Driftwood

Java ferns weren't the only purchase on Sunday. Did pick up a few pieces of driftwood too. At $8 per kilo, they were quite cheap compared to those sold in shops elsewhere.

In my earlier post (History I), I talked of the driftwood floating up and essentially destroying my first ever planted tank. Once bitten, twice shy. Since then, I've always checked if the driftwood was dense enough to sink. Prior to this tank, I had one set up in the office and all I simply did was to silicon the driftwood directly to the base.

This time, I was able to check if the driftwood was able to sink since it was a farm after all with plenty of huge plastic drums to test it out. Sink it did to my elation. Back home, it was into the pail to let it soak. I had completely forgotten that driftwood needs to be pre-soaked to remove all the tannins. Tannins are harmless but it does give the water a weak tea colour that you see above. Not that good for planted tanks.

It has been soaking for 2 days now and the water has begun to clear up. So it's probably set for the arrival of the tank this Saturday. That aside, the driftwood that the java fern has been tied to is somewhat oversized. There's a huge possibility that I'll need to re-tie the java fern onto the driftwood.

Java Fern

I bought the first live thing for the fish tank - which isn't even ready yet! The intention today was to take a look at some LED lightings and it ended up me lugging home 3 blocks of Java Fern and $20 worth of driftwood.


The only reason why I bought the java fern despite the tank not being ready is that this variety of java fern is hard to come by. What I commonly find are the small ones in which the leaves are 20cm long at most. This one is about twice the size at 40cm. If you notice in the picture above, these large ones tend to have split leaves as well. I'm not too sure what this variety is in particular but it could be microsorum pteropus 'phillipine'. Nonetheless, I wanted to reserve the pieces considering how popular it was but the owner couldn't promise that someone else might not pick it up. It's a big farm and not all transactions go through him. I hope the java fern survives the week, then again, it's the toughest of all aquarium plants.

This isn't particularly the perfect buy as I was primarily looking for loose java fern that was untied. But at $15 per block, it really isn't too much of a loss if I decide to cut away the fishing line and tie them myself. At present, they'll sit in the bags until the tank arrives to decide whether or not I need to tie them on my own. The trial setup with them in those bags point towards the likelihood of that occurring. At most, it's a trip back to the farm and picking up more driftwood and tying them on my own. Probably another $10 loss perhaps.

In case you are wondering, these plants were picked up from Pasir Ris Farmway 3. The driftwood was from OTF Aquarium Farm while the java fern from the plant farm just a little further down. If ever one is in need of java fern, that's the place to go.

Inspiration

Been trying to get inspiration. As such, been doing a lot of search on the net for Takashi Amano. The only problem is trying to find articles on him in English. Nonetheless, after several cold leads, managed to find a site or two that provides good translation. The best so far is the Online Aqua Journal that has proper translation and a wealth of information.

Thing is, to be like Amano requires a huge investment in equipment and products. I honestly do not think they are cheating as many people out there have tested ADA products and found a huge difference in the plants. I've used some of their products in the beginning. The planted tank you saw in my earlier post had an ADA CO₂ Ceramic Diffuser. Till now, I've yet to see any other brand produce bubbles as small as that. ADA is expensive, but you get what you pay for. Nonetheless, it does not mean that low tech and budget tanks will not do as well.

Was browsing through the low tech thread in AquaticQuotient and I stumbled upon two tanks of which are very similar to what I want to achieve in my tank. 

The first tank you see here is by RuiEstrelinha who took this of his girlfriend's tank. It a really lovely mounded composition using what seems to be the common java fern (microsorum pteropus). You can tell it's a fern just by the spores on the underside of the leaf. The java fern serves as the background plant. In the foreground is the anubias nana perhaps if my identification is correct with bushy plants (my guess is java fern 'windelov') at several spots serving as the middle ground plant. Together with the drift wood, it makes a splendid landscape. 

This next tank is also his girlfriend's too but an earlier setup. I'd put this as a cross between a triangle and U-shaped composition. Not as fantastic as the earlier one but still just as nice. A reason why this may not look as good is simply because of the mismatch of the bushy plant in the centre. It does not blend well with either the anubias or java fern breaking the harmony. Also, notice how the plants are delineated in front exposing a strip of gravel. There's nothing wrong with bare gravel, but such a straight line does not occur in nature and hence spoils the overall landscape.

Do check out his blog although it's entirely in Spanish or Portugese - I can't tell. By far one of the best aquarium photographers I've seen on the net myself. Pretty neat and definitely inspirational.

This beautiful Asiatic 80l cube setup is by tipoman. What you see here is a thick lush bush of various green plants that would be pretty boring if not for the nice reddish brown lotus in the middle. That's one of the things that has been bugging me, unless I show enough driftwood breaking out from the sea of green, it'll look more like a monotonous but overwhelming green sheet. tipoman also shows how important it is to choose the right fish to go with the setup. The green is balanced off by the harlequin rasboras (rasbora heteromorpha) and the pearl gourami (trichogaster leeri).  Also, note how tipoman also has the same bare foreground but it's separated from the plant patch with nice driftwood arrangment. 

As an update, the tank has been ordered and I've already put out an appeal for the following plants on AquaticQuotient:

Java Fern (microsorum pteropus)

Java Fern 'Windelov' (microsorum pteropus 'windelov')

Narrow Leaf Java Fern (microsorum pteropus 'narrow' [?])

Bolbitis (bolbitis heudilotti)

Peacock Moss (taxiphyllum sp.)

The replies did come fast and furious. The tank should be ready for collection on 10 January. So just a few more days but I'm not too rushed about it. For now, my mind is still debating whether or not LED lights are a worthwhile investment.

Research

Setting up this fish tank required quite a bit of field work and research. Considering how long I've been out of touch, I was hoping that the hobby had progressed in Singapore, meaning lower prices with better performances. Wonder if Moore's law applies here.

Anyway, the first two places were Nature and a rival fish shop just two shops down just opposite Thomson Medical Centre. That one did not yield much though I was happy to see some familiar plants. The other few places were Farmart, Qian Hu and Teo at Choa Chu Kang. 

There's a shop at Farmart in which the shopkeeper specialises in moss and I was hoping to find him. The place looked rather deserted as it was a weekday afterall. For a moment, I thought the shop had closed down until I saw the familiar java fern tank that sits just at the entrance of his shop. Interestingly, nothing much has changed. The visit turned out to be fruitful as I was introduced to the different types of moss including a newly introduced fissidens sp. from USA that gives quite a unique look. 

Visiting Qian Hu was more for research on aquarium hardware. It isn't the best place but it does have good variety. More good news was to come as I discovered Eheim truly did progress quite far in filter technology and design. For those first time aquarist out there, Eheim might be expensive, perhaps over priced. But the trouble and hassle saved from their ingenious design that allows you to change and clean your external filter without having to fight with hoses and spilt water will eventually repay itself. I had no need for one since I'm planning to have a built in internal filter anyway. Found the right powerhead I required and it was off to Teo.

Teo is the place to go if you're ever interested in getting water plants. Unlike other farms that serve as transitory posts, Teo grows them. This makes those plants very suitable for local conditions. Also, seeing how lovely those cement tanks of plants are, if I ever get the chance to do a fish pond, he'll be the first person I approach. The 6ft Aquaticquotient.com tank is still there, and like it, nothing else has changed much. Unfortunately, he wasn't stocked on Java Fern (microsorum pteropus).

I did visit Qian Hu again to get an Eheim pipe but the powerhead I got from Nature as it was nearby. It was my second visit to Nature that I got introduced to LED aquarium lights. For now, 3 tubes costs $250 which is about 3 times the price of the standard aquarium light. However, LEDs are much more energy efficient, longer lasting (up to 3 years min.) and they do not emit much heat. This has got me interested and I'm considering DIY if it is more cost effective. But that, will be another post. 

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.

The First Post

Welcome all ye aquarist. After year long hiatus from fish tanks, I'm finally back to setting up a fish tank once again. After trying to keep dogs - twice - I finally hit upon the revelation that I'm a fish and insect kind of guy. I appreciate animals for their beauty and not necessarily thirst for that emotional connection. Fishes and insects are more passive and have more interesting behaviours in my opinion. It was fun keeping the two dogs Tassie and Risa. But they are now with new owners and hopefully having a fun time wherever they are. 

Keep your eyes peeled here as I trace the development of the first fish tank in my very own home. I do hope that this blog serves as a reference guide to those out there who are interested in setting up their own planted aquaria. Been keeping fishes since my teens and the obsession with planted tanks started over a decade ago. So it's quite a long experience behind me though I must admit I've never been that fantastic at it. But more on that in time to come. In the meantime, enjoy!