David Shanahan
Member
I had a few bits and bobs hanging around and thought I might have a run at setting up a small scape. The tank that I'm using is a Jewel korall 60. It's in it's standard guise at the moment so not many thrills. I think I'll upgrade as I go along with this one. The tank boasts a super duper internal filter and a single light..... Luckily I'm going to start dry so probably safe at the moment.
So, I had a few pebbles and a bit of redmoor root hanging around plus a bit at tropica substrate and ADA Amazonia 2.
I laid the Tropica substrate down, about 1/4 of the bag and filled over with half a 9 litre bag of Amazonia. I pushed the substrate up in the back left corner sloping down to the front and to the right. After playing with the 2 bits of wood and 12 or 13 bits of rock I got them in to a position that I liked. To be fair, I didn't have many options but think its looking good.
Next thing was to consider what to do with the whole dry start method. After reading some other members posts with particular attention to George Farmers, I decided to fill the tank a little over the substrate for a couple of days to make sure it was nice and damp then drained back out to leave a little water in the bottom. Heat came next. I know the tank has a hood, but would that be enough.... Hmmm, cling film seemed the only option to keep the moisture in. Just for good measure though, I took the heater that came with the aquarium and stuck it in a half pint glass filled with water.
I ended up with this.....
I kept this setup for a couple of days whilst I kept an eye on the heat, moisture and water level in my glass. Once I was happy that the cling film wasn't going to melt, the heater wasn't going to set on fire or anything else for that matter I started looking at what I should fill the darn thing with.
I called a mate of mine that has a few Stauro and a bit of Glosso in his tank and asked for a bit of his to get me going. He didn't have much, but what he did have was enough to get me going on my test bed pretty budget dry start scape. Probably 16 stalks of Stauro and a hand full of glosso.
I planted the Stauro on the left between the rocks and the glass and in the middle where the wood hangs over and the glosso across the front and to the back at the right. This has left me with an area unplanted at the back that I'm planning on filling with some grass.
After a week of spraying the plants with water morning and night. Just twice a day I've not managed to kill anything off yet and I dare say I might be seeing a little growth. The lights get turned on at 8am and go off around 10pm so they get a nice long lighting period with a low intensity.
So that's where I am up to. I'm thinking that I might fill in the back with echinodorus tenellus. I plan in the next couple of days to start yoghurtgate with the method used by George Farmer and Tom Barr and tickle the rock work with a little Vesicularia dubyana 'Christmas' and get the rocks nice and mossy and go from there.
I think in the coming few weeks I will start to review what to do with lighting, co2 and flow. I'm thinking pressurised co2, but trying to keep it on a budget. I have a 500g cylinder already so just regulator needed as I have a few pollens in various shapes and sizes. I might have a look at a light bar or increase the lighting on the hood some how and look at some hang on filters like the Eheim range. It will get rid of that big black horrible thing you can see in the pictures.
Hope you enjoyed the Journal so far and will keep you updated on the hotch botch that is my bits and bobs scape.
So, I had a few pebbles and a bit of redmoor root hanging around plus a bit at tropica substrate and ADA Amazonia 2.
I laid the Tropica substrate down, about 1/4 of the bag and filled over with half a 9 litre bag of Amazonia. I pushed the substrate up in the back left corner sloping down to the front and to the right. After playing with the 2 bits of wood and 12 or 13 bits of rock I got them in to a position that I liked. To be fair, I didn't have many options but think its looking good.
Next thing was to consider what to do with the whole dry start method. After reading some other members posts with particular attention to George Farmers, I decided to fill the tank a little over the substrate for a couple of days to make sure it was nice and damp then drained back out to leave a little water in the bottom. Heat came next. I know the tank has a hood, but would that be enough.... Hmmm, cling film seemed the only option to keep the moisture in. Just for good measure though, I took the heater that came with the aquarium and stuck it in a half pint glass filled with water.
I ended up with this.....
I kept this setup for a couple of days whilst I kept an eye on the heat, moisture and water level in my glass. Once I was happy that the cling film wasn't going to melt, the heater wasn't going to set on fire or anything else for that matter I started looking at what I should fill the darn thing with.
I called a mate of mine that has a few Stauro and a bit of Glosso in his tank and asked for a bit of his to get me going. He didn't have much, but what he did have was enough to get me going on my test bed pretty budget dry start scape. Probably 16 stalks of Stauro and a hand full of glosso.
I planted the Stauro on the left between the rocks and the glass and in the middle where the wood hangs over and the glosso across the front and to the back at the right. This has left me with an area unplanted at the back that I'm planning on filling with some grass.
After a week of spraying the plants with water morning and night. Just twice a day I've not managed to kill anything off yet and I dare say I might be seeing a little growth. The lights get turned on at 8am and go off around 10pm so they get a nice long lighting period with a low intensity.
So that's where I am up to. I'm thinking that I might fill in the back with echinodorus tenellus. I plan in the next couple of days to start yoghurtgate with the method used by George Farmer and Tom Barr and tickle the rock work with a little Vesicularia dubyana 'Christmas' and get the rocks nice and mossy and go from there.
I think in the coming few weeks I will start to review what to do with lighting, co2 and flow. I'm thinking pressurised co2, but trying to keep it on a budget. I have a 500g cylinder already so just regulator needed as I have a few pollens in various shapes and sizes. I might have a look at a light bar or increase the lighting on the hood some how and look at some hang on filters like the Eheim range. It will get rid of that big black horrible thing you can see in the pictures.
Hope you enjoyed the Journal so far and will keep you updated on the hotch botch that is my bits and bobs scape.
I have done a brief review of the light in the lighting section ie what I've grown with it. Only get the double if you def want to go hi tec with co2 or can hang it so it can be raised if too strong.
