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200L AquaOak - Rescape

Radiant

Member
Joined
30 Mar 2016
Messages
67
Location
Cheshire
Hi all,

So its been a while since I did my last journal and I sucked at keeping it updated. Well I thought i'd have another go ;)

I recently (read finally) moved the 200l AquaOak home with me after moving in with my partner some time ago. My partner wasnt keen on fish to begin with, but I won by getting him interested in some diy tank monitoring and have since got him into shrimp and aquascaping. We created him a lovely little nano and I keep telling him to sign up here and journal it. Everything from the aquaoak got moved into a 94l temporary tank to keep things ticking over and give me time to move and rescape it.

The tank was previously setup as a walstad tank and worked really well. This time however i'm braving high tech and I blame several people here for inadvertently swaying me. I'm tempted to add a frosted background to hide the pipes, but I also quite like the purple glow from the wall.

tank.JPEG


Setup details
Tank: AquaOak 200L doors and draws (99.5 (W) x 40 (D) x 50 (H) cm)
Lighting: Twinstar 900SA II with s2-pro dimmer
Filter: Aquamantia EFX 1000U
Heater: Temporary 200W interpet thing since the old heater broke, but thinking about upgrading the filter to an Oase thermo 600 at some point
Substrate: Volcano mineral, Tropica soil, Tropica soil powder, unipac silver sand
Hardscape: Seiryu, Riverwood
Co2: Co2art Pro-SE regulator and in-tank Flux diffuser, fire extinguisher
Planting: Mostly TBD. Bolbitis, Trident and java fern, Hygrophila Pinnatifida, various small anubias, various crypts
Other: Custom temperature monitoring (using DS18B20 probes and Arduino clones) linked into home automation.

I'm excited to scape this now I have some good hardscape :)
 
I'm going for a nature style triangular composition with plenty of sandy areas for the corys. So far I have picked up some additional seiryu stone, some riverwood to replace the decaying spiderwood and have more some lovely plants on the way thanks to some of you guys :) (Dont worry, these will go into the other tanks until I'm ready for them)

I made myself a cardboard dojo. Its about an inch shorter than the tank and I keep thinking the tape is in the middle, so im tempted to mark up the golden ratio on the back. Its doing the job though. I'm really trying to crack on and nail the layout now as apparently we need the dining table back for christmas day.

Any advice on the layout or anything else is welcome.

Layout 1:
Need to redo this in the dojo and work out how to add the rock around the wood.
Layout 1.JPEG


Layout 2:
This has a mid level planting area just under the hole in the wood. Though it might be nice for a some smaller crypts, s.repens or Hydrocotyle tripartita mini maybe.
Layout 2.JPEG


Layout 3:
Same mid level planting area, but more obstructed by wood.
Layout 3.JPEG


Layout 4:
I think the layout might be a bit to far to the left on this one, but it does leave a lot of planting room.
Layout 4.JPEG
 
Looking good @Radiant - the plants should be with you today incidentally! You may want to consider adding some additional turnover/flow to you tank, either with an additional canister filter, or some sort of powerhead if you have one - otherwise you may find you current filter may struggle to distribute the CO2 around your tank sufficiently.

I like the greater perception of height with Layout 1, but I think adding the smaller stone on the far rear left through the arch, as you have done in layout 4, helps with depth perception also.

Which Cories are you going to be adding?
 
Thanks for the advice Wookii. The plants arrived today in excellent condition. Really excited to use them.

I'm struggling to make layout 1 work -I cant get the rock place right around the wood and im finding it easier to place the wood after and then try and merge them to loo more natural. I think layout 2 is my favourate so far, but I take on you point about that smaller rocker adding depth so will raid the temp tank for some more suitable stone.

The corys will be sterbai. I have a few remaining and will top up the group size when they move over. I'll also move the zebra otos, common otos and amano shrimp over. I've yet to decide on the rest of the livestock, but i'm thinking pearl gourami and maybe super blue kerri tetra.
 
Last edited:
Looks great. I really like the way the wood flows in layout 2. It looks really natural particularly the thick central 10 o'clock branch.
 
7BB90B68-7888-4729-87DA-59363BC19027.jpeg

3A733E09-284D-4CB5-83A1-D9BAB4D0468D.jpeg


Still working on the layout. Been busy scrubbing rocks from the temp tank so I can swap in some nice pieces. I’m not sold on the wood placement yet either. The thick bit is too upright and the bit behind it need adjusting.
I’ve also been having a small crisis in one of the other tanks with the zebra otos so been distracted a little, but on the plus side the other half is happy the dining table is now usable.
 
Right - It's been a while, but I'm finally ready to plant!

aquaoak-readytoplant.jpg


I had a lot of trouble with my wood not staying put, even after soaking for ages. I had the glue points break on me several times when flooding the tank to check it, so I decide to glue it more and pop a few rocks on it for a while to keep it in place.

Next to do is plant. I have some plants on hold in my other tank and some in vases, but I will have to build it up gradually due to budget. I can't wait to finally get some bucephalandra! Then I plan to add some detailing stones, sort the co2 and see if I can find some replacement metal legs for the Twinstar so I can shorten it for more clearance under the oak hood.
I also need to replace the heater with something more suitable (that's a 50w borrowed from my spare nano). Any heater recommendations are welcome. I'm not going inline just yet as I can't really find inline for 200L that uses a 12/16mm hose. Plus I fancy upgrading the canister filter at some point and might go for an Oase thermo 600 and some nice lily pipes next year.
 
Thanks :)

The filter outlet is just what came with the Aquamantia filter. They are kind of click-on ball heads so you can move them around or change the configuration. I might ditch the spray bar and add a skimmer or something for a bit more flow.
 
It's getting there. Half planted. The back right is a mix of rotala bosaii, rotundafolia OJ and wallachi. There is also cryptocoryne balansae and cryptocoryne spiralis var. caudigera in the back right. I need to add the moss, pinnatafida and HC cuba today.

I'm also struggling with what to add at the back of the lower area on the left. I have a lot of Cryptocoryne wendtii green and brown available but feel it might be too big and mess with the perception of depth. Any ideas?

aquaoak-half planted.jpg


I can't wait to remove the extra rock weighing down the wood. Also I'm excited to finally have a little bit of buce :) I think it might be my favorite plant.
 
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