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Competition journal

krazypara3165

Member
Joined
23 Aug 2012
Messages
591
Location
Warrington, Cheshire
This is going to be a long one, so where do i begin?

Basically, to cut a long story short on wednesday i came in the top three of a competition ran by All Pond Solutions.
The challenge was to tell them how you would scape a 10l nano tank and the top three ideas win the tank, but we have to create our design to get a chance to win a £100 APS voucher.
Although ive done a scape in my discus tank there was not much thought or planning that went into it so this will be my first proper scape!

so...... heres the tank!
blue_white_2_zps5b47f618.jpg

(mine will be in black)

My Idea.......

The idea i pitched was a british woodland landscape. A few trees made with moss with a dark substrate and a few celestial pearl danios.

In Reality.......

i only have until the third of april before they want to see the finished article!!!!! to make things worse im away in leeds this weekend and ill be in tenerife between the 28th and the 2nd.... this only gives me a few days next week and a day when i get home to sort this! thankfully, they are not expecting too much. however i still want to give it my all!

So what to do........

My revised theme is to scape it as a spring woodland scene. the tank is long and narrow so i want to make full use of this. i want to have a brown substrate with maybe a black (or another colour-any ideas?) pathway running the length of the tank e.g left to right, as it would be too short if it was a front to back path. i would like to find two to three pieces of wood that look like trees and put a few bits of christmass tree moss coming of the branches to make it look as if it is just entering spring. i also want to have a fallen tree and a couple of rocks covered in moss. i would like to know if i could finely chop the moss up and glue it to one edge of the fallen tree and rocks? (but what glue do i need) i then either want a small clearing with dwarf hairgrass or would i be better off plantin it at either side of the path?

Problems........

As you can see the intake for the filter is quite low so i cannot use too much substrate. also, how on eath would i anchor the trees in such a shallow substrate? finally, anything i do will not have time to grow in (well if i get it set up in time ill have 6 days whilst im away......) so it will have to look good from the start.


I realise i am way over my head but i love a challenge? is this a realistic idea or do i need to lower my standards..... how would i do it if needed?

Any help or criticism would be appreciated.

cheers, Craig.
 
Wow.

Well done in getting to this point in the competition. Having an idea in your head is one thing, the real challenge is making it a reality and getting it to even slightly resemble the Amano-esque picture in your mind.

Re the 'trees' you have in mind, you could always use a small blob of aquarium silicone on the end to keep them anchored. Not ideal, but as you've already pointed out you're substrate depth is limited due to the filter intake.

I'm really looking forward to watching this progress. Also looking forward to your thoughts on this tank, lighting and filtration etc
 
Good idea! I was thinking along the lines of using a slate base and drilling and screwing the wood onto it. Your idea would mean it would be easier to plant around the base of the trees.
Im quite fond of the all pond solutions equipment, granted its inferior quality compared to the big brands but with that it offers superior value for money. Before the build ill try and get a quick video review done. It should actually arrive today if my girlfriend is in to accept delivery lol.
 
Hi,
i see what you mean about the filter intake :mad:
Why not have the tree as an off centre focal point with the substrate building to a high point there and shallow at the ends....or alternatively just flip your idea so the high substrate is at the opposite end to the filter (maybe not the best aesthetically), but you could perhaps have a graded pebble to sand 'stream bed' instead of a pathway at that end and have the woodland starting from there.....maybe if you make the stream area and graded pebbles the majority of the footprint it will help minimise the plant mass needed in the short time frame you have :) im sure you can get enough sand and river pebbles easily enough and you should be able to source some twigs for the trees...maybe something like this for river bed inspiration?

4469325-683406-spring-river-in-canyon.jpg


You can use cyanoacrylate gel type superglue to attach for a seamless appearance for the quick scape, or fine fishing line......you just need to source enough moss for stones and trees :eek:
a bit of hairgrass/tennelus here and there for your clearing, or perhaps some leaf litter instead (easier) and bobs your uncle!....well, maybe!!!????
Good luck :nailbiting:
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
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Interesting project but very little time... Re the intake, if you have some substrate support like what TGM sell then you could use a shallow cut of that to block up some of the intake from the bottom. This may give a bit more flexibility for depth. If you are using nano wood, what I found is that if you use a Stanley knife to make shallow cuts in the wood and then soak in a bucket of boiling water it makes the thing sink quicker than not doing it. Guess the hot water softens the wood pronto and the cuts give the water ingress into the wood asap. Other thing is to use stones to weigh it down and scape it at the same time just like in nature. As long as you have enough moss to make the immediate planted impact, then you'd be able to pull this off no probs. I'd favour some hairgrass to make it look really natural. Just a few thoughts... Good luck
 
Cheers everyone, all great ideas! Moss shouldnt be a problem. I am getting some from a very generous member on here and if it comes to it i have flame moss and christmas moss that i can butcher from my discus aquarium :)

Really lime the river idea.... what substrate would be best to use? And has anyone got any pictures of a river scape as im having difficulty trying to imagine how to sort out the gradient and the right type of stones...
 
Nice tank dude moss is on it's way. I have found the best way to fix it to your wood is with bag ties like you get with freezer bags that way you can get it nice and tight on the wood and the moss just grows over it. Good luck on your short time scale.:)
 
Have you thought about using riccia for the trees instead of moss it would grow in, in a week if co2 injected. I like adys photo of a river bed above.you should look at this tank in the perspective of a quick eye pleasing photo not a scape you'll keep for long:) I can post you a few bits of twiggy wood for ur trees pm your address and ill post Monday. Good luck with it craig :)
 
Best way to scape this would be to do an island scape and build the substrate into the middle. That would work a treat. Use the nano would to create your island. It would suit this tank a treat IMO.
 
Little update..... ive been searching through the posts on the all pond solutions facebook page and ive hunted down the other two winners ideas.

One was nearly identical to mine, so im thinking the river idea would set mine off beautifully.

The other was 'a mini crab tank with bogwood and live rock' i could be wrong but i really cannot imagine that one turning out very well.

Thankfully there was no stupid ideas picked like 'a discus tank with two pairs of discus' or the marine tanks that were peoples ideas.....
 
Well finally got the tank!!

20130326_202653_zps59431e4d.jpg


The first thing ive realised is that its very very narrow! If i do the river idea instead of acriss the width of the tank id have to do a very small cross section of one from the front to the back of the tank (maybe just odd center?) Going to try out some layout ideas tomorrow and im going to attempt to moss up some trees and rocks which i will throw into my high tech tank until i return from my holiday.

Just want to say thanks to mi casa for the moss which has arrived and tim for the wood which ill be picking up from the post office in the morning.
 
My first thought would be to make it a cross section of a stream with woodland either side. May not really get a lot of planting going on, so it would be all about the hardscape and fauna. Mosses for accents etc.
 
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