16 Gallon Bowfront Aquascape

Hello everybody, this is Will Hardy from HardyAquariums coming in hot with another blog post!
The 16 gallon bow front started it all for me. It was the first tank I ever bought, back in 2010.

Ode to 16g:
You mesmerized me with your misshapen glass
While I gaze at the fish, sitting on my ass,
Bright blue gravel, green plants to match
If only I knew, it wouldn't be the first batch
16 gallons to start, more and more I sought
Look at us now, HardyAquariums COMING IN HOT!





At first it had blue gravel, platies,  guppies, and tiger barbs. Don't forget the lucky bamboo to ensure sure failure with aquatic plant keeping!

I stepped my game up and bought some black sand, anubias plants, rasboras, white skirt tetras, and a pleco. This was the start of something good, but still not quite right. The background is still with the tank today in 2016. See my first video of this setup ever!!

16 Gallon Surf Themed Tank Youtube Link

Now we are getting to some abstract, river rock/fin type aquascaping. This form of aquascaping is popular in the San Diego apartment scene. This was actually a cool setup in the apartment, and I especially enjoy the german blue ram. 

Now we are really onto something. This is when the 16g really started coming together. As you can see, the tank is made to look natural with driftwood, anubias, java fern, and aponogeton plants. Check out a classic video of this setup here!

16 Gallon Aquascape Coming Together Youtube Link

The finished product! 

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Giant Hygrophila Care (Hygrophila Corymbosa)

Giant Hygrophila Care (Hygrophila Corymbosa)

Care Level: Easy
Stem: Big A.F. 2'+
Leaves: 7"+
Biotope: Thailand, India, Malaysia, Indonesia
Light: Low
Video: Giant Hygro Care Video
Youtube: HardyAquariums Youtube Channel

Biological Classification (Video soon to come)

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Angiosperms

Class: Eudicots

Order: Lamiales

Family: Athanceae

Genus: Hygrohphila

Species: H. Corymbosa

Uses in the Aquarium

Nitrate Buster: This monster plant supposedly gets rid of nitrates, but I haven't noticed many changes with my tank. Really though, i'm just bitter that I have so much algae. The plant can be propagated easily by cutting the stem and replanting. It can also be floated. The plant grows quickly, and other forms of hygrophila like Hygrophila Difformis are also known to reduce nitrates and ammonia.

Background: Giant hygro would make a sexy background in a deep tank. It has so much potential to fill in empty areas in a background, however a 55g is too small to aquascape with this plant. As you can see below, it fills in nicely, however it takes up almost half the depth of the tank. Now there's no room for other plants.

High Tech vs. Low Tech

High Tech: The first setup is a high tech 55g tank with Co2 and high light. Here this shit grows faster than my black beard algae. It has large leaves, some getting 7 inches long, and as it reaches the top of the tank, the leaves turn a nice pink color. I am using eco complete in my high tech tank, and the hygro seems to do well with this substrate.

(High tech 55g)

Low Tech: The second setup with giant hygro is in a low tech 16g bowfront tank with black sand and low light. Here, the plant also grows well, just not as fast or as dense as the high tech tank. This is probably an obvious outcome. The plant shows brightly colored green leaves. I keep cherry shrimp, bristlenose pleco, and pseudomugil furcatas in the 16g. Them cherry shrimp keep the leaves real clean.