journal Daz's 1200 Shallow

[daz88]

Hi,

You might have seen this on another forum. Over christmas i bought a custom made shallow tank that matches the dimensions of the ADA-1200F with a stand. A big thank you to Dennison of Mary Anne Aquariums. Been in DSM but filled up last Saturday. What do you think?

Full tank shot with two extra globes on (10000 and royal blue (marine, came with kit). I think i like this better.

And these are the blue body red rill shrimp i am thinking of having in there when the tank has cycled (that or yellow or chocs). Cheers Gbang (bought late last year)

Tank:

1200 x 300 x 200H

~ 70 litres.

6mm starphire glass, braceless, rimless, ADA style.

Filtration:

Fluval 206. Expected to blow away HC and sub but with the inline stuff and reduction to 12mm outlet/inlet barely have flow on opposite side of tank.

Glassware:

Cal aqua NANO efflux and influx (Cheers, to a sydney store who is not a sponsor)

Heating:

Hydor 200w inline (Same sydney store)

C02:

6kg steel cylinder (downsizing on next refill, was a homebrew kegging nerd).

Dici reg and solenoid

UP Aqua inline reactor

Substrate:

CAL Aqua Labs Black Earth.

2 bags.

Lighting:

2 x t5ho giesemann 1 aquaflora and 1 midday (room for 2 more tubes) in a generic HK setup.

Light may need dropping as i have leggy stauro and mini alt from DSM.

Hardscape:

Yingshi stone sourced from local bonsai guy (Cheers Rob, Redcliffe markets)

Melaluca driftwood and some sneaky manzantia.

Flora:

HC Cuba

Stauro tropica

Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini'

Anubias petite.

Some mini pellia but main stock destroyed due to neglect

Would like a driftwood moss but my stock is very hair and black beard algae infested at the moment.

Possible emersed fauna as well (air plants, moss maybe)

Fauna:

Choc or Yellow or Blue body red rili Cherry Shrimp (thinking blue guys, cheers Glenn, starting to see lots of babies)

Maybe CRS (have 2 $3/piece CRS survivors from hot days over summer)

Maybe Boraras maculatus (or liquorice gourami from my other tank, posted here) - try to stick to one fish species i think, maybe two if i can't help myself.

Challenges

A few:

Such a high (1100mm) yet narrow (300 mm) stand means stability and levelling issues but it is screwed to brick wall and levelled with chocks etc.

Filtration for shallow but long tank may be future issue

Not many examples of shallow aquascapes to draw from

I had only small stones to work with!

Red brick background mutes the brown, red and orange within the tank. Needs a background.

Inspiration:

Green machine: Tributary and Crimson Sky

UKAPS: A little box of chocolates and Toms bucket o mud

Other: Ohko mountains

Build:

Got it home, dumped a bag of substrate and other hardscape into it, Dec 2013

Soil and driftwood arrangement

Some initial planting, and hardscape changing

Yellow sand and some tillandsia in left driftwood, tank was in DSM by here (the sand was removed because 1: didn't look right in person front on and 2: thought 206 would blow it away, in hindsight this wouldn't have been an issue)

Yingshi closeup, this stone will raise pH. If you soak it in vinegar overnight, you get awesome crystal formations (can't find pics atm)

Recent DSM shot, no driftwood, pretty much iwagumi

Black Earth and pretty clear water on filling

Almost iwagumi (like right rock work better, but now covered by driftwood)

Alternative driftwood, despite totally different scale and type, the pieces kinda work together. But i have it setup as in first pictures.

Pearling HC

First (unintentional) animal inhabitant, native (?) bee

Cheers, Dan.

[HJ V6]

love this tank good work das how much Co2 are you running ?

[daz88]

cheers, ideally starting on 2bps but some reg/cylinder issues. 1 bps and adding 2x rate of easy carbo (excel, liquid co2)

[HJ V6]

ok sweet where did you get those rocks ive been looking for some to rescape my fluval edge but cant find any

[daz88]

they are called yingshi similar to seiryu stone. I got mine from The Bonsai Guy (Robert) at the Redcliffe markets (every sunday) and have seen them at a well respected aquascaping store on ipswich rd at Annerley (not a sponsor?). I have some spare but unsure if i was going to keep or sell them at a later date.

[HJ V6]

ok will have to go look thanks

[Squiggle]

Looks very cool dude, I can't wait to see it in a few months when it's all grown in. :beer:

[BlueBolts]

Awesome, and well done ! Thanks for the detail...very inspirational :clap:

[BristledOne]

There's just something eye catching and unusual with shallow tanks. Love it! Thanks for sharing

[shrimpstan]

Gotta love the shallow tank! Good work mate!

[daz88]

With some replanting and growing time the middle gap of HC is starting to grow in.

[HJ V6]

man I love this tank....looks awesome

[Squiggle]

Looking good dude, starting to grow in nicely. :encouragement:

[yeswaitnosorry]

I'm inspired looking at this. :clap:

[fishmosy]

Looks really good. I must start an aquascape one day.

[FishBeast]

How is the progress of your tank going? Is the HC growing in ok?

[shawry74]

Great looking tank mate...really well thought out and extremely inspirational.

[daz88]

This is the tank today. Been maintaining a journal elsewhere and been slack here. 

 

Livestock

Blue body rili shrimp

Celestial Pearl Danios

Boraras naevus

Licorice gourami 

Edited September 5, 2014 by daz88

[Disciple]

Wow this is a very good looking tank!

 

Wow

[smicko]

The cover up of the brick wall worked a treat, absolutely changes the look of the tank for the better, great contrast with the greenery.

Cheers mick

Edited September 5, 2014 by smicko

[OzShrimp]

That looks absolutely awesome! 

[jayc]

Great looking tank Daz.

 

I've got a smaller 3ft shallow and love it too.

 

I really like the red plant you have in the tank.

Can you let me know what it is and where you got it from?