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00:02 Alex: Hi, I'm Alex, and this is Tank Tested. Earlier this year, I got a massive aquarium from Custom Aquariums. I designed it for this space in my living room. I wanted it tall enough that I could peer into it while standing up. So the rim of this tank is six feet off the ground. I love it. And at 150 gallons, it is the largest aquarium I've ever owned. But it's been months since I last shared it with you, and at that time it was empty. I've actually had this tank running for more than four months now, but what you're looking at right now was day one, just 24 hours after planting. And it already brightens up my living room but it doesn't yet have any fish in it, that will be the next video on this channel. For now, we're looking at the plants and the hardscape. We'll take a look at the front of this tank in detail in just a moment. First, I want to take you all the way around the whole set up. This tank actually acts as a beautiful divider between my eventual fish nook and the rest of my living room. I designed it to be a beautiful centerpiece from the three sides, including the back. Here you can see hints of my living room peeking through the aquarium.
01:36 Alex: It captures the eye as soon as you walk in my front door and has been a calming force in my life the last few months as we've all suffered through a very different day-to-day existence. But enough stalling, let's take a closer look. The most prominent feature of this design is the wood bridge. I wanted to create a space where you could see straight through the tank, I'll explain a bit more about this approach in a moment. As we continue down the fallen log, we come across a big patch of plants and some more wood. There are also a few very oddly placed rocks which stick out just a little bit.
02:22 Alex: They're there by necessity rather than design. Some of the wood I used was so buoyant that four months later, I still have a few small rocks to weigh them down. These huge rocks weigh at least 10 pounds and were barely holding the wood in place. The stand out of this setup is the wood bridge that connects my two islands. I owe the inspiration for this design to three of the best aquascapers in the world, John Pini, Hiep Hong and Steven Chong. All three sat down and talked through my layout with me and gave me some incredible advice. Let me know if you'd like to see those conversations in the comments below. If there's enough interest, I'll post them in the next few weeks.
03:16 Alex: The fallen log is a huge piece of Malaysian driftwood, my favorite type of wood. I've had this piece in various tanks for at least five years. All of the small cracks and weathering really bring character to the wood, and I love how it forms multiple windows to the other side of the tank; above the log, through the log and under it, as well. The real behind the scenes magic of this scape is where the fallen log meets the center island. All the wood to the left is quite different from my main piece, but I've worked to disguise that with plants, allowing the eye to imagine that this is just one large log covered in plant life.
04:07 Alex: Speaking of plants, I think it's time to give them their due. All the plants in this tank were provided to me by Ultum Nature Systems. I put a call into them and boy did they over-deliver. I wanted a tank that was low maintenance, wouldn't require CO2 and relied heavily on rise-on plants like Java fern, Anubias and Bucephalandra. The team at UNS sent me an amazing selection. In the center of the tank is a large mass of narrow leaf Java fern. I super glued it directly to my wood but very quickly the Java fern attached itself. I also used a large collection of Anubias in the shadowy areas of the bridge. On the right side of the tank, I used a lot of UNS's Trident Leaf Java Fern. Sprinkled throughout the tank are various forms of Bucephalandra, another slow growing rise-on plant that doesn't require a substrate for its roots.
05:13 Alex: When I sent UNS my plant list, I emphasized that I didn't want any boos that was collected from the wild, as boos is not sustainably harvested, and the hobby is leading to its extinction in the wild. They sent me a nice collection of plants that are very clearly farmed, which I really appreciate. I also wanted a few species of creeps for the very bottom of my tank. I went with them because I thought they could handle the low light levels you get two feet down in an aquarium. And they've done very well. I also love Tiger Lotus, and you can see it in the center of this shot. I think they bring an incredible pop of color and a really special leaf shape to larger acquascapes.
06:07 Alex: Before we move on to the other side of the tank, I want to linger on the filtration of this aquarium. Custom Aquariums built into this set up an overflow as well as two outflows that pump water from the sump below. I love this design and it works wonderfully for me, but I wanted to minimize its presence in the tank. So I designed by scape intentionally and placed Java fern around the inflow and outflow, and they're already doing a great job of disguising the plumbing that keeps this tank running.
06:45 Alex: The last major thing I wanna point out before I move on is the substrate. I used a white pool filter sand for the base of my aquarium as I really wanted the tank to brighten up the room. Within the two islands, I used UNS contra-soil to provide nutrients to my plants.
07:07 Alex: As we move on to the back of the tank, I want to tease one of my favorite views of the scape; the short end of my tank, a view that allows you to look through five feet of water. But we'll come back to that in a moment. First, let's explore the back side of this tank. This side is definitely the B side, it's not a strong a composition but it's still a wonderful view. From this side, the fallen log bridge looks quite a bit different, it's darker and more cave-like. You can still see through but because so much of the wood is in shadow, it really recedes from view. From this side you can also see a few pieces of wood more prominently than before. There's a piece of Malaysian driftwood that's just peeking above the bridge and a second piece of my new wood that drops to the aquarium floor. I had to weight that piece down with a bag of lava rock to keep it in place, it took several months for it to lose its buoyancy.
08:14 Alex: Since I didn't mention this before, the rock in this tank is Elephant Stone and I published a whole video about how I selected it. It's a very dense rock with a quite light coloration. It's also much chunkier than most rocks I've worked with before. As a result, you can really tell where each stone ends and the next begins. Overcoming this with lush plants is on my to-do list, but it's certainly the weak point of this acquascape, both on the back side and the front. The only stem plant in this tank is also visible on this side. It is Water Wisteria. The leaf form you see here is its immersed form, but within a few weeks it started putting out submassed growth which is a good deal more delicate.
09:07 Alex: Now, I wanna wrap up this first look at my tank, only 24 hours after planting with one of my favorite views; a look down the length of the aquarium. This is five feet of rock, wood and plants. The reflections on the glass are amazing. You can see so much of the tank from this view, and when the fish are added, it will be incredible to watch them swim five feet uninterrupted. If only I didn't have these white rocks weighing down my wood, they are an eyesore but that'll be removed eventually.
09:51 Alex: I am so pleased to have such a beautiful tank in this center of my living room, but something is still missing, fish. The tank is pretty but without a bit of movement, it doesn't truly look alive. Luckily, I have my fish and they are ready to be added to the tank, but that's a story for the next video. If you wanna see what fish I add to this tank, please hit this subscribe button. I also want to thank my Patreon members for their support, as well as Custom Aquariums and Ultum Nature Systems for the beautiful tank and these stunning plants. With that, I will see you next time.
