# New Natural tank..



## Eutexian (Mar 29, 2015)

So, with the success of my other tank i decided earlier in the year to have another.. Im lucky in that i have some 'dead space' in my living room thats only good for a sideboard. so the sideboard was moved and the tank put in its place. I had it made to order and a table for it to stand on also made to order. fairly low level.

The tank is 55x24x24 so fairly larger 520 litres or about 137 US Gallons.

brand new.. unwrapped.










I mineralised some plain top soil back in the summer so had that to use.. But, the intention for this tank is a little different.. i wanted a lot of swimming space. so areas that will never have plants. I also wanted a very different 'look' and so...

to start i covered the entire base with a very thin layer of soil.. really little more than a dusting. I then pushed this back from the front glass with an old drivers license card.










I then fairly roughly marked the areas that will eventually be planted.










And after that.. began to place pieces of slate.. essentially chippings.. or pieces if you will, the sort that is used in gardens.










Once completed i used gravel to create a barrier.. or wall. in these 'empty' spaces to help contain the soil.










I then filled these areas with soil.










Not shown in the picture is a layer of organic worm castings that went under the soil....

This was then capped off with more gravel. and water added..










And the planting began.. also included a piece of bogwood with a rather large java fern already growing on it.. for immediate 'impact' - this simply laid on the slate at the back of the tank.










Almost finished..










and a few days later:










This is going to be an unheated 'temperate' tank holding just 3 species. Gold and Odessa Barbs plus Zebra fish.

I started by adding 12 Gold barbs.. then after seeing they were doing well. 12 Odessa Barbs.. all juveniles. I also began the process of moving the adults from my other tank.. this photo shows some of these adults and perhaps explains why im such a huge fan of these very simple to keep fish.










Not agressive and 'blind' to each other.. they co-exist perfectly and are more than a spectacle.. the colours are stunning.

anyway.. its a few weeks later, ive added some hornwort - weighted, so they look like 'proper' planted plants.. and its about done.










Tank does have a heater.. set to 18c, just to make sure this is the minimum it will fall to during the winter. it also has a filter.. which is alive, but more concerned with water movement than actual filtration. light is from a LED bar. Tank is obviously open top. I have a CFL at the side that comes on an hour before the main lights.

its doing quite well.. only issue is a little Diatomaceous algae growing on some of the plants.. but im sure this will resolve itself in due course. fish and plants all doing well so far.

Fish are:

12 Leopard Danios.
15 Zebra Danios
24 Odessa Barbs
23 Gold Barbs.

Plants.. i'll need to come back to in another post. but they're all relatively simple.

I intend having a fair number of emergent plants too.. made simpler as the LHS is next to a window that gets good light all year round. but ive not really thought much about that at this early stage.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Interesting build and nice looking tank, thanks for posting!

I use a somewhat similar technique for planted tanks for my shell dwelling cichlids. These little fish love to dig in sand, so imagine the slate replaced with fine sand, and the plants in soil "islands" as in your tank.

Many people worry about using soil in aquaria, fearing a mess. There are a lot of creative ways to get around this problem, even with digging fish.

And I agree on your fish selection, especially the gold barbs. These common fish are overlooked by "serious" hobbyists.


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## mik778866 (Nov 13, 2014)

Beautiful


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## ct60g (Jan 1, 2016)

Very cool looking, nice work! 

I'm curious - have you noticed your barbs picking at the plants at all? I wanted to get some gold barbs for my own tank, but was told they aren't good with plants. I would love to know how it goes, maybe I can still pick up some gold barbs for myself!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

My gold barbs don't bother the plants at all.


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## Eutexian (Mar 29, 2015)

Michael said:


> My gold barbs don't bother the plants at all.


same here.. if theres any picking at plants, its not the plants themselves I reckon. but algae. Ive not seen any bite marks at all.. or obviously healthy leaves torn asunder. I do give them a fairly varied diet including a dried food that is higher than standard in green stuff. plus blanched shelled peas. I would suggest that if the fish really are eating plants then their diet is lacking something.


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## ct60g (Jan 1, 2016)

That's awesome news! I'm gonna have to go pick some up!

On another note, Eutexian - where did you find those slate chips? I'd like to get some smaller slate pieces to attach some java fern plantlets to.


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## Eutexian (Mar 29, 2015)

Im in England and they came from a Homebase, in the garden centre part. They are generally used here for covering areas of ground to prevent weeds and to look decorative. so along the sides of garden paths, or around shrubs. you might find them in a similar sort of store, near gravel/chippings, paving stones and so on.

pretty ideal for the aquarium as they're completely inert, so are safe even in soft acidic water. you occasionally find veins of other minerals/metals in them, just discard those.


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## ct60g (Jan 1, 2016)

Awesome, thanks!


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