Nano aquascape - "By the Sea" ~ Bolbi Aquarium

Tuesday, 27 April 2021

Nano aquascape - "By the Sea"

Dimensions: 59x20x15cm - 17 liters or 4.5 gallons
Lighting: Chihiros RGB60
Filtration: Eden 501 (sponge, ceramic rings)

CO2: Pressurised 1 bubble every 3 seconds
Substrate: Pool filter sand, gravel 1-3mm, peat
Hardscape: Seiryu stones, Lava rocks
Flora: Riccardia chamedryfolia, Bucephalandra sp. 'Kedagang Mini type 3', Utricularia graminifolia, Eleocharis acicularis, Myriophyllum sp. 'Guyana'

Fauna: Sundadanio axelrodi 'Blue', Neocaridina davidi var. 'Blue Jelly', Clithon corona

Setting up the hardscape

Egg crate is placed to the bottom. This helps to rearange the stones easily without troubles with sliding on the bare glass bottom:

Sand is placed in front and gravel at the back, just to cover holes of the egg crate. Then stones are arranged. Lava rocks act as barrier and they will be covered with Fissidens sp. 'Khao Sok':

All rock sctructure is connected to one piece. I have used super glue (cyanoacrylate) and powder made of topsoil and sodium bicarbonate. First apply gel type super glue to the joint, pour some powder and drop some liquid super glue over it. This makes junctions super strong:

Powder:

At the background where Utricularia will be planted I put some peat, to make ideal growing conditions for this plant:

Peat is capped with gravel. Utricularia graminifolia doesn't like nutrient rich supstrates so this should be ideal for it as it likes slightly acidic enviroment:

Finished hardscape:

Planting

Fissidens sp. 'Khao Sok' is applied on lava rocks by yogurt method:

After 3 weeks of dry start for Fissidens, Utricularia graminifolia (from invitro) was planted and the tank is now flooded:

Disaster

Just a few days after flooding cyanobacteria has appeared and made a real disaster - all plants has died. The tank was covered with black foil and left for 7 days in the dark. In this period filter was running as ussualy. Later, when all cyano has cleared I let the tank to run with lights off for about a month (dark start).

Luckily, it has stabilized and I am replanting it.. This time with Riccardia on the lava rocks (initial idea). In the background there are Utricularia and some hairgrass.

After a few more weeks, first animals was introduced; Clithon corona snails, Blue jelly shrimps and Blue neon Rasbora.

Neocaridina davidi var. 'Blue Jelly':

Riccardia growing really well, Utricularia still adapting:

Algae eating crew - Clithon corona:

Riccardia is ready for first trimming:

For trimming Riccardia it is best to use curved scissors. This liverwort is very fragile and can easily detach, so be careful. When trimming, press down with open scissors and then cut - this way Riccardia will not detach from the hardscape: