90cm/150 Litre - "patience"

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DevUK

UKAPS member
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Coventry, West Midlands
I've spent the weekend before last stripping down my tank which had gotten very neglected for various reasons. I then spent last weekend playing with hardscape and getting it sorted out. I was having real problems with gaining a sense of height and depth, but I think I've cracked it now. Before I had a line of rocks which looked quite nice, but was quite flat. After more playing with substrate and rocks I came up with this:

final_hardscape.jpg


So heres how it lines up:

Planting:

  • Hemianthus callitrichoides "Cuba"
  • Pogostemon helferi
  • Eleocharis acicularis
  • Blyxa Japonic
  • Staurogyne Sp.

Tech Specs:

  • Dimensions - 90x35x45cm (ish)
  • Substrate - 18L ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia + Unipac Zambezi sand (padding under rocks)
  • Filtration - 2x Tetratec EX1200
  • Light - Arcadia 4x24w T5 Luminaire
  • CO2 - 5kg Fire extinquisher with solenoid. Glass diffuser(s).
  • Heater - Hydor ETH300 external

Anyhow. Finally finished planting this afternoon. Been fidling with my photo editing software on an old laptop, so the following pics might not look so hot! Looong post alert ;)

The essentials (UKAPS branded of course!):
01_essentials.jpg


I got the HC and P. Helferi planted first. The HC is planted stem-by-stem mostly, with some larger clumps here and there. I think I developed my own style - break it into individual stem groups, similar to how you do with moss (only shorter):
02_hc_done.jpg


If breaking HC down into individual stems wasn't bad enough, untangling a mass of E. Acicularis continued to test my patience (such an apt name for the scape :lol:) The first of 3 trays worth:
03_hair_grass.jpg


You can just make out the E. Acicularis in the back ground. Just Staurogyne and Blyxa to go...
04_mostly_done.jpg


Staurogyne I pilfered from my little shrimp tank. Just about enough:
05_staurogyne.jpg


And then I was done. I started Friday evening, dissassembling HC and then planting it, a tray at a time. Not sure how many trays loads I got through, but I think about 6 or 8 (about 2 or 3 trays per pot of HC). I used 3 pots of HC in the end! Still fot 3 left :) The one thing I wish I had is another 4 or 5 stems of is Blyxa, but hopefully it will fill out, the small gap in the corner is below where I plant to have one or two of my filter inlets.

And so to the fully planted shots:

Top angle:
06_final_top.jpg


Right side looking left (kinda how I see it sitting on my sofa):
07_final_side.jpg


And the full frontal:
08_final_front.jpg


I got the filters installed and running, just need to transplant my CO2 kit in the next few days, but I'll be dosing Easy Carbo too :)

Whew. Long post :)
 
This is going to look absolutely stunning!

Staurogyne I've been really liking the sound of recently, seeing it grown in here may make have to get some.
 
ahh yes, i have seen this on another forum. :shifty: , anyway back to the point, it is a great scape you always seem to have the best acicularis :good:
 
This is going to look absolutely stunning!

Staurogyne I've been really liking the sound of recently, seeing it grown in here may make have to get some.

Thanks! It's a lovely little plant. The leaves look so green it's great. It's not a massively fast grower from experience, but it's not slow either. The lower leaves can die off a little, as it's quite compact and the leaves overlap.

ahh yes, i have seen this on another forum. :shifty: , anyway back to the point, it is a great scape you always seem to have the best acicularis :good:

What happened to the acicularis you had off me mate (I did send you some right?) :)
 
Damn Thats A Nice Scape. Can see why it took so long to plant.
 
This is going to look absolutely stunning!

Staurogyne I've been really liking the sound of recently, seeing it grown in here may make have to get some.

Thanks! It's a lovely little plant. The leaves look so green it's great. It's not a massively fast grower from experience, but it's not slow either. The lower leaves can die off a little, as it's quite compact and the leaves overlap.

ahh yes, i have seen this on another forum. :shifty: , anyway back to the point, it is a great scape you always seem to have the best acicularis :good:

What happened to the acicularis you had off me mate (I did send you some right?) :)
no i didnt, thought about it. looked really good compared with some of the other stuff i have seen around. :good:
 
Damn Thats A Nice Scape. Can see why it took so long to plant.

Thanks Gill matey! Angie is working on me to go visit MA to get whichever fish I decide to go with for this :) It's looking like Ember Tetras at the moment :)
Too right I am, haven't seen you in a long time!
Plenty of Ember Tetras in stock too....;)
I really do love the tank and can't wait to see how it progresses.
 
Just done a 70% water change with a bucket :( Mind, I syphoned using some 16/22mm hose instead of my usual syphon thing with the squeezy end that gets the syphon action going... Much quicker to fill a bucket :D

I have 10 metres of silicone hose on it's way to me at the moment. I plan to use an old Fluval 204 to pump water out for water changes in future!

I also just seeded one of the EX1200's with media and sponges from a "live" EX1200 on another tank. I was going to do the other one too, but it was such a hassle doing one I figured I'd do it another day! It's 12.30am after all!

Whilst seeding the filter I "smooshed" the two bags of activated carbon in the filter... Unfortunately that means the water has gone a little cloudy now :| Thankfully it's not too bad.

I also just destroyed another little tank whilst trying to do a water change. dark substrate just mixed with light substrate and everything went cloudy. I got fed up then and left it (new setup, nothing alive in it!) I'll tackle that tomorrow night I guess.
 
Well, some more blyxa arrived yesterday from a UKAPS member, in great shape considering our postal system, so naturally I had to rip out all of the blyxa I already had and re-plant :lol:

Day004_Blyxa.jpg


And from the front:

Day004_Front.jpg


I'm thinking I need to re-plant a little more, and spread it out a little, and I think I need to bring it left a bit more, to about where the CO2 diffuser is at the moment.

Interestingly I've been playing with flow to get good CO2 distribution. I have 2 diffusers running at the moment, in a temporary configuration. As it stands I have one EX1200 outlet flowing from left rear to right rear and the other EX1200 outlet sort of right middle flowing to left front corner (slight angle). This seems to catch most of the Co2 and send it in a loop around the tank, and I can see CO2 bubbles floating about near substrate level. Most plants show a little movement which is good :)

My eventual plan is to keep the inlets where they are, more or less, and have the two outlets on the right side wall flowing straight down the tank length ways. I also want to aquire 2x 17mm glassware sets ;)

Annnyway. Everything growing as it should do will do for me at the moment!
 
When are you coming to do my tank for me?
Looking good and I'll be watching this thread with great interest. ;)
 
When are you coming to do my tank for me?
Looking good and I'll be watching this thread with great interest. ;)

Sounds like an invite! :D

I have another 180litre tank to set up yet! My Rio 180 is going to be a wood/rock (got more of the same stone used in this scape) crypty affair. Got some massive Crypt. Balansae on it's way to me at the moment. Will have CO2 but be dosing for slower growth :)
 
:lol:
Are you planning on doing a journal for the 180 set up?
It would make another great read for everyone!
 

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