Fishenthusiast's 30 Gallon Fern-Dominated Aquascape

[fishenthusiast]

My old tank thread is outdated, so it is time to create a new thread for my 30 gallon aquascape. There will be some large changes coming to this tank over the course of the next week. From my perspective, the tank was boring, and I was starting to lose interest. I want to have a tank that is truly low maintenance, looks aesthetically pleasing, and is unique. I could not achieve that with the jungle aquascape theme. As a result, I will have a fern-dominated aquascape full of Microsorum--there will also be some Anubias, Bucephalandra, and maybe a moss or two. At one point I did have a scape with many ferns, but there was a multitude of Crypts, Val, and Echinodorus. In addition, the ferns had a disease that caused them to develop galls. After throwing out all of the diseased ferns and doing a deep clean of the tank, I got some Windelov Fern to see if the disease was gone. 7 months later, and the Windelov Fern is growing normally with no problems. Besides having no substate-rooted plants, this tank will also have new hardscape and substrate. I will be taking out the Eco-Complete, and I will be replacing it with black sand. I want to have a nice group of Corydoras, so the Eco-Complete has to go--it was time for a new look anyway. The hardscape will include some nice tiger wood, as well as some dragon stone. Overall, this will be a nice low maintenance aquascape with a ton of greenery. I will have 8 different types of Microsorum. Contrasting the scape that had a ton of Narrow Leaf Java Fern, this scape will have more broader-leaved ferns to make the tank appear more lush and full. This tank should be ready by the end of the week. Stay tuned!

 

[fishenthusiast]

Over the weekend I set up the scape. The hardest part for me was netting all of the fish and scooping up all of the old substrate. This is the first time that I have broke down the tank since 2012, so it was interesting to go through the process again. I basically put the canister filter on life support to ensure no bacterial die off. The fish were held in a 5 gal bucket, along with the running filter and heater.

While taking out the old substrate, the room smelled of metal from all of the root tabs that had been disturbed. After putting in the new sand, hardscape, and attaching all of the plants, I had no problems putting the fish back in—the only exception was a rogue Amano Shrimp that decided to jump out of the net and on to the floor (luckily I saved the shrimp in time). I will add a bit more Narrow Leaf Java Fern, but the scape is pretty much complete. I will also be adding more Cardinal Tetras, and well as some Sterbai Corydoras as soon as I can get up to the fish store. Here are some pictures (next post):

 

[fishenthusiast]

FTS:

I have my Finnex Planted+ 24/7 dimmed to 30%, and am still utilizing pressurized CO2 and PPS-Pro ferts. This tank will take time to grow in, but it’ll be a nice scape to care for.

Livestock:

* X-Ray Pristella Tetras (underrated fish—lots of character in a nice shoal, and they are very active)
* Cardinal Tetras
* Amano Shrimp
* Assassin Snails
* Sterbai Corydoras (eventually)
* Cherry Barbs

Plants:

Microsorum pteropus
Microsorum pteropus “Windelov”
Microsorum pteropus “Narrow Leaf”
Microsorum pteropus “Needle Leaf”
Microsorum pteropus “Philippine”
Microsorum pteropus “Trident”
Microsorum pteropus “Durin Besar”
Microsorum pteropus “Thunder Leaf”
Anubias nana "petite"
Anubias nana
Anubias nana “Pinto”
Bucephalandra sp. Brownie Blue
Floating plants

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Looks beautiful, love that isolated scape look with the sand surrounding everything.

 

[Barliman]

Really nice work. That island should fill in nicely, and I like the idea of centering mostly on ferns.

 

[Aquariums420]

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous lay out! Wow great work!

 

[fishenthusiast]

Thanks for all of the compliments. The best part about this scape is that I have to do barely anything to it on a weekly basis. Fertilization and fish feeding do not take much time at all, and a water change takes about 30 minutes to do.