Projects
Sharing some of our Creations
It gives us great pleasure to share some of the setup we have done. This will give you some idea of what we do and how we do it.
Ancient Gateway
Client Name: Mr. Durga Madhav Dagara
Location: Jamshedpur
Year: 2014
Dimensions: 120 cm by 45 cm by 45 cm (4ft by 1.5ft by 1.5ft)
Substrate: ADA Amazonia+ Power Sand Special
Medium Fertilization: ADA Green Brighty Series
Lights: ADA PLL Lamp 36 W X 6
Filtration: Eheim 2217 X 1 with ADA Bio Rio
Chiller: Airconditioned
CO2: Pressurised with ADA Regulator and 1 no 40 Dia Do Aqua Diffuser
Highlights: This tank is special for 2 reasons - first it was the first planted aquarium setup outside Kolkata and second we got the chance to use an ADA 120P aquarium. Bringing it all the way from Japan itself was a big challenge. Mr. Bhaskar Rao and Mr. Charandeep Singh from Jamshedpur helped us get this project. Each aquarium gives so many learning opportunities, in this in a very hard way we learnt how in appropriate usage of hardscape can land you in trouble. We used the rocks for their beauty and texture but then they started increasing the water hardness. It was with great difficulty we managed to stabilize the aquarium.
Rocky Meadow
Client Name: Mr. Prabal Biswas
Location: Naktala, Kolkata
Year: 2014
Dimensions: 60 cm by 30 cm by 36 cm (2ft by 1.0ft by 1.5ft)
Substrate: ADA Amazonia+ Power Sand Special Small
Fertilization: ADA Green Brighty Series
Lights: ADA Aquasky 601
Filtration: ADA ES600
Chiller: Hailea 150A
CO2: Pressurised with ADA Regulator and 1 no 20 Dia ADA Diffuser
Highlights: Again one of our firsts, ADA Aquasky 601 LED light was used for the first time by us. This photo was taken when the tank was just about 1 month old. The growth of plants including a rare one in the form of Ammania sp Bonsai was fantastic
Countryside
Client Name: Mr. Sekhar Dutta
Location: Deshapriya Park, Kolkata
Year: 2009
Dimensions: 150 cm by 60 cm by 60 cm (5ft by 2ft by 2ft)
Substrate: ADA Amazonia+ Power Sand Special Large
Fertilization: ADA Green Brighty Series
Lights: ADA Grand Solar I X 1 Unit
Filtration: Eheim 2217 X 2 with ADA Bio Rio
Chiller: Airconditioned CO2: Pressurised with ADA Regulator and 1 no 50 Dia Do Aqua Diffuser
Highlights: Mr. Dutta happens to one of the foremost experts of rose in the country. An Engineer by profession he chose horticulture as his passion cum business very early in his carrier. He is an avid fish keeper too. This tank was his "bare bottom" discus aquarium. When he heard about planted aquarium he gave us the project of converting his old aquarium into planted. Being a plant lover he also challenged us to use as many number of aquatic plants as possible. Yes we did use many aquatic plants including likes of Anubias nana "gold", Cryptocoryene wendtii "Tropica", Cryptocoryene "Green Gecko" for the first time. This tank is very special for us as we were able to encourage a veteran like Mr. Dutta to get into planted aquarium. This tank still continues (scape though is changed) and his familiy of planted aquarium has grown from 1 to 9 now !!!
Pinnacle Rock
Client Name: Mrs. Monobina Dutta
Location: Deshapriya Park, Kolkata
Year: 2010
Dimensions: 60 cm by 45 cm by 45 cm (2ft by 1.5ft by 1.5ft)
Substrate: ADA Amazonia+ Power Sand Special Medium
Fertilization: ADA Green Brighty Series
Lights: ADA Solar I X 1 Unit
Filtration: Eheim 2217 X 1 with ADA Bio Rio
Chiller: Airconditioned
CO2: Pressurised with ADA Regulator and 1 no 30 Dia Do Aqua Diffuser
Highlights: Mrs. Dutta's planted aquarium may be the first one in Kolkata to use an ADA aquarium and Manten stone. Creating an Iwagumi with a few number of a very costly hardscape was big challenge. This tank is still running but the layout has been changed once
Path through Wild Grassland
Client Name:Gallery Aquarium
Location: Dhakuria Kolkata
Year: 2009
Dimensions: 90 cm by 45 cm by 45 cm (3ft by 1.5ft by 1.5ft)
Substrate: ADA Amazonia+ Power Sand Special Medium
Fertilization: ADA Green Brighty Series
Lights: ADA Solar I X 1 Unit
Filtration: Eheim 2217 X 1 with ADA Bio Rio
Chiller: Airconditioned
CO2: Pressurised with ADA Regulator and 1 no 30 Dia Do Aqua Diffuser
Highlights: Back then the gallery used to be the living room of Gautam's house at Dhakuria, Kolkata. This was his personal tank which used to doube up as an exhibit. In fact this was his 3rd planted aquarium and the first one with a complete ADA System. It can be safely said that this aquarium encouraged many hobbyists to take up planted aquariums as a hobby. Echinodorus Tenellus is normally used as a forground plant but then in this tank the growth was so much that GautamI encouraged them to grow very tall in the back ground. Also Blyxa Japonica was used for the first time and the excellent texture and colour of the leaves made him fall in love with this plant. Please not that the pathway is not made of sand but a mat of "pearling" Riccia fluitans
Phoenix
The beauty of this tank is in it’s layer of green mosses and fern covered driftwood with the vibrant red backdrop of Eustralis stellata, Nesaea red and Ludwigia arcuata.
It is as if from the ashes of dead tree the new life is rising like a Phoenix.
Coming almost straight out of Amano's ADA Aqua Journal, the W60 x D30 x H36 tank with a host of carefully handpicked varieties of colorful plants growing luxuriously off the rich ADA Amazonia substrate is a true example of a living art.
Indonesian driftwood and Fuji stones add interesting hardscape characters on the Power Sand Special base illuminated by an ADA Solar II.
With Pencil fish (Nanstomus beckfordi), Ottocinclus sp. and Cherry Shrimps making this colorful surrounding their habitat, this aquascape was an entrant in the International Aquatic Plant Layout competition.
Enchanted Woods
“Enchanted woods” was Gautam's earlier attempt in trying out an iwagumi layout. Adip helped me in setting up the tank and this tank also got a first prize in the Indaquaria exhibition held in February 2009.
To be frank the layout too a large extent was an accidental outcome and not a carefully planned aquascape. All the glossos initially were growing tall instead of crawling on the substrate. They even started climbing up hanging on the leaves of the Echinodorus tenellus. Gautam realized quickly that the lighting was insufficient and after he trimmed the layer in the front they started crawling. However the ones in the back had totally overwhelmed the tenellus and had already created an intense jungle by growing above the tenellus. He then intentionally allowed the central glosso mound to grow taller than the surroundings. A part of the mound even went out of the tank water.
The central glosso mound was so thick that even the cardinals feared venturing into it as if it was a forbidden forest having it’s share of unknowns. Hence the name “Enchanted woods”.
Technical Specifications:
Aquarium - W90 x D45 x H45
Lighting - ADA Solar I, turned on 8 hours per day
Substrate - ADA Amazonia, ADA Amazonia II, Power Sand Special (M), Penac W, Penac P, Bacter 100, Clear Super, Tourmaline BC
CO2 - Pressurized
Fertilization - Brighty K, Step 2, ECA and Green Gain
Water change - Weekly 50 %
Filtration - Eheim 2217, NA Carbon, Bio rio
Water quality - Temperature 25 degree centigrade, ph 6.5, KH 4.5, NO3 5 mg/ l, PO4 negligible
Hardscape - Manten stone
Plants:
Eleocharis parvula, Glossostigma elatinoides, Echinodorus tenellus, Riccia fluitans
Fishes:
Cardinal tetra, Queensland rainbow, Ottocinclus sp., Cherry shrimp
Fallen Titan
“The Fallen Titan” is another landmark and will remain very special for Gautam. This tank was setup for his good friend and well wisher Mr. Kanad Neogi.
Initially, between 2004 and 2007 Gautam had graduated from laterite to commercial packaged substrates. He had setup some tanks using AZOO plant base and then in August 2007 found out that ADA product range which was available in India, courtesy his good friend Adip. He had already purchased Mr. Amano’s book on Nature Aquarium and was overjoyed that he could finally try his hand in replicating some of his master pieces.
The outcome was the “Fallen Titan”.
The tank was conceptualized as a room divider and can be seen from 3 sides. He tried to replicate the scene of a big tree growing by a riverside which has fallen down and is now overgrown with ferns. If you see from the shorter side the tank you get a sense of a forest beyond. He used seven pieces of driftwood to create the structure of the tree.
Technical Specifications:
Aquarium - W150 x D60 x H60
Lighting - ADA NA MH 150 W x2, turned on 10 hours per day
Substrate - ADA Amazonia II, Power Sand (L)
CO2 - Pressurized
Fertilization - Brighty K, Step 2, ECA and Kanad’s own concoction
Water change - Weekly 50 %
Filtration - Eheim 2217 x 2, Ceramic rings
Water quality - Temperature 24 degree centigrade, ph 6.5, KH 5, NO3 5 mg/ l, PO4 negligible
Hardscape - African mangrove roots and other driftwoods
Plants:
Hygrophila polysperma, Anubias nana, Anubias barteri, Blyxa japonica, Bolbitis
heudelotii, Microsorum pteropus 'Java Fern', Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow Lea',
Microsorum pteropus 'Philippine', Cryptocoryne undulata 'Red', Cryptocoryne wendtii
'Tropica', Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia, Echinodorus tenellus, Rotala wallichii
Fishes:
Neon Tetra, Ottocinclus sp, Cherry shrimp and some rainbows