NASH January 2009 Meeting – Kevin Christy’s 75G Set-up

2008 was very successful year for Nature Aquarium Society of Houston. The Wabi-kusa presentation, Invertebrates presentation by Eric Do, The San Marcos Collection Trip and the great NASH representation at the AGA Convention 2008 were just a few of the accomplishment for NASH in 2008. Nature Aquarium Society of Houston started 2009 with a bang. The January meeting was graciously hosted by Kevin.The plan for this get together was to do a planted tank set up demonstration for some of the newer members of our club. Luis Navarro along with help from Kevin decided to do a mangrove style aquascape inspired by AquaJournal July 1996 Vol.25 “Blessing of the Mangrove”. Luis is an accomplished aquascaper and winner of several aquascaping contests, so his experience was really vital in this demonstration.

Kevin had actually started preparing for this project since November of 2008. The 75G  aquarium Kevin choose for this project has 1/2″ thick glass with no center brace. The tank was drilled from the bottom so there was no unsightly hardware hanging in the tank. Kevin is using an Eheim 2260 for filtration with an in line AquaMedic 1000 Co2 Reactor for Co2 diffusion on this tank. The stand used for this tank was hand painted by Kevin and he had done a great job. This was going to be a open top tank , so Kevin had two 150W Coralife  pendants suspended from the ceiling.

Luis started aquascaping the tank by spreading a large bag of  Power Sand Special M  as the bottom layer of the substrate. The next thing to go in were four bags of AquaSoil Amazonia II. After properly leveling the substrate, Luis started arranging the pre-soaked driftwood. As Luis was working on arranging the hardscape a team of NASH members was preparing Anubias and Marsilea. The arranged hardscape which consisted of a lot of separate pieces of driftwood was then tied together using wire ties. The finished hardscape had turned out excellent.

Kevin and Luis started planting the tank by first tying some Java moss to the wood. Luis then arranged the Anubias which was tied to small lava rock pieces using ADA Woodtight.  Some Bolbitis heudelotii ‘mini’ was then tied to driftwood. Blyxa japonica was planted around the base of the driftwood.

The next step was to plant the Marsilea sp foreground which would have been a very tedious task had it not been for the members who had already prepared the nodes for planting. Some Cryptocoryne spiralis was then planted in the background to finish the planting.  This tank is a great example of a minimalistic aquascape which would turn into a beauty as it matures.

Luis and Kevin spend some time answering all the questions which some of our newer members had about aquascaping and the planted aquarium hobby in general after filling up the tank. Kevin has still not decided on the livestock he wants to put in this tank. But he has promised us that he will keep us updated on the progress of this tank.

The NASH January meeting was a awesome start to another great year. The meeting had a great turnout and was a good opportunity to meet some old friends and to make some new ones.