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Breathing Jungle

gooddinglucas

gooddinglucas

Member
Joined
24 Apr 2017
Messages
42
Location
Lincoln, NE, USA
Hello UKAPS,
I'm excited to start my first aquascaping journal here. I'll be rescaping or "modifying" my current 15 gallon (56.8 L) 24in x 12in x 12in (60.9cm x 30.5cm x 30.5cm) from a single jungle island style to a dual island style. Maybe less "island" and more "jungle" this time. I would like to introduce new plant species to add a bushier, fuller, wilder look.

Ecoscape has descended from it's original glory after moving it to a sunlit room and neglecting maintenance.

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I'll be doing something like this.
Keep in mind that I'll be buying new driftwood for the right side, so don't worry.
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I already have Dwarf Hairgrass, Hygrophila pinnatifida, java fern, s. repens, and this unidentified tall grass. I want to introduce needle leaf java fern, hydrocotyle japan, Bolbitis Heudeloti and maybe Aponogeton Boevinianus.

I'm considering this piece of driftwood. https://www.ebay.com/itm/No133-Drif...-Aquarium-Stump-Branch-Aquarium-/162276445413

The biggest challenge will be setting up a temporary tank for my boraras brigittae, which I would otherwise drop in my 10 gallon for the mean time, but they are incredibly
timid.

Time to start buying stuff! Also, has anyone tried ordering aquascaping materials such as stone from Amazon? I've been seeing some there but I'm skeptical.
 

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Setting up the tempory holding facility. Going to dump some clean seachem flourite and some clean water from Ecoscape. And yes, that is a thermostat hooked up to a heat tape. I dont have a tubular heater, only an inline heater.
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Setup the holding facility. Will test water before moving fish and plants. Driftwood also shipped. Psyched! Aquasoil is also ordered
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After a few days of aquascaping, I'm making some deep progress into this hardscape. I need to finish and start planting soon because my livestock are getting stressed in the holding facility.

I'm open to hardscaping suggestions too!
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Can you throw some plant cuttings in the holding facility? Maybe it will settle the fish a bit. Be careful with that heater as well bud, my understanding is you need to keep them vertical to stop pockets of air to prevent overheating the element.
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all, Can you do anything about the flush cut stump at the front right? It just looks un-natural to me,and draws the eye.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...
Might be able to angle cut it to hide the cut from the front, but i was really just going to let it overgrow

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AverageWhiteBloke said:
Can you throw some plant cuttings in the holding facility? Maybe it will settle the fish a bit. Be careful with that heater as well bud, my understanding is you need to keep them vertical to stop pockets of air to prevent overheating the element.
Click to expand...
I already have a bunch of plants in the holding facility. Thanks, I didn't know it was for gas bubbles too! Purged some gas already.
 
dw1305 said:
It just looks un-natural to me
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To me too.. Can't grow like that, it's actualy upside down. So for imitating something natural we need some imagination and fantasy.. It was cut down and dug up and kicked into the water by a mad heavy breathing Lumberjack. Then it floated around for a while, it soaked and sank and accidently tipped over and landed upside down on the ponds bottom.

What are the odds? But its a tank with a story.. :cool: :thumbup:

For the rest it's a nice looking scape, but that stump indeed, is sticking out like a sore stump.

And Darrel and I never realy critique any hardscape. It's the first time i see him do this.. And i see it also..
 
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Hi all,
gooddinglucas said:
the plants a were just a little dry at the time of photo
Click to expand...
You may find that the leaf margins end up dying and giving a ragged out-line, you may also get <"dead blotches">. We've had a it a couple of times on the forum (and I've had it in my tanks), and eventually I realised it was where I'd let the plants dry out during maintenance etc.
zozo said:
And Darrel and I never realy critique any hardscape. It's the first time i see him do this.. And i see it also..
Click to expand...
I don't normally comment, and I'm really not in a position to criticize any-one, because all of my tanks are definitely an aesthetic free zone.

It always amazes me how good people are at aquascaping, even in small tanks.

I think the last time I commented was probably <"Mission completed">, and before that <"Aquascape Number 1">.

cheers Darrel
 
dw1305 said:
eventually I realised it was where I'd let the plants dry out during maintenance etc.
Click to expand...

This i also exerienced, especialy Java fern is extremely sensitive to this. Have a lot planted close to the surface emerging every water change. if i do maintenance and leave the tank partialy drained to long and forget to spray i see the java leaves shrivel up rather soon. Maybe 30 minutes or so and not much longer.. Causing damage that the leaf doesn't recover from. Everytime it happens it results in leaf loss and a few months draw back since that plant is such darn slow grower.

dw1305 said:
I don't normally comment, and I'm really not in a position to criticize any-one
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Dito. And personaly i'm rather into the long term tank setups. So i have too little practice and experience to reference to.
 
dw1305 said:
I don't normally comment, and I'm really not in a position to criticize any-one, because all of my tanks are definitely an aesthetic free zone.
Click to expand...

I had a double take as well, actually checked to make sure it was you that said that haha. I never saw the "stump" I think I know what you mean though. I think the scape looks fine, but I don't tend to put too much effort into original scape. First and foremost for me is how easy is it going to be to work on the tank, I tend to move stuff about later as I get a feel and find features I thought were nice initially end up hidden by plants.
 
I think it's position 1 mate.
 
No2 is the upside down wood.. And indeed the Red circle No1 is the stump that actualy represents the top side of that piece.
The way it is placed now it represents this.
Stub-tree.jpg

:)
 
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