Creating a Beautiful Planted Aquarium for My Friend

A little underwater garden for a friend 🌿 Join me as we turn a 55-litre aquarium into a planted landscape, from the first substrate layers and wood-and-stone layout to planting, filling and getting the equipment running. A few days later, we return for a quieter look at the plants, clearer water and CO₂ bubbles. This build was made possible by equipment and materials kindly supplied by Charterhouse Aquatics, Aquarium Gardens, Fzone, Dennerle and Hygger. Thank you all for helping me create something special for a dear friend. These are our first impressions; when I'm back from Brazil in early November, I'll take a more detailed look at each piece of equipment and how it has been performing. THE KIT & SPONSORS • Charterhouse Aquatics — Dennerle Nano Scaper's Tank 55L: a compact aquarium with rounded front corners and room to build depth into the layout. https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/products/dennerle-nano-scapers-tank-aquarium-55l • Fzone — SOLO Nano light: an adjustable arm, app-controlled lighting, timer and gradual lighting ramps. https://fzaqua.com/collections/lighting/products/fzone-solo-nano-led-aquarium-light-full-spectrum-wrgb-app-controlled-lighting-for-planted-and-nano-tanks • Dennerle — Scaper's Flow: a compact hang-on external filter with accessible media and an adjustable lily-pipe outlet. https://dennerle.com/en/products/scapers-flow • Hygger — 2L CO₂ Generator Kit: a citric-acid-and-baking-soda system, with regulator, solenoid, bubble counter and diffuser. https://www.hygger-online.com/product/hygger-co2-generator-kit/ • Aquarium Gardens — substrates, wood, Hakkai stone, many of the plants and Dennerle Plant Care Pro fertiliser. Special thanks to Dave for helping choose and compose the hardscape. https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/ SUBSTRATES & HARDSCAPE — AQUARIUM GARDENS JBL Volcano Mineral and ADA Power Sand: https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/substrate-bottom-layer-128-c.asp DOOA Tropical River Soil: https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/ada-dooa-tropical-river-soil-2l-5277-p.asp Hakkai stone: https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/hakkai-stone-per-kg-6099-p.asp Dennerle Plant Care Pro (Aquarium Gardens fertiliser range): https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/aquarium-liquid-plant-food-b1fbanproducts171curpage-4-171-c.asp PLANTS — AQUARIUM GARDENS Myriophyllum matogrossense: https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/myriophyllum-mattogrossense-2307-p.asp Echinodorus 'Aquartica': https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/echinodorus-aquartica-4983-p.asp Echinodorus 'Reni': https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/echinodorus-reni---tropica-1-2-grow-5481-p.asp Staurogyne repens: https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/staurogyne-repens---tropica-1-2-grow-891-p.asp Taxiphyllum barbieri (Bogor/Java moss): https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/java-moss-taxiphyllum-barbieri-bogor-moss---portion-569-p.asp Myriophyllum sp. 'Guyana' also features in the planting. I added plants from my own collection, including Nymphaea sp. 'Goiás', Nymphaea sp. 'Peru Puerto Maldonado', Nymphaea gardneriana, Helanthium sp. 'Madeira', Helanthium angustifolius, Eriocaulon breviscapum, Echinodorus opacus '2009' and Myriophyllum sp. 'Roraima'. Additional Ludwigia inclinata and Staurogyne sp. 'Porto Velho' came from Maidenhead Aquatics, Woodbridge. Eleocharis montevidensis 'ADA' also adds height and movement. Nymphaea gardneriana was also planted in the midground, although this step wasn’t filmed or mentioned in the narration. The Dennerle Nano Heater Constant 50W was my gift to my friend: https://dennerle.com/en/products/nano-heater-constant Clear water is only the beginning: we'll continue water changes, testing and maintenance while the aquarium and biological filtration settle in, before adding fish. Which detail of the layout is your favourite, and what fish would you add to this aquarium? Let me know in the comments! #Aquascaping #PlantedAquarium #Biotopia Audio: Uppbeat — Moire, Yasumu, FascinatedSound & Aroshanti. Cuíca: “cuica (4).wav” — reinsamba: https://freesound.org/people/reinsamba/sounds/21722/ Howler monkeys: “D331 Howler Monkeys.WAV” — Bill Cutbill, Bill’s Amazonas Sound Library: https://freesound.org/people/billcutbill/sounds/669403/ Both samples edited/mixed; CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/