Planted Amano Aquarium: From Start to Finish

I stumbled upon this really useful article today that details the development of one of Takashi Amano's planted aquariums from start to finish with pictures. It's called "A Path to the Finished Aquarium." Although it doesn't start from the very beginning (including the setup of the tank), it shows how to trim stem plants to encourage bushy growth and how an aquascape grows and matures over the course of two months. Also helpful, it includes all information about the aquarium, including lighting type, strength, and duration and fertilization strategies. Here are the first few entries.

May
31^st, 2005 (7^th day)

A week from planting. Although half of the tank water was changed daily, the water still looked somewhat cloudy. The growth of stem plants was still sparse.

June
8^th, 2005 (15^th day)

15 days has passed since planting. The water has become clear. Glossostigma and Echinodorus tenellus have developed runners and Willow Moss on driftwood is growing steadily.

June
15^th, 2005 (22^nd day)

The first trimming on the 22^nd day from planting. The stem plants planted at the same time to the same height were beginning to show a difference in their growth depending on their types. Trimming became necessary to keep their growth in balance.

Check out the rest of the entries and the detailed aquarium specifications in the article.

Nano Aquarium Update

I figured I'd give a quick update on the nano aquarium I started a few months ago. I've since decided to add some fish, and along with them a nano filter. I went with one from RedSea and it's perfect for a nano sized aquarium. For fish, I went with Boraras maculatus, a type of microrasbora, also known as the dwarf rasbora. I have one male and two females. These fish are tiny and three fit comfortably in this one gallon aquarium. They like soft, acidic water, so I've added some peat to the filter (which has plenty of room for adding your own media) which is why the water is tinged brown. The moss has grown the fastest of any of the plants in there, and I've actually taken out quite a bit to keep it looking somewhat neat. Everything else is growing very slowly in the low light.

A word of warning about these fish though, they are so small (less than a centimeter in length) that I nearly lost one within minutes of putting it into the tank. I nearly had a heart attack as I saw it struggling inside the filter intake tube trying not to get sucked into the impeller. I ripped the filter's plug from the wall as fast as I could and luckily the little guy swam out unharmed. After that, I cut up a filter media bag and wrapped it around the strainer filter intake to prevent further accidents.

Underwater Aquarium Waterfall Video

For everyone looking for a video of the underwater waterfall concept in motion, here it is! It comes from Derk of Aquatic Quotient who said it took him 3 failed tries to get it to work, but work it does. Congrats Derk!

Understanding Full Spectrum Aquarium Lighting

Picking the right lighting for your planted aquarium can be intimidating and confusing. There are so many options to choose from, and so many ways to measure these options. The first step to understanding full spectrum aquarium lighting is to understand what type light your plants need, and what the measurements mean.

Color temperature, measured in Kelvins, is often the easiest measure to find, after wattage. It is a measure of the overall color of the light as it appears to the human eye. Lower color temperatures appear reddish while higher temperatures appear bluish with white in the middle of the range. Often, a temperature between 5000K and 10,000K is recommended for a planted aquarium. However, two bulbs with the same color temperature may in fact be emitting very different light, some more useful to plants than others. This has to do with the different wavelengths of light, and explains why relying on color temperature alone can be misleading.

Visible light is made up of many different wavelengths, mixed together. It's the absorption or reflection of particular wavelengths that produce colors. Plants require certain wavelengths of light to carry out photosynthesis using chlorophyll. The light that chlorophyll absorbs is used to power photosynthesis. By examining the wavelengths of light absorbed by chlorophyll, we can begin to understand the needs of our aquatic plants.

As shown above, plants need the majority of the light to be around 400-450nm and 650-675nm (or blue and red light). The blue light is used for leaf growth, and promotes bushy, compact growth, while red light is mainly used for flowering and strong stems. They reflect most green light, thus explaining why leaves are green.

Armed with this information, we know that any aquarium light will need to produce large amounts of blue and red light. Most bulb manufacturers include the spectral output graph of their products on or in the packaging. Examine this output graph and try to find a bulb that matches up with the spectral absorption graph for chlorophyll. The closer the match, the better the bulb will be for your plants. For example, the following graph is for a GE 9325K bulb.

The bulb matches up fairly well, although the spike at 600nm is not really red enough (650-675nm) for a plant to fully benefit. The blue light spike is however beneficial, and the spike in greenish-yellow light will make the bulb look bright to the human eye.

Although you may not notice a major difference between bulbs, a mix between a color temperature that you like and a spectral output that your plants like will help create healthier plants and a healthier aquarium.

For more in-depth information on the science of full spectrum aquarium lighting, check out this discussion of aquarium lighting science and photosynthesis, or this aquarium light bulb comparison study. For more information on lighting metrics, check out this page on Kelvin, nanometers, PAR, and CRI.