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This shop is,
likely, one of the most interesting
places you
can visit in Rome and
its
surroundings.
Its owner,
Costantino Orlandi is a long term – highly experienced – aquarium
enthusiast (and so he’s
much more than just
another
shop keeper)
who, following hit personal taste, decided not to deal (do business) on
the marine side of the hobby (on
which I happen to agree, sorry George!). His shop is always crammed
with high quality fishes (even
though he
mainly
focuses on
Central
/
South
American fishes
- to my surprise).
When in need of a suggestion, looking for an “odd” fish or simply feeling
the
need to have a chat on fishes do NOT miss to visit
BLU & VERDE.
Costantino’s site – for evident reasons – is in Italian and here, under
his permission (to use
the his pictures and
text),
I translated
an article to show you all
of you how he
works, enjoy
his work and ask you not to miss a visit to his place if you ever come to
Rome!
My swamp
tank
This article
as been published on n° 35 of italian magazine: "Il mio acquario"
(My Aquarium)
August 2001 by Sprea Editors – Milan (Italy).
Tanks
of every kind
and
size are getting more and more common
as time passes by. Very rarely does someone
“dare” to make
a
(small) pond and very few go for a swamp tank
to say the truth.
Why? I really don’t
know, but here I’d like to share with you how I built (simply
and cheaply)
my own swamp tank. First of all what is a “swamp tank”? It’s simply a tank
(could it be different?!?!) with an area (above
the
water level)
dedicated to epiphytic,
swamp and terrestrial plants.
It is
a kind of
“integrated system”
which is
a bit more
complicated (and “fussy”
as far as its needs
are concerned)
to handle. My aim
was to create
a swamp tank
dedicated (mainly) to fish and plants from East Africa. Here we go:
The following pictures were taken while works were in progress:
The, self-made, tank had
the dimensions
of a rather big hobbyist tank measuring
100
x
40
x
60
cm,
while the back “wall”
was 2,4 meters high.
It was
supported by
two alluminum
rods
fixed (by “stoppers screw”)
on
the wall. Cork “slices” are glued to the back-wall (mixed
with randomly
shaped flat
ardesia rocks). The whole
construction was left
to dry for
24 hours.
Pics while
the artifact is drying
Light is provided
by two HQL
lamps (125 Watt each), one
of them being
dedicated to
the aquarium
while
the second one
is for
the aerial
part. A canister filter (water flow: 400 lt/hr) has been chosen along with
a heating cable (100 Watt); at this regard consider the tank is located in
my shop (in a conditioned environment, humidity level never lower than
60%). Despite the filter may look “under-sized” again, please, consider
that, as it
happens in “open air” ponds,
a
lot of
nitrifying
bacteria will settle in
the
heated
bottom, thus helping
the
filter unit to handle wastes. Substrate is
a
mix of peat,
silica sand, humus and powdered laterite with a thin layer of
“brick-coloured” aquarium gravel
as the top layer.
The bottom has been aquascaped on two different levels.
Once the filter has been turned on the
next
step was to add
the
aquarium plants, using the “humid” way
-
filling the tank with as much water as is needed to cover
the
substrate
and
then adding the
plants
in place
according to
a previously
decided layout. This method
will work if you know well the plants you’re going to
add
and allows you to - easily – change your plans should anything go wrong
(or, simply, you change your mind!). Only after
this step is fnished
and all
plants
are
in place -
the tank is
filled with
water.
Since my target was an African
creek I decided to go with the following plants: a fair amount of Anubias
(nana, barteri, lanceolata, gracilis) plus some Bolbitis heudelotii (tied
to the cork wall).
In
the aerial (above water level) area my choice has been: Tillandsia (an
epiphytic
plant with long fucsia flowers), two Phalaenopsis (orchids, different in
colour), a Photos (Scindapsus aureus) with roots dipped into water, two
(halves) coconut shells hosting a Croton (Codiadeum variegatum pictum) and
a Maranta. I
have had a lot
of trouble with Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum capillus veneris): the plant
which was added at the
very
beginning of
this "creation" just decided to go the other way and generate a new plant
near the water surface
in a more
suitable (to actual plant’s needs)
place! Last addition has been a small Madgascan “palm” (a Pachypodium sp.,
which actually
is a
succulent plant endemic to Madagascar,
and not
a palm!)
And now, last but not least,
the
fishes: 2
Panthodon buchholzi (aka Butterly fish) a group of 20 Phenacogrammus
interruptus (Congo Tetra), a pair of Pelvicachromis pulcher (the
well-known kribs: they spawned many times) while the cleaning duty is
performed by two Synodontis
nigriventris, (up-side down syno).
Now, let's discuss
how I
take
care
of this
tank: I feed
the fish twice a day (using
a number of
different
foods) while
the
aerial/epiphytic
plants undergo a “misting” once a day (with a water mix containing 30% R.O
water).
Water
changes – 50% of the entire
water volume
– are performed every two weeks. Filter is serviced only when clogging is
visible
(i.e.
reduced flow!), and the gravel is NEVER cleaned.
For
this purpose a small grain substrate is used to prevent dirt being
trapped and, at the same time, allowing
bacteria
to thrive. As a
conclusion, this
tank is a challenge
for
all of us
involved (also
in gardening since almost all kind of plants can be kept along the “pool”),
and do not forget that roots falling into
the
water help
to keep nitrates
under control.
Costantino Orlandi’s shop is:
BLU & VERDE s.r.l.
·
Via Aurelia Km 43,400- Cerenova 00050 (RM)
·
Phone/Fax 06-99326272
·
Opening (all year long) hours: AM 9.00 - 13.30 PM 16.30 -
20.00
Sunday AM
10.00 - 13.00
Closed on thuesday afternoon
English
spoken
So far so good. I agree on almost all the ideas
Costantino has put in place (and appreciated
most of his tips) while building/running this tank (btw: the idea of
setting up my own
swamp tank – even if it’s way smaller –
originated from his
work)
but it
is needless
to say that
the
best evidence this tank is CORRECTLY KEPT comes from its own
appearance!
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