Search results for query: *

I knew it has been awhile since posting but I didn't realize it was a whole year! Garden and house exterior plus 2 jobs took all my attention for the last several months. I did a half rescape with all the fish still in the tank back in March and it has grown in since then. I have mostly...

I like #2 because of the rock layers but stems might obscure the rockwork. I also like #5 because I like how the smaller branches come together to mingle in the middle, could have a really nice tunnel effect here with thick stems on either side. They're all nice hardscapes, though. I had Covid...

I have a 20g/75l long set up for kuhli loaches with an open top. I bought 8 at once and one jumped the first day but the others have been fine and it has been nearly a year. They share the tank with a betta and a school of 5 to 8 Harlequin rasboras, and I can sometimes see them during the day...

Heading in the right direction. Was able to suck up the old sand easily and replace it with new, and there's nothing quite like a razor blade for getting the algae off the glass quickly and completely.

Today I finally got the nerve to do a huge trim. The one I should've done in February. CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS Trigger warning: overgrown stems, lifting carpet, mixed up substrate this morning: Now: The fish really...

I am to blame for the ram decisions; I thought I was buying 2 females and one male, but the middle fish of the trio turned out to be another male (I guess). The three of them got on for a few weeks. Adding the new female was a mistake and I should've done more research before getting her. How...

From this Aug 7 2019 to this Dec 22 2019

You should be pleased, that is a gorgeous dry-start! I don't have much advice to give you because I am kind of seat-of-my-pants about my aquariums but I did flood a 284L after a 46-day dry start last summer. I did big water changes (70%) the first 3 days and smaller water changes whenever I...

Showing up late to this party. Gorgeous tank, Sammy!

We need more shops like this in North America, too.....

Love this scape! can't wait for it to grow in

I'm not sure if they are nerite eggs or particles of sand clinging to the hardscape. I have 2 other tanks that are covered in nerite eggs; this tank has the least. It is also the only tank with Amanos in it; do they eat nerite eggs? They eat everything else!

This Blue ram was one of my favorite fish in there, even if he was a homicidal maniac. I bought 3 at the same time: one dominant male, one submissive male and a female. They all got on well enough for a couple months but then the top guy went into a courting frenzy with the female, and killed...

Haven't posted a pic in a long time, or done a substantial trim for that matter. Think the tank peaked in that last photo from November. Since then the S. repens and H. tripartia have died back after flourishing for a couple months. Christmas moss and Monte Carlo is hanging in there, and the...

This is going to be stunning when it grows out and matures. Great first go!

2 months since flooding. Starting to need a trim. Livestock: 13 Amanos including 2 gravid females that are the size of prawns assorted Nerite snails 4 otos 4 skunk cories one hillstream loach 2 black mollies 20 black neon tetras 5 cardinal tetras three German blue rams (one male one female...

Beautiful tank! I like the textures and the small scale of things

Nice MC carpet! Any details about how you got it going?

Day 32 since flooding. Water change 40% twice a week, lights on full power about 6 hours a day; one squirt a day of Ultum Nature Systems All in One fertilizer, no CO2. There's a fish or two in there somewhere: 2 black mollies, 4 otos and one lonely survivor rummynose.

This tank is going to be so amazing! can't wait to see it planted

On a more positive note it's cool to see some of the plants pearling after a water change

Wet Spot was on my radar as a possible source even though they're on the opposite end of the country. You in BC, then?

which leads to another question; is it generally better to order fish online (from a reputable source, obviously) since they come straight from the breeder to me and bypass the additional stress of shop tanks? I have bought at least half of my plants online but I have yet to purchase livestock...

Thank you for another very informative post; I will be digesting it and referring to it in the future. I did not know this about molting shrimp. What happens when you have a tank full and somebody's always molting? Keep your scheduled water changes anyways and hope for the best? This is in...

Yeah the last surviving rummynose has ich; I can see the white spots on him/her. Back in the day I used to treat all incoming fish with that ich medicine that turned the water blue, but now I have concerns about the shrimp and overmedicating the fish in the tank that are OK -this will matter...

Tragedy strikes. All but one of the 8 rummynoses have died already and I just got them last Sunday:(. I've been fishkeeping for 40 years and the last time I had a batch of fish die that quickly was when we put a dozen small neon tetras in with the angelfish. The 3 mollies, 2 otos and Amano...

I would like to accumulate a mess of Amanos in this tank; these three were the pioneers. Have you kept Bamboo shrimp? I am curious about having one or two of them; the flow is pretty strong in the back of the tank and there are a few potential perches for them to sit and filter

Mollies have always been hit or miss with me; some adapt to softer water and do fine some don't. These were in the LFS a couple miles from my house since at least last week and seemed to be doing fine there, so hopefully they will thrive in my water which should be similar. I do have plans for...

Still haven't figured out how to take fish pics with my phone; they are just blurs. Some general plant scenes: I have been pretty satisfied with the transition to immersed so far; some melt here and there but nothing major. Still on 40 to 50% water change twice a week, and I intended to use...

Day 21 since flooding. Added 7 rummynose tetras, 3 black mollies, 2 otos and 3 Amano shrimp. I already could stare at this tank for hours when it was just plants growing; I will never get anything else done at home now

Day 15 since flooding. The MC melt seems to be contained to one patch, although I have had more Anubias and Buce melt in this tank than in my others. They were added after the dry start and this is the brightest tank I have so I wonder if too much light is the reason. Mostly things are holding...

One week after flooding. A touch of melt here and there, especially this one patch of Monte Carlo Some more views of the tank. This is just before today's water change; there is a little bit of dark gunk settled everywhere. I think it comes from the wood, which also has a little bit of slime...

Oops. Bad kitty....

I just flooded after a 46-day DSM that was successful. Here is my species list and how they fared: Grew well: Gratiola viscidula Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo' Staurogyne repens Hydrocotyle tripartite Marsilea angustifolia Eleocharis parvula Got established; didn't melt but didn't go crazy...

Tim Harrison I was also inspired by your Return of the Shallows dry start. What a gorgeous scape!

Lighting: was 12 hours/day before and went to 6 hrs/day once flooded. At 100% intensity. Will adjust as necessary.

There is another thread around here somewhere about inspiration. One of the things I like about aquascaping is its celebration of the small and humble beauty in nature. I see scapes in weedy lots that I pass on the way to work. I have always loved the textures of the weeds growing on the side of...

Thanks y'all! Here is my species list for the DSM and how they fared: Grew well: Gratiola viscidula Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo' Staurogyne repens Hydrocotyle tripartite Marsilea angustifolia Eleocharis parvula Got established; didn't melt but didn't go crazy: Helanthium tennellum Lilaeopsis...

Cold water is hard to come by this time of year in south Florida and I'm not going to be able to do more than two water changes a week tops because of my work hours. What % would you recommend? I was thinking around 50% 2x/wk because that has worked for my other tanks but none of the others are...

I made a joke a few days ago about Hurricane Dorian flooding my big tank on the weekend I was intending to flood it anyways. The reality as it unfolds is I have the luxury of scaping most of the day with one eye on the weather radar as occasional rainy squalls with gusts to the mid 40’s go by...

Lots of great details in this tank. Love the fish selection!

Some closeups. I was happy with the growth and textures I got from the dry start. Now comes the hard part -transitioning to immersed. Tank is low tech so I am going to try to use lots of Excel at first and then gradually ramp it down. I also need to figure out how to take better pictures with my...

DSM Day 46. Flooded!

This guy is kind of hyper but he is doing some cool stuff SerpaDesign-

So I decide to flood my tank this upcoming holiday weekend and nature comes along and says 'here let me give you a hand with that'

Update? Have you flooded it yet?

Alto-trim before or after flooding?

I am also going to get one to two Oase 600's this week but am wondering if I should get one Thermo. I may need to heat my tank from time to time but only in Dec through Feb; is it OK to leave the heater off the rest of the time?

Just realized I have a holiday weekend coming up the beginning of Sept so might flood the tank then. Nervous, though, because the transition to submersed is going to be tough. That means I need to order the filters NOW. Trying to decide between an Oase Thermo 600 paired with a Oase Biomaster 600...

Until I have time for all the water changes after initial flooding. I have 2 jobs right now so that might be awhile; the DS might easily go into September. The growth has really taken off just in the last week.

DSM Day 29 I'm leaving town for 3 days and hope things don't dry out too much; I can mist tomorrow morning and again on Sunday night. Thinking of covering the highest branch tips with plastic wrap while I am gone to keep them from drying out too much. The substrate shouldn't be a problem for...

Agreed! Thanks for the update; love this tank!

DSM Day 21 A bit of fungus

Good evening Alto, the nocturnal one.:) I mist the plants (moss mostly) on the wood, I just direct most of the mist towards the top parts that dry sooner. I was wondering if there was too much water in the sand area, but there doesn't seem to be a problem with mold elsewhere in the tank at this...

The rock wall makes such an excellent background for this tank. It looks lovely! (I'm a sucker for emergents)

DSM Day 15 Trucking right along. I mist the tops of the wood once or twice a day if they look dry, and enough water trickles down everywhere else to keep things moist. Some tiny white fungus on the drier areas of the wood that are hard to spray without popping the glass lid off completely; the...

Nice growing, Chris! Where did you get your fish from?

Thanks, Chris! Now for the hard part; getting everything to grow while keeping the moss on the tops of the branches from drying out. I haven't even bought the filter for this tank yet; going to drystart for a couple more paychecks;)

The big tank has life in it! Trying the yogurt method for some moss and also put down the carpet plants. We'll see how it goes. It's pretty warm in my house so I turned the AC down to try to keep things 24-26C.

Dendrobium aggregatum

The other thing I am excited to learn about is how to translate my plantings into something that grows and develops in the desired way. I love browsing through the other journals to see how all these fantastic scapes first started out.

Wood soaking, some here and some smaller pieces in a bucket out back. I'm tweaking the layout and sitting with it some; things look so different when flooded!

James. How's the soak going? I'm at the same stage you are; the largest components of the scape have sunk and are in the tank with my leak testing water. The smaller bits are soaking in a cooler out back; been in since July 3 and are still floaty. I'm using this time to play with the layout.

Fantastic tank! I really like the assorted epiphytes going up the vertical branch on the left.

Progress report. Have all the hardscape and substrate together now; added 9L of Tropica AS, 9L of Tropica AS powder and some sand on top of everything else so I will have a mess when I rescape but that shouldn't be for awhile. Rock is all dragonstone; some broken up into smaller pieces. Ordered...

Forgot to mention-I did get two bags of Tropica AS to supplement the substrate in the 284. I will try to place it strategically for the rooted plants since it is so expensive, and supplement the other areas with root tabs. I got 9L of regular and 9L of powder for the carpet areas.

Yeah I think I won't bother with a carpet for this tank. Things are starting to gel with both the 110 and the 284; I will have all my substrate and hardscape plus some lights for the big one soon. I went with a cheaper light system to get started: Finnex CRV 48" which sounds like it will grow...

Here's the little tank (110L) fully planted. In less than a week's time the cabomba and Amazon sword have taken off while the HC Cuba is mostly withering away. A little crypt melt. I'm keeping this tank as a low-tech jungle.

Thanks again, Alto; your patience with my newbie questions and your good info are appreciated! I think I am going to dry start the carpet plants once I figure out what I am planting exactly, so it will be pretty simple to order some Tropica AS and add it to the areas where it will be needed...

Making some progress in hardscaping. I need a couple more bags of substrate so I think I will get 9L of Tropica Aquasoil regular grain and 9L more of the powder, and put it in the areas where I will do the most planting. The low area in between will have sand in it. Kind of a hodge-podge of...

This is exactly what I was thinking; more initial investment but lights I can use for a long time to come. I've been binge-watching George Farmer videos all week:D that's how I fell in love with the quality of the Kessil light and the shimmer.

https://petocart.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=227824&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI67GT94z44gIV3lcNCh0imQmxEAQYCiABEgKsJ_D_BwE using as a cap layer over this...

Thanks, Alto! A lot here to digest and research further, but that's half the fun :D Good points about adding fertilizer to the EC (I cap'd it because I thought it was a brand name); I'm in the information overload stage and I didn't know the differences between the high end AS and what I got...

Thanks, Zeus! This is exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for. The 110 has a AquaClear 50 hanging filter and just gravel; the same gravel the tank had in its former life as a very low-tech heavily planted setup with a few livebearers and tetras. I put CaribSea planted aquarium substrate...

I spent the morning adding new plants to the 110L which I set up 10 days ago, and I'll have another order arriving by Friday. Tried superglue gel to attach plants to the wood which worked well for the Buce but not so good for the mini Bolbitis -I glued more of them to myself rather than the...

I've had planted tanks for years but aquascaping is new for me and so is keeping an online journal but here goes... I currently am setting up a 110L that was broken down for 3 or 4 years, but has now become my practice tank as I got my hands on a 284L (75g). This is the biggest tank I have ever...

New set of eyes looking at this scape. I love the shape of the tree and the backlit version in the first photo really brings the negative spaces out. I also like the fallen branch on the wall; it tells a story. Looking forwards to seeing it planted!

Thanks all! And yes, I was referring to wood for orchid mounting. I bought some today and am soaking it; it will need some more prep. Cheers

Just went through this thread for the first time; your Beast is spectacular! Great fishkeeping and plant growing! I also love your philosophy of lots of small life to be discovered when you're looking closely at the tank.

Greetings from near Miami, FL! I have had aquariums off and on for over 40 years, since I had tadpoles in a 38L when I was 8 (they then grew into assorted frogs and toads that escaped all over the living room). My most recent tank is a 110L that was heavily planted and contained...