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Thanks Cookies, I got the light from Aquarium Gardens in the UK. I don’t think they sell the separate modules but worth asking. They are always helpful. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here’s the current overgrown tank Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not updating in a while. Needless to say the hydrocotyle grew right back in no time! It’s a bit like stems in a conventional tank. I’m just a bit lazy to keep it under control. Did a little proof of concept project this evening. I’m thinking of rescaping for a moss and anubias dominated...

I really like it. Reminds me of some of the small tanks in the first ADA book. Are there any livestock in there? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lovely in the sunshine [emoji274] Careful the sun can burn the leaves of plants that aren’t used to it. I’ve killed a few house plants that way! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Beautiful! Not seen many scapes with red stone, tricky to work with. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tank suffered an epic chop! Pruned all the hydrocotyle back hard. Trying to get the H.pinitifada to be more dominant. Halfway: Nice anubias uncovered Post chop (tannin stained water due to my rain water butt running low!) Hopefully it will recover! Sent from my iPhone using...

Thanks Steve. Soon going to need a radical trim, will look a bit rough for a bit. Will be interesting to see what happened to the moss and anubias Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quick pic of the killies at water change time. I’m sure they would be happy living in a cm or two of water! Topped up again Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking good, Moss seems to have transitioned well. Maybe give the stems a trim? Bushier would look better with the other plants. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking really nice. Can’t see any algae from here! Do you do anything to keep the rocks clean? T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Seems like the diatoms are fading away. So I gave the rotala a good trim. Also added some rotala walchii that’s hiding behind the wood. Also planted some more crypts to fill out the middle ground. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, without looking at the tech specs. I would say the Twinstar was brighter but the quality is quite different. Somehow the point source of the Cookies makes the shadows around the leaves sharper, like sunlight shafting into a jungle pool. The light from the Twinstar felt quite flat by...

Hi Thanks, for the comments. I’ve trimmed both hydrocotyle species several times but only in a focused areas (like maintaining the central gap). I’m trying to promote the h.pinitifada but it simply doesn’t grow as fast. I think one day I will rescape without the hydrocotyle, try a different...

Probably the pinitifada is emergent growth. Hopefully it will start producing underwater leaves Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lovely video, did you film underwater? I could never get the H.pinitifada to thrive but for some people it’s like a weed! Hope that’s you. Will be nice to see it growing in. Rock work is great. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good work, diatoms are horrible. They always seem to go on and on for me, when I’m just about to loose hope they dissolve. Maybe try nerite snails, they are really good at scouring rocks and anubias leaves. Personally I would get rid of the Riccia, it always seems to disintegrate and get...

So as this scape has started growing up and out I’ve started to feel the Twinstar is cutting off the top of the scape. After researching a few options I decided to get the Atledis Cookies light. It fits neatly on the back glass between the DOOA wall (thanks to Dave at Aquarium Gardens for...

Looking lovely, really filling out nicely, the greens really pop against the dark back ground. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the Advice Alto. Yes full CO2 with green DC I dose 7 ml TNC complete daily + cap full of Flourish Iron Twice weekly 50% WC at the present ——— In my old scape green spot algae did plague the abubias but once established the java fern grew well. My water is fairly hard pH 6.5...

Little video, diatoms seem to be settling with some green spot algae in it’s place! Thinking of trying twinstar nano???? Also need to decide on what to do with the stems. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Been fighting diatoms in this scape. Plants growing but marred by brown discoloring. Must say the nerites I got are amazing, even sort out old anubias leaves Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Fil, I’m happy with the look of two dominant species. I do miss the big expanses of Moss but it’s still there underneath. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wonderful hardscapes! Dragon Stone is weird stuff, you make it look very natural. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks James, the emergent plants are pretty rampant. Will soon need to trim the H.verticla (or rig up a suspended light!). Quick vid messing with iMovie, had to put on the cheesy music to disguise my breathing and creaky knees! EDIT: seems the music doesn’t cross over! Enjoy my own sound...

My daphnia are doing great, so am feeding up my fish. Quick vid of a big daphnia feast at the wall: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Brilliant set up, I agree the little details are fascinating and often hard to capture on a picture. Great project. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got a new phone, quite a difference: iPhone 6 iPhone XS Really handles the greens and bright/dark a lot better. Need to play more! T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Depends on the scape, one Dario would be OK. They are not very active swimmers. The Killies are also quite sedate but they do jump. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Tucker. Volume is a bit tricky, depending on how deep you fill it! With the filter it’s anything from 22 - 25 L Keep thinking I should get more fish but the volume isn’t that great when you consider all the lava rock etc Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Water change time! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, I seem to recall the Romans used Elm for water pipes. Beautiful tank and cabinet. I really appreciate the emergant growth. Perhaps add a Ehime skim? Will add flow and could be hidden behind the wood. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking good, the reds are really developing in the middle. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, particularly with Anubias! The underwater ones still have some algae from when I took them from my big tank. The Buce “Wavy Green” and “Needle Leaf“ badly melted but are now making new leaves. Seem to have responded to dosing iron. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Trimming back the Hydrocotyle Verticla, trying to stop it drowning the Anubias. Got “Coin Nana” and “Mini mini” in the tank both grow above and below the surface. There are some buces and Java fern but they seem less tolerant of the low humidity. Full tank (need to clean pipes [emoji15])...

Colour of the wood in tank Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, there are a few rocks stabilizing the wood but will be hidden by the plants! I’ve never been super confident about using red stems but I guess I could plant them into the rotala green at a later date? I do know what you mean, it is very green! Hopefully different shades and textures...

Started to seem signs of growth... Can never seem to take photos of the cardinals but they seem very happy in their new lodgings Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice Jungle type feel. The water looks a bit hazy, could be tannins from the wood. Purigen in the filter is pretty good at clearing that out. In terms of layout, I’m no expert but look up “Rule of thirds” and “golden Ratio”. Keep up the good work, interesting journal. T Sent from my iPhone...

Looking really nice. I like the red/bronze crypt in the middle, which species is it? Peacock Gudgeon are really cool. Nice work. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good luck with the UG, always been a tricky one for me. Lovely if you can get it to grow. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Couple of quick snaps of fish competing for daphnia Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Coen, I use rain water that I collect. It has minimal dissolved minerals so doesn’t stain the glass. Also the fish like the low pH. Only cleaned the underwater glass once since set up. Virtually no algae. I guess the water volume is very heavily filtered (if you count the wall as a...

Thanks, penny only recently dropped that I need to fertilize like it is a high tech set up. Plants really responded well. It’s essentially a kind of hydroponic system so they need a lot of nutrients dosing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, I’m going to let it go fairly wild before any trim! Two Badis are fine, one is dominant but both feed well (will only take live food). Unfortunately I lost about half the killies soon after introducing. They were pretty skinny and didn’t feed. The remaining Killies seem well, feed and...

Started dosing iron daily. Could be totally subjective but I think it looks greener already. Anubias “coin nana” seems happy now, putting out new leaves I created a little extension to hide the inflow pipe. Used the moss wrapped around a chunk of florists Oasis. Working well. Loads...

Emaculate carpet [emoji106] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All your scapes are looking lovely. Miniature is cool! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Couple more shots, definitely think the extra wood on the left, helps with the sense of depth. Need to think what I’m going to do with the stems, not sure they will be a long term fixture? Maybe replace with tall crypts eventually... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Alto and Akwarium, I think you are right the wood on the left could do with being further forward. However I’d already planted the eleocharis lawn (finger still hurts!) I would cry if I had to move it now. Was up till 01:45 finishing planting.... Added a couple more bits of wood to bulk...

Cool will look out for that. Hard to see due to lack of contrast on the dark substrate. Will try and emphasize the front to back differences with crypts. Tedious to plant!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Epiphytes in! Quite a lot of Anubias hidden by the trident fern. Maybe one day I will get the super glue off my hands. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Amazing, if not for the miniscus it could be 200L Great scale. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nerites are good. If it’s mainly BBA then it will go eventually. Just a tank settling in thing. It lasted a long time for me. When you start seeing green spot algae the BBA will disappear. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Started working on this. Always forget what a drag tearing down a scape is. Let alone catching all the cherry shrimp! Empty with focal point markers in situ. Wood + Java moss in, probably tweak it some more. Covered up for now. To continue this evening. Thanks for looking. T Sent...

Thanks Alto, I was cognizant if that risk. Some of the ADA scapes I like are even bigger, 180 cm etc. I guess it’s the style I want to replicate more than anything. I think concave can work in smaller tanks. All a learning process. Think my last tank, I over filled it with hard scape and didn’t...

Sorry to hear of your algae woe. I agree the scape looks great, very much in the Amano style. Maybe just let the stems overgrow the scape. Stems in optimal conditions will put algae to the sword. The stems can always be cut back hard when the algae looks to have faded. Could also try a black...

Tomorrow is scape day! Cooking up some wood Jam! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A photo update: Full tank shots I’m really pleased that the anubias are now growing well in an emergant form: The moss seems to work as a good substrate for the other plants to grow through Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking super healthy! Love the fish playing chase through the plants. Ever tried a background? Can’t help feeling the brick wall, distracts from the beauty of the plants. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Scape definitely more balanced now. That was good advice. I think small fish are vulnerable at night to getting sucked into inlets. Eheim skimmers are bad for it. Not sure about the cichlids but I’ve had chocolate gourami eat similar sized fish! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m about to start a new scape in my AS 900. I was always niggled by my previous scape, it somehow wasn’t balanced. I’m really going to try this time to stick more to principles like: Rule of thirds and focal points. I’m going to be influenced heavily by some ADA concave scapes, this might be...

Cheers Ady, I’m really enjoying it. Going to start adding some nitrogen ferts. Should see everything go nuts! I always have to keep reminding myself that at best I can get underwater CO2 to 30 ppm before gassing the fish. The air it is at least 650 ppm (often more indoors). Thus it’s really...

Looking fantastic, great wood work. Love how the tetras shoal. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Few quick snaps. Getting some good growth, now adding 5 ml of TNC light a day. Seems like a lot but I guess the plants have unlimited CO2! Will do a video when I have access to a better cam. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking to re-scape this soon. I’ve never been 100% happy with the hard scape. Some how not obeying the Golden Ratio and too symmetrical. I’m keen to do something very classic NA. Convex wood with carpet, thinking eleocharis. Something like this ADA scape: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking really a lot better! I’m coming to the conclusion that sand beach looks nice but needs lots of replacement to keep it that way. Thinking of doing a carpet in my AS 900. What is the wavy leaf plant in the back? Shame that geen Wall is suffering. They are amazing instillations! Sent...

Amazing sense of scale for the size! Well done [emoji106] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking sweet! Great dry start. I would be sorely tempted to keep it as a terrarium. What’s up with the sand pool on the right? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Kessil lights look very dramatic, like bright sun lancing into a dark jungle pool. Also the the ripple effect is nice. Keep up the good work. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking nice, it’s fascinating the transition area from underwater to emergant. I’m finding it’s real trial and error as to what will grow in these conditions. Hydrocotyle species seem to like it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cool, I like scapes that are modular. Good to be able to change if you want later. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Steve. Got some plants from Aquarium Gardens. Asked for ones growing in emergant state, which were provided. I wanted to enhance the concavity by growing bushier plants at both edges of the scape. Before making changes: All the plants spent a few hours underwater just in case of any...

Looking beautiful. Really healthy. You might find the Bolbitis a bit big in it’s forward position? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cheers, unfortunately I can’t really induce much flow due to the green wall but I think the fish like it that way. Kind of low flow but high filter volume set up. Funny pic of the Badis and Killies going their separate ways after a daphnia binge: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks nice, love the wood! I like this stuff, not crazy white https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/hugo-kamishi-natural-fine-gravel-5kg-1851-p.asp Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Killies seem to have settled in quite well. Quick vid of the gang after some daphnia. Sorry about the quality, old phone! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, I was a bit concerned about jumping but they would need to get about 30 cm vertical height, to escape the tank! I’m trying to keep them happy, lots of floating plants and overhanging growth. They are charming little fellows, like long bumble bees. Unfortunately only got two females in...

Thanks Tim, they seem to be compatible, no violence so far. Although the water is only a few inches deep the killies rarely stray from the surface, the Badis mainly stick to the bottom. I read that the killies are sometimes found in water less than an inch deep! Sent from my iPhone using...

Nano room mates Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow! That’s some extensive prep. The stuff I used had probably been dead for years, so had no bark. I would make sure there’s no bark as it will just rot in tank. Otherwise as long as it sinks your good to use. I didn’t even need to bother with that, as most of my wood is in air. That said it...

The wood is awesome are you going for any epiphytes? The shadow areas are ideal for anubias etc. much easier that way to avoid algae on old leaves. They can pretty much grow in the dark! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That moss looks super healthy! I would be tempted to only fill it 1/3 and have two mossy islands [emoji267] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Tucker. Only issues with the heather is it harbored some little black gnats! Not a massive issue but they flood seems to have delt with them as well. I really like it, it has an almost Manitza quality in some old twisty bits. Good luck, Amano shrimp or nerite snail will destroy any bio...

Spot the new additions! Came across some Rocket Killies. They seem well suited to the scape. Try really enjoy exploring all the overhanging, roots, moss, floating plants. Badis ignore them. Very different fish to the Badis. Virtually live in the surface film. Sent from my iPhone using...

Amazing project! I bet it looks cool from below, seeing all the roots in the water. I’ve only just strayed into the emergant growth area, I’m also amazed by how the emergant plants, gobble up all the nutrients. Like running a high tech underwater scape! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking great, plants all seem healthy. Is there anything living in the water? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, and it also felt like great enrichment. They really seemed to enjoy hunting in a new environment. Might do it every month! Not difficult in a small tank like this. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Reactor sorted the bubbles in my tank. Like you, I found them distracting. Lovely Ram. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Obviously needed to check the mist still working: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok well the Badis’ aphid feast had to come to an end. They did enjoy feeding right up to the upper rim: I’ve had this tank on a weird set of chesterdraws I got from a charity shop. It had been hugely reinforced, I wonder if it had previously been used to hold a tank? Either way it works but...

Impressive growth with the hair grass. Looks lovely. T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the tip! I was wondering that. How long can an aphid hold it’s breath??? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok I’ve been struggling with Aphids! They really wrecked the Hydrocotyle sp which I was hoping would be a glorious green mass by now. I tried fairy liquid and wanted to add lady bird larvae (not available in winter). So was wracking my brain on how to get rid of the little F@&£rs Then the...

Love the rocks! Are you going for emergant growth? T Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, not covered at present. I just mist couple of times a day. Thinking of adding a 2/3 rds cover, I think it would help plants like Java Fern. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! I did try to follow some of Mr A’s advice on golden ratio in this scape, I’m very happy with the overall layout. Just the growing that is challenging but that the fun?! Yes if I had a female I’d happily leave them to have it too themselves but as is I’m on the lookout for some of clown...

Well in lieu of a frog, I added another sundew. Keep getting some little black gnats, easy to catch but hopefully the plants can combat them. I think the chlorosis is improving with more ferts (adding 3 ml of TNC lite a day). First victim Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking great, the challenge is low humidity (and aphids and cats) with emergant aquatic plants. Where do source your terrestrial plants? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Dutch, yes a salamander or frog would be cool. However, open top means they would probably escape and end up eaten by my cat [emoji250] Funny above water, algae not an issue but aphids and low humidity have been a challenge! I wanted to add some lady bird larvae but they are not...