A Japanese Garden of sorts

[Eboeagles]

I'm about to embark on my new tank - a Dennerle 20l which will be my first fully planned and (hopefully executed) scape after fiddling constantly with my first tank.

I've settled for the below rock layout which I hope will work with my planting plan, creating small natural looking terraces. I'm using Tropica Plant substrate topped with ADA Amazon Powder and then some Dragon Stone.

Then with some wood.

Initially I didn't really like the wood, but having left the tank as is for a week or so I couldn't imagine anything else - I have tried a few other pieces, but I think for the scale it's pretty good...

My original inspiration for the planting was this Japanese Garden in Autumn I saw in a book, it looks wilder than the normal Japanese garden and is probably not what you would expect, but then it is in the US!

The idea is to go for low growing bushes (mostly in moss) at the front and middle, some Utricularia graminifolia which I hope will flow through the crevices as per pics I've seen of it online (although melting right back will probably be my experience)! And either a HC / Riccia carpet at the front or some sand / small gravel for contrast?

Any and all advice is welcome, especially on the '??' in the planting plan - I'm thinking maybe some Blyxa Japonica and / or Didiplis Diandra in the mid ground to add some height? But I have no idea what to plant on the wood apart from the obvious?

Finally, I have my Archaea light turning up this week - which is sleek and minimalist (pics to follow), so I'm wondering what filtration I should go for that wont spoil the look!? I want a small shoal of microrasbora or similar + shrimp etc so it needs to have plenty of flow and not be too expensive!! I guess a decent looking HOB filter would be the cheapest?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts & guidance!

 

[Johno2090]

This is a great idea! if you can get this to work it will look amazing, the hardscape already looks great

 

[Eboeagles]

So first up was my ebay moss delivery. $40 including shipping for all this which I think is pretty cheap!

The Peacock moss pads are way too big for the tank (8cm x 8cm), but I was planning to take the moss off the mesh anyway and they were cheaper to buy that way. The Fissidens Fontanus pads are perfect though (4 cm x 4cm)!

The Pellia was mainly for my other tank, but I love the way they came on the round pads - perfect bushes! Would like to see mosses come like this, and have ended up using one in this tank.

Planted HC

UC and moss in

Blyxa Japonica - a last minute addition and I'm not too sure it will last as it wasn't in the best of shape! + wood in

Stem plants in

Here we go - this bit makes me nervous

Minor set back! The HC starts floating along with my pre soaked wood that had sat at the bottom of a bucket for quite a while!? Back on the hob for more boiling...

Last night after some damage limitation

This morning.

It's not entirely how I imagined at this point, but not such a bad start considering this is only my second scape and I'm still on a sharp learning curve.

My new nano light is still waiting on the converter plug, so I have a lamp over it at present. I wasn't happy with the HOB filter I bought as it was way too big and bulky - so I've sent that back and I need ideas / advice sharpish for either a small internal or small HOB filter for this tank which will eventually have a small shoal of microrasbora and some other wildlife in...

 

[Eboeagles]

Update with LED light - which I'm hoping is enough light! The only way to to wait and see, but this is with no other lights on last night...

+ finally my wood sunk, so a nice evening was had attaching moss last night. Weeping moss on the branches and the last of the Peacock moss on the main trunk.

I can't stop fiddling with the HC at the front as half of it always looks like its about to escape the substrate and float off and obviously it does once I try and push it back in! But I guess this will be it for a while as I wait for it to cycle and bed in. The UC and Blyxa Japonica are not looking too hot, but they weren't in the best shape by the time I got round to planting them. So we will see if the survive.

Lights and CO2 both on for about 5 hours at present, but I need to go and get some timers this weekend as I've been doing this in the evening after work which isn't ideal.

 

[Derek Tweedie]

That looks good. I would love to see the tank in a few weeks once all the plants have started to grow. Have you thought of what kind of rasboras or shrimps your gonna put in there?

 

[greenjar]

I need to go and get some timers this weekend

The digital timers below are a good deal - from Tesco direct. You can have them delievered to your local store for pick. Price and functionality cant be beaten

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.202-9383.aspx

 

[Eboeagles]

That looks good. I would love to see the tank in a few weeks once all the plants have started to grow. Have you thought of what kind of rasboras or shrimps your gonna put in there?

Thanks Derek.

A little shoal of Micro Rasboras - Emerald dwarf or Galaxy's or similar (up to 10 I guess) for definite, just need to choose which ones then I'm not really sure maybe some micro corys + I'd like some Bumble Bee or Crystal Red Bee shrimp. I don't know whether they will be enough of a clean up squad on their own though...

I need to go and get some timers this weekend

The digital timers below are a good deal - from Tesco direct. You can have them delievered to your local store for pick. Price and functionality cant be beaten

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.202-9383.aspx

Those timers look amazing value - cheaper than the analogue one I have for my other tank!!

I am slightly worried about putting the light plug in a timer as its a US light it's already plugged into a step down transformer plug - not sure if I'll be overloading?

 

[Derek Tweedie]

I have 4 different kinds of shrimps and the most effective ones that clean up my tanks are the tiger shrimps Caridina cantonensis and the Sunkist shrimp Caridina cf. propinqua. The tigers breed easily bust you need to hatch the sunkists in brackish water.

 

[twg]

Lovely concept, one to follow for sure.

Do you have an Ebay link to where you purchased your moss?

Thanks, Tom

 

[Eboeagles]

Thanks Tom,

The ebay seller is called Aqua Style 1:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/AquaStyle1?_trksid=p4340.l2563

they have buy it now and auctions. I sniped a couple of auctions, so made sure I got them at a decent price - around $10 for the Peacock and the Fissidens Fontanus and then did a buy it now for $20 on the Pellia round pads - love those round pads!!

 

[Sentral]

So far so good! Looking forward to the updates.

I'm not sure whether to use my wood or not, but looking how well yours fits I'm tempted.

May i ask which HOB you tried? I'm looking at the azoo mignon or aqua vital, any comments?

 

[Eboeagles]

First off I tried one from all pond solutions but it was too big & ugly! Settled for the mignon 150 - pretty happy as it's pretty small & unobtrusive

http://www.fish-fish-fish.com/azoo-mign ... r-150.html

 

[Eboeagles]

So its been over a month, my UG has failed miserably and after following the thread on the forum I'm pretty sure it's down to my under performing LED unit. The HC has also disappointed probably for the same reason.

The LED unit looks great but I don't think it can handle the 30cm depth of the Dennerle, so I need a new light unit around 25cm across that looks good and does not cost the earth - which is no mean feet I can tell you! Anyway I think I've found one but my impatience means I have already whipped out both the aforementioned suffering plants and the Dennerle has been left half full looking very forlorn for over a week! So I will be going ahead with a slight rescape this evening;

I have some congo sand that I'll be adding to the front to try and add some depth and contrast - I may also try and add some more rock and raise the ones I have in a touch as I think I have suffered from disappearing rock syndrome even after being warned about it!

I need to safely re home my microrasbora that were added and then if all goes well hopefully some pics will follow...

 

[Eboeagles]

Re: A Japanese Garden of sorts - fiddling 15/8

Rather than let the plants grow and update you all with amazing growth and a beautiful tank like everyone else on here, I'm doing the opposite due to poor growing skills, lack of experience and penchant to fiddle!!

So further to my last post, I decided to go ahead and add the Congo sand. Trying to add the sand to the front without too much disruption was an effort in itself! I used a cut down garden plant pot to hold back the substrate, and using a baster for what felt like hours sucked out the never ending water!

So with the Congo sand in, It meant some slight rock re arrangement and a higher than I would have liked level of the sand to hide the pot.

Lacking the fissidens Singapore that I was planning in adding at the front left (due to impatience and a 10 -20 day ebay delivery time) and already wondering if I should have added the Congo sand throughout the front I went ahead and added the water.

Below is a closer view to my handy work, with flame moss added (purchased on UKAPS).

In all the excitement my CO2 ran out, so hoping it can handle it for a week while I go away on holiday.

Also any thoughts on why my weeping moss has gone from bad to worse on my wood? I'm wondering if I tied it down too tight? All the other moss has been doing pretty well...

Also my Blyxa Japonica hasn't really flourished, but with all the fiddling and CO2 disruption (I kept forgetting to turn it on over the last couple of weeks) its hardly surprising.

And finally today my Fissidens Singapore turned up that I ordered from ebay:

Not sure its looking too healthy but I've seen worse to come through the post! Never actually seen Fissidens Singapore in the flesh before so any advice would be gratefully received.

The mesh is 20cm x 5cm and looks pretty impressive in size - far too big for what I need it for at the front left of the tank, but it was the only place I could find it so always planned to chop it in half... Once thats in and I've returned from holiday I'll update, hopefully with some grown in plants and some fish and not a cube full of mush!!

Thanks for looking. Don't be shy give me feedback please, as I have no real idea of what I'm doing!!

 

[daniel19831123]

The singapore fissidens is in a poorly state. It needs a good light with good CO2 to get it kick start again. I think it's fairly robust but not as sturdy as java moss. I had some in my previous post
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16868 that you can compare to. How much did you pay for that piece? I remembering seeing them selling it for around 5 pound in singapore. lol

 

[Eboeagles]

The singapore fissidens is in a poorly state. It needs a good light with good CO2 to get it kick start again. I think it's fairly robust but not as sturdy as java moss. I had some in my previous post
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16868 that you can compare to.

Indeed yours looks super healthy... wasn't quick enough off the line to grab yours.

How much did you pay for that piece? I remembering seeing them selling it for around 5 pound in singapore. lol

It was £12 + shipping (£4 I think) - more expensive than I would have liked, especially now seeing the condition.

Anyway I've dropped it into my other tank thats running Co2 - it's made a terrible mess already but hey need to resurrect it somehow. Hopefully I can turn it round...