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90cm river bank scape (conquered HC)pic heavy

Rabb.D

Member
Joined
3 Nov 2010
Messages
139
Location
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
FTS from beginning in descending order :D

midground dynamics(anubias nana petite mini) 11th April 2012 - FTS
6921113124_f38e4137d2.jpg


final emersed start 1st January 2012
IMG_8434.jpg


first emersed start 4 December 2011
IMG_7094.jpg


final hardscape 5th November 2011
IMG_5604.jpg


____________________________________________________________________________________________

hello,

my first journal in ukaps, going to take a very very long time till i start planting, no money, but my father insisted on buying me a 3 foot tank, even when i told him i've given up the hobby, my previous tank was a 2 foot tank(ADA cube 60-p), a failed endeavour which was expected because of my usual self am prone to giving up half way, the tank was actually quite good on the way to filling with corals but again money issues and when the algae started coming, i didn't sit it through... :oops:

if your wondering why i dont just have two tanks(salt and fresh)... the most obvious problem would be finding a bank loan, then its the small house got no space..

IMG_2347.jpg


straight to my current attempt again at a planted tank here is my tank with some driftwood
IMG_3508.jpg


and here it is after some meddling and filling
IMG_4834.jpg


Soo... after some research i'll list out my plans and whatnot,

equipment
2x39 watt t5ho daylight.. i'm usually used to high light say 3 watts per gallon, but after some advice and reading wanted to go ahead with lower lighting which hopefully will decrease the chances of algae coming, light at 1.6 watt per gallon
co2 tank 2.3 kg using selonoid
AS amazonia 2 normal
eheim 2217
chiller because of hot and humid country/place

when it come to dosing i plan on trying out EI method with seachem, hve already calculated the dosage will post it here again for the sake of it, i used this coverter http://www.fishfriend.com/fertfriend.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nitrate 20-30 ppm per week 8ppm per dose - 21ml
Phosphates 3ppm per week 1ppm per dose - 40ml
potassium 30ppm per week 8ppm per dose - 36ml
iron 0.5ppm per week 0.17ppm per dose - 3ml

unlike most nature aquarium scaping is not meant to mimick landscape or garden but more like an underwater river or the edge of a river bank, but still having some garden look to it with dwarf hairgrass...

for plants, i was thinking HC but i have never had any success with it previously, very very newbie, also i like the look of dwarf hairgrass trimmed and growing packed tightly together as a foreground, some moss on the wood, then some other plants not to sure what... but will figure out when the time comes.. broke... to much month at the end of money.. kind of problem, I hope some of you understand.

like most people i think i would be doing water changes every other day at early weeeeeee!!! in the morning and then dose at the same time so if i'm busy during the day at least i'll either be back doing the routine or sleeping and have forgotten about it, the water changes will be done every other day during the initial month or weeks ill just have to see.

for fish i would like green neon tetra, i like to blue look... looks nice...

finally i want to warn that this tank is gonna progress really really slowly, so dont get excited for this tank, if that even happens, going back to school(uni if ur curious) next year, might take more than 5 months before i get planting... :wave:
 
Re: 90x45x45 driftwood scape

I really like the placement of the roots on the left side, very nice.
 
Re: 90x45x45 driftwood scape

haha thanks for looking, actually i was a little worried the wood on the left side would be a little overwhelming, but my dad likes the wood on the right he says its like an oak tree so i feel obligated to keep it there, and i guess... :p i will.. but still maybe i could add fake branches to it and make it more appealing.
 
Re: 90x45x45 driftwood scape

I like it on both sides actually, something new at least :D
Might turn up a good one in some time. Good luck and dont give up this time.
 
Re: 90x45x45 driftwood scape

hello,

thanks peice-of-fish, yea i think i wont be giving up especially since it was also a commitment on my fathers part as he bought me the tank, not to mentions he likes staring at the tank too, but he doesnt get overly involved with the setting up, but i do ask his opinion...

i just wanted to post a little more comprehensive plan for plant selection and planting, and add some pictures that i draw inspiration from... and also some ideas on fish selection (fish geek) :geek:

foreground - for the foreground i was inspired by this photo
aquascape_2011_2_14__08_27__FrogMountain_ChungWeiCheong.jpg

Riccia fluitans dwarf - dwarf riccia
Eleocharis acicularis - dwarf hairgrass/or HC
if i'm using HC might mix it up with hydrocotyle sibthorpioides - lawn marsh pennywort
fissidens fontanus would also be used in the foreground grown on medium size rocks to add some dimension to the foreground

driftwood - some patches here and there not too much
mini fissidens /or fissidens fontanus
maybe some thicker moss like taiwan moss or Vesicularia Sp - creeping moss to conceal the stumps
this is where i drew inspiration from for my driftwood, looks amazing...
59186297.jpg


background -
some hairgrass here and there just to make it look nice
maybe stem plants like Rotala sp goias maybe not

my plan is to keep it simple, i don't really think stem plants would go well with this scape, but maybe i'm wrong would just have to try it out

for fish selection i'm quite certain i'll be going with schooling fish like tetras, i like the look of green neon tetras but not too sure if they have them here, i am also quite fond of cichlids, would like to go with a cichlid pair, can't decide on the species yet, as i'm not sure what is available. this time i might finally be able to put in more than 5 tetras for a change less stress on the fish as its a bigger tank which is a good thing for me too ;)

planning to buy two more packets of 9 liter amazonia II normal sized grains this coming monday, took some extra cash allocated for my laptop... :D then i might have to mess with the scaping and post some pictures

this list is what i would like to go with but, it all depends on what is available in the LFS... so we'll see how it turns out... :thumbup:
 
Re: 90x45x45 driftwood scape

this is my infantile sketch layout design
IMG_4834-1.jpg


the gray outline are the rocks with moss and some without, the long strands are hairgrass at the back, some fissidens and moss on the wood, and maybe dwarf hairgrass in the foreground
 
Re: 90x45x45 driftwood scape

Alastair said:
Tanks looking great so far mate. I Can see why you drew inspiration from that pic on your screen.

thanks Alastair, i just bought two more packs of 9 l amazonia soil, and its already in the tank, now i'm wondering whether the soil will dry up and turn to crumble if i leave it there in a few months...Any advice?

my brother brought the DSLR to work will post a pic when he comes back
 
Re: 90x45x45 driftwood scape

here is an update with the soil in place and some rocks, although i don't think i will be using those yellow rocks in the final scape, i'm starting to like how they look, in the end i might trade them with ryu stones instead, any opinions would be great... and also does anyone reckon the soil will dry up if left too long..? the rocks might stand out a little too much but i'm giving them a margin for dwarf hairgrass growth later on
DSC03959.jpg


thanks
 
Re: 90x45x45 driftwood scape

just posting an update of the hardscape, bought 10kg of ryu rocks place them all over the place
IMG_5179.jpg


my plan is some of the rocks gonna be covered with fissidens, so it will be part of the foreground, and some will be bare,
i also just cut back some soil in the foreground but havnt took any pictures, just to make the roots a little more prominent which i think is the real attraction.
 
Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape

a little update on the progress of getting this hobby going

i finally found a source of dry ferts from aquariumfertiliser.com, but found myself cursing :shh: when i realized that i essentially bought slightly less amounts of dry ferts 453g-500g at a slightly higher price, for the same products in comparison to the bargain offered by Aquarium Plant Food UK...

so the issue with this hobby now, is whether first and foremost the Malaysian Customs will confiscate the chemicals from coming in, although they don't seem to be opinionated of the idea of importing the chemicals, they did direct me to the Department of Environment, which is another good thing, since if my common sense is right, i gather ferts don't essentially pollute the environment... so its a big relief... but not until i get my reply... so its just a matter of time
 
Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape

a little update

ferts came through fine a few weeks back
IMG_6474.jpg


and heres the final hardscape
IMG_5604.jpg


suprisingly i'll be planting today, will be going back to the LFS in half an hour or so then will start immersed planting with HC, then might take some pics and update the journal again... when its fully planted... then it will be misting, morning and evening until its grown in...

any suggestions on what plants i should use, i'm still a little bare, when it comes to which plants work best... :D
 
Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape

Great work, it will be interesting with the plants keep it up Rabb
 
Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape

Hi mitchelllawson

This is a good start. Can't wait to see it planted.
Might I add that you can do yourself a favour and put all your 'clear' fertilisers (KNO3, KH2PO4 and MgSO4) into one bottle. Just keep the Trace away from the Phosphate, then you'll only have 2 bottles to mess with :D
 
Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape

thanks a lot gillo,

its great to have you interested in my tank...

so i had a disaster yesterday.... after all the self-promises i made to not fill up the tank and do emmersed with HC, i was still a little too tempted to try and fill it up which i did, which is just half the disaster, the other half being i used newspaper to disperse the water from the hose, without realizing that i was using a jet hose and guess what happened?

.... the newspaper got shredded by the jet from the hose and I had newspaper all over the place floating in the tank... it was really really frustrating, so i emptied the tank again and this time learned my lesson and started with emmersed hc planting again

here's some bad quality pics before the battery on the DSLR went out... will take some proper pics when the battery is fully charged... unfortunately i was not in the right state of mind to take pics of the disaster, i couldn't trust myself to handle the camera in the mood i was in.haha, the tanks looks a little smaller though
IMG_7094.jpg


Hey Ceejay,

putting all the clear fertz in one bottle is a really good idea never thought that could be done... but if i do that... what happens to my dosing, i really wouldn't know how much to dose... any advice or thoughts on that? or maybe a link? :shh:

although when it comes to the plant selection... at the moment it obviously looks a little bare, so my plan is to add some lawn marsh pennyworts, fissidens on the rock and driftwood and and christmass moss on the stumps at the top left, and some Staurogyne repens... since its probably going to be completely green, i was thinking of adding some really nice red cherry shrimp to add some contrast for my own viewing pleasure :lol:
 
Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape

Awesome tank so far!
How long did the ferts take to arrive?

Callum
 
Re: 90x45x45 under the river scape

Themuleous said:
Love the hardscape! :)

Sam

thanks a lot, i was trying very hard to make it look good, not just in person, but also in a pic, i guess that's the best i could produce, its quite satisfying to look at what i would consider the most decent hardscape i've made so far, previously was much worse, i think there's a pic somewhere in the Mac forum of my first 2 foot low tech(thought was high tech) planted tank, this time i had to take pics with my DSLR every time i made an adjustment to the scape cause i couldn't really judge, then i finally settled on this one. it was back breaking but as usual fun :D

Callum said:
Awesome tank so far!
How long did the ferts take to arrive?

Callum

thanks Callum, if i remember correctly it took exactly 11 days to reach my mail box, really fast, considering... my father thought it was going to take a month... he didnt tell me till it reached the mail box... :bored: felt like months though... but two days back the same place where i bought the HC i just found out that they actually sold dry fertz, so i didnt really need to order... maybe just those the LFS doesn't have available.

Edit: actually i forgot to add there's an update,

i just went to the LFS about 3 hours ago and bought some lawn marsh pennywort and Staurogyne repens and added them to the tank, should look less plain when they grow in.

my only concern is that i've read that the lawn marsh pennywort grows like a weed, so i'm a little afraid it will overtake the HC before it has time to grown in... but i guess its nothing a little maintenance can't handle
 
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