Fusion Aquascape Flooding

As promised, on our return from Dorset it was finally time for the ‘Fusion’ Aquascape flooding. I’d been working on the new aquascape for a couple of months and started this out using a method called the Dry Start Method that I had never tried before. Essentially you grow some of the plants, especially those that are supposed to create a carpeting effect, in an emmersed state for several weeks before flooding the tank. This allows them to get established, send out lots of roots and generally gives them a head start in life as they have an unlimited supply of CO2 to get them growing.

I don’t know how well it will work yet, but the tank was ready for flooding before we went away. I thought I’d leave it another 10 days or so though so that I could keep an eye on it once it was flooded, so left the final aquascape flooding until we returned from our holiday.

I’ve posted several updates about the progress during the Dry Start Phase, and the plants were growing well, I was even sure that the slow-growing Eleocharis had some new shoots showing too. Things seemed to survive 10 days or so while we were way as well. Some of the Eleocharis had turned brown while we were away and there were also some bits of moss or liverwort growing on some of the rocks. There’s nothing wrong with this though, they may even survive once the tank is flooded an add extra vegetation to the aquascape.

Growth on the Rocks

Growth on the Rocks

I ordered a few new plants from Aqua Essentials on Monday and they arrived on Tuesday as planned so everything was ready for the big day and the first filling of the tank with water. The new plants went in. These included:

  • Ludwigia palustris to hopefully eventually hide the filter box a little.
  • Alternanthera cardinalis variegata to provide a burst of colour.
  • Clinopodium brownei.
  • Hydrocotyle tripartita.
  • Taxiphyllum barbieri (Java Moss).
  • Anubius barteri

These didn’t take too long to plant and already the aquascape was taking shape.

Fusion Aquascape

Fusion Aquascape

So now it was time for the aquascape flooding.

This went surprisingly smoothly and before long the tank was full of water and we finally had the beginning of an aquascape. I was able to turn on the pump that pumps water across the top of the LED lighting for the first time ever, I was able to turn on the filter and the heater too all seemed to work OK. I really should have filled the tank with water and tested all of these components before starting on the aquascape, but I didn’t so it was a relief to see that it all worked. Now we have to leave it to settle in and see what happens. No doubt there will be plenty of fine tweaking and changes to be made, there’ll probably be a battle with diatoms, algae and all sorts of other things, but that’s all part of the fun and part of the challenge.

 

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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