• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

My custom build shallow tank RESCAPE (The 3 Peaks)

Love the Micranthemum growth Jonny, tank is looking great! Get yourself to B&Q and start hammering that rock, it would look even cooler with shale style chips at the base ;)
 
Love the Micranthemum growth Jonny, tank is looking great! Get yourself to B&Q and start hammering that rock, it would look even cooler with shale style chips at the base ;)

Thanks Joe.

Once I've got the parvula to a certain stage I'm going to get a FTS the do a re scape.

Jonny
 
HI all

You may remember that 4 Weeks ago I altered my flow and Fert regime, with a highly positive effect, the Eleocharis parvula on the right grew like wild fire and the plants on the left started growing. I was happy as I was just gonna wait for it to grow in and get a fts before changing things around, however when cleaning the tank yesterday I knocked over a rock which has always been precarious I tried to re-right it but did not prevail :(.

I decided to use this as an opportunity to change things, maybe get the flow much better.........however.......once I got to this stage and knew I was at a point of no return. (see pic below) :banghead::mad::banghead::mad::banghead:

21036605693_f0871b494d_o.jpgIMG_1172 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

I walked away in a fit of anger. Once i had calmed down I decided to start the scape again.

I looked back at my thread and decided it was time to take on some points,
1. Christos Ioannou, put heater in vertical position(could have done it any point but couldn't be bothered)
2. @Iain Sutherland too many large rocks hindering flow
3. Dantrasy, @Joe Turner, not enough detail needed some smaller rocks

It is also time to change things that have bugged me
1. Im not sure the ember tetra were enjoying the last scape maybe a bit too bright.
2. the rock on the far right is growing the Utriularia sandersonii amazingly well and every passing week the plant is creeping up the soil . But it is not visible from the front.
3. i want both inlet and out let on the same side
4. Sand needs to banked at the back of the tank allowing more viewing space and more persective
5. I wanted a more traditional scape layout
6. Grow Eleocharis mini.
7.the rock that was in the middle like to start growing something emersed on it.

Things I liked and don't want to change
1. There is 3 large rocks I liked them sticking above the water surface as I really like having emerged growth forming little islands
2. Eleocharis parvula carpet
3. an area of sand exposed

I will need to wait to end of the moth to get some additional sand, floropol and plants. to complete the new scape

This is a quick and dirty shot of one side.

21631560026_bf3aa08aa4_o.jpgIMG_1175 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

As this was totally unexpected this was thrown together with no planning within the day. I will post a FTS once i have tweeked it a bit, and the tank isn't in a snow blizzard from all the cloudiness.

Regards

Jonny
 
Well done!


... though as you've (I think) now moved the 3 peaks in closer proximity, you'll need to work out flow again ;)
 
Well done!


... though as you've (I think) now moved the 3 peaks in closer proximity, you'll need to work out flow again ;)

thanks. Im seriously hoping that is not the case :nailbiting: Only time will tell.

Today the water has cleared up nicely, so I thought i would mess around with my 50mm lens very very rarely use it, that might change now. Sorry still no FTS, waiting to the end of the month to get paid so i can finish off the other side. in the mean time.....

21548166180_2432b78c05_o.jpgIMG_3509 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

EDIT: whats the best way of keeping the rocks cleans? Tooth brush, shrimp/loaches/catfish, twistar? as keeping on top of the rocks is a little difficult.

Regards

Jonny
 
Hi All

In the past 8 weeks i have added some new tank inhabitants 16 Copper harlequins and 4 Apistogramma purple i have to admit that they were needed for the tank to come alive. I decided to stop obsessing over the tank and leave it alone (still feeding, dosing and water changes) for 4 weeks to see what would happen. It turns out quite a lot really the clarity of the water has degraded considerable (yellowy and brown tinge) which can easily been seen in the coming photos. The main reason I decided to stop obsessing is that Elecocharis parvula is such a slow grower for me that is was starting to frustrate me. So the first photo is roughly the same as above photo after 8 weeks.

23152783935_a4c4e2ee79_o.jpgIMG_3748 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

Now some warts. My plant growth above the water have not gone too well. The Utricularia sandersonii has started to get a white fungus growth over it and its just looking a bit tatty. I have had the water level sat 2 cm lower than normal which I'm gonna guess is the cause of the white fungus giving it more favourable conditions than the Utricularia sandersonii. Im not sure how I'm going to solve this but I'm guessing some manual removal might be needed.

22856935800_b3a88b1c8a_o.jpgIMG_3722 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

I have now decided to kick myself and start putting some more tlc into the tank and finish off the scape. 8 weeks ago I only scaped one side so 4 days ago I bought more sand and JBL florropol, placed some new rocks and ripped up a stretch of Eleocharis parvula so I would have some plants to grow on the other side.

Because the water clarity is poor I decided to use my iPhone6 and a camera app called Moment where u have more control over exposure and focus just to see what I could come out with. Below is the best result i came up with

23163109712_547a04ee8f_o.jpgIMG_0091 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

And an in situ shot just cause i could

22758615437_6dd5d56cf4_o.jpgIMG_3727 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

Whats next
I have decided to move onto a new scape because my mind has started wondering. This means that I'm going to run this into the new year (6-8 weeks more) and get a final shot of the tank. What I'm going to do to achieve this is.....
  1. I'm lowering my lights to the height in the in situ shot, they have been fully extended throughout this scape
  2. up my co2 a little
  3. have both lights on at the same time for 2hours instead of 1hr
  4. Up my water changes
  5. Actually buy and use carbon to keep the water clarity tip top.
  6. 4 apistos is a bit too many so I'm going to give 2 away
I feel like i have sat in 3rd gear (not had 1 single problem with algae in 5 months ) with this tank never really seeing how fast i can get the plants to grow, so I'm going to see what I can achieve in growth if i do the above.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this. Stay tuned

Jonny
 
4 Apistogramma purple
You might check which species before removing the "extra" 2, if they are a harem species rather than pair species, you may do better keeping 2-3 females & a single male; also consider adding some "caves" as the scape seems quite open (any sort of small cave shape will do, apply a layer of silicon (or whatever "glue"), then coat in substrate, allow to cure etc; you can also attach mosses or various plants)

A 100cm x 50cm surface area may suffice for 2 apisto pairs but would need to scape with this in mind, it may also work better with pairs of different (compatible) species - you might do some searches in this regard on some of the apistogramma forums.

The water tint is interesting as it's more usually seen with wood scapes so you might try pressure washing the rock if it looks to be coming out of the crevices ...
(I'm assuming you're still doing 50% weekly water changes)
It's also possibly tap water quality - sorry don't recall if you're using RO/DI etc

Purigen may be a better investment than carbon, as you can re-charge the purigen fairly easily/efficiently (just invest in 2 "bags" etc)

There are lots of interesting shrimp to consider (not so compatible with most apisto's though ;))

This tank has such potential - looking forward to updates!
 
You might check which species before removing the "extra" 2, if they are a harem species rather than pair species, you may do better keeping 2-3 females & a single male; also consider adding some "caves" as the scape seems quite open (any sort of small cave shape will do, apply a layer of silicon (or whatever "glue"), then coat in substrate, allow to cure etc; you can also attach mosses or various plants)

A 100cm x 50cm surface area may suffice for 2 apisto pairs but would need to scape with this in mind, it may also work better with pairs of different (compatible) species - you might do some searches in this regard on some of the apistogramma forums.

The water tint is interesting as it's more usually seen with wood scapes so you might try pressure washing the rock if it looks to be coming out of the crevices ...
(I'm assuming you're still doing 50% weekly water changes)
It's also possibly tap water quality - sorry don't recall if you're using RO/DI etc

Purigen may be a better investment than carbon, as you can re-charge the purigen fairly easily/efficiently (just invest in 2 "bags" etc)

There are lots of interesting shrimp to consider (not so compatible with most apisto's though ;))

This tank has such potential - looking forward to updates!

Thanks Alto ill bare all this in mind. I did however give up on shrimp as they just kept climbing out which was damn annoying.

Skimmed the thread, so apologies if you already said... what kind of rock is that?

Hi jag, the rock is Mini landscape rock


Regards

Jonny
 
HI All

So its been exactly 3 weeks since my last update on the scape. And the tank has grown a wart ..... algae. So I decided in the spirit of a journal to take a picture of it. Fun stuff I know!!!
Ive kept on top of the algae but for giggles (well scientific curiosity) I left a patch to see how much it would grow before I decided its time to get on top of it so this is 3 weeks of algae growth.
23055381843_0d8a7bff18_o.jpgIMG_0003 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

Im now the proud owner of algae, but on the up side I have had 8 weeks of growth in 3 weeks. The increased growth of algae to the tank has been down to the fact I dropped the lights 27cm to the lights were 22cm above the water surface. Im going to increase the height by 7cm to see if I can find the sweet spot between optimum plant growth and very minimal algae growth. Deciding to design the light bracket to be adjustable in height is becoming very handy.

In other news, the emerged soil is changing from U, sandersonii to more of a sphagnum moss? (I will get a close up shot for a proper id soon). I'm going to plant some U sandersonii and see if i can grow it submerged as a wee additional experiment.

The Micranthemum micranthemoides is growing really well and after some more pruning will hopefully become dense and will have a great effect.

All in All I'm happy with how this scape is coming along. Hopefully I will get a proper FTS early new year.

Thanks for reading

Please feel to comment and criticise

Jonny
 
HI All

So its been exactly 3 weeks since my last update on the scape. And the tank has grown a wart ..... algae. So I decided in the spirit of a journal to take a picture of it. Fun stuff I know!!!
Ive kept on top of the algae but for giggles (well scientific curiosity) I left a patch to see how much it would grow before I decided its time to get on top of it so this is 3 weeks of algae growth.
View attachment 78937IMG_0003 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

Im now the proud owner of algae, but on the up side I have had 8 weeks of growth in 3 weeks. The increased growth of algae to the tank has been down to the fact I dropped the lights 27cm to the lights were 22cm above the water surface. Im going to increase the height by 7cm to see if I can find the sweet spot between optimum plant growth and very minimal algae growth. Deciding to design the light bracket to be adjustable in height is becoming very handy.

In other news, the emerged soil is changing from U, sandersonii to more of a sphagnum moss? (I will get a close up shot for a proper id soon). I'm going to plant some U sandersonii and see if i can grow it submerged as a wee additional experiment.

The Micranthemum micranthemoides is growing really well and after some more pruning will hopefully become dense and will have a great effect.

All in All I'm happy with how this scape is coming along. Hopefully I will get a proper FTS early new year.

Thanks for reading

Please feel to comment and criticise

Jonny

Eleocharis growth is lush man, it might feel slow to you, but in terms of this journal: that's exceptional growth!

Looking forward to FTS :D
 
Hi All

8 Weeks ago I decided that this scape needed to come to an end and I gave my self 8 weeks to get to that stage I'm happy to say the tank is looking great but its a lil annoying that I feel that I'm still 4 weeks away for the plants to be in perfect in condition (mostly on the right hand side. Oh well I'm gonna take these next 4 weeks to practice my FTS and my camera techniques in order to get the final shot. I have also got some new ND lenses for my camera in order to get better shots. Anyways without any further ado here is a FTS

23914284353_6bdce390d3_o.jpgIMG_4372 by Jonathan Archer, on Flickr

I didn't bother taking out the pipes and equipment for this one but will do for the very last shot (hopefully in 4 weeks time).

As always please feel free comment and criticise.

Jonny
 
No criticisms :)

I would just love to see this evolve into something like a clean bigTom's tank. All the big stones back in and some amazing wood and lush bigger leaves of anubias etc with loads of emersed growth. Like a shallow mangrove type thing with stone and more plants. Fish would love the leafy shade! Toms breed like rabbits

Brain fart off :cigar:
 
No criticisms :)

I would just love to see this evolve into something like a clean bigTom's tank. All the big stones back in and some amazing wood and lush bigger leaves of anubias etc with loads of emersed growth. Like a shallow mangrove type thing with stone and more plants. Fish would love the leafy shade! Toms breed like rabbits

Brain fart off :cigar:

Thanks James

Hehe I actually thought about going crazy with it and doing some emerged growth type thing but unfortunately cause it it open top I'm getting way too much humidity for the room so emerged growth isn't on the cards :(

Looking good mate, good luck with the new scape. Do you know what you're doing with it yet?

I've just ordered a similarly proportioned 72x24x15 so looking for inspiration, or to just blatantly pinch ideas really :D

Thanks NC10

Thats would be a lovely sized and shape tank!! Im well jealous. I know what you mean about pinching ideas if think in some shape or form we are all guilty of this.

My next scape was going to be a Mexico style underwater cave like the one in this link.

6a9067e2-a52f-4209-b6a7-67b3b6dd4b57_seven_hundred.jpg

But I have a learning curve to over come in hardscaping (one of my weakest disciplines) to create a mega structure into a cave and to do it justice. so I'm thinking of doing two things

1. Make a miniature scale cave in a smaller tank to keep cost of my learning curve down.
2. Converting this tank into a marine tank (I KNOW I KNOW the dark side :angelic:). Im lucky enough that I work in this hobby and i got the pleasure of set up a marine tank at work and i have to say taking things i have learned from aquascaping really help me on the tank in the shop. Im now hoping it will work the other way round :)

Jonny
 
Back
Top