GUIDE: Setting up your PLANTED Tank with BORNEOWILD

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So you have decided to start your Nature Planted Aquarium. First of all, congratulations. A Nature Planted Aquarium can be one of your most beautiful decoration at home, not mentioning the joy that you can derive by making it into a family fun activity.

Setting up and maintaining a Nature Planted Aquarium may seem daunting at first, but if you break it down and understand it through its various sub-systems, it is really, a simple affair. In this article, we bring you through a photo journal of setting up a Planted Aquarium, Step By Step, using BORNEOWILD Planted Aquarium System.

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Get Started
To get started, first gather all materials that you will need. Find a non exhaustive list below:

• Glass Tank
• Cabinet and Hood if required
• Canister of adeqate capacity
• Light set
• Layout material such as rocks and driftwoods
• CO2 System
• Substrate System
• Accessories such as tools.
• List of plants and the concept that you will want to achieve

It is easier to work on things all at once rather then partial installations.

Filter
Choose one with adequate flow rate and within your budget. If you are connecting a chiller, the filter should have a higher head as the hose distance is longer.



Light Set
The type of lighting depends on the height of your tank and the types of plants you intend to grow. With tank height of 2ft and above, it is always good to go for lighting system with both Metal Halide (MH) and T5. The MH will be able to provide sufficient intensity for bottom plants to grow, and yet, allowing you to maximize or minimize use of the higher powered bulbs.

With tank height of 2ft and below, you can either go for T5 or FL (Flourescent) systems.

Color of the bulb plays a good part on the color of your plants as well. To grow redder plants, you can choose to go for high kelvin, from 8000K to 10000K.



CO2 System
After getting your filter and light, the next to look at would be the co2 system. CO2 is essential for growth of plants in a planted tank besides all other factors. You will need a CO2 gas tank with a solenoid regulator, bubble counter, check valves, and either a external CO2 Reactor or a internal Diffuser.

DIY CO2 injection method such as the yeast method does not provide constant and stable supply of CO2, so for best result, invest in a proper system.



Substrate System
Gravel and base fertilizers is another important part to the success of a planted aquarium as it is where the plants will grow on. Provides a rich and easy medium and your plants will grow well.

In a typical Substrate System, you can broadly categorise this into a 3-parts setup. You will need the soil, the porous medium, and the additives.

Right at the bottom is the porous medium which can be anything from pumice chips, lava rock chips or other commercially available products. This porous layer allows an active soil eco-system to take place and provides oxygen for the roots. Natural decomposition can also take place whereby nutrients are regenerated.



Next come the additives from BorneoWild, which is made available in a 4-parts system, and the function is basically:
(Part 1) BORNEOWILD BALANCE : Minerals
(Part 2) BORNEOWILD BOOST P : Nutrients
(Part 3) BORNEOWILD BACTER CRYSTAL : Soil Bacterial
(Part 4) BORNEOWILD BACTER ENERGY : Bacterial Food



Layout Material
Plenty of driftwoods and rocks are available in all the LFS around. Depending on tank size and design intent, select the size and shape you like. Just bear in mind that some wood will need to be soak/boiled to make them sink, and some will leech yellow tanins. For shapy driftwood, you can always fork out slightly more for the BorneoWild Driftwoods.

Some rocks contains lime or other minerals which could raise the pH/KH of water. Sometimes, this is undesirable as pH of planted tank is best kept in the range of 6.5-6.8. If the rocks have opaque white streaks, it is possible one that will leech minerals.



Layout Tools
There are many aquascaping tools available at different quality and price range. In BorneoWild, more then 25 types of tools for various purposes are made available. The tools are basically designed to make planting and trimming different types of plants easy.




For more information of various tools, please CLICK HERE >>

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Laying the Porous Medium
Spread the porous medium thinly over the base of the tank. If you have a deep tank, got for a thicker layer. A flat layer of 1cm thick is good for a 60cm tank.

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Laying the Substrate Additive
Sprinkle the BorneoWild Substrate evenly across the top of the porous medium.

For a 60x45cm tank, we would recommend this amount:
(Part 1) BORNEOWILD BALANCE : Minerals (1 Bottle)
(Part 2) BORNEOWILD BOOST P : Nutrients (1 Bottle)
(Part 3) BORNEOWILD BACTER CRYSTAL : Soil Bacterial (1/2 Bottle) You can use the other half for future maintenance as it can be dosed directly into the water column as cycling bacteria too.
(Part 4) BORNEOWILD BACTER ENERGY : Bacterial Food (1/2 Bottle)

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Tidying up

After you are done, its time to tidy up te sides of the tank. Use a BORNEOWILD SAND FLATTENER to push the porous medium at the viewable sides in by 1-2cm. This will hide the medium completely when soil is poured in.

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Pouring in the Soil

Time to pour in the soil!! Use a small tub to pour soil gently on the sides that you just pushed the porous medium inwards.

Remem to leave some soil for touching up after laying out.

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Creating the Slope

Once all the soil are poured in, you can start to shape the terraces and slopes. For an aquascape with better perspective, try a 4:1 gradient. Soil in front of the tank can be tidied up into a straight line with a SAND FLATTENER if it is more appealing to you.

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Layout out

Start positioning the driftwoods into your desired aquascape. Remember to leave enough planting space at the back and front. Next come the rocks. Use the rocks cleverly to hold up the slope. You can also use small pieces of rock and conceal it with moss later on.

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Final touch of Soil

Once all the rocks and wood are positioned properly, use the remaining soil to beef up the terrain. For example, you could make the left and right sides higher if you are going for a valley concept.

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Planting

First define your middle ground line, which can be done suitably using MOSS ROCKS or small ANUBIAS plants. Place them strategically around the base of driftwoods, around or over the rocks.

Next, you can start adding water slowly to wet the substrate. This will make the planting easy.

Start planting the foreground as it is the lowest level. As the water level goes up and the soil becomes wet, you can then insert plants at the other level from mid to background.

Cut the long roots of plants to 2-3cm near the crown. This reduces unnecessary rotting of roots and also encourages new roots to grow faster.