Minimalism Within the Planted Tank

When presented with a fantastic catalogue of coloured pictures and photographs of plants it is easy to become carried away with the huge choice available and to end up with a somewhat cluttered look in the tank. This may be very effective in a ‘jungle’ style aquascape but in many other styles, such as the simpler Iwagumi layout, a cleaner less cluttered style of planting works very well indeed. Obviously certain plants gel well together,…

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The Green Machine’s 1800 Litre Aquascape ‘Bones of the Earth’

It is not often in the entire world that an 1800 litre freshwater tropical aquarium is set up and it is rarer still that one is on public display. That is why it is with great pleasure that we at The Green Machine are publishing this journal to document the re-scape of one of our main in store display tanks. Setup Specifications Aquarium – Custom made 150 x 150 x 75 cm acrylic aquarium. Stand…

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Using Moss to Create Age

When exploring our Mother Earth, we often find that it is possible to find locations with a great sense of age. Usually, this age comes about by the flora that resides in that location. Take a moment to see how nature grows around the bones of the Earth, for example, trees growing around rocks and moss covering boulders. We can recreate this in our aquariums with a careful choice of plants and mosses. I find…

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Working with Carpeting Plants and Grasses

‘Krabi’, by celebrated UK aquascaper James Findley – read on for more information about how to create a beautiful carpet effect, or view more images of this Nature Aquarium in our Aquatics Gallery. Introduction Carpeting plants are extremely important in aquascaping, they provide us with the lush green pastures, tree-lined hillsides and mossy outcrops which feature in many aquascapers’ visions of a perfect Eden. The availability of these plants can make an underwater garden a…

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Cleaning and disinfecting with Hydrogen Peroxide (H202)

H202 is the perfect solution for sterilising fish tanks, pipework, glass and plastic. Unlike bleach, H202 will turn into harmless water and oxygen after 24 hours in contact with water. It is therefore the perfect solution for use in the aquarium environment. Not only will it kill all pathogens and algae spores at a dilution of 1 part H202 to 150 parts water, but used in stronger concentrations of 1 part H202 to 10 parts…

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