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My new low tech attempt

faizal

faizal

Member
Joined
1 Mar 2011
Messages
968
Location
Alor Setar , Malaysia
I am sure that by now there are lots of people who are probably wondering " Will he ever fill up his aquarium with water?!!" :lol: I am very sorry guys.
Well with the main wood still leeching tannins i am really left with quite a bit of time in my hands & plus there's nothing really much i'd rather do,...so i thought I would try out with a new low tech tank. My son's old tank is currently no longer there. It was a real shame because it was coming along very nicely.

Here's an FTS of the hardscape,...of course the final result is yet to be seen,...still have to plant it properly.:)

20130602_224302.jpg


I really like little caves in an aquscape because i think the fishes & hopefully shrimps will feel really cosy going in & out of them.:)


Here are a couple of more shots of the foreground area. I really wish i had a very nice looking Mekong Sand to cover the foreground area but this was all i had lying around in my cupboard.:oops:

20130602_224346.jpg


20130602_224359.jpg



I took this shot to give the viewing eye an idea about the level of the substrate heights between the foreground & background areas.
20130603_071259.jpg


I have some plants ready. I am planning on planting them later this evening when i get home.

My plant lists are
Vallisneria asiatica
Staurogynes
e. tenellus
some anubias
mini bolbitis
mini java fern
cryptocoryne cordata
crypt wendtii green & brown
java moss
crypt lucens
crypt nevellii

tank size is about 50 Litres
Light is a single T8 tube 10 watts ( it's just a regular shop light) .So that's about 0.2 Watts per Litre (thank you Clonitza for suggesting this)
Planning on running it for 3.5 hrs a day for the first month. Then decide later whether i should increase the duration of the photoperiod.
Substrate : i decided to go with Aquabasis Plus at the bottom. I placed a mesh over this like Troi does in his tanks then capped it with some Seachem Onyx sand.

I really hope I can grow those Vals & mini java fern. I really love the canopy effect that the Vals produce. So nice & cosy.:) The last time I tried these plants I just fried them to bits. I don"t know if it was my lights because I tried to grow them with T5 tubes & without co2. But with my java ferns ,...i just killed them with my regular T8s:banghead:

Please let me know what you think.
 
Nothing comes in easy in life. This is something i have come to accept for quite sometime now but c'mon,....!!!! :banghead: I came back home after work yesterday & went straight to my tank & started planting. I mean I had everything figured out. The lights, substrate was set & ready. Filters all set & ready. All I needed to do was spray the area & start planting,...which i did & it went well actually. I had a nice relaxing music going on from youtube & everything. Filled her up & things actually looked nice. Then i showered & went down for dinner. When i came back up i saw that curvy foremost driftwood sort of starting to float a little. I had it soaked for a week & it actually sank into the tub before placing it in the tank 2 days ago. Thought nothing much of it & just adjusted it a little so that the nice thick driftwood that Tim mentioned there could hold it down a little for a couple of days.

Then all hell broke loose !!! That big stump of a drift wood started to move up with the slightest of my touch & I cr*pped (figuratively speaking of course) I didn't have anything & couldn't reach out for an extra large stone to help keep it down. Everytime i lifted my hand from the wood it would threaten to come up,plus i was home alone for that day...& finally i relented.

I had that piece of wood sunken in the bathtub for a few days & it never floated in the tub!!! What is going on here?:arghh: Well maybe the Lord has better plans & for that I accept what has happened. The entire substrate which was in the background came in like a damn tsunami over my foreground sandy cove & it looks like a regular junk yard now. I tried to fiddle with things a bit. Took the large wood back to the tub for further sinking sessions.

I am not happy at all with the way it looks now. I am at work now. Will get some pics up later when i get back home.

Questions please:
1) How long would you consider it safe for a driftwood to be considered safely sunken? And once it is sunk,...should we keep it in the tub until right before planting & filling up the tank? Because my driftwoods sank. But i took it out & it was dry when I was playing & setting up the hardscape. Then of course it killed my day.:bored:

Thanks Tim,...yeah I was planning on covering the lava rocks with java moss & some riccia. Now it will just have to wait.

Cheers Alastair,....it's planted now. I will leave it as it is for now. Maybe i might rescape it after some weeks. I definetely want to go with that first scape. It looks not so nice now unfortunately. Oh man.
 
Right,...this is my plan. I am going to leave the tank as it is right now because i am taking my wife & kids out on a long weekend trip. When I return on Monday I will remove all the plants & keep them in another tank. Dry this tank out with an aquarium fan running 24/7. Remove all the substrate layers. First the sand, then the onyx & finally below the plastic mesh,..the JBL aquabasis.

I am thinking the whole process of just drying & separating the substrate is probably going to take me a week so i have to be patient. Thank God it's a non co2 tank.

I am going to take your advice Alastair on screwing some suction cups onto that wood just in case. So that's what we do. We get up, dust the dirt off our clothes & keep on marching till we get there.:) Hooyah!!!
 
Hey Faizal, sorry to hear you're having these problems. Strangely I've never had wood float on me. And these pieces are similar to the ones I have, we may have even gotten them from the same place. But I guess I don't have any pieces that are that small. I usually wedge mine in with rocks else I'll clumsily knock them around during maintenance.

Why do you want to dry out the substrate though? Maybe remove the top layer of soil and substrate and replace with new ones? With white sand, I've always had to remove the top layer and top it up with new sand.
 
flygja said:
..... we may have even gotten them from the same place. But I guess I don't have any pieces that are that small. I usually wedge mine in with rocks else I'll clumsily knock them around during maintenance.
Click to expand...

Hi Flygja,..
clear.png
You are right. Most of my driftwood comes from KW aquatics but i got that particular wood from another guy who sold it on ebay.

Anyways here's how the whole thing looks like now,....warts & all. :(

20130605_003819.jpg
 
flygja said:
Why do you want to dry out the substrate though? Maybe remove the top layer of soil and substrate and replace with new ones? With white sand, I've always had to remove the top layer and top it up with new sand.
Click to expand...

Well I didn't want to remove the top substrate while it's all wet (too messy) ,...so i thought i'd dry out the upper sand & onyx then remove the mesh below that & add it a bit more of the aquabasis plus and the recap with the dried onyx & sand? I don't know yet flygja,...might go with your suggestion there too. How is your big tank coming along? And the other IAPLC tank ? Love to see some updates.
 
Big tank is doing ok... but I'm getting bored of it so planning a rescape. IAPLC 60cm is currently being blacked-out due to uncontrollable BGA! Probably gonna rescape that one too...
 
I think I know what made the wood float. The yoga mat that i had used as a substrate divider which was placed below the wood. The yoga mat's buoyancy must have contributed to it. Plants are in the holding tank. The top layer of the substrate is being dried.
 
Hi mate, you need a substrate divider only when you are adding it, feel free to pull it out after. You don't need a mesh either, you won't be able to pull any plants without rising all the soil, especially when removing crypts that grow roots all over the substrate. :)

Cheers,
Mike
 
clonitza said:
Hi mate, you need a substrate divider only when you are adding it, feel free to pull it out after. You don't need a mesh either, you won't be able to pull any plants without rising all the soil, especially when removing crypts that grow roots all over the substrate. :)
Click to expand...

Cheers Mike.:) Unfortunately I think I might have to leave the divider in this one because if i did try to remove it, the onyx sand sort of falls onto the sandy foreground. The onyx is very fine & it is also at a good 1.5 inch higher level than the foreground sand & it tends to get through the little crevices in the large wood. I had also noticed (during the hardscape set up) that everytime i tried to move anything in the area rear to the wood where the onyx is, little bits of it drops through the narrow crevices of the wood & lands onto the sandy foreground.:( Hence i thought it best to leave the divider in. Glad that you are keeping an eye on my journal. :) Highly appreciate all your suggestions.
 
So i managed to finally remove the top layer of substrate and dry it. Some of the sand still got mixed up with the onyx but i just didn't have it in me to remove it particle by particle because basically i was dead tired by the time i came back home every evening.:oops:

The plants are currently in another small holding tank with the same filter running.
Here are some pics to show how it is now. Like i was telling Flygja last night, this aquascaping stuff is not easy. I mean i was constantly knocking over stuffs within the tank while working.:rolleyes:

Okay ,..enough of attention seeking. :lol:

My favourate view :

20130618_000238.jpg



FTS:

20130618_000836.jpg




This is to show the difference in the height between the foreground & background area

20130618_000757.jpg




I am not using any yoga mats now. Instead you can see that i chose to use the clear plastic sheet that one can find in stationery shops for binding A4 size papers. I simply used 2-3 sheets stuck together cut them to the desired height & width & just squeezed them into the area between the wood & the glass (U shaped clear plastic sheet). I also used some plastic like cardboard thingees which i bought from the stationary shop ( Black coloured ones).

20130618_000739.jpg





My attempt at creating a detail,...:oops:. Please bear with me. i just can't resist showing off these little stuffs coz i was up till about 1 am this morning trying to create a decent looking scape. besides no one here is remotely interested in how i scape my tank. I bug Flygja on & off with my watsapp photos & he has been very kind in obliging me :)
Plus you guys are sort of my brothers in arms in this quest for creating a beautiful aquascape. :)

20130618_000715.jpg


Dear Lord,....please let it work this time.:angelic:

Your feedbacks are as always highly regarded.
 
Alastair said:
Great use of the clear plastic to give the height in the substrate mate.
I really like this scape. Are you using all the same plants again??
Click to expand...

Cheers Alastair :). Yeah but not the Vallis because most of them have completely melted. I seem to have very bad luck with Vallis always. I am going with pretty much the same plants otherwise. Might add some as time goes by. This is the toughest part though. Getting their sizes right for the tank. Alastair,...do you think marselia sp might do well in a nonco2 set up?
 
tim said:
Good to see this back on track mate, look forward to following its progress.
Click to expand...


Thank you Tim.:) I am glad that i managed to set it back properly again. I almost gave up on it initially. I hope to get it planted by tomorrow night.
 
Alastair said:
Yes mate marsilea does great in a low tech non co2 set up once its adapted. I jad it in my puddle and didnt realise how well ot had grown until id pulled it all out

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...


Cheers Al,..:) Can't wait to get back home this evening & start off the tank. If there's any space left in there, i might order a small quantity of riccia, marselia sp & some mini pelia. Just to try it out.
 
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