Aquarium Travnik – a natural aquarium with live plants made by hand with useful photos and videos

Making a "Aquarium Travnik," or natural aquarium, is a fulfilling project that allows you to enjoy the beauty of live plants in your house. This kind of aquarium resembles an aquatic natural habitat where fish hide among the foliage and colorful plants flourish. The end effect is a breathtaking underwater scenery that supports a robust ecosystem in addition to being aesthetically pleasing.

By hand-constructing an Aquarium Travnik, you can create a distinctive aquatic environment that suits your preferences. From selecting the ideal plants to putting them in an eye-catching arrangement, each stage offers a chance to showcase your artistic abilities. In addition, the process itself is delightful and fulfilling as you see your idea come to life.

With helpful images and videos to assist you along the way, we’ll walk you through each step of setting up your own Aquarium Travnik in this post. Regardless of your level of experience, you’ll find ideas and advice to help you create a successful natural aquarium.

Lighting for herbalist – aquarium with plants

Proceed no further without resolving this priority issue. The following formula can be derived for an aquarium containing live aquarium plants:

Lighting, CO2, micro, and macro fertilizers, as well as maintenance (temperature, filtration, water changes, etc.)

Lighting is the most important element, without it plants will not grow, the process of photosynthesis will not occur, without it, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, all your efforts will go down the drain.
I have outlined my notes and the results of the work done in these articles: AQUARIUM LAMPS and DIY AQUARIUM LIGHTING.
Here I will note that the standard lighting, the one that is under the standard cover, is not enough. For an aquarium densely packed with plants, and especially for a "grass tank" with ground cover, you need lighting of 1 watt per liter, or even more. In addition, you need to understand that Watts are not everything, the quality characteristics of lighting are also important, such as the spectrum of light, Kelvin. In addition, it is important to understand and study the characteristics of a specific light source: light discreteness, lux, etc. And also, when choosing this or that lighting, it is important to proceed from the height of the water column of your aquarium. The higher the column, the more powerful the lighting should be so that the light breaks through the thickness of the water and reaches the bottom, to the ground cover plants.

What else. There is a “legend about the almighty lamps for aquarium plants” wandering around the Internet. We are talking about fluorescent lamps with a special spectrum, with peaks of red and blue light. These lamps are presented as a panacea and an easy way to solve the problem of growing aquarium plants. However, this is not so. It is a pity that many people are led astray by this, so I want to debunk this mythical legend.
In fact, aquarium plants absorb the entire visible spectrum of light – from red to violet, plants need a full spectrum, and not a reduced one. Why then do they make and sell lamps with red and blue spectrums? The thing is that it has been scientifically proven that plants need red and blue spectrums more, but this does not mean that they do not need another spectrum.
Now imagine, a newbie has replaced the standard lamps with special ones and is waiting, waiting… for his plants to grow! But they do not grow… And, as luck would have it, instead of plants, algae have started to grow. A sea of ​​frustration: money has been paid, but there is no effect! And all this for what reason? Because there are not enough watts, the spectrum is not complete, and besides, not only plants but also algae love the red and yellow spectrum. Conclusion. Do not try to compensate for the lack of lighting power with special lamps. Such lamps can only be used in combination with other lamps, for example, with fluorescent lamps marked "full spectrum".
regardless of what source of lighting you choose: fluorescent lamps, LED lighting or metalogallagenic, carefully study its qualitative characteristics – not only watts, but also luxury, cellvines, spectrality, RA, etc.d.

Extra. Examine information from the Internet critically and thoroughly. For instance, it’s common knowledge found online that LED lighting is inappropriate for use with aquarium plants. This is untrue, though! Examine the articles’ dates of publication. Technological advancement is accelerating, as evidenced by the appearance of powerful LED strips and spotlights that satisfy the necessary specifications. See for further information. The aquarium’s LED strip.

Consider designing your aquarium’s lighting to reflect the patterns found in the natural world. Specifically: mimics the sun’s rising, setting, and zenith. Plants do not need to be "fried under monotonous lighting" for ten hours in order to grow and thrive. It’s sufficient to give a maximum of three to four hours of intense lighting, with moderate lighting throughout the remainder of the day. Light sources can be combined to accomplish this. Amano, for instance, uses ADA in their lighting. I use 24 Watt T5 LL (full spectrum) and two 30 Watt LED spotlights in my "herbalist." Additionally, be mindful of reflectors.

Soil and substrate for herbalist and aquarium plants

I outlined the main points of using soil in an aquarium in the articles SOIL FOR AQUARIUM PLANTS, TOURMALINE IN AN AQUARIUM.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that there are a great many substrates and soils and they are all different! Be sure to look at their compositions and study the issue of application. In this case, proceed from the requirements of your plants. A good substrate, good soil is 50% of success in growing. This is good feeding and excellent well-being of plants in general.
I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the thickness of the soil in the aquarium should be about 5-7 cm. So that in such soil colonies of bacteria-non-triflers develop well, so that there are no oxygenic zones (which leads to acidification of the soil), you need to select light, porous and doused soil. Unfortunately, heavy, angular soil compacts over time, which complicates the circulation of water in the soil and leads to sad consequences.
At the same time, I will note that light, porous soil for aquarium plants (for example, Aquael Aqua Grunt and/or Aquael Aqua Floran) has a certain drawback – it is impossible to form slides, hills in an aquascape, with the addition of water the entire landscape blurs. Therefore, if you experiment with the relief of the soil, I advise you to mix light soils with heavy ones (for example, quartz chips, which must first be tested for hissing).

Fertilizers for grass and an aquarium with plants

Even though the nutrient substrate in your aquarium is already there, you should still use liquid fertilizers that contain both macro- and microelements. In this situation, it is best to have complex fertilizers separately from preparations that contain individual components. I currently have a different bottle of potassium-containing UDO Ermolaev iron and iodinol.

Filtration of a grass tank – an aquarium with plants

Studying information about the arrangement of a "grass tank", I read somewhere that there should not be strong filtration in such an aquarium. Why exactly, was not specified. Thinking through the thought, I came to the conclusion that strong streams of water will wash away the plants, and, in addition, a dense "grass tank" needs nitrates, but if filtration removes them, the plants will "starve".
Considering this, for a 110l. aquarium I took an external filter JBL CristalProfi e401 greenline – 450l / h. And what do you think! It is really enough.
Moreover, I noticed that in the place where the flute from the filter is directed, hemianthus cube and other ground cover do not grow.

It’s important to note that I also activate a tiny internal filter at night. It functions primarily as an aerator, but it also slightly aids in "herbalist" filtering. Thus, for a 100 l herbalist, the recommended filter power range is 450-600 l / h.

A gratifying project that turns your aquarium into a lush, natural habitat with live plants that is completely hand-designed is making an aquarium travnik. This post will walk you through the procedure, providing helpful pictures and videos, step-by-step instructions, and useful advice to make sure your travnik is not only aesthetically pleasing but also offers a healthy habitat for your fish and plants.

Caring for a planted aquarium – herbalist

Maintaining the biobalance in the "herbalist" is easy once it is established:

– You must regularly add liquid fertilizers and check the CO2 supply.

Every week, you should replace between 1/4 and 1/2 of the water in the aquarium, trim the plants, and give it a quick clean.

Nothing about this is tough or bothersome!

Design and decoration of the herbalist, aquarium with plants

My perspective on this matter was expounded upon in the piece AQUARIUM DESIGN, ORDER IN CHAOS. As of right now, I can say that the hardest thing is actually designing the future "herbalist." Everything else is obtainable through purchase. However, the process of coming up with and even realizing the idea is hard; it calls for mental work, fantasy, and imagination. You also have to abide by certain rules at the same time!

Permit me to conclude the final report on the completed work. We have endless conversations about the "herbalist" and aquascape, but the New Year is quickly approaching, and I promised the guys on the forum that I would post this article this year. I propose that we talk about what’s not said in the forum thread: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF AMANO.

Building an aquarium Bringing a bit of nature inside your house is possible with Travnik, which is a fulfilling experience. You can create a stunning and healthy habitat for your fish by carefully choosing and positioning live plants.

Setting up a Travnik promotes creativity and attention to detail, regardless of experience level of aquarist. It’s a novel approach to improve your aquarium’s aesthetic appeal and contribute to the health of its occupants.

Always keep in mind that the secret to keeping a healthy natural aquarium is patience and regular care. Your Travnik will develop into a rich, colorful ecosystem that provides countless hours of enjoyment over time.

Video on the topic

The most beautiful aquarium with discus and live plants

Aquarium | Marine Aquarium | Herbalist | Aquarium keeping | DIY aquarium | 400 l aquarium.

AQUARIUM FROM THE FUTURE – 120 DAYS LATER