2nd Coming

[Ruskie]

Its been a long time coming, way too long, but I've finally gone ahead with setting up a new tank. This will only be my second tank but I'm hopefully going to put into practice everything I've learned from my first and then confuse things even more by running CO2 as well! . First tank was somewhat of an 'adventure' to say the least as can be seen in the threads below.

First Tank
BGA Nightmare

I did eventually come out of the other side of that nightmare and the tank has been running well, albeit not the prettiest, for some years now. The old tank was sat atop an Ikea cabinet and when I first proposed the idea to the wife that I was going to rescape and use rocks instead her instant response was 'not on that unit your not you need something stronger'. Thats fine I said, but if I get a different tank I will need a new filter, new lighting etc. to which I got an eye roll and a 'whatever'. Ding ding! green light to go shopping, mission accomplished!!

So after shopping around, and the missus eyes getting wider and wider as more and more parcels arrived, I assembled the following:-

Evolution Aqua / DD Aquascaper 600 - 60x50x36 100L
Oase Biomaster Thermo 350
Chirhiros WRGB2
CO2 Art Pro SE Reg
Twinstar Diffuser
ADA Amazonia V2
ADA Power Sand
ADA La Plata Sand
Rio Xingu Gravel
About 20ish Kgs Seiryu Stone

Plan this time around was to do a dark start so after much faffing and rearranging of stone I finalised my layout. Filled the tank up, set the filter running and wrapped the baby up!

I think at this point the family thought I was going mad but had just stopped questioning me!!

More to follow.....

 

[LMuhlen]

Did you forget to take a picture before wrapping it?

 

[Ruskie]

I used the time while the tank was cycling to hook up the CO2 and start trying to dial it in.

I'm very much a novice at this and it took some time before I managed to achieve what I hope is the right level. I understand this is going to change somewhat as the plants start to develop. Expect a barrage of questions in the other sub-forum!

So the idea behind this tank is loosely based on the Brazilian style aquascapes and the work of Luca Galarraga, I love the way he uses stone with colourful stems to accentuate. Hes obviously a master of this style so if I can cobble together anything that vaguely resembles his work I'll be happy . Plant selection is obviously important too so I took guidance from various videos I have seen.
After fiddling and fine tuning over a couple of days I came up with the below which I am pretty happy with overall. Please excuse the rubbish photography and mucky tank!

Some finer detailing later and I have my final layout.

The tank was then flooded and wrapped up as stated in post#1. then the wait was on for the cycle.

 

[Ruskie]

Did you forget to take a picture before wrapping it?

I didn't . I did intend to post again straight away but got completely sidetracked with work.

 

[Ruskie]

Once the darkstart was complete it was time to unwrap and get it planted. Order was placed ready for the weekend, all plants were in-vitro.

Full plant list:
Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo'
Eleocharis pusilla 'Mini'
Elecocharis acicularis
Marsilea hirsuta
Marsilea minuta
Pogostemon helferi
Staurogyne repens
Hygrophila lancea 'Araguaia'
Rotala H'ra
Rotala wallichii
Rotala 'Green'
Pogostemon erectus (deccanensis)

Had fun with the stems, never had in vitro ones before. Could have probably done with more of the Pogostemn erectus, or to do a better job with it! , but got it all planted and filled back up.

Now the exciting part - To see how this grows in over the coming weeks!

 

[Mike Singh]

Nice work!

 

[G mac]

Will look forward to seeing the development of this. Looking good so far

 

[Ruskie]

A bit of an update as the tank approaches the 2 week mark.

Super happy so far with the growth, this CO2 stuff really works huh?!? .

Everything seems to have taken well. Marsilea is growing quick and sending runners out all over the place. S repens are growing quicker than I imagined and the Hygrophila lancea 'Araguaia' is slowly starting to develop a tinge of colour.

Monte Carlo is covering well, am I right in thinking if I trim this now it will promote lower and denser growth? If so I think I may trim this at the weekend.

Stems are taking off, loving the Wallichii. Pogostemon Erectus is a little slower than the rest but I did kinda butcher them when planting.

This picture was taken a couple of days ago at the 10 day mark. My view from the sofa.

 

[Ruskie]

A little update 3 weeks in. Growing in nicely.
Marsilea sending runners out all over the place. It’s even started rooting directly in the thin layer of sand at the front of the tank. I’ll trim this eventually but just letting it loose at the minute.

Added some Amanos last weekend. They seem to have settled ok apart from one who must have jumped/climbed out of the tank while I was at work and managed to walk several feet into the kitchen before giving up 😢

Full tank shot.

I’m thinking of adding some Buce’s along the base of the large rock at the back right to break up that section a little. If anybody has any suggestions as to any particular ones that may fit this scape I’m all ears.

Still not sure if I’m 100% happy with the left hand side. The Pogostemon Helferi that’s planted in between the rocks seems to be relatively low, I was hoping this was going to grow a little bushier and be more visible above the rock line.

Also thinking of adding in fish either this weekend or next. Currently thinking a nice school of green neons but again I’m open to ideas.

View from the sofa.

Thanks for looking.

 

[funkymonk1984]

Looks really nice mate, makes me want this tank even more!

 

[G mac]

Great job 👍
A decent size shoal of Green Neons is always a lovely sight..