Stage 4 - Driftwood

Once the gravel was all set up it was time to begin decoration of the tank. Again we read up on what Takashi Amano had to say on the matter and set up our driftwood in a triangle-type shape with the apex slightly off centre.

We had previously bought 4 pieces of driftwood and had them soaking for 8 weeks (the recommendation is at least 4 weeks to allow the natural tannis to soak out - water change every week).

you may notice that the back left hand corner of the tank slopes down. This is another recommendation from Takashi as all the waste from the tank should pool here which will make for easy cleaning.

This picture clearly shows the gravel sloping from front to back with driftwood placed on top. It is also especially important to get the gravel at the front of the tank perfectly straight as this will influence how you view the planted aquarium.