# The Angel Garden - Jamie's El Natural Journey Part 2



## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

Ok... here we go again!

Last year I set up a 'semi el natural' tank. Why 'semi' ? Well, i used more light than you might otherwise use in an el natural (4 x 38w tubes in a 240litre tank) and had an external filter. I also used a laterite and clay mixture beneth the substrate... but no C02.

This i what the tank looked like on set up:


















This is what it looked like after a few months:










So... after a while this tank became really to much work. I revisted it and removed all of the stem plants... Oh, i also removed two of the lights... it became much more el natural... the tank matured into this:


















































It went really well until a mistake caught up with me... I used silver sand - my plants did really well, then all of a sudden they died back... and i discovered my subsrtate was rotten. UGH... REALLY ROTTEN. 

I was quite disapointed having to tear the tank down... and it STANK. honestly... getting 15 - 20 kg of stinky clay, sand and laterite out of a tank is not fun.

Just redid it as a community tank and have raised some parrot fish and severums and a couple of clown loaches in it.

Anyway... The severums mean that my tank doesn't support many plants!  and i really miss my old 'lush' looking set up... I was looking at my tank today thinking 'i can do better than this'

Another thing happened... a friend gave me eight 1.5" angel fish... and i started thinking what a lovely idea it would be to do a tank with lots of onion plants for the angels.

So first things first:

I have 2 7" blood parrots and 4 4" severums free to a good home... along with a common plec and a red gibbceps. I am based in Norwich, UK... if you want them, PM me and they're yours.

*MY PLANS:*

I have another pressure on my hobby apart from a simple desire for more plants... energy prices in the UK are going up and up... so I need to reduce the cost of running my tank wherever I can. This means I can't justify tons of light again... and am going to have to replace my canister filter + UV with a sponge-based eheim internal filter that only uses 6w (aquaball 2012) - doing this alone will save me, over the course of the year, several times the cost of the new filter in electricity - the fact that I can sell the canister filter and UV to fund the changes to the system for what will hopefully be a cheaper to run and easier to maintain tank is an added bonus.

So, at this stage, I have questions...

1 - Do i need to strip the tank down completely? I've read about using frozen soil inserts... if i use these with root fert tabs... will that be enough to get the plants going? Basically, is a soil 'layer' essential?

2 - i've got pea-grade standard aquarium gravel what are the odds that this will stagnate? I REALLY don't want to go through that again.

3 - I live in a flat and don't have access to topsoil have any UK members here used any 'off the shelf' soil products with success? By that i mean commerical soil / compost - not expensive aquarium products,

Thank in advance for you advice.

So... This is where it begins. Again... eek.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Very nice, your crypts look nice and healthy. Very green


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## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

orlando said:


> Very nice, your crypts look nice and healthy. Very green


you mean they _DID_? You did read the post... right?


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

They did, but your tank looked nice. Until your substrate died. Sorry to hear about it. Good luck with the re do.


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## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

orlando said:


> They did, but your tank looked nice. Until your substrate died. Sorry to hear about it. Good luck with the re do.


Thanks... 

Any input on any of the questions i have above?


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

ultrajamie~ i read every bit of your post...lol

the crypts DID indeed look very nice.
i have uses shelf type soils in my tanks and they really do very well. the thing is really just get the chearpest soil you can. if it has perlite then shake it through a strainer...its messy or if you can find get some without any in it.

pea gravel is a great layer onop of soil sound that sounds good.
onions get really tallso be prepared, but have fun dont hink to much about doing it better if you like it do it.

keep us updated


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## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

Oh, this is too bad what happened to your substrate , you had such a great looking tank! 
But it’s great that I saw your post before I did something similar to it, thanks for sharing! 

I just had 20 gal set up and started out with sponges, HOB and power heads and because of this experience, for my new 50 gal project I am looking only at canister filters. Yup.

My fish tanks are propagating like weed and I live in the flat just like you are, the energy price does go up and up. So there is a possibility my fish will force me out to the poor house. But still… Switching to the sponge filter only might stink. 

It would be great if some knowledgeable people would post something about their ways to conserve more energy with minimum compromises and best outcome. 
We all might use those tips.

I don’t know what kind of a canister filter you have right now, but its worth of a research to figure out what kind of changes you need to make not to end up like me with the whole pile of useless cheap little filters. :mrgreen:

P.S. My latest discovery: Eheim 2236 is using only 5 watts!!!
And sorry about my English.
Cheers!


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## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

Quick update:

The eheim filter arrived today but i wan't in so will have to go collect it. doh.

I bought a small bag of akadama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akadama

It's a red clay-based material people grow bonsai in... it was reccomended on another forum for it's properties... i'll mix this in with my soil.

Someone is coming to collect my fish at the weekend... so hopefully i'll have some more interesting to post then.

More questions...

I want a 'grassy look' using tiers of different plants...

E. tenellus into blyxa japonica into sagiteria natans into valis... a 'slope' of plants gradually getting taller along the tank...

Which grows taller sagiteria natans, or blyxa japonica?


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## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

So I redid my tank today... Lot's of pics below!

First things first, there's one essential ingredient that anyone should have to hand when stripping down a tank:





















My replacement glassware from aqua essentials arrived - amazing service after the original order arrived broken. Thanks!

I had some bits and pieces laying around that i decided to use in the tank after the discussion in this thread http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1582



Graeme Edwards said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> Ive planted up a small tank in the Green Machine recently. I work the substrate with an influence from ADA's notion of thinking. When setting it up, I added a layer of Tropica substrate, then a layer of SERA syporax mini filter media granules and the Zambezi sand over the top of that. I added the syporax for the sole purpose of bacteria colonization. Now Ive not compared the cost of that to the power sand, but it works a long the same theme. you could use Ehime bio balls or anything that is small ( gravel size ish ) and highly porous.
> I think its a clever idea. The tank Ive set up is only 4 weeks old now, so its still to early to say, but its looking good, healthy and the fish are very happy.
> .


Namely I had a small amount of perlag (basically pumice pieces) and a larger amount of eheim Ehfi Substrat Pro that came with a filter i bought of ebay but never used because i already had mature media to put in it.


















I also had my potting compost ready, which has been 'tinkered' with - the addtion of a small amount of sand, some dried out and powered red potters clay. and a few handfuls of crushed oystershell. There's also a couple of litres of akadama in there (got a small bag from a local garden centre, but that's all they had).










The first job i had was to clean out my Eheim external and leave the resulting mulm to settle in a bucket...

























(mmm - lovely!)

While the mulm was settling i refilled the filter and set it up on a polysterene fish box, drain my tank, bagged my plants and transfered my fish to the box. I had to chuckle at the fish box - possibly the best filtered couple of gallons of water in the world (Vecton V2 600 UV, Eheim Pro 2 2028, Eheim 2012 internal)!!! :lol:

Obviously all the filters were turned down to a trickle in such a small space










Once the fish were taken care of, i started work on the tank...

First I added the mulm from my filter (having drained off most of the water), then the pumice - which actually didn't go very far but i chucked it in anyway. Then I added roughly an inch of the potting compost mixture. I had some ADA bacter 100 and sprinkled that on top of the soil too...










































On top of this i added the Eheim Substrat Pro - worked out that i had just enough to cover the soil to a depth of a couple of CM.










And then the gravel went in to a depth of about 1.5" (the gravel was completely unwashed during the strip down, so i'm hopeful i preserved all the 'good stuff'










After this, I got to work on the hardscape, this was actually quite easy because i knew in my head exactly what i wanted - a 'hill' type structure with the pinnacle slightly off-centre... this is made of of red moorland root, a large piece of bogwood and slate pieces.


















This is actually the first time i've planted a tank before adding water - SO MUCH EASIER! I could plant much closer together... why have i never done this before? :roll:


















after this it was a simple case of filling up - with two surprises... 1, not a single plant came loose (touch wood) and the water remained very clear considering the layers of crap on the bottom of the tank










And so.... Drum roll.... this is how the tank looks filled:


























It's going to take a fair while to fill out i think... and the crinum on the left is going to need some time (they arrived as bulbs and are currently wedged into tropica pots with rockwool and weighted until they start to root... So far though, I'm REALLY pleased!

More pics to to follow once ther water's a bit sharper and the plants look less bedraggled!


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

That's going to look awesome!


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## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

Thanks.... It's a little cloudy today.. going to give it a few days and if the clouding doesn't clear i'll do some big water changes.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Dear Folks,

There's a lesson here for those who want to do NPTs without truly understanding aquarium ecology. Jamie's first tank looks beautiful, but it has the potential for the substrate to go anaerobic (and toxic). 

Jamie's first substrate (clay/laterite) has very little organic matter and is the type (unlike potting soil) that resists going anaerobic. However, even the most aerobic substrate will go bad if you don't allow oxygen exchange.

All those rocks and driftwood covering the sand make it hard for oxygenated water to enter the substrate layer. Natural driftwood, no matter how well-cured) can sometimes rot (releasing DOC) where it contacts the substrate. Finally, the sand layer, which "seals" the substrate much more so than gravel, is too deep (Thus, I recommend a one inch layer of gravel, but much less if you're using sand.)

My advice would be to remove the driftwood and many of the rocks. Any rocks should be resting on the bottom of the glass, not lying on top of substrate. I'd get some Malaysian Trumpet Snails (their burrowing will bring oxygenated water into the substrate). I'd plant the tank more heavily. 

The "aquascaping look" to this tank and the emphasis on the filter rather than understanding aquarium ecology is what concerns me here.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

I didn't know we should be resting rocks on the glass bottom. That's interesting.
I've been seeing some real big bubbles from the rock bridge and I assumed the compression from the weight of the rocks.

So what happens in a natural environment, just soil exposed.


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

cant wait to see filled in in a couple of weeks.


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## Kosh42|EFG (Jul 4, 2007)

Glad I read this... I've read the book a few times, and my one query was around what to do with large rocks and bog wood in the tank, but no I know to but it on the glass, then put in substrate...

Other query was around if I wanted to build up deeper areas of substrate, and how to stop them going nasty deep down... I suppose one method would be to plant a prolific rooter there, such as an Amazon Sword...

Sorry, I seem to be thread hijacking...

Tank looks good, but I'd heed some of the warnings...


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## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

Ok... update time.

First the bad news... looks like i'm being made redundant from work. This is fairly tought because i realy love my job and in the two years I've worked where I am, I've never had a project not succeed or come in over budget. However, we've got a new MD and he wants to 'refocus' our marketing team (i.e. get rid of it) - it's fairly annoying to have achieved everything that was asked of you and then have someone say 'oh well, you shouldn't have been doing those things anyway'. I've only worked there 2 years, so will get about £600 as a pay out. great.

In light of this, I'm putting some of the 'luxury items' that I can sell on ebay - specifically some fish things people here might want (if you're in the UK that is). If you want an Eheim filter, Vecton 2 600 UV, of the glassware in this thread, you can check it out here :

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZgenki-rocket

*On a brighter note, the tank is doing GREAT.*

Some changes, though:

- removed my pair of jewel cichlids. They spawned twice since the tank was changed. At first i was delighted... then they started pulling up every plant within 6" of their eggs. Given that the roots weren;t well formed they made quite a mess and so had to go. This made me sad because they were STUNNING when in breeding colours 

- just after the tank was planted my vallis took a weird turn and lots of the leaves started to melt - never seen that before, it looked like it was going to die. this stopped after a week or so, and growth is V good now... my red serpent vallis still looks a bit grim though and only has a couple of leaves left.

- by big common angel spawned with the smallest common - i'm assuming the small one was the female because they only laid about 15 eggs! they managed to last 2 days before eating them. typical angels! :mrgreen:

- crypts have loads of new leaves, but v-small ones as yet.

- swords starting to really grow fast over the last few days.

- water clarity is amazing in this tank, not sure why that should be, but it's gin-clear.

Anyway... on with the pics.


































































I'm quite pleased so far. No algae to speak of.

Stock:

9 angelfish
4 bronze corys
9 ottos

Thats all for now!!


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## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

Diana,

Thanks for the comments... I've added several more different plant species since the rebuild - as you can see in the pics above - i've also raised the driftwood off the substrate (it's held up with a sucker above the water line and resting on a pebble so will keep an eye on it.

I've added some hygrophilia as i was told it's a really good plant for mopping up excess nutrients in the water.

I'm also removing the canister and the tank will be filtered by the eheim sponge filter.


Were your comments relating to the first tank or this one? I've taken care to change the things i thought made my first tank go bad. Ad had thought the layer of larger-grain bio media in the substrate would help keep things aerobic?


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

dwalstad said:


> Dear Folks,
> 
> There's a lesson here for those who want to do NPTs without truly understanding aquarium ecology. Jamie's first tank looks beautiful, but it has the potential for the substrate to go anaerobic (and toxic).
> 
> ...


Reading that had me worried because I have a huge rock about 9 inches sitting on top of my substrate. When I first put the substrate, it was only less than half an inch thick, so I hope that area won't go anaerobic!


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## ultrajamie (Jan 23, 2007)

Just a quick update.... apologies for the quicke and dirty pics!

On set up:


















Well....

It's filling out slowly! Swords, crypts and valis is flying... everything else going slowly... some green algae but nothing major.

The internal filter isn't cutting it mechancally... the parameters check out fine, but there's fine particulate matter in the water (it's not milky, or a 'bloom', you can see the tiny particles up close)... it was clear so i guess that it's just not keeping pace once it starts to clog. Might have to add a canister back in...??? Your thoughts?

Anyway....


































The angels are growing nicely... they are fairly stroppy with each other, but the aggression seems well spread.

Today i added a few dwarf cichlids - 4 bolivian rams... and 4 keyholes. The rams are looking lovely already!


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## krisco (Apr 12, 2008)

very nice photography and tank.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

ultrajamie said:


> Diana,
> 
> Thanks for the comments... I've added several more different plant species since the rebuild - as you can see in the pics above - i've also raised the driftwood off the substrate (it's held up with a sucker above the water line and resting on a pebble so will keep an eye on it.
> 
> ...


Your new tank looks nice. My comments were about the first tank where I was hypothesizing why the substrate might have gone bad and caused a "tank meltdown". It sounds like you understand now how to prevent this. I particularly like you're comment about raising the driftwood up above the gravel and keeping an eye on it. Good going! 

Other remedies to prevent substrates from going anaerobic are aquatic worms and MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails). Their burrowing activity will naturally aerate the substrate. If you see symptoms of anaerobic substrate (lethargic bottow-dwelling fish and poor rooted plant growth), you can gently poke the substrate with a pencil or chopstick to let in some "fresh air".

I don't think that the filtration system you use will influence the substrate that much. In an NPT, filtration is basically just for water circulation. I use "Quick Filters" with AquaClear 30 powerheads. They're inexpensive and great to remove particulate matter when I move plants around and disturb soil. One tank, where a few fish could be chronically diseased (survivors of 2004 mycobacteriosis outbreak), has a UV sterilizing filter (Submariner) instead of the AquaClear.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

and also you can take advantage of sunlight if you worry about your electrical bills.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Your tank really looks good. Love the crypts in the front!


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## fcastro16 (Jun 27, 2008)

Nice tank. Great work.


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## FishandTurtleJunkie (Apr 14, 2007)

Those are beautiful angels!


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## JoeHundredAire (Mar 20, 2006)

Wow looks good! I love the shots of the angels. They are very beautiful.


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