"This aquarium belongs to a gentleman who retired from his daily work and wanted to replace his old-style fish tank with a modern nature aquarium. Maintenance of the previous aquarium was very time-consuming and the constant battle with algae was very tiring, we, therefore, decided to make a complete rescape.
For the substrate, we choose to go with Tropica aquarium soil and small amounts of decorative sand, used in the foreground. Sand consists of a mixture of Dennerle Crystal Quartz sand and different variations of the sands from the hobby market. Stones were taken from a nearby mine which saved us a significant amount of money, due to the size of the tank and the fact that stones are one of the most expensive things in the hobby. For the hardscape, we chose 3 pcs. of red moor wood, mainly because this type of wood provides you with great details without too much effort.
The main goal of this rescape was to achieve a stable long-term nature aquarium with little to no maintenance required, on top of the routine water changes. That's why we went with plants in the easy and medium categories, focusing mainly on the easy ones. We also avoided stem plants, simply because easy-category stem plants require loads of trimming. We also set up a new easy maintenance routine, replacing the “bucket method” with the “hose, pump, bucket in the sink method”. The pump makes your maintenance routine quick and painless, I would highly recommend it to everyone with tanks above 60l."
Said Jan Marsal
