History (Vol. I)

The aim of this blog is to post a detailed account of my tank setup from start to finish. I don't claim to be a master in tank setups but I do believe that we can all learn from the experience of others. Hopefully, it'll be of help to others who are thinking of setting up their own tanks.

Before we take a look at the site of the fish tank, a little history would be appropriate. My first foray into planted tanks was in 1997. I was already keeping fishes for about a year then when we moved to a new place. I was allowed to have a 3ft tank in my bedroom which was a leap from the 1.5ft tanks I used to have. 

I did not know the existence of planted tanks but I did know that the tank was to look as natural as possible. So it was a trip to the old Marine Parade Library and I stumbled upon one of Takashi Amano's book of which the volume I cannot remember, and this book, The Natural Aquarium by Satoshi Yoshino and Doshin Kobayashi. Takashi Amano's tanks were breathtaking and in my opinion, since then till now, far superior to the 'Dutch Style'. However, the tank i wanted to model after was the Java Fern tank that Yoshino & Kobayashi did. It was simple yet elegant and quite accessible to me.

Back then, planted tanks was in it's infancy in Singapore at least. A simple 2X30w FL lamp set me back $280. Looking back, I strongly believe I was fleeced but it was my dad who paid the price. Then again, the market was new and the technology has advanced by leaps and bounds since then. It was also for this same reason that I did not do a java fern tank. Back then, one pot of Java Fern from Tropicana cost $16. To fill the 3ft tank would probably set my back a $100 or more. It costs a fraction today to do the same. Not to mention many more varieties suited for local water conditions.

The picture you see is my first planted tank setup. This picture was taken somewhere in late June 1997. It was a 90X45X45 tank, 2X30W FL tubes, CO2 with base fertiliser from Dennerle. Some of the first few fishes were cherry barbs, a recently deceased discus at the time of photo, kribensis and others I cannot remember.

My apologies for the poor photos as I did not know much about film cameras then. It was tremendously tedious when I first did the layout three months before and it ended in almost total failure. Planting took me an entire day and everything looked fine when the tank was filled to the brim. Disaster struck as I was about to sleep, a bubbling sound came from the tank and to my horror, I discovered as the lights were turned on that the large driftwood in the middle had pulled away from the gravel and floated to the top. Along with it many of the plants and much of the base fertiliser. I almost cried and had to move out of my room to get any sleep.

This was to be the first of many tanks that I would have, but those tanks are another story altogether.