| Cork Aquascaping
by Tom Barr
Planted aquariums have an organic element that can transform a sterile piece of driftwood or rock into a spectacular plant covered life form. Even something the shape of a brick or a two by four can be a centerpiece envied by all, given some time for the plants to attach. Attachment to rocks and driftwood is often done by epoxy, tying with string/fishing line or wedging the plant into a crevice until the plant’s roots have some time to adhere. This can take some time and be very labor intensive if the whole object is to be covered. Often, after all the work, you find that you need to add a plant here or there to fill in a hole or strike that just right balance. After the plant grows out and needs to be trimmed, many people are reluctant to pull the now firmly attached plant off and plant the new fresh growth in its place (leaving an old stump or a ratty lower cutting). Labor intensive issues led me to look into alternatives.I remembered seeing some cork backgrounds in some European planted aquariums and Mr. Amano’s black backgrounds have appealed to me. I was looking into doing something different for the back of my planted aquarium. I found myself asking questions and looking for some reasoning in my methods.
Well, the first reason was I wanted to get some work out of this background. It was just another surface that needs to be cleaned periodically.
Second, the scene I was looking for was looking into a wall of plants. This is what many aquatic gardeners want but trimming the back stem plants constantly can be laborious, especially if you want the back completely covered all the time. Using slow growers like Anubias makes a very low maintenance wall in the back. This also soaks up any light that might otherwise be reflected out of your tanks back pane.
Third, this cork background gave me another surface to plant on effectively doubling the plantable surface area. My 90 gallon now has 8 square feet more plantable space.
Fourth, the plants that tend to do well attached are slower growing like Bolbitis, Anubias, andJava fern/moss that don’t need (but they can handle higher light) the higher light levels found in the middle of the tank. The background makes them the ideal choice for placement. They also cause little in the way of CO2 demand compared to most plants so adding extra CO2 is generally unnecessary.
Fifth, the ease of attachment has become increasingly apparent, allowing quick, painless mass plantings, modularity and ability to shuffle plants to any spot in one second or so.
Sixth, with a very dark plant like Bolbitis I can have almost a black Amano background, but mine’s alive. Perhaps you are looking for a brighter look? Try Java fern instead.
Seventh, cork can be glued on to about any shape. Great for hiding lift tubes, concealment of powerheads, heaters etc. Some driftwood is very hard or difficult to keep plants attached. A piece of cork glued on to the driftwood (or rock) can give a easy place for attachment, kind of like a "sweet spot" for difficult pieces of wood/rock. This allows the aesthetic part to show on the wood/rock and the unappealing part to be covered by plants attached to the cork. Topiary shapes could be done as can 3D objects or caves for fish. Another interesting idea is using a 3/8 inch thick glass (or a suitable inert material that sinks) slat 6"x12" in size (or whatever size you need for your tank) with cork glued on one side. This can be planted on and used as a terrace with the front being covered with plants hiding the terrace (or making a green step up or down) and giving a three dimensional quality to the tank. An idea that is appealing is gluing cork sides on a piece of hard sinkable inert rubber or plastic square rod about 1 to 2 inches square and 12 inches long (or however long you wish) and setting this planted vertically. It would look almost like a tree if you had a nice low ground cover like Glossostigma. Then you could add more "trees" for a forest like scene.
Eighth, the highly porous nature of cork lends itself to colonization of large amounts of bacteria/fungus, thus becoming a bio-filter.
Ninth, suppose you have big fish or fish that constantly up root your plants. A cork back of Java fern with nothing else planted looks very nice and is extremely difficult for a fish to remove or eat (What eats Java fern? What animal eats ferns generally?).
Tenth, it is cheap! It can be added to any tank easily.
Eleventh, it can be glued to return pipes, over flow boxes, internal filters or anything you want to hide or cover
OK, are you sold now? Well, simply using wire cutters and a roll of soft galvanized wire you can cut and make any sized U-shaped nail to hold down any plant. The stem or rhizome is placed inside the U-shaped nail and inserted into the cork. You should be gentle but firm when placing the plant. An extra 1/4-1/2 inch at the tip of the U-shaped nail allows the plants to be inserted and moved/reattached anytime very fast. It also facilitates the plants to be pulled out for trimming, algae removal and returned with little shock to the set up and the plant. The cork is dark brown very coarse grained, smoky smelling, 1/2" thick or so sold in 12x24 or 12"x12" panels at hardware stores. It can be attached to a back wall (or object) with silicon, epoxy or attached by small C-clamps on the top edge with no glue and the bottom edge tucked in the gravel. The cork does not fall apart nor is toxic to planted tanks or fish. It won’t last forever but I’ve had mine for about 5 years now with no problems. Water changes will cure the skeptic, as will a good soaking before use -if you feel compelled to do so. I’ve never had a problem except a little yellowing of the water which went away after a couple of months. Some Pleco’s (Panaque’s!) will chew it. Rusting of the wire poses no problems and is harmless. Do not use lead-based wire for obvious reasons! Most soft steel wire works great.
I advocate trying new ideas with cork. Tying down Riccia with fishing line or using hairnets to keep it attached, attaching Java fern to an old log with epoxy, or using string is not a bad idea but yet another tool/technique to use for aquascaping. I have all these techniques in my tanks depending on the effect and amount of maintenance I am willing to do in order to achieve the look I desire. It just gives more options and ideas that can make the tank easier to maintain and look very beautiful. The amount of options in planted tanks is staggering and is the ultimate canvas for aquascaping. If you think it’s been done before, think again, maybe it has not.
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