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Aftermath.

cant wait to see it in water.
I’m dreading it to be fair, the scape is pretty low and the vivipara won’t be tall enough to compensate the height needed yet 😬
I haven’t test filled either so I’ve no idea what it’s going to look like perspective wise.
 
Watch out for those Tropica capsules @Ady34 ! I had a massive problem recently with them rapidly leaching ammonia into the water column.

Osmocote plus disaster
Oh no, I’ve popped 7 in the planted area already. I’m not digging them up to retrieve them so I’m going to have to go with it. My choice would have been Ada bottom plus however I don’t have enough and my local was out of stock.
Hope all will be ok 🤞
 
Hi, I had some pieces that I’d bought over time already and added to them, all from forum sponsors @Horizon Aquatics :)
Mostly grasses at the minute, eleocharis acicularis mini, eleocharis vivipara and helanthium tenellum green. I also have riccardia chamedryfolia to add amongst the foreground rocks. I am still slightly undecided about the tenellum, I may just use mini hairgrass.
I started planting last night……
View attachment 184529

After adding some extra nutrition capsules to the old soil….
View attachment 184530

I will plant over a few evenings, simple spray down to moisten the soil and cover the tank with cling film until the next evening…
View attachment 184531


Wow, Mr. Holdich, nice to see you here again. Are you visiting or starting up again mate? Hope your well?

Cheerio
Ady.
Hey mate, started up a wee 60 in my new living room. It’s more of a jungle than a scape tbh, you honestly don’t realise what you forget when you’ve been out of the hobby for a while! Taking it steady with easy plants.
 
Oh no, I’ve popped 7 in the planted area already. I’m not digging them up to retrieve them so I’m going to have to go with it. My choice would have been Ada bottom plus however I don’t have enough and my local was out of stock.
Hope all will be ok 🤞
As long as you dug them deep deep then it should be fine, but 7 for just grass seems a little over the top. Put an Aponogeton madagascariensis in the middle and it will suck up all that fert at once (joke).
 
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Regards green in the 600, I really want the red contrast but the 900 however will be all green :)

Ady.
I get it, I was just thinking what a long term scape change could be, the idea of contrast through plant form would be where I’d go and was curious if that was on the horizon.
 
I haven’t test filled either so I’ve no idea what it’s going to look like perspective wise.

Excellent @Ady34 … it’s going to look most excellent 😎

After adding some extra nutrition capsules to the old soil….

It’s not the deepest soil but under carpeting plants you won’t have the need to disturb the substrate, compared to stem plants. Would estimate it’ll be fine given the water change ritual on the first week.

Loosely read the osmocote disaster thread… relatively high K to other nutrients temporarily will help mop that up. Think ADA with just K and micros combined with ammonia rich Amazonia at start up. We are no where near dealing with those numbers and doing water changes with old soil. It is older soil though so the CEC will be somewhat diminished compared with new.

If adding root tabs to an existing system, additional K for a week or two serves the same purpose. However, if there is green algae in abundance they will also benefit 🤷🏻‍♂️ Root tab additions to clean systems before they are required, hence the loose every 3 or 6 month or once a year advice manufacturers give with their accompanying soils.

As always, starting with some established filter media and night time aeration during the first few weeks pay’s dividends as well. Everything has somewhere to go with purpose, system full of components with destinations, hungry tank from plant to bacterium all well fed at startup… happy days.
 
Hey mate, started up a wee 60 in my new living room. It’s more of a jungle than a scape tbh, you honestly don’t realise what you forget when you’ve been out of the hobby for a while! Taking it steady with easy plants.
Cool man.
Pleased your dipping your toes back in, nice that the hobby never really leaves totally :)

As long as you dug them deep deep then it should be fine, but 7 for just grass seems a little over the top. Put an Aponogeton madagascariensis in the middle and it will suck up all that fert at once (joke).
Ha, yeah, just I’d had so many issues with plants in the old scape I wanted to ensure nutrients in the substrate.

I get it, I was just thinking what a long term scape change could be, the idea of contrast through plant form would be where I’d go and was curious if that was on the horizon.
Yeah, I guess I could alter it, I could simply swap the red for green and have two green scapes side by side for even more continuity….food for thought.

Excellent @Ady34 … it’s going to look most excellent 😎



It’s not the deepest soil but under carpeting plants you won’t have the need to disturb the substrate, compared to stem plants. Would estimate it’ll be fine given the water change ritual on the first week.

Loosely read the osmocote disaster thread… relatively high K to other nutrients temporarily will help mop that up. Think ADA with just K and micros combined with ammonia rich Amazonia at start up. We are no where near dealing with those numbers and doing water changes with old soil. It is older soil though so the CEC will be somewhat diminished compared with new.

If adding root tabs to an existing system, additional K for a week or two serves the same purpose. However, if there is green algae in abundance they will also benefit 🤷🏻‍♂️ Root tab additions to clean systems before they are required, hence the loose every 3 or 6 month or once a year advice manufacturers give with their accompanying soils.

As always, starting with some established filter media and night time aeration during the first few weeks pay’s dividends as well. Everything has somewhere to go with purpose, system full of components with destinations, hungry tank from plant to bacterium all well fed at startup… happy days.
Good stuff Geoff, I managed to get some Ada bottom plus so the rest of the substrate has them in. I’ll treat the little sucker like any other and water change, water change, water change!
Think I’m going to stay away from water column dosing to start, but if I get any issue I can add potassium.

I have completed the substrate planting now and will add the riccardia chamedryfolia before filling over the weekend.
The plant list is green:
🌱 Eleocharis acicularis ‘Mini’
🌱 Eleocharis vivipara
🌱 Helanthium tenellum ’Green’
🌱 Sagittaria subulata
🌱 Riccardia chamedryfolia

I’m hoping to achieve more plant ‘weight’ at the right where the rocks are larger. The vivipara and hopefully saggitaria will give height to the right rear with the vivipara transitioning into the eleocharis mini.

A rudimentary mock up here:
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and with plants….
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Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Not the biggest fan of iwagumi, but seen this on insta already and really liked it. Looks like some kind of sci fi scene. Good job!.
I’m not either tbh, but here I am with two 🤣
The 900 is full and operational now. I’ve knocked the lighting intensity down 5% to a maximum of 70% for two hours of the 7 hour photoperiod.
I won’t add any liquid fertiliser unless I feel I need to. The old soil and root tabs will hopefully provide enough.
B2DB4C66-32FF-4E33-AA6E-7D54CCA6E5F8.jpeg


Last night enjoying a drink….
EDCDDA21-0B29-4E6A-A108-4DCB911E280E.jpeg


and doing a check this morning….
12282A25-1C9F-4DB6-A1C9-FA5C0A048C91.jpeg


A wide angle image where the reflection of the underside of the floating plants on the rear pane with the lightscreen made it look like clouds in the sky…
81CBF764-A70B-407C-B4F0-79D8F6DC3E79.jpeg


Cheerio,
 
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Me neither but these two look stunning. Come and scape my tank please mate 😂
😂 thanks
very cool. ...
😎

The scape has settled really quickly, some minor die back on some mini hairgrass but I’m confident it will grow back as there are remaining new shoots. The tenellum has began growing well and the combination of old used soil, a mature filter and first fill with existing tank water means ‘not really a cycle’ and water tests are good. A group of amano shrimp have been added and neon green rasbora as the feature fish.
I am still carrying out daily water changes.


Some recent images and video clip:
4C36EE22-DD6C-43FB-BDA8-8F721E574322.jpeg


a cherry shrimp in the Eleocharis vivipara:

AF72FEE7-9064-4CB4-98CF-9E4E915AB7B2.jpeg


A video link of the shrimp and vivipara…and some neon green rasbora.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
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How do you keep those rocks so clean! What’s the intensity of your lights and how long?
Well the new scape is only a week old so no time to get dirty yet but I don’t do anything with the smaller tank. I have some clithon snails and the lighting is on a 7hr photoperiod maximising at 85% intensity for 2 of the 7 hours. It may be luck :cool:

The new scape reminds me so much of standing stones/stone circles.
Yeah, I liked the almost lotus flower look to the stone positioning to the left when I began playing with the stones @Horizon Aquatics dojo so went with it. I had a plan to have a lotus lily plant coming from the centre of the rock convergence where the paint brush is, but changed my mind in favour of graded pebbles to offer continuity with the 600 scape next to it and add depth.
Here’s a concept to completion image:
365FD085-D4C7-4399-B24E-E5C4F8967DA2.jpeg


Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Hi,
Thought I’d add a little update of this scape.
The tank is still balancing, diatoms we’re light and short, however this tank is much different to the little 600 rhino stone scape beside it. There is a much greater green algae presence on the rocks and glass in this one, whereas the 600 requires no rock cleaning at all.
I have also added some additional plants to add interest and balance the rounded stones and pebbles with the grass.
I added a lotus lily behind the main rock with the hope that it would send pads to the surface and then the saggitaria at the rear would fill in the space - if it transitioned to taller growth form. The lily is happily producing low level red leaves which is not really what I wanted so I may swap this out for a green nymphoides taiwan instead. The saggitaria subulata is now showing signs of taller growth so that is positive.
The mini hairgrass carpet is slowly adjusting and growing and I have added hydrocotyle verticillata clusters within areas to compliment the detailing pebbles and rounder forms of the rhino stones. This will be extended with the clusters of Riccardia chamedryfolia in the foreground when that too grows into pillows.

The green neon rasbora and galaxy rasbora are lovely to watch and I have now added some galaxy pinto and fishbone shrimp which are stunning.

The tank is settling now so hopefully will begin to grow in how i envisaged.

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Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Little video….
Take a minute….

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D81A539C-C652-4AEA-86BD-BA7912E09296.jpeg


The scape is filling in however Im still not happy with the right rear planting. The saggitaria hasn’t started growing tall yet and the lily is staying low. I think I am going to swap it for nymphoides taiwan which should fill in the area behind the main stone and balance things out more.
The rocks are loosing the green however I have noticed some hair algae which has also appeared in my 30c tank too. I have increased lighting intensity a little so I will tweak co2 but feel the 30c tank is due to the increased ambient light intensity of the longer brighter days. Perhaps a complete fertiliser may be in order too as I have a little gsa on the glass on some plants.
Anyway, it’s coming along and I’m enjoying it :)
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
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Change.
I have now stripped both iwagumis in favour of more NA style.
The 600 is being used as a ‘holding tank’, however I got a little carried away and quite like the scape which utilises the old Talawa wood I had stored away from the 1500 scape. It may stay a little while tbh, but I’ve got the bones of the hardscape for the 900 in place now with some unusual sawn off manzanita stumps……

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Cheerio,
Ady.
 
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