Green Phantom

[Zikofski]

okay here is the short video as promised 
 
http/youtu.be/TuElKMrSvxw

 

[Ch4rlie]

Nice little vid Z
 
Makes me want to get some CPD's

 

[Zikofski]

haha thnx

i just bought 10 new plants for this tank ranging mostly mid some back and some fore ground and trying out some red plants too, here is the list 
 
 
Echinodorus red flamed
Flame Moss on Mesh
Alternanthera sp Rosanervig     
Lobelia cardinalis dwarf     
Salvinia natans Portion     
Gymnocoronis spilanthoides     
Hygrophila mini     
Cardamine lyrata     
Penthorum sedoides     
Vallisneria torta     
Vallisneria spiralis red
 
i hope they all drive okay and will fit in nicely to this tank and with the new scape i have planned

think i shall look at how i am going to do the cave tomorrow 
 
not all these plants may go into this tank tho as i plan on making a viggie filter for my other tank so i need some for that 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Sure ordered quite a few plants, hope you can fit all you want in all the tanks you want.
 
How is that veggie filter progressing btw?

 

[Zikofski]

thnx Ch4 i hope it was okay not been testing been a bit lazy on that front no losses so far, but i started my rescape yesterday, fish spent the night in a bucket with the filter and heater with the wood and a few plants to help keep them covered, so obviously  had to get rid of the old substrate remove the plants and clean the tank i also made my new spray bar and intake pipe using rigid PVC similar to how i did it in my old 330L but this time less obvious and its a dark grey colour with the black background you early notice it and i can paint it black later if i feel it looks ugly down the line. but i had to glue this all together and there for needed 8hr minimum to dry i left it all evening and over night so now its ready for drilling and putting into the tank here is what i done so far and more pictures to follow
 
okay firstly a before picture how it looked the second i started this

 
all my fish shrimp and pleco's are inside this small red bucket hopefully they all survived the night

 
had to take the front of the cabinet to get the tank out easy enough just a few screws inside and wala it peals away, i took the substrate out first


 
and to the kitchen to clean my kitchen is small but just enough space to prop up and use my hose pipe, if anyone wondered how i filled my tanks up every WC this is how i do it with the hosepipe 

 
more to follow stay tuned
-ziko

 

[Zikofski]

LIVE update, the new spray bar and intake are now Drilled and in the tank.
 

 

 

 
 
 
time for the substrate to go in for this i will be using the same substrate and additives i used in my Iwagumi tank,
 
 
ADA Penac P
ADA Penac W
ADA Power Sand Special S
ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia (9 Litre)
 
think i will try and do a left to right slant, with a cave at the left hand side and the highest point of the substrate on the right sort of like a valley with cave on left hill on right lets see how this goes first to go in is the ADA Power Sand Special S then i shall put on top of that the Penac W and Penac P, unlike in the Iwagumi thread i posted a video i will not be doing that here but will post pictures

 

[Zikofski]

another update i have completed the Hard scape i did it twice and i prefer the second attempt

so hard to try and find the perfect scape that suits you
 
so picture picture pictures 
 
okay first of the substrate as i said earlier i started of with ADA Power Sand Special S altho i bought a new small back i did have some left over from the M bag i bought last time and that was sufficient so i could have saved me some cash there but il keep it for future projects, i left a larger gap so i didn't haft to open the new bag and i knew the cave was going over that part so was no biggie i followed that up with the ADA Penac W and ADA Penac P the W aids Beneficial bacteria within the substrate and the P aids root growth seeming i have Sword and Crypts that are heavy Root Growers as well a feeders i feel it may be more beneficial to me than in my Iwagumi tank i used 4 scoops from both. again make sure to leave a gap around the sides of the tank that a visible as this stuff can get unsightly so i have been told. i then topped that off with a thin layer of ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia again i had some left over from my other tank so i used that i did buy 2 bags but i only needed 1 new bag to cover the entire tank.



 
 
okay now onto the rocks, i originaly bought these rocks from GreenMachine a few months ago for my Iwagumi tank and these where left over so i decided to make a cave, i did this cave on the fly so apologies if it dosnt look good to you but to me i like it , firstly here is the pile of rocks i had left, and then il show you the first cave design i did
 





 
when i was doing this i don't know something wasn't right so i played around added some more soil around the sides to try and get what i was looking for sadly i have no idea what i was looking for but in the end i did get there so here we go the finished hardscape to my tank





 
okay since taking those pictures i have filled in the sides of the cave a little more with substrate and added one smaller rock infront of the cave but that is it now i shall sort out the plants i have oringally in the tank and then onto the new plants stay tuned for more updates
 

 

[Zikofski]

old plants have been sorted i have 106 individual crypts 

  wow so many crypts check the classifieds section I'm sure to put some up there
 
around 11 individual amazon swords of two varieties, 14 valli and 10 of the Hygro looking plants, i have ditched the DHG for now, and the other plants to add to the tank i will sort out later on now i need to plant these older plants and see what i have left over can't believe over 100 crypts wow never had a plant grow so well and multiply so well before

 

[Ch4rlie]

Brilliant update
 
Like the intake and spray bar setup, extremely neat and tidy.
 
Rocks and soil aquascape so far is looooooookin' good

 

[Zikofski]

Thank you sadly I did lose one CPD, one neon and one amano shimp strange how only one died whilst in the bucket over night, BN seem fine and ottos where doing fine fish are all now back inside the tank and I have added all the swords, I won't be adding he hygr back into the tank, and I have only added the small tiny baby crypts so far that was just 30 out of the 100 odd. Don't think I will put many more into the tank but I shall put them along with the new plants tomorrow as me n gf have gone out for dinner n cinema but here is a pic of what I lft it too all fish n shrimp back in the tank and seem okay, funny to notice the neons colour was yellow when I put them back in, and within 10 mins they had there blue stripe back funny how quickly they can change colour. I did a quick nitrite test and was 0 in the bucket so no dramas on that front.



As you can see there is some cloudiness from the new substrate but minimal compared to the fluorite I had last time and should clear quickly more updates tomorrow

 

[Dandyman3]

Has this cleared up yet Zik. Or you still waiting for that initial cloudiness to disappear  

 

[Zikofski]

aah completely forgot about this haha sorry yes i took some pictures today here they are
 

 

 

 
let me know what you think?

 

[Dandyman3]

Love it. Looking fantastic so clear now. 
 
Personally around the rocks in the front of the scape, I would make sure the back is fully planted like lots of depth in the plants and growth and then the front to have some foreground plants which cover the rocks and/or a carpet plant sweeping in from the corner where the rocks appear. 
 
Hopefully this awful attempt of a sketch will give you a rough idea of my personal vision :  
 

 

[Zikofski]

haha yea i like the pic i do have the valli at the back hoping for them to fill out more and the front i tried DHG that was exactly i was trying to achieve but i never worked so i may add more crypts in the front like with my old scape and use the crypts i all had

 

[Zikofski]

okay this substrate is a PAIN IN THE *** so light its so hard to keep valli down that naturally float GRR il just haft to keep poking them in until there roots grow back