Aqua Forest Aquarium, truely amazing....

[Dupont666]

Has anyone tried to create something like this?

trying to setup something as stunning as this must be difficult:



looks like they are creating a landscape but underwater.



go here for more:

http://www.adana-usa.com

[groucho]

How big is that, and how do you stop the dreaded algae blocking everything out?

[The Curn]

They are amazing. God knows how long that would take. A mate of mine spends hours on his and it looks nothing like that even though he spends so much time encouraging the plant life.

I'd like one, one day but can't have one at the moment...

[Boozy]

The secret is to use CO2, decent substrate (not just gravel) that feeds the plants, heat coils that allow the nutrients to reach the roots of the plant and then keep the bio load low, not pack the tank with fish. You'll notice they only have Cardinal Tetras, not masses of other fish. Finally, keep the flow as low as possible, most people have pumps that turn 3 -4 times the tanks volume which tropical plants don't like.

The algae is kept low by having decent lighting that doesn't promote its growth, it's more of a yellow colour but the cost you pay is not having fish that look as bright - or you can use halide lighting.

[Furyous]

What Boozy said, except excessive plant growth strips out the nutrients that algae would otherwise use, basically starving them.

Im in the process of trying to find the middle ground with my current tank, in that its full of plants but doesnt need cutting back every other day. Ie , not excess light or CO2 injection, but heavily planted and dosed with liquid C02 and ferts.

For the most informative fora on planted tanks please have a look here :

http://ukaps.org/forum/

And take particular note of some of the tanks in the planted tank gallery.

[SS HSV]

Ah yes the science behind the tank which most people don't see. The c02 systems work well as does ozone in the corrent doses. That tank is amazing. It must have taken years to get the ecological ballance right.

Would make a nice screen saver