Australasia Aquarium

'Ansome and healthy as always Natalia 

I love seeing pictures of your tanks. You sure prove that small tanks can look pretty stunning when looked after properly 

Oh  Sorry!

A classic example of how pictures can be very deceiving! Looking at it again, I can see its not particularly small (the number of fish gives it away a bit!) but it still doesnt look 180 litres though!!!

Thanks Helen and Chucklett!
The main reason I posted this picture is just to show how much an Optiwite glass makes a change. As I said, I run 6 tanks and 2 of them are Optiwite. They look ABSOLUTELY fantastic in comparison with normal glass. The “shimmering” effect is there without LED’s, fish and plants colours look vibrant and true (as I said, I use my bulbs of choice which are natural daylight as well, no “pinks”, “blues”, “clinical whites” – I tried them all and abandoned them). The “normal” glass tanks look so much worse, that I have a plan to spend money on the Optiwite tanks rather than on LED’s... Of course, there is another thing – I personally hate tanks with traditional hoods, I like open top ones. I do use covers to minimize the evaporation, but they are all glass or clear Perspex, making everything to look really aesthetically pleasing (to my taste, anyway).
Helen – thanks for the comments about the tank being tidy. I spent hours planning the layout. I had a piece of cardboard cut to the size of the tank, and played with layout, using stones and wood bought for this tank, draw some planting schemes – but still made a few changes when the tank arrived... As the tank is a home for rainbowfish, I have to cater for these fish’s requirements, so I currently do about 40-45% water change every week, to mimic their habitat where they havefresh water all the time (from natural flow). I add Macros at the same time and doze Micros twice during the week (my adaptation of the EI method – suitable to my full employment and many things to do lifestyle).  I also trim the plants when I do water changes. I have a few plants there which are in the category of difficult plants – and they grow like weeds!
Chucklett – yes, cube shapes are deceiving with regards of their actual size. They are also more difficult: you have to think about distribution of light and also of the water flow (to make sure it is even around the whole of the tank). But they seem to fit better in my house, so I have most of tanks of this shape (only two are traditional rectangular shape). But they fit better in the house (at least mine...).