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Aquascaping for dummies

Mawgan

Member
Joined
13 Dec 2009
Messages
51
Location
Tonbridge, in the Garden of England
How can you presume to start a journal when you haven't even got a tank yet?!

This is a question I have been kicking around for quite a few days now, and thankfully have been too busy before to do anything about it. But now I've got an hour or so on my hands, and look what happens... I start a journal! Please forgive me for I know not what I do - which is probably the only half-decent justification for it.

I have read and inwardly digested as much as I can here on UKAPS, which has to be the single best resource on the net for aquascaping. Now I will probably test your collective patience with a string of daft questions. I hereby swear to do my utmost to research before asking, and will not object to the odd clip round the ear and an invitation to cut along to such and such a topic!

This is my aim:

Aquascape1.jpg


Now you can see I'm no artist! But this 'design' is intended to fill an Aquariums Ltd 80 x 45 x 45cms optiwhite tank due for delivery this coming Wednesday to be mounted on one of their tastefully constructed cabinets in a pear finish.

A long trip up to Wrexham in snowy January yielded an Eheim 2128 Thermo filter, but much more of value, about four hours or Graeme's time and remarkably good-natured advice!

Since then, I have ordered three 9kg bags of Amazonia II Aquasoil which will be thrown around onto 9kgs of Power Sand. I have also bought up all of the Seriyu stone that Croydon can offer. That will go where the lumpy bits in the drawing are. I also got Graeme to box up anything he could find with a Sera label on it, plus some Brighty K, which I will do my best to keep away from my wife in case she mistakes it for hair conditioner...

I have badgered Dan Crawford into sending a couple of FEs by Wells Fargo or whichever courier he can persuade, and I've done deals with gentlemen in Hong Kong which resulted in them sending me things called regulators with all sorts of dials and taps and stuff. Goodness only knows what I am going to do with them. I blame Andyh on whose infinitely more interesting journal I first saw them, along with an inline CO2 atomizer diffuser thingy. I got that because I hate seeing large chunks of black plastic in the tank. Mind you, when the only growth that succeeds in my tank is some slimy algae then perhaps I will see the sense of Koralia pumps and spray bars, etc.!

The tank will be in a corner and viewed primarily from the left and front. I will top it off with an Arcadia OT2 luminaire with four 24w lamps (Plant Gro is the default supplied, I believe). Graeme suggested that I fill it and leave it with the filter running for a couple of weeks while the Aquasoil divests itself of any ammonia it's not too keen on...

After that, I hope to plant a mixture of HC Cuba and Eleocharis Parvula in the foreground, softening the boundary with the rocks with Blyxa Japonica or Eleocharis tenellus, and maybe some Pogostemon helferi. I'd like to plant the mid-ground to backgound with more hair grass, and have some kind of reddish Ludwigia and/or Limnophila behind the major stone. Just to wrap up my dream sheet, I had thought of something like Cyperus helferi to sway gently to the far right to camouflage the filter pipes. Ooh, and I want to fill some of the fissures in the stone with mosses, maybe fissidens or even riccia if I thought I could grow it...

My purpose in putting this up is to try to be proactive. In other words, I'm sort of relying on anyone kind enough to read this to post something on the lines of 'dream on', 'you must be joking', :rolleyes: or maybe just 'get a grip!' o_O However, if you felt like putting a virtual arm around my shoulder and suggesting something much more sensible and likely to succeed then I wouldn't object too much! :oops:

I will do my best to put up some 'before' shots when I actually have something to prattle about, and we'll think about the after shots later (either that or leave the country). :?

Yours in hope...
 
Sounds like you've got many bases covered :) I think starting a journal before your tank even arrives is totally fine! I see journals as a log for your project, as well as a place to discuss ideas with others. God, I've started a few journals recently before starting the tanks :lol:
 
Well, I like the sketch. Hope you bring it to reality, has a kind of "Yellow Mountains" look to it. T
 
Firstly, many thanks for your comments, especially from guys whose journals I have devoured over the past few months.

But I'm not a happy bunny, more's the pity as we're approaching Easter! My Azoo regulator arrived in the post, which was great until I opened it. :wideyed:

Regulator1.jpg


The box had obviously been used for American football practice by some caring baggage handler, and because the inside packaging hadn't been all that clever either, the result was the needle valve tap had cut throught the box and had been knocked off its spindle. :arghh:

Regulator3.jpg


It doesn't look much but it is enough to prevent it turning. I've reported it to the seller who wants me to get a damaged article form from the Post Office, which I can do but which adds to the delay and frustration. I know that patience is a virtue and so I'm reminding myself of TGM Graeme's advice just to run the filter alone for the first two weeks after filling. Time enough, I hope, to receive a serviceable unit...

I had a look at the accompanying instructions, in Mandarin, Japanese, and something approaching English. It referred to a switch on the solenoid which goes from manual to automatic - couldn't see a switch on the unit, :? and it's things like that, coupled with the fault on arrival which make me question the decision to go to the Far East when I could have bought British, or maybe German at any rate... :?

Harumph...
 
What a downer nothing worse, I know exactly how that feels I waited for a glass diffuser to come and then smashed it first day sticking it too the glass :oops:

I'm just about to embark on a bit of aquascaping so will be following this post.
 
Not wishing to dwell on the negatives ;) I wanted to share my delight with the arrival of the apple of my eyes. No, I haven't tried fatherhood again, but my long-awaited tank was delivered on Wednesday. It is an OptiWhite 10mm glass 80 x 45 x 45 cm open topped tank, on some of Aquariums Ltd.'s finest cabinet work, in Miracosa Pear. I am seriously chuffed with it, and very pleased with the company who did not allow the fact that two of the delivery crew were bunged up by the snow in Newcastle to stop them bringing my precious down to golden Kent. Top marks to Aquariums Ltd :clap: . I take back everything I said about scousers... :)

I threatened some 'before and afters', so here's a couple to start with:

The living room corner - Before
Bookcase1.jpg


The living room corner - After
Tank1.jpg


No cigar for guessing which I prefer, although I've had to find another venue for my Wisdens!

Must say that I'm slightly nervous now - time to move beyond reading and theorizing, now I need to put thoughts into action :wideyed: .
 
Damaged goods is always a pain David, but hey look at it as a blessing in disguise. It will give you ample opportunity to work on your hardscape and have that drawing start to become a reality.
cheers, tel
 
Hi David,

Very nice journal you have posted. I like your approach and patience, a true aquatic artist - patience, deliberation, research and dedication.
The sketch is great and the tank and cabinet looks swish.

I really look froward to your hardscape going in.

Good luck David.
 
George, Tel, Fishfodder - thanks for taking a look. Please come back... ;)

So yesterday I took out the box of Seriyu stone I bought last weekend to inspect it properly. Graeme had told me that TGM were out of stock and weren't getting any more in for quite few weeks. I'm sure their's would be top quality but I just couldn't wait that long. A not-so-local LFS said they were getting new stock in last Saturday, and so I was knocking on their door to buy it. 25kgs of Seriyu, most of which was medium to small pieces. Thank you very much - could you carry it to my car? Oh, you have a bad back... So will I after carrying this lot to the car park! :(

I had it in my mind that I needed a large bit as Principal Stone - in a 45cms deep tank I though that would equate to someting in the region of 30cms longest dimension, or 12 inches in old money. There is nothing bigger than about 23cms, although it's perfectly good stuff, and I'm a little disappointed that this won't provide the height or fit in with my 'concept' (please see scrawl above). So I took advantage of the odd break in the Bank Holiday rain to set out a draft:

Draft3.jpg


...and from eye level...

Draft2.jpg


and from a more typical viewing angle:

Draft1.jpg


I'd like you to imagine a substrate build-up on the right to about 7 - 10 cms (I've got three bags of Aquasoil to get rid of, after all...) which will lift the Principal Stone by that amount, and I will leave the Supporting Stone at a more lowly level in deference. The smaller stones in front will be used to terrace and hold back the deeper Aquasoil, and so will be less evident. Do you think this will work? I'm not trying to create a pure Sanzon Iwagumi, because I want to cut myself a little slack and allow myself a reasonable selection of plants, but still I am very attracted by the idea.

Any comments regarding the relative heights and positioning from front to back (given that it is a 45 cms wide tank), and general design will be much appreciated - positive or otherwise. I'm conscious that this is not exactly ground-breaking, but this is my first effort, and I am determined to create something that is primarily sustainable, and that will not send me running and screaming to the gentle embrace of marquetry... :?

Next step is to empty all that ADA dirt into my precious, and get those stones in place. Any bright ideas of where to put them kindly received. :)

Thanks for looking.
 
Mawgan said:
I'm not trying to create a pure Sanzon Iwagumi,

you'll only need 3 stones for this :D

sanzon iwagumi roughly translated means.... 3 stone pillar

youve got some nice stone, and i hope this works out for you :thumbup:
 
Hey David

Excellent journal so far and hats off to you for starting it before you had the tank. I personally think this allows us to experience the whole process rather than, "here is my finished scape what do you think?" Please try to keep up this detailed journal as i am sure many of us will enjoy reading it! :thumbup:

Andyh
 
Saintly wrote:

you'll only need 3 stones for this

Does that mean I can take the rest back for a refund? :D But you're right, and it's a useful reminder of the spirit of Iwagumi, and reinforced by George's kind link to the Aquajournal site. I had seen that article before, George, (I do tend to read things to death :geek: ) which really demonstrates the many different paths to the enlightened state, to Nirvana.

Self: Hey, man, like groovy! You into Nirvana too...? Where de gig?

Other Self: Shaddap! This is a serious forum. Can't you see there are serious people reading this? You've blown it!

Sorry about that embarrassing interchange. Put it down to too much chocolate. :sick:

I do take a lot of inspiration from Iwagumi - I love the minimalism, the calm, the focus - but although I will try to capture the latter two qualities, I deliberately want to keep sufficient options open for me to experience varying plant types and fish species so that I can learn. In other words, the more I cock things up initially the more I will learn! :rolleyes:

And without wishing to sound too luvvy, darlings, when I first found the forum a lot of my reading centred on Blyxa Hills and the Kitchen Tank. I wanted to create a plants and rock layout sloping from rear right to front left, and when I saw those two fantastic designs, my first thought was "Well it's all been done! It's stamp collecting for me then..."

Actually, maybe that's not a bad idea after all... ;)
 
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