240l rescape

[D1gg3r]

Following a house move, I'm soon to be moving the tank home and thought I'd take the opportunity to rescape it completely having been inspired by the many amazing tanks on this site. I've lost original photos of the tank in it's former prime as that computer bit the dust, but managed to salvage a photo via my phone:

The old tank was low tech with twin T8s, no CO2, tetra substrate and very rarely ferts. I'm adding twin 54W T5s, CO2 injection and EI ferts. Due to a disaster with my car the planned upgrade from the juwel internal has been shelved, but will add cirax media and probably a small pump for added circulation. I've currently got the juwel structured background and was going to keep them in an attempt to disguise the filter, but after reading on this site about possible circulation interference will strip them out.

Hardscapewise will be mini landscape rock and sumatra driftwood with fluval plant stratum for substrate. I've had a bit of a play with the hardscape:

Please excuse the terrible picture quality. I intend to bank the substrate up on either side, possibly with a path. As i was just mucking around I didn't use a substrate subsitute so some of the rocks are leant against each other and not placed exactly as I will, but comments welcome on the hardscape.

Plantwise I won't decide until the hardscape is in place, but am considering:
Hemianthus calitrichoides carpet
Eleocharis parvula
Crypts (wenditii/nevelli?)
Blyxa
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Micranthemum umbrosum
Pogostemon erectus
Pogostemon helferi
Rotala rotundifolia
Staurogyne repens

I'll probably stock rainbows and cory's bolstering my existing stock and rehome the rest. Planning for the first week of october!!!!!

 

[D1gg3r]

Well finally got around to breaking down the old tank. I've safely moved the current fish stock to a holding tank and stripped off the old structured background. Silicon came off a dream using a bit of bicarbinate of soda and a thourough rinse. I decided not to replace the background after reading a few posts of how they may interupt flow around the tank when using CO2 injectionn.

I banked the substrate up on either side with a sand path offset. I've used fluval plant stratum and sepearetd the sand and substrate using cardboard. Since it was banked up a bit, I've used food grade plastic strips from milk cartons as supports pushed into the substrate.

I then spent some time posistioning the rock and wood. I wanted the wood to arch over the path:

Plants now ordered though couldn't get hold of any Pogostemon erectus or staurogyne repens as seemingly out of stock. Any feedback on the hardscape welcome

 

[SmallestFrog]

Looks great! Are you planning to have any moss or plants on the branches? Can't wait to see how it looks planted.

 

[D1gg3r]

Looks great! Are you planning to have any moss or plants on the branches? Can't wait to see how it looks planted.

Thanks. I was intending to put some moss on the branches, but forgot to order some . I will probably attach some, but probably not so it covers the wood entirely. I might wait to see how the plants grow in and then make a decision. Not sure what moss to go for either.

I tweaked the hardscape slightly as the rocks on the middle left were a bit linear from certain angles and then planted up:

PLants include:
Bacopa monneri
Blyxa Japonica
Pogostemon helferi
Cryptocorne wendtii 'green'
Cryptocorne wendtii 'tropica'
Cryptocorne parva
Elocharis parvula
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Hemianthus callichthoides
Hygrophilia polysperma
Ludwidgia repens
Mayaca fluviatilis
Rotala rotundiflora

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

Personally I preferred your first attempt scape but with the calor gas bottle more to the left and the bike a bit further back to add some scale Other than that looking good Your old tank was in pretty good shape as well. You should show that to people who think as soon as they start they need a million watts of light co2 and every other gadget out there. Very nice looking tank for a low tech.
Where did you get the drop checker? never seen one like that before.

 

[D1gg3r]

Personally I preferred your first attempt scape but with the calor gas bottle more to the left and the bike a bit further back to add some scale Other than that looking good Your old tank was in pretty good shape as well. You should show that to people who think as soon as they start they need a million watts of light co2 and every other gadget out there. Very nice looking tank for a low tech.
Where did you get the drop checker? never seen one like that before.

Re the old tank, thanks. I pretty much 'winged' that tank without much forethought initially and ran it for seven years. I bought a bulk setup of random plants and tweaked it as it developed, by removing plants that weren't successful under low tec, ending up with that photo in it's prime. I can grow Vallis like a weed! I think the substrate additive eventually exhausted itself after seven years as I didn't really dose ferts at all and it became a pain to constantly add fert tabs, hence the complete rescape.

The drop checker is this:

Got it from my local fish shop. I've seen exactly the same design by Fluval.

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

Your philosophy on your old tank sounds pretty much like mine. Grow some plants then shuffle them about to whatever looks best as you go on. I like the DC its quite stylish and looks easy to get a reading off.

 

[minnnt]

That is brilliant. Really impressive.

 

[Mark Evans]

You've got a nice layout there.

One thing if I may....if you've got any smaller stone, maybe put 1 or 2 in the foreground. You've currently got most of your stones on the same 'plain'...all in 1 line. It makes the layout look 'flat' rather than 3 dimensional.

Other than that, you're on to a winner.

 

[D1gg3r]

You've got a nice layout there.

One thing if I may....if you've got any smaller stone, maybe put 1 or 2 in the foreground. You've currently got most of your stones on the same 'plain'...all in 1 line. It makes the layout look 'flat' rather than 3 dimensional.

Other than that, you're on to a winner.

Thanks for the feedback, I've been looking at the setup and see exactly what you mean. Water change this Friday so I'll see what rock I have to play with.

Well nearly two weeks in and the stem plants have gone mad, so I'll be trimming them soon. I've had a bit of melt with the HC, but seems to have settled and in most areas is growing in well. Those that read my separate post will know the Blyxa melted completely away. It seems to be recovering now with signs of new growth, so thanks to those that offered their expertise

Been fiddling with the CO2 levels a bit. Initially undercooked it a bit, probably leading to the above melt problems. I then went a bit mad and burnt off a 500g bottle of CO2 in 10 days Now settled down to a sensible level. CO2 drop checker a nice lime green, but hints of algae in some areas that will need looking at. I'll try and post some more pictures post trim and hardscape tweaks as per Mark's suggestions.

 

[hudsonpd]

What is your current rate of CO2 in terms of bubbles per second? How much CO2 do you get through a month?

 

[D1gg3r]

What is your current rate of CO2 in terms of bubbles per second? How much CO2 do you get through a month?

Tanks only been running about two and a half weeks, but burnt through 500g in 10 days, so would be about 1.5kg a month. That was at 4 bubbles per second. I've tinkered with the bubble rate and settled to about 1.5 bps. The drop checker's still lime green and plants appear fine so hopefully will be a bit more economical.

 

[Ben22]

Love how you pre planned the layout and almost got it exactly as you first layed it out, thats attention to detail
where did you get the wood from? Over time when the plants grow it will really give the tank a contrast in colours. Apart from the fish you will restock what else are you going to use>?

 

[D1gg3r]

Love how you pre planned the layout and almost got it exactly as you first layed it out, thats attention to detail
where did you get the wood from? Over time when the plants grow it will really give the tank a contrast in colours. Apart from the fish you will restock what else are you going to use>?

Thanks. The wood is Sumatran bogwood that I got from aqua essentials. I was able to select the pieces individually and their size is listed as well. Fish wise the old stock is a few remaining rainbows (Bosemani, lake terberas) cory sterbai and lots of Kribs which have bred like mad. I've also got a red tailed shark and a lone black neon tetra rescued when My brother's tank filter died whilst he was away. The Kribs and shark will be rehomed and i'll stock with rainbows, corys and some ottos.

Plant wise the tank has had a trim and the Mayaca fluviatilis in particular is rampant. The HC appears to be growing and spreading, but I'm having problems keeping it rooted. Maybe a problem with the substrate grain size? I'll see how it goes but if it persists, I might swap in more Elocharis as that's rooting and spreading well.