So let's do this.. Aquascape!

[Metta]

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for all the help and guidance. Now all my materials are here it's ready for them to be cleaned and hopefully get my scape done Sunday! Photos before and after and during will be posted.

So I have a few more questions for each of the below, just to let everyone know I have fish in the tank and will be putting the fish back into the tank using 50% of the old water too.

So I have bought 40KG of this sand below.
Questions is - Best way to clean this sand before putting into tank. If it even does need cleaned?
https://www.swelluk.com/swell-aquar...yM1vXY0uJ2LsynMwEyAAWQkyXtdDvdZUaAp7qEALw_wcB

Plants question, I have plants that I'll be collecting tomorrow. Will these plants - Amazon Swords, Java Moss, some easy grass, anubus, and anarcharis all be safe in a bucket of water from the tap for around 2-3 days and not cause any harm? If water is at room temp and with no filtration? I'm wanting to give them a cause of snail treatment to remove the snails if there is any? If not what's the best way to keep snails away from tank?
Also do you wash the plants before putting into the tank?

Rock Question - I have bought the rocks below, What do I need to do to prep these before going into the tank with the sand and plants? Boil them? Or simply cold wash under the tap? They are a little dusty.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B087TY49SK/?tag=

Any other advice is more than welcome!

 

[AilyNC]

Excited to follow this. I was checking out Swell UK earlier as they've some good deals. Delivery to Ireland is £13 put I still think I'll save enough in sand to make it worth it.

Best of luck. I've no advice sorry

 

[Metta]

Excited to follow this. I was checking out Swell UK earlier as they've some good deals. Delivery to Ireland is £13 put I still think I'll save enough in sand to make it worth it.

Best of luck. I've no advice sorry

Lets hope we can get some more information before end of tonight think I'm pushing to do the change tomorrow.

 

[AilyNC]

So I'm tagging in the big guns for you

@essjay @seangee @AdoraBelle Dearheart @Retired Viking @Ch4rlie @Byron @PheonixKingZ @NCaquatics

 

[Wills]

Sounds like a fun project

For the sand you can wash it in a bucket, half fill a bucket with sand, fill the bucket upto 3/4s with water. Stir the sand let it settle for a secod and drain the water off. The fine dust particles will be suspended in the water while the heavier sand will sink down. Do this a few times and you will be good to go - you wont get it totally clean but dont worry about that it just needs to be good enough.

For the rocks, because they are aquascaping rocks I wouldnt worry about cleaning them to the same level as found rocks or rocks from a garden centre. Rinse them under a tap and a quick scrub to check there isnt anything loose on them - I know Dragon Stone can sometimes have a clay coating that needs removing. I believe Ancient Rock is usually ok - its also called Elder rock sometimes too I think.

For your plants make sure you stick to easy category plants which most on your list are. For the grass type you mentioned I would recommend going with Helenthium Tennelum as that is quite a rapid grower without Co2, I'd avoid Dwarf Hair Grass to start with but could be added later. You could look at some other easy to grow stem plants too like Hygrophila Siamensis 53b or Limnophila Sesslilflora. You could try some crypts as well, these are a really broad group of plants from the tiny Parva to the massive Crispulata, you can get pretty much any colour with light greens through to nearly black, red, purple and even a bright pink called sp.Flamingo - all of these are pretty easy to grow plants but they can sometimes do whats called melt when first added to the tank so some people like to cut the leaves off and let it grow back.

If you are in a position to plant them tomorrow and they are from a reputable shop I wouldnt worry too much about snails and get them in the tank. If you did want to leave them for a few days they will be fine just make sure they have some sunlight or if possible move your light over the bucket from the tank?

Wills

 

[AilyNC]

^ clearly pro levels

 

[Ch4rlie]

It is always worth cleaning sand or gravel substrate as there will be dirt, dust and debris will gather over time and one never knows how long the substrate has been lying around.

Cleaning substrate, I do similar to Wills but I use a running hose with gentle water going into the bucket and gently swirl the substrate round and round making sure the substrate does not go over edge of bucket. And keep going until water runs clear.
Not the whole bag in one go, maybe one third of the bucket max, keep going until you have the amount of substrate required.

Either method works fine, both take time to do but worth doing as if you don’t do it, the tank water will be fill of dust & debris and you’ll have to change water several times until satisfactory.
Easier to clean substrate first.

Wills has named a few decent plants and tips, always best to start of with the easy low tech plants, I’d second the addition of cryptocorynes as lots of varieties of these both large and small, worth looking into as most are easy to grow, vallisernia is another nice addition to tanks as makes nice background plants and they grow out runners easily to add more little bunches of vals growing.

If you really don’t want snails, then a gentle bleach dip may work in eliminating snail and eggs from the plants, be warned, some plants don’t like this and may not survive this bleach dip and also some may melt but generally they will bounce back after a little while, a few days to a week usually.

But I like having the snails in the tanks, a free natural addition and part of a clean up crew to help with algae.

Rocks - never boil rocks, certain types of rocks can explode upon pressure of heat. Just not worth it.
Cleaning and scrubbing the rock with toothbrush or any bristled brush under the tap for a while will be perfectly fine.
You can pour hot water over the rocks to help eliminate any eggs or nasties that may be in the nooks and crannys of the rock.

Just do things one thing at a time, don’t rush it, if unsure, ask a question on this forum and we’ll be happy to help advise and a little research goes a long way.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

So I'm tagging in the big guns for you

@essjay @seangee @AdoraBelle Dearheart @Retired Viking @Ch4rlie @Byron @PheonixKingZ @NCaquatics

I had no idea I was a big gun... I just write a lot and have too much time on my hands

 

[AilyNC]

I had no idea I was a big gun... I just write a lot and have too much time on my hands

Hush now. You're a big gun. You're knowledgeable and the most compassionate person I've ever encountered on a forum. You really take the time to explain things but also being sensitive to what the OP is experiencing.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Hush now. You're a big gun. You're knowledgeable and the most compassionate person I've ever encountered on a forum. You really take the time to explain things but also being sensitive to what the OP is experiencing.

I'm actually, literally blushing, like in real life blushing. Thank you so much

Excited to follow this. I was checking out Swell UK earlier as they've some good deals.

I got my sand from there since pro-shrimp was sold out, didn't have any problems

Plants question, I have plants that I'll be collecting tomorrow. Will these plants - Amazon Swords, Java Moss, some easy grass, anubus, and anarcharis all be safe in a bucket of water from the tap for around 2-3 days and not cause any harm? If water is at room temp and with no filtration? I'm wanting to give them a cause of snail treatment to remove the snails if there is any? If not what's the best way to keep snails away from tank?
Also do you wash the plants before putting into the tank?


Any other advice is more than welcome!

@Wills and @Ch4rlie answered the sand question, worth rinsing well since it means you can crack on with planting and things and see what you're doing without the tank being too clouded up. I bought sand from the same company and rinsed it for a tank a couple of week ago the same way. Some in a bucket, fill, stir, pour and repeat until you hate yourself and decide that it'll have to do, add to tank. Then do the same with the next lot and so on until you have enough sand. I hope your sand is as clean as mine was because my tank stayed really clear, sometimes it gets so cloudy you can't see in order to plant, but it was really good and I didn't rinse any better than usual, so hopefully it's that the sand is good, and yours will be the same. Fingers crossed.

Plants - you could keep them in a bucket with a light and ideally a heater for a few days, but really, the sooner you plant them, the better. Snails aren't the worse things to have, and you can examine them and look for snails or snail eggs (google image those, tiny dots in a clear jelly casing. Once you know how they look, you can't miss em). Anacharis won't survive a bleach dip, which as far as I know is the only way to be sure you've killed off any eggs. Amazon swords are easy enough to check every leaf, and you can comb through the java moss (with your fingers, not a real comb) to check for snails and eggs too. Better to rinse them well, examine each stem then plant them, and hope for the best. Then if you see any snails later and really don't want them, remove them before they reproduce.

The only sure fire way to avoid snails, and worth doing if you plan to get more delicate plants, or if you plan to have shrimp - is to buy plants that were grown in-vitro. Those are grown in lab conditions I think, so no algae, snails or nasties. More expensive though.

A warning that if you ever plan to keep shrimp, or maybe even snails - to only buy plants that were grown in vitro, or within the EU or UK. Anything coming in from outside the EU has been sprayed or dipped in pesticides that are fatal to shrimp, and there's no guaranteed way to clean them. I found that out the hard way. So check sources carefully, anyone who has or wants to get shrimp, and possibly snails.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Good answers to your questions here. That ancient rock is amazing looking--like miniature granite mountains. Good luck with the build--can't wait to see it take shape.

Anything coming in from outside the EU has been sprayed or dipped in pesticides that are fatal to shrimp, and there's no guaranteed way to clean them. I found that out the hard way. So check sources carefully, anyone who has or wants to get shrimp, and possibly snails.

Hm, I wonder if that's part of the reason I could never keep shrimp alive, except amanos, which are pretty much indestructible. I tend to get plants wherever I can find them, including ebay. I guess the good news is that the ones from China and Singapore are always dead before they arrive, so no harm done.

By the way, I'm desperately upset that @AilyNC didn't consider me a big gun. I'm sure with counseling I'll come to forgive her.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Other tips! Ones that I didn't follow two weeks ago, and regret.

Make sure you're happy with the way you've set up your hardscape before you start planting. Try arranging it one way, step back and take a photograph, then re-arrange, take another photo, re-arrange, take another photo - and on and on until you've exhausted all your ideas for how you want it. Being able to see each arrangement in a photo can help you decide what you like the most, because it lets you take a step back and regain perspective that you tend to lose when your head is in the tank and you're too close to it. The photos also help you re-arrange things back exactly how you had them the first or second time you tried if you want to. It's too easy to keep shifting them around, decide that you liked the first arrangement better, but by then you can't remember or recreate how you'd done it. You can recreate it if you have a photo.

Also have a look and a drool over aquascapes online, especially ones using the same hardscape. You can get lots of inspiration that way, or flat out copy a really nice design

Then do a similar process with the plants. Don't plant and uproot them, just sit the sword and the anacharis bunch etc where you think they should go, and be sure you'll be happy with it before planting them. I ended up moving my hardscape and so my planting around a lot, and that's not great for plants that are trying to root and get established. Better to sure of where you want them before planting them.
I'm guessing you'll be attaching the java moss to some of the rocks? If so, you might want to start with that and the anubius, planting wise, since it'll involve removing some of the hardscape to attach the plants then replacing it, and you don't want to risk disturbing the other plants too much once they're in.

Have fun and enjoy it though, and I can't wait to see photos!

 

[AilyNC]

Good answers to your questions here. That ancient rock is amazing looking--like miniature granite mountains. Good luck with the build--can't wait to see it take shape.

Hm, I wonder if that's part of the reason I could never keep shrimp alive, except amanos, which are pretty much indestructible. I tend to get plants wherever I can find them, including ebay. I guess the good news is that the ones from China and Singapore are always dead before they arrive, so no harm done.

By the way, I'm desperately upset that @AilyNC didn't consider me a big gun. I'm sure with counseling I'll come to forgive her.

Wait... Did I not tag you?!

 

[Metta]

Thanks for all the information, really helpful! Just what I needed to get me going! I'm aiming to do the change tomorrow night using every ones advice above and on other topics I have posted! Can't thank you enough for the help this forum has gave me so far. I've learnt a lot. LETS GET AQUASCAPING! I did get told you can get a liquid to remove snails? If so is it worth it?

 

[Wills]

By the way, I'm desperately upset that @AilyNC didn't consider me a big gun. I'm sure with counseling I'll come to forgive her.

I think we might fit into the loose cannon category