# August 2009 Tank of the Month: Raymond Sowden



## milalic

*400l "Natural Dutch" by Raymond Sowden (wearsbunnyslippers)*










*Introduction and background*

My name is Raymond Sowden and I am from Cape Town, South Africa. I am 31 and have been keeping fish tanks for more than half my life. I got interested in planted tanks about 2 years ago
as a low maintenance way of keeping my tanks, with little or no water changes, potting soil substrate etc. I later found out this was the Diane Walstad method. The addiction grew and
soon it was more about the plants than the fish. I have always been an avid gardener so I guess the transition was pretty natural. My wife jokes that the fish are just fertilizer factories
and that if wasn't called a "fish tank" I wouldn't even keep fish anymore. Little did I know this would turn out to be much more maintenance than regular fish tanks, but also much more rewarding.

I had never seen a true planted tank before, so I started researching and became a lurker on APC, doing as much reading as I could, learning about CO2 and EI, substrates and T5's, low-tech, high-tech, nature style, jungle, Dutch, so much information to absorb. The tanks that really drew my attention though, were the colorful densely planted Dutch style tanks, especially the ones like 
Fluo's and ShayF's. This is the kind of tank I aspired to, and am still trying to achieve.

*Inspiration*

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ures/displayimage.php?imageid=5624&original=1

http://us4.pixagogo.com/S58UTKI1w3i...UaR1fNvWNclvODHa1uF9nA1tEBOKanM2/IMG_7001.JPG

I had already converted my 100l into a planted tank, my discus were fast outgrowing it and so I decided I needed to get a bigger tank.










So I rushed out and bought a medium tech 200l tank, upgraded to T5's with reflectors, pressurized CO2 and flourite - the only manufactured plant substrate I could get my hands on at the time, and started EI dosing.

It was a steep learning curve and I quickly went through all the usual newly setup tank woes, diatoms, algae, green water, nutrient deficiencies etc., so more reading and more learning, and more time spent on APC.










About a year later that tank sprang a leak, and I was faced with a decision, either get a new tank or quit the hobby, guess which way I went. Seen as I was buying a new tank now anyway, I decided

I needed an even bigger one. Bigger tanks are easier to look after in my opinion, up to a point.

That brings me to my current tank, it is a Juwel Rio 400, 100G. It came with 2 T5's built in and a built in filter. I upgraded the lighting and took out the filter, preferring to use an 
external canister filter.

*Setup*

Lighting with reflectors










Different light Kelvin ratings










1 week after setup










1 month










2 months










3 months










Final Pics










Left










Middle










Right










Side View










The addition of the rocks was frowned upon by some of the Dutch purists, but I prefer a more natural looking layout, the super neat streets and perfectly pruned bushes are a little too unnatural for my tastes, and I think the rocks added some nice contrast. Don't get me wrong, I find Dutch style tanks absolutely stunning, but not for me personally.

It is quite difficult to source decent plants in South Africa, we have an extremely long species banned list, but I would've replaced the rocks with some smaller plants as they became available eventually anyway.

*Tank specifications*

Volume: 400 Liters
Measurements: 151 x 51 x 62 cm

Lighting:

1 x 59w Juwel High-Lite® Day T5
1 x 59w Juwel High-Lite® Nature T5
4 x 59w Arcadia Plant Por T5's
8 hrs per day with a timer

Substrate: Flourite

Filtration: Eheim Pro II 2026

CO2: Saga Regulator, power head diffusion, 2 bps. Comes on 2 hours before the lights, goes off with the lights.

*Flora*










_1. Hygrophila polysperma_ 'Sunset'
_2. Cryptocoryne sp._
_3. Alternanthera reineckii
4. Rotala rotundifolia_
_5. Hygrophila difformis_ 'Variegated'
_6. Rotala macrandra
7. Hygrophila corymbosa
8. Pogostemon stellatus_ 'Narrow Leaf'
_9. Mayaca fluviatilis
10. Hygrophila corymbosa_ 'angustifolia'
_11. Rotala sp.
12. Echinodorus tenellus
13. Lobelia cardinalis
14. Nymphaea lotus_ 'Red'



















*Fauna*

Discus, Cardinal Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora, Rummynose Tetra, Corydoras, _Baryancistrus_ sp. (L177)



















*Maintenance*

Sunday - day1: prune, preen, clean glass inside, 25% or more water change, 1/2 tsp kno3, 1/8 ish tsp kh2po4, 1/2 tsp equilibrium, 1/2 tsp dolomite and clean glass on outside
Monday - day2: 5ml Trace
Tuesday - day3: 1/2 tsp kno3, 1/8 ish tsp kh2po4, 1/2 tsp equilibrium, 1/2 tsp dolomite
Wednesday - day5: 5ml Trace
Thursday - day5: 1/2 tsp kno3, 1/8 ish tsp kh2po4, 1/2 tsp equilibrium, 1/2 tsp dolomite
Friday - day6: 5ml Trace
Saturday - day7: Rest and enjoy
Daily Flourish Excel

*Challenges*

I have fought cyano in this tank from the beginning, never managing to eradicate it 100%, I was almost at the point of dosing erythromycin.










Keeping the stem plants nicely shaped and evenly trimmed takes a lot of pruning, sometimes twice a week on the fast growers, but it is very satisfying and part of the enjoyment of the hobby.

The Eheim 2026 was spec'ed for the 200l and it was not coping with the filtration so I have upgraded it to a Fluval FX5.

*Final thoughts*

This tank has been broken down and setup again do to me relocating from Johannesburg to Cape Town so it no longer looks like the pictures. I look forward to scaping a new layout and trying some new plants, I am keeping my journal up to date.

I won't be satisfied that my tank is "done" until I consider my tank in the same league as Fluo's and Shay's...

I would like to thank all the guys on our local forum APSA for all their support and helping to source some of the "rarer" plants, and a huge thanks to APC for all their inspiration!

Kind Regards,
Raymond


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## hooha

beautiful dutch setup. Nice job!


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## ingg

Great looking tank! I can't imagine keeping up with the trimming, shows quite a bit of dedication - looks like it sure paid off for you.


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## theblondskeleton

I read through your thread a couple of times and agree: this was a beautiful tank! Congratulations!


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## rjfurbank

Beautiful tank! Love all the stem plants.

Thanks for the detailed write up and the photos illustrating the tank's development.


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## Tex Gal

So beautiful. Looks like a fall forest in the Appalachian mountians! Love it.


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## Vadimshevchuk

I love the tank! the colors just pop and it gives you a forest like feel. Great tank.


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## FernMan

Nice Tank! Like many have said, really like the stem plants, they look soooooooooo healthy...

BUT... it seems, looks, it smells like a lot of WORK to me  Keep the good work coming... I bet it's an Ahhh moment when guests arrive! A conversation piece no doubt.


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## wearsbunnyslippers

thanks guys, really appreciated!!!



FernMan said:


> I bet it's an Ahhh moment when guests arrive! A conversation piece no doubt.


yeah, except for the usual stoopid questions and comments:

is that a marine tank?

are those real plants?

why so many plants?

isnt it supposed to be a fishtank?

i didnt know freshwater tanks looked so pretty!!!

:lalala:


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## henkychif

I like the variation. No matter where you look, you see a different color or texture (leaf size, shape, etc.) I also like your presentation showing the progress in time and the numbered plant identifier.


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## milalic

wearsbunnyslippers said:


> thanks guys, really appreciated!!!
> 
> yeah, except for the usual stoopid questions and comments:
> 
> is that a marine tank?
> 
> are those real plants?
> 
> why so many plants?
> 
> isnt it supposed to be a fishtank?
> 
> i didnt know freshwater tanks looked so pretty!!!
> 
> :lalala:


Congrats on the tank and article.


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## morris

Hey Raymond!!!

I love the tank, ecspecially the colours!!

I live in Plett, know exactly what you mean about how hard it is to find "stuff" for planted aquaria here in SA.

There is a couple of questions that I would really like to ask you, you know info is nowhere to be found down in the south part of the world.
I really don't know how about doing this, or to reach you, but i would really appreciate it if we could get into contact, for some insight and info.

My nr is 0762662068.
I look foward hearing from you
Cheers!!
Maurice


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## ghengis

Lovely stuff! I really like that pic of the different light spectrums on the water surface...very impressive.

Pogo stellatus is one of my fave plants.

Great work Raymond, and congratulations!!!


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## Vasudeva

would you recomend any other bulbs to pair with the Acadia other then juwel?

do you trim down your echinodorus?


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## JonnyD

Gorgeous layout. Thanks for the explanation.


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## itxno1

May i know have you use chiller for your tank?


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## wearsbunnyslippers

morris said:


> Hey Raymond!!!
> 
> I love the tank, ecspecially the colours!!
> 
> I live in Plett, know exactly what you mean about how hard it is to find "stuff" for planted aquaria here in SA.
> 
> There is a couple of questions that I would really like to ask you, you know info is nowhere to be found down in the south part of the world.
> I really don't know how about doing this, or to reach you, but i would really appreciate it if we could get into contact, for some insight and info.
> 
> My nr is 0762662068.
> I look foward hearing from you
> Cheers!!
> Maurice


hey morris, sorry havent checked this thread in a while...

glad you found me on APSA!



ghengis said:


> Lovely stuff! I really like that pic of the different light spectrums on the water surface...very impressive.
> 
> Pogo stellatus is one of my fave plants.
> 
> Great work Raymond, and congratulations!!!


thanks ghengis!



Vasudeva said:


> would you recomend any other bulbs to pair with the Acadia other then juwel?
> 
> do you trim down your echinodorus?


i did trim it, i just moved it like grass, it came back strong...



JonnyD said:


> Gorgeous layout. Thanks for the explanation.


thanks johnny!



itxno1 said:


> May i know have you use chiller for your tank?


i had discus in that tank, so it was running at about 29-30C, so no chiller...


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## drongo12

Very nice to see a change from the Japan style plains that seem to use less variety of plants.


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## sketch804

WOW very nice tank! i love the use of many different stem plants w/o it seeming to cluttered and everything flows very nicely! what kind of trace product do you use? colors are amazing! thanks for sharing!


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