December 2007 Tank of the Month: Erik Ostrander - Library

December 2007 Tank of the Month
A Petite Forest
by Erik Ostrander

Introduction and Background

My name is Erik Ostrander (Apistaeasy). When I was born my parents put an aquarium next to my crib. I don't remember anything of it except from what I see in pictures. Eighteen years after that first crib experience I skipped church one Sunday and bought a 10 gallon aquarium setup at Wal-Mart. I kept African cichlids, and then eventually South Americans in a 65 gallon tank. After getting married my wife had the idea that a fish tank would be fun and that's when I discovered plants. I struggled with plants due to a complete lack of knowledge available from the LFS. That's when I discovered online freshwater plant forums.

With these new sources of knowledge available only from online forums, my planted tank began to blossom. I focused on South American plants and fauna until my collectoritis took over. That's when I decided I needed to convince my wife to let me setup more aquariums. My wife reluctantly conceded, and I jumped in head first.

Since becoming fully submersed in aquarium plants, I have grown to maintaining five planted tanks. I also started up Utah's first plant focused club, the Nature Aquarium Club of Utah, or NACU for short. The club has given me an opportunity to share my knowledge of plants and express myself artistically through new setups.

When I'm not elbows deep in an aquarium I go to school at the University of Utah where I am studying Physics. I also try to get as much time as possible to go climbing, my biggest passion for the last ten years

About the Tank

When my collectoritis took over my 36 gal. bow I new it was time to get another tank setup. However, there really were no tanks out there that I really liked, except for ADA which was too expensive for a college student. I decided to make my own tank.

I began researching tank making online and found some really good resources. The tank went together without too many problems, specially for an amateur tank maker. When I was done I made a thread on APC detailing how I made the tank, but lost all the pictures when my laptop needed to be re-formatted and the picture hosting site went down.

As I became more exposed to aquascaping techniques I found myself tend more towards the nature style. I believe aquariums are a way to artistically express ones perspective on nature. I always envisioned a steep limestone cliff in a rain forest with vegetation covering everything for this setup, and that's where I began thinking about my layout.

A look from afar

Tank Specifications

Tank Dimensions/Volume: 13" x 13" x 13" Custom made. I treat it as 8 gallons
Lighting: Current Sattelite dual, 2 x 18 watts 10,000K/6700K 9hrs/day
Filtration System: Zoo Med 501 with Seachem Purigen
C02 supplementation: Hydor Green NRG Exclusive (pressurized) w/ glass diffuser and Excel
Substrate: Eco Complete with a layer of white sand that got buried
Fauna List: Corydora pygmaeus, Microrasbora erythromicron, Parotocinclus maculicuada, Neocaridina heteropoda var. red, and Neritina reclivata
Plant List: Anubias nana 'petite', Anubias coffeefolia, Hemianthus callitrichoides, Lobelia cardinalis, Ranalisma rostratis, Isoetes sp., Crinium sp., and Microsorum pteropus 'narrow'

Inverts lost in the Forest

Tank Maintenance, Fertilizer System and Water Chemisty

I have never enjoyed doing water changes - they have always been the one thing I dread with aquariums. So, I kept water changes to a minimum. I've gone up to two months without doing a water change on this little cube, but I usually change around 50% of the water around every 3-4 weeks.

For the most part I use PPS to dose all my tanks. I use a mixture of RO and tap water to maintain a medium soft water. However, I haven't tested any tank parameters in several months. I judge nutrient levels by plant and algae growth. I typically dose based on plant and algae growth. If I get hair algae I decrease phosphate, if I get GSA I increase phosphate or decrease nitrate, etc…I have been fairly successful with this method of fertilizing - I also grow significantly easier plants now than I used to. Currently I am using the pFertz line of fertilizers with even better success - and it's so easy!

Initial Softscape Planning

Aquascaping Technique

I spent a lot of time figuring out what I wanted to do for this setup. I made threads on the local forum for input and even tried my hand at graphical representation using the powerful software Paint. To say the least, most of my ideas were only inside my head until I put it together with the basic idea of a small forest of A. petite twisting through the tank and up the rock being maintained throughout the lifetime of the tank. The only changes from my original plan were a focus on slow growing plants instead of stems, and using Ranalisma rostrata on the left foreground instead of Utricularia graminifolia (which I've never been able to grow successfully).

Hardscape materials are hard to come by in Salt Lake City. I drove to every rock company in the valley and no one had anything I liked. I ended up with a little piece of lace rock from the LFS. Lace rock is collected here in Utah by the truck load and used mostly for the African cichlid lover. The piece I selected, after hours of looking, was a relatively small piece mottled with little pockets and even a little cave. I placed as much A. petite into the holes as I could, and never once used glue or thread.

Originally I had a section of white sand at the front of the tank for a beach effect. The first time I did a water change I forgot about the sand and it quickly got buried. Oh well, there went my white sand experiment. Since most of the plants are slow growers I haven't ever really had to trim. Occasionally I would go through the tank and thin out the A. petite, but that's really about it.

Darker Side of the Aquascape

Black background

My Greatest Challenge

My biggest challenge on the initial setup was getting the carpets cleaned; my wife would not let me set the tank up until the carpets had been cleaned. Once the carpets were cleaned everything followed suit.

The most difficult plant in the aquascape was originally Utricularia graminifolia. I tried many different approaches in growing this plant, but all failed and I had to choose another plant to put in its place. I stumbled on Ranalisma rostrata quite by accident, but it prooved to be a worthy substitute. Ranalisma still challenged me, but with an increase in flow I saw much greater growth.

Additionally, for whatever reason, my HC is much smaller than other HC I've seen. I am always surprised at how large everyone's HC looks in their tanks.

December 2007 Tank of the Month - "A Petite Forest"

Final Thoughts

The biggest thing I have learned while aquascaping is that nothing ever goes as planned, and that's the beauty of the nature aquarium. Aquariums can become an artistic outlet with nearly limitless outcomes. I really enjoy the creative process of designing a new tank, and then seeing if the nature you've put into a box will cooperate. However, it is also important to study intensively.
With proper knowledge of equipment, plant species, and water control all the ideas you have in your head can come much easier. There is always more to learn when dealing with nature. That's what I love about nature aquariums, is that there is always a new way to express ones perspective and new information to help you express your perspective more truly.