Tonys 'Triassic Hollow' 420L - Now FOR SALE !

[George Farmer]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

Super job, Tony!

Best hardscape I've seen in a long while; not just because of the great selection and composition but it's so refreshing.

And it must be good also for Graeme to bother to comment on someone's 'scape!

Photography is spot on too; although I wouldn't expect anything less... Love the plans too.

This is another one to watch... There's so many on UKAPS now, it's brilliant!

Finally, I know what a busy guy you are so thanks for taking the time and effort to share and inspire us all!

 

[keymaker]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

And it must be good also for Graeme to bother to comment on someone's 'scape!

Observe that he has actually commented my comment on the scape, not the scape itself.
Btw he's right...

 

[andyh]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

Tony,

Truly first class scaping, it still makes me smile how excited we all get by some well placed hardscape!

You have created something unique, and i cant wait to see what your planting is going to be like. Journals like yours are what attracted me to UKAPS in the first place.

 

[George Farmer]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

And it must be good also for Graeme to bother to comment on someone's 'scape!

Observe that he has actually commented my comment on the scape, not the scape itself.
Btw he's right...

Observe that Graeme posted before your comment as well...

When will you be planting, Tony?

 

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

Blimey Thankyou all

I've been planting glosso for the past 4 hours and there's still lots to do so I'll crack on and will be back to reply to everyone and post some pics later on - much later

Cheers

Tony

 

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

Just finished 11 hours of planting !

Thanks again for all your kind words and comments on the hardscape. Those sort of comments from the calibre of scapers on ukaps are very warmly received. I just hope the planted tank looks better than the unplanted version - I seem to be OK at hardscaping, but I struggle with the plant selection and positioning - more practise needed I guess

Anyhows, I'll try to answer some of the questions:

any idea what fish you're going for.

Hi Neil. I'm thinking a large shoal of either neon yellow microrasbora kubotai or gelius barb ( I saw a shoal of about 40 today and they were schooling beautifully ). I'm thinking about a black background to this tank so the gelius barbs may work really nice

Tony, if i may?
I Cant help but feel though, the first image without substrate is better than the final one. you can see more of the stone base.

Hi Mark. Of course you may I see exactly what you mean, and agree it looked better. I think I used too much gravel to pack out the malaya, so once that was added I lost the lower detail. I lowered the level of the substrate in the hollow before I started planting, so hopefully that'll go some way to rectifying this.

Where did you get that wood?

Hi Vito

The wood is TGM's fossilised wood, though technically I guess its rocks now

Once it's up, you will have to have me and the misses over so we can sit at the breakfast bar with a glass of red. You know it's happening.

You got it Graeme Just dont ask me to count how many plants are in there

Nature has produced many formations with this "idea in mind", yet I had to experiment a little --- trying to pull the composition back to it's less tense state - equilibrium if you wish... Here's what I came up with in the first round. Not sure it works, just had to test it...

Hi Keymaker, thanks for taking the time to try this - always good to look at options. I see more tension in this version than the actual scape though, with that triangle it creates in the middle.




So its all planted up now, and filling as I type. I chose to do the 6 pots of glosso and the 7 pots of hydrocotyle sibthorpoides (maritima) stem by stem, and it took hours to split it all up and plant it - hence me typing this at 3am waiting to get the filters on

I'm not sure about the background plants yet - I think they'll need some tweaking once I see it filled but thats OK. I'll give it a couple of days and see how I feel.

If it is all clear in the morning, and looks OK I'll get some pics up.

Cheers

Tony

 

[B7fec]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

Hi Tony,

Just wanted to say that the rock work you've produced here is amazing, simply stunning! The detail in the rock is great along with the composition! Aquascaping at it's best, you should be proud mate. I am looking forward to seeing the finished setup with plants and can say this much if the planting matches the level of the rock work, we'll be looking at one of the very best tanks on UKAPS!!

Cheers Ben

 

[Nelson]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

wow.that was some marathon glosso planting session.
i love neon yellow microrasbora kubotai,but with a black background both of your choices would look great.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

And it must be good also for Graeme to bother to comment on someone's 'scape!

Observe that he has actually commented my comment on the scape, not the scape itself.
Btw he's right...

Observe that Graeme posted before your comment as well...

When will you be planting, Tony?

What are you two on about??? Plonkers :0)

I'm looking forward to seeing it planted, I just hope you had enough plants,how frustrating if you couldn't find enough the day you wanted to plant, lol

 

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

Thanks Ben and Neil

I just hope you had enough plants,how frustrating if you couldn't find enough the day you wanted to plant, lol

I dont know what you mean Graeme, I had plenty (once I found them )

After a bit of a lie-in to recover fro the planting epic, I got on with setting up the hardware for the tank today - 2 x eheim 2075s, each with an Aqua Medic CO2 reactor, and a Hydor 300w external heater which turned out to be knackered so waiting for another one of those to arrive I've got a koralia 2 and a koralia 3 in there for now to get the flow circulating nicely with the filters

The CO2 is cranked up with the drop-checker nice and yellow, and the lights are set to 2 tubes on for 6 hours a day initially. I'll star dosing EI tomorrow too.

Anyway, enough waffle, here are the pics from planting day yesterday....

This was the final hardscape before planting, with the substrate lowered a bit in the hollow, and a few graded gravels added, though most of this will be covered by the glosso carpet:

Splitting and planting the 6 pots of glosso took about 4 hours:

Then some more water, and the Hydrocotyle sibthorpoides (maritima) and Hygrophila pinnatifida go in :

More water and then the Ceratopteris Siliquosa (Fine Leaf Indian Fern) went in, along with the Aponogeton Crispus Red, Eleocharis Vivipara, and the two different parrot feathers I've been sent - Myriophyllum Aquaticum from 'planted tanks.co.uk' in the back left corner, and Myriophyllum Matogrossense from TGM at the back and to the right of the trunk...

Finally I've added some Tonina Fluviatilis, and a bit of Echinodorus Vesuvius, though both of these may stay or go depending on how they develop ( as can be said for all the background plants really ). Then it was time to fill her up...

So for now, it is done. I'm really happy with the hardscape, and the glosso, hydrocotyle and pinnatifida planting. The indian ferns may just accentuate the joins in the 'trunk' too much and get too tall, but we'll see, I may replace them with Bolbitis Heudoliti instead. I'm not entirely happy with the background plants and suspect they will change a bit over the next month or two depending on how they develop - I'm rubbish at envisaging how they will grow so I'll see how they go and then decide.

I'm waiting for few more bits to finish off the auto-water change system, but that'll be done in the next couple of days, and once its done I can fit up the tank backing, which will be black for a change (though I have diffused at the ready too, just in case ) as I think the depth of the tank can handle it, and it should allow the flaura and fauna to stand out.

Here are a few more pics, as it stands tonight, end of day 2 !

As always comments and critiques are very welcome

Cheers

Tony

 

[NeilW]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

Incredible, genuinely awesome. Just looks really dynamic. Be great to see the sense of scale when the discus go in.

 

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

Thanks Neil . No discus this time though, just a large shoal of something small

Tony

 

[NeilW]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

That tank has now been ripped out, and the discus have gone to a new home, so its a fresh start today:

*slaps head* it's too late for my liking

Smaller fish would make it look even bigger! I bet they'll appreciate a 420 litre paradise too.

 

[viktorlantos]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

OMG i did not realized earlier the tank is so huge. The planting photos with you helped to imagine the right size of it. Just after that i realized how beauty is your hardscape especially in this size. Amazing tank mate.

Looks good with plants can not wait to see this a few weeks later. Great job!

 

[flygja]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

As if the hardscape isn't already awesome, I feel that your plant selection is really spot on! A Triassic Hollow with proper "era" plants like Hydrocotyle sibthorpoides and Hygrophila pinnatifida. Can't wait to see this develop into a work of art.

Think I'll go watch my Jurassic Park DVDs now

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

quality Tony, absolute quality.

I'm sure over the next week or so you'll work out what you want stem wise in the rear.

Just remember to take into consideration trimming heights, what's in front of the stem to cover the lower half after trimming. things like that. The stones are perfect cover for hiding lower parts of stems.

top bombing mate

 

[hydrophyte]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow"

This is just stunning!

And I had no idea of the size of this setup. I didn't look twice for the tank size. It's huge!

 

[John Starkey]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

Hi Tony,I just love everyhing about this setup,the hardscape,the design of it ,the planting,all in all a stunning setup which will only get better and better,I can remember when I first met you at Tgm nearly 2 years ago,you were wondereing round the store with a face like a kid in a sweet shop (pure heaven),well from those early days to present I think we can safely say you have reache the great height of planted tank expert in my opinion,and I think this setup will only prove that even more,exellent absolutley exellent,I look forward to watching it grow in,
regards,
john.

 

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

OMG i did not realized earlier the tank is so huge.

And I had no idea of the size of this setup. I didn't look twice for the tank size. It's huge!

Its a fair size, and a bit of a pig to work with as its quite high in the wall, and theres only 6inches of accessabove it at the front - I reckon I put in over 300 plantlets of glosso

I feel that your plant selection is really spot on! A Triassic Hollow with proper "era" plants like Hydrocotyle sibthorpoides and Hygrophila pinnatifida

Thanks flyga - thats what I was hoping folk would get Enjoy Jurassic Park

Just remember to take into consideration trimming heights, what's in front of the stem to cover the lower half after trimming. things like that. The stones are perfect cover for hiding lower parts of stems.

Thanks Mark - I have alot to learn in this department as I havent had any success with stems to date If all else fails I'll resort to Blyxa and Balansae back there, which I think would look pretty good actually

Hi Tony,I just love everyhing about this setup,the hardscape,the design of it ,the planting,all in all a stunning setup which will only get better and better,I can remember when I first met you at Tgm nearly 2 years ago,you were wondereing round the store with a face like a kid in a sweet shop

Hi John

Thanks very much mate - I really appreciate your words. This is where all the substrate and additives I bought from you ended up so they were put to good use I might yet add some of your old crypt weditii tropica in there too

Cheers

Tony

 

[LondonDragon]

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day2

Awesome job Tony, planted its looking even better looking forward to watching it developing, one of the best tanks here without a doubt, congrats