240 Liters Freshwater Planted Aquarium
Setup and photos by Pedro Mateus (Portugal)
Permission required for reproduction.
All rights reserved.
E-mail: pedro.mateus@gmail.com



Member of "The Aquatic Gardeners Association"
http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/

   Initial setup date: 03 September 2004
   Aquarium: MP Aquarien, Model Karat 120, 240 Liters, 120x40x50
   Substrat: AMTRA Plant Depot (2000 ml) plus 50 KG 5-6 cm river bed gravel 3-4 mm grains
   Filter: EHEIM Professionel II 2026 950 Liters/Hour
   Thermostat: JAGER Eheim Aquatics 3607, 200 W
   Lighting: 76W, 2x38W, Flora Sun Max Plant Growth and Tropic Sun 5500K Daylight (12 hours)
   Thermother: Digital (0.1 Celsius precision)

   Flora: Vallisneria, Anubias Barterri e Nana, Microsorium Pteropus,
   Echinodorus Bleheri and Hygrophila Polysperma
   Fauna: 3 Cory, 1 Cory Albina, 2 Ancistrus, 1 Japonica





Aquarium and support stand setup.
Intake and outake rigid pvc pipe setup for EHEIM filter.
JAGER thermostat fiting





EHEIM 2026 filter setup. Two sponges and two filter material layers, one, mechanical filtration filled with  EHEIM EHFI Mech (hollow cilindric ceramics) and another, for biological filtration filled with EHEIM Substrat (bacteria supporting balls). Filter includes priming aid, filtering debit visual indicator and quick safe release of pipes. Flexible pvc pipes installed connecting to the intake and outake rigid pvc pipes already installed.




15 KG river rocks and 40 KG river bed gravel (3-4 mm grains) were washed and boiled.
For some details approx. 5 KG of 1mm fine gravel and 1 KG of coarsers gravel (10-12mm) were also used.
A very thin layer of gravel was layed just to cover the bottom glass prior to the fertile substrat layer addition.



 
Light setup and first test. 76W, 2x38W, Flora Sun Max Plant Growth and Tropic Sun 550K Daylight.
Electrical setup with power surge enabled extension cords and automatic 24 Hrs timer for lights.




2000 ml fertile layer substrat from AMTRA Plant Depot.
Additional root fertilizer and iron supplements were inserted during plantation.




Rocks and 5-6 cms gravel layers setup. Rocks were setup and medium thick gravel layer so that a upper gravel layer will make them more natural and burried looking.






Plant setup. Vallisneria (central, in front of thermostat), Anubias Barterri Nana (front section after the large rocks on the front left side), Microsorium Pteropus (back right corner), Echinodorus Bleheri (back section after Vallisneria) and Hygrophila Polysperma (left right corner close to the the filter intake)




Water filling (dechlorinated with Waterlife Haloex). Low flow filling with no impact on gravel surface.




Lots of 02 bubbles cluttered all over the glass after the initial water filling.




One day after filling. Mosy of the 02 bubbles are gone. Black cardboard fitted on the back.



 





Details on plants and rocks.






Details on one Japonica shrimp and two Ancistrus.



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Setup and photos by Pedro Mateus (Portugal)
Permission required for reproduction. All rights reserved. E-mail: pedro.mateus@gmail.com