Rahman Ibrahim was not very happy with his previous aquarium setup, where we had used garden sand in his aquarium. This tank was originally setup around 5 years back, me and mahasin had come very far as gravel was concerned. I had also failed in using garden soil effectively, the problem is that the roots do not get enough oxygen and they turn black and die. only mahasin was using it with success and that also because he planted his aquariums densly. which i was not able to do, anyway, our recent successful experiment with beach sand, not the fine grain, but the few cm stones that you find on the top layer of the beach where the waves meet the beach. so all four of us, Rahman Ibrahim, his trusted side kick Rehan, yours truly Khurram and my brother danish went on an expedition in November last year to the beach to collect the gravel.

we have setup this tank a few weeks back with the material used.

still Mahasin was adamant that we use garden soil, so what we have done now is used 1 inch of garden soil first, then topped it off with  around 3 inches of well washed beach sand,

in a few month, the soil will compact and will take up less than 2 inches.

i will keep updating the progress pictures of this recent project.

i have started planting this tank and it will take a few months to set it up right.

we have recently come across a new Philips PL light (pdf), read more here  . Which is giving us good results and in the following weeks, i will be upgrading all my light to this one. we have placed 2 of these lights in this setup, plus one tubelight. Rahman think that 100 Watts bulbs are best, and i agree with him but they consume too much electricity and give off alot of heat.

you can see 3 Tiger Lotus growing. Tank size is 5 Feet by 2 Feet by 2 Feet.

you can see small baby plants  growing on the leaves.

Well, we did it agian.

My friend Mahasin got approval from his company on setting up an aquarium in their newely renovated office.

size is 5 feet width, by 2 feet height, by 2 feet on left side and 6 inches on the right side. Reason being that it is at the entrance so rectangular shape will make the corridor small.

Mahasin collected the sand from Sandspit and we arranged the plants from some of his friends and I also contributed some of my best specimens.

for the filtration, we have a sponge power filter with the addition of a 5 foot tube with holes at every 1 inch for outflow of the water. Reason being that that flow of water should not disturb the plants.

We will be adding fishes in the comming weeks and will add videos as well.

Would love to hear your comments and suggestions.

I had 3 healthy Tiger Lotus which were doing good in winter but in summer they are not doing well.

using 3 (4 foot) tubelight, Warm, Cool and Pink to create the full spectrum of light.

size of think tank is 5 feet, by 2 feet, by 2 feet. In 12 mm glass.

No under gravel filter in this tank.

3 inch silica sand.

One sponge power filter

The tank houses about

1 dozen Angels, 2 clown loaches, 2 dozen Sword Tails, 4 Rosy Barbs, 2 sucker mouth catfish

This tank is 24′ by 12′ by 15′ standard size.

Benefits of Keeping Fresh Water Prawns in your Aquarium.

1. They eat the left over food and keep the food from rotting.

2. They eat Algae spores

3. They keep the plants clean

4. They breed easily.