Raquette River

[Richard Dowling]

So, after much difficulty I have stripped out my Banff Mountain Springs and started a new scape.

The scape has had no real preparation other than deciding that it would be more of an island scape with the root wood in the middle. The rest I just made up as I went along after not finding my preferred plants at any LFS or preferred website. Unfortunately due to spending hours fishing shrimp out I didnt spend quite as long on the scaping side as I would have liked.

The new scape is as follows:

Aquarium Specifications

Aquarium 60x45x30cm TMC Signature Optiwhite
Lighting TMC GroBeam 1000ND with controller, 55% Intensity for 7.00 hours (1hr of which is ramp up/down)
Filtration Tetratec EX1200, Glass Outlet and Plastic Spraybar (which Id like to replace with another glass ones)
CO2 2Kg FE with reg and solenoid
Fertilisation Aquarium Plant Food UK's Micro & Macro EI
Decor Root Wood and Dragon Stone
Substrate Aquagro nutraSoil
Plants Eleocharis Acicularis, Cryptocoryne Beckettii (I think), Hemianthus Micranthemoides, Java Moss (Sold as Flame Moss but I dont think it is), Ceratophyllum echinatum (I think), Unknown Pink/Red Stem Plant
Fish Red Cherry Shrimp, Cardinal Tetra, Otocinclus, Ember Tetra

It doesnt look great right now but im hoping those stems completely thicken out and face upwards for a start! Im sure once its grown in it might work. Wish Id taken more time on the rocks though.

 

[Richard Dowling]

Opinion....would you say I need a third rock facing forwards at the front?

 

[Trevor Pleco]

The crucible looking branch might look better off centre and tilted more to its side, as a rule try and work in thirds and the golden ratio. Creating a natural looking rock strata with your dragon stone poking through the vegetation and blended into the base of your branch would look more realistic imo, rather than individually scattered rocks and again don't feel you need to balance these exactly and in the middle, with such a small number of rocks say below seven, odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye than even numbers. Another horizontal branch or two lying over the rock strata would also compliment the main branch and hopefully tie it all together..

 

[Richard Dowling]

Little photo update. I have removed the Ceratophyllun echinatum because most of it went rotten and the rest broke off its own tops and grew new sprouts at unattractive angles. All the other plants are perfectly healthy. I've now added some different stems...again not labelled so I'll have to do some research.

 

[ADA]

That's looking great, full on FTS would be even better 🙂.

 

[Richard Dowling]

I will do, I'll dig my camera out and do a full update. Just had this pic handy for today

 

[Richard Dowling]

Finally, Ive got round to doing an update with Photos.

In the time its taken me Ive replaced a few of my background plants with Vallis because I was struggling to keep the old stems happy. Im just waiting for the vallis to take over and reach the surface.

Ive added some Harlequins who have added some life to tank (My Cardinals and Embers continue to hide all day long). Ive unfortunately lost all of my Otos now and have no idea why. They are the only fish that havnt been healthy in my tank.

And finally, I found a stowaway Damsel Larvae in the tank a few months back and I decided to let it be...today it has crawled out of the water and is currently filling its wings with fluid and drying out ready for flight. Its not quite the bright blue colourful specimen i'd expected! God knows what Ill do with it when its flying around my living room. As its Winter im not sure itll last five minutes outside! It also wont last indoors with nothing to feed on.

 

[ADA]

I like it, very simple layout that has an overall huge impact. 🙂

 

[Richard Dowling]

Thanks ADA. I know it's not aquascape rule perfect but it looks good shimmering away in the living room.

I'm not quite where I want to be yet, I was hoping for a lot more growth, it's all a little slow growing for my liking which has led to algae on leaves but that's the cost of my struggles with CO2, light and circulation I guess. I will soon hopefully suspend the light for better coverage , and improve my filter outlet to get the CO2 moving. A work in progress.

 

[ADA]

It's cool I think rules are made to be broken, yeah unfortunately more light means more everything else lol, I'm hoping my flow is good enough in mine at the moment too, what diffuser are you using?

 

[Richard Dowling]

It's cool I think rules are made to be broken, yeah unfortunately more light means more everything else lol, I'm hoping my flow is good enough in mine at the moment too, what diffuser are you using?

I've got the light running at 75% already lol

My diffuser is from CO2 Art, it's pretty good. Its called a Bazooka Atomiser

 

[Richard Dowling]

I've left my tank to its own devices for a few weeks. I've been a little forgetful with ferts etc but apart from a bit of brown algae on the glass is looking pretty good. I've done a water change now and decided to just leave it be for a while longer in terms of trimming. I think I've been a little trim happy in the past.