.

To provide CO2, I’m using a Colombo CO2 Profi Set which sits outside the tank. Using the bubble counter provided, the tank requires one bubble per second to provide optimal gas (checked with a drop checker).

And now… wait! This tank will start looking good, with everything grown in, after around two to three months.