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Portinho da Arrábida - uma vista de Troia

GreenNeedle

Member
Joined
19 Jul 2007
Messages
2,750
Location
Lincoln UK
Long time since I last started a journal on my main tank :) The last one was 'Once upon a time at the riverbank' which started on 2nd March 2009 and ran until April this year. I thought I would start this journal early so you can laugh at how much I change my plan before I set it up.

I had already planned the new scape at the prior to breaking down the tank and had named it 'Rio Bonito' however I then decided to change the decor of my lounge and I always tend to scape to the surroundings. Therefore I felt 'Rio Bonito' wouldn't be the scape for the new decor.

I'll show you pics of the lounge when I set up the tank so you can see what I mean however it is quite modern looking, minimalistic and pretty techy. Not in a gadgety bachelor pad way. It has class (at least I think so) Therefore I want the scape to 'mirror' the modern minimalist feel of the room.

I will do Rio Bonito later on in my life :)

So inspired by the new lounge I had in mind something like Felipe Oliveira's 'Rounded Stones' when it was in it's infancy and the plants were still quite low.
20081220_15a.jpg


This is Felipe's site:
http://faao.blogspot.com/

I don't want to copy things. just use inspiration and this was the starting point. so I googled aquascapes using lots of stone and less planting or at least discreet planting.

Low and behold up came a picture that I instantly loved. Clicked on it and it was George's original Project Scree :) George's scapes have always had a heavy influence on my scaping although probably not noticeable from my attempts. lol

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=12095

I am no fan of Iwagumi. I find them uninspiring and pretty boring with stones placed in carpets etc however this scape of George's seems to have taken Iwagumi or at least rock hardscaping to another level.

At the moment I can't see too far past George's scape in terms of what I want to do. A bit like being inspired by a song and then everything you write yourself sounds just like it. lol. however I want to do something along those lines albeit with the trademark Needle Fern in the scape. I don't mean it is easy to copy a scape. I can easily put rocks in similar positions to George's however I am not so sure I have the eye that George has so of course mine may not have that perfection of placement etc.

It will of course have to have some thinking over suitable components within the tank as I do not select fish for a scape. My fish move from scape to scape. Therefore I have to make sure the substrate is suitable for my Corys. Another consideration is I can't use sand if I want to have a slope as they will level it out within days.

As I was planning to return to CO2 and 'higher' light for Rio Bonito I've already bought most of the new CO2 rig. Just need to get an FE and some 4dKH. I have sourced my rocks, started looking for suitable substrates and the plants I plan to use (which will likely change and change back etc prior to starting) are from my little nursery (One of those 3 tier mini greenhouses filled with propogators and the like in my cupboard)

Never really worked with rock before. Just used stones as accents and I've always let the plants do their thing jungle style. Not letting them get out of hand but enjoying the sight of loads of green :) Therefore tis will be a challenge. First time with no wood in the tank and trying to use the open space well (meaning above the scape)

Hope things go well and you enjoy the journey. And apologies to George for using his hardscape as a starting point. I will probably try to imitate his completely before I start moving things around a bit.

Regards
Andy
 
Re: 125ltr as yet untitled scape in the advanced planning st

look forward to it Andy! Nice start to your journal mate.
 
Re: 125ltr as yet untitled scape in the advanced planning st

I should add that I will be hoping to get this up and running in the next 4 weeks. Baby due (yes a real one, its not a pet name I am using for the scape) on 9th August. lol

Onto the detail:
TANK- 125Ltr 80 x 35 x 46cm with frosted sheet on rear panel
FILTER- Eheim 2024 700lph external filter
HEATER - Hydor ETH200 inline heater
CIRCULATION PUMP - Resun Waver 2000 (2000 lph)
Pressurised CO2 through inline Up atomizer
37W 5500K LED lighting 9 hours a day set to sunrise/sunset stagger (Lowered down to 6" = high light)

Dosing will be via the EI method. My trace is the original AE trace with some Fe EDTA/DPTA mix added in.

Substrate will be the usual Mulm and Leonardite at the bottom, A small amount of 4 year old Tropica on top of that and then some small natural gravel to get my slope. A white or light coloured sand will be used for the foreground.

The hardscape will be identical rocks to the Mini Landscape rocks which I have sourced at a local cash and carry. These are 1ft x 1ft so nice and big yet under a fiver each :)

Plants will be......Needle Fern, Flame moss and Fissidens Fontanus. I may decide to add something later but want to keep the plant list down and resist the urge to put Crypts/Anubias in.

Inhabitants are 8 x Corydoras Schultzi (black), 20 x Boraras Merah

Then there are 1000+ cherry shrimp to go in.

The frosted sheet has been bought and am awaiting it's arrival. The hardscape rock will be bought by the end of this week. Will have to break some up as they are huge rocks. The substrate will be pondered over between visits to various 'gravel sellers' including Maidenhead. The sand will be bought as and when I am next to a shop selling a nice light coloured one and the FE will be bought when I am ready to start.

One thing holding me back a little is I have to paint and varnish the skirting boards still before I move the tank back in from the Kitchen where it has been for the past 2 months.

One thing I am going to experiment with along the line are RGB LED strips. I bought some of these to use for ambient 'effects' in my lounge. behind the TV etc and I think they would be useful to use with the tank lighting for special effects etc. I can choose from an array of differing colours and it should look cool through the frosted pane. I may even buy 2 so I can shine one down and one up and get 2 differing colours to meet. That is something for later though and only for photos.

Regards Andy
 
Re: 125ltr as yet untitled scape in the advanced planning st

Andy, best of luck with the baby, very exciting/scary times ( I have 3!).

scape sounds great, I do like a rocky scape.

can you tell us more about the rocks, I'm looking for a much more sustainable version of mini landscape rock. I'm guessing if its cheap and big it won't have travelled half way round the world first.

cheers

Chris
 
Re: 125ltr as yet untitled scape in the advanced planning st

I'm going to get the rocks tomorrow. There aren't a huge amount as this isn't a garden centre. It's a trade warehouse chain that sell everythin and they have a few cages of rocks in there. One variant of the rock is like the mini landscape rock in that it is grey with subtle white veining. Not as jagged as the mini landscape rocks as they are nicely worn but still have character.

Not to be too selfish but I'll tell you where they came from tomorrow as there are a lot of scapers in the vicinity of Lincoln and I don't want to get there tomorrow to find out they have a new fastest selling product. lol. There may be a store near you.

The pieces I saw (there were about 9 pieces) were a foot by 10" by 5". big pieces. and I think they were £3.99 each (+ VAT) which is super cheap. There are many other choices tough including a full cage of stones that are like the rounded boulders in Felipe's scape above. They were the same price.

Andy
 
Great prices..

I am also on the look out for large rocks.. granite boulders would do.

I want to do a shrimp biotope, small amount of sand on the bottom, under a cm, then large rocks and two koralias for water movement. Do post where you got your rocks, after you got your rocks.. :)

Cheers,
Luis
 
Maybe boring these days but I go to Portugal every year, sometimes twice (Thats what you get for marrying a foreigner :) ) therefore if I create something it tends to be based on something I've seen in Portugal or England.

The name I have chosen is the name of a beach near my wife's family village. They live in Palmela near Setubal. This is on the edge of the Serra da Arrabida which is a line of hills along the coastline on the edge of the Arrabida national park. Her village is one side of a stretch of hills and the other side is the coastline. You can see the sea from her parents' apartment window :)

A little unuseful bit of info for you:
If you have seen the James Bond film 'On her majesty's Secret Service' you have seen these hills. When Diana Rigg's character is shot whilst Bond is driving along after they are married it is along one of the roads in this 'range'.

Portinho is a pretty beach and if you view it from the sea (or in this case as the title suggests from Troia) the beach is lovely and almost white and the hills immediately rise up behind the beach.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm94 ... aandTo.jpg

Troia is the other side of the opening of the river/harbour of Setubal. Along one side the beach stretches as far as the eye can see. Dolphins swim in the harbour. Basically this little area of the world is a real 'feel good' place to be.

This picture looks at Troia from the top of the hills above the beach (a bit further along than Portinho)
http://v21.nonxt4.c.bigcache.googleapis ... _counter=1

So using rock and creating a sort of long beach along the front with the sand I am using for the Corys immediately I thought of the beach in front of the mountains :)

It is a loosely related title rather than a recreation. I can't remember giant needle ferns poking out from behind these hills but then I do go there when its Festa das vindimas (Wine festival) and after a couple of bottles of Moscatel washed down with euro fizz beer maybe I do see things a little differently :)

I'm not going there this year because of baby no3's impending arrival however will definitely be going next year and hopefully I may have learnt Portuguese by then instead of using babelfish for my titles. lol

AC
 
Great tittle.. A Arrabida is one of the most amazing drives one can do, from the top of the mountain all the way down to the most amazing clear waters, almost deserted beaches, and great views all around.

There were a couple of monasteries on the hills, and some have been converted into hotels or BB. Travel a bit more and you get to Obidos, and this is pure paradise.

It will be a great scape, if you can mimic the hills, of granite I believe, then a beach area. Add a road and a model car and we will almost believe that we are there with Bond now. :)
 
Portinhos da Arrábida is my favourite beach and the best thing is that I will be there next week!! Can't wait!!

I see the challenge is obtaining suitable rocks, other than that it should be straight forward, good luck :)
 
ghostsword said:
if you can mimic the hills, of granite I believe, then a beach area. Add a road and a model car and we will almost believe that we are there with Bond now. :)

I see the challenge is obtaining suitable rocks, other than that it should be straight forward, good luck

Lol. I did say I'm not trying to reproduce or replicate the actual visual. I'm just using the effect, the essence. Will more liekly than not look nothing like the reality once Needle Fern are added.

Not sure what the rock I am getting tomorrow is, but I don't think it is Granite.

AC
 
OK guys I've got my stones and they cost me £25.13 (plus 2 knackered wrists ;) .)

See this thread for where I bought them.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16656&p=171939#p171939

On with the journal.

After selecting 6 stones of varying sizes (choosing ones that looked the bestest and not worrying too much about grabbing the largest) I loaded up the utility vehicle:
DSCF2271.JPG


Then I started out a baseline hardscape using 5 of the stones (comments/suggestions/advice welcome.) The upright one is the same but not much veining on the front side I have here. Would be a shame to turn it around and lose the character of it. Wicked fissure in this stone. There is another stone left which I will break up and use in some areas to ''blend'. I may well also have to break the largest stone on the left.
DSCF2273.JPG

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This is from the side with the Utility vehicle in the background.
DSCF2275.JPG


And a gauge for size. This is from above and the ruler is 61cm (why not 60? I have no idea) This is going in an 80cm tank and the picture above is already touching front and back glass in places (35cm depth)
DSCF2276.JPG


And some close ups of the rocks:
DSCF2277.JPG

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DSCF2280.JPG

DSCF2281.JPG


Like I said earlier this stone is pretty similar to mini landscape seiryu but not so jagged. I think it has a softer more weathered natural aesthetic to it.

Will get the hose on it later to see what it looks like clean.

Regards
Andy
 
Come on guys. For once I am wanting the advice of the 'rock police'. Not making fun. Would like some opinions on the above. I will continue moving things about in the meantime and have broke 1.5 stones already.

Seems these rocks are actually layers of slate and quartz. Some of the broken pieces look like liquorice allsorts

I quite like this layout however I anticipate comparisons to armadillos, Stegosaurus' and Sydney Opera house. lol
DSCF2283.JPG

DSCF2284.JPG


Some of the fractured edges from my bludgeoning are really sharp. Would sanding do any goo to soften them a little?

AC
 
Place them in the tank with substrate then take the photos, will look completely different when you do that, also test the rocks under water, sometimes you get a few surprises with colour!!
 
can't do that Paulo. I have 1 tank and it is full of fish, shrimp plants et al.

My rescapes are a case of fish out, rescape, fish back in. 24 hours of work sometimes :)

Andy
 
Bummer that is going to be a tough exercise, put the fish in a bucket with the filter running :p
Scaping takes time so you will have to be precise on the rock work before the day of the rescape, just place the rocks on sand or something to give you a feel for it then ;)
 
The picture above is in a freshly weeded patch of my garden:) I wanted something of a similar texture so they could be 'bedded' down a little rather than slipping all over the table.

How about this for a sort of sketch. The dark green dots are Fontanus, the light green dots are flame moss and the long green bits are Needle. sand at the front and lightish gravel the rest:
DSCF2284%20sketch%20blank.JPG


Andy
 
I do like the overall rockscape there Andy. My only comment would be that it feels a little bit like it's leaning backwards, perhaps angling the main rock and one or two of the smaller ones so they're pointing a touch more forwards might work? I'm bloody terrible at hardscaping though so feel free to ignore!
 
Some photos of the area I am using for inspiration.

This is me on Troia beach facing the Serra da Arrabida hills (or the start of them.) Setubal would be just to right side of the picture the other side of the estuary. I think this is in 2005. Was only 30 then. lol. This is at peak beach time and probs about 35C in August. Yes peak time, empty beach and the atlantic to the left. If you look to the left of my head there is a drop of water on the lense. Draw an arrow down and my wife lives (or lived) in a village behind the hills you see.
pics2038.jpg


Again 2005 (seems the best year for me taking photos of this area) This is a photo I took on top of the Serra da Arrabide looking down on the Troia Peninsual. The beach you can see over the estuary is the one I was on in the photo above.
pics3085.jpg


Just to show the rocks these hills comprise of. Ignore the car, wife and mother in law :)
pics3081.jpg


A couple of pics from on the hills looking down at Portinho beach:
pics3079.jpg

pics3082.jpg


And to end a picture of me and my mother in law. Can you tell that neither of us like our photographs being taken:
pics3078.jpg


The wife will love me putting photos up her just after giving birth. lol. this one is taken from Palmela castle (The Sera da Arrabida) is behind me as I take this picture) and looks out over the Tagus flood plain. Palmela is a hill on it's own next to the Serra da Arrabida so it slopes down into the flood plain.

The hills in the far horizon are 20 miles away and Lisbon is set into them. Lisbon would be just out of picture to the left. Its half a photo away. lol
pics3059.jpg


Regards
Andy
 
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