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A Little Corner Project

Timms2011

Timms2011

Member
Joined
1 Feb 2011
Messages
117
Location
Edgware, Middlesex
After what seems like a lifetime of moving house and decorating I finally managed to find the time to put up my corner tank and start the playing about with the hardscape stage. I regrettably had to sell my 350litre as it just didn't look right wherever I put it in the room, to be honest I'm definitely not going to miss cleaning it or doing those huge time consuming water changes so this will be allot more manageable!

This is my first attempt, so there's allot more days of tweaking or even changing the layout completely. At the moment I'm just using sand to position the hardscape and then I may use either Eco complete or Amazonia, the other alternative could be to semi plant the scape using needle leaf and other ferns along with some other slow growing plants tied to the wood, I could then either keep the sand or maybe add some gravel. At the beginning I intended to use just the original lighting that came with the aquarium, I do have an Arcadia OT2 lumminaire which I could use, which fits perfectly on the top, only I wasn't overly keen on the evaporation aspect, however it's still an option. I will also be using EI dosing and pressurised Co2 with pollen glass. Filter is a Fluval 406

Your feedback, criticism or advice would be greatly appreciated!

r2te.jpg
 
ldcgroomer said:
That looks great, I love an island layout.
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Thanks allot, I'm now thinking of using sand at the front and maybe Malaya Aquasoil at the back and centre so I can get some stems growing, just a thought at the moment!

Gary Nelson said:
Looks good, you will find the standard light more than adiquate to grow anything... I'd stick with those :)
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Your corner tanks are really awesome, could you tell me which substrate you used for both of these? One looks like eco complete and the other looks like standard gravel, tremendous success with both I might add!

legytt said:
Tank looks great.
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Thank you, obviously work in progress ;)

malawistu said:
Looks good but you have to take it down and put it back up and get it to look the same :p if you change the sand

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
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I have no problem taking it down as it took me all of 15 minutes to throw it together in the first place, which is what I would need to do anyway in order to soak the wood and clean the sand :)
 
Remember ADA malaya has the most ability of the 3 soils to turn the water acidic buffering it to round ph5.5 so may not suit your livestock choice. It is also very soft making rescapes or even replanting a nightmare and contains the lest nutrients out of the 3 soils. Africana is a bit firmer but, as I found recently, is a nightmare to rescape with. It buffers to around ph 5.9. It contains nitrogen in the form of nitrite. Amazonia is the most nutritious but if you are going to be dosing ferts you don't need a fancy substrate. You could also use tropica plant growth substrate under sand or gravel. I've used Africana in one tank but there is tropica substrate underneath.
All the info on the ADA soils is straight from 'The book of ADA'
 
Timms2011 said:
Your corner tanks are really awesome, could you tell me which substrate you used for both of these? One looks like eco complete and the other looks like standard gravel, tremendous success with both I might add!
Click to expand...

Thank you and you are correct, I used black eco complete, which I found grew anything without problems and the second I just used Unipac gravel/sand. Your wood layout looks excellent and I will be looking forward to seeing more when you come to set-up :thumbup:
 
ldcgroomer said:
Remember ADA malaya has the most ability of the 3 soils to turn the water acidic buffering it to round ph5.5 so may not suit your livestock choice. It is also very soft making rescapes or even replanting a nightmare and contains the lest nutrients out of the 3 soils. Africana is a bit firmer but, as I found recently, is a nightmare to rescape with. It buffers to around ph 5.9. It contains nitrogen in the form of nitrite. Amazonia is the most nutritious but if you are going to be dosing ferts you don't need a fancy substrate. You could also use tropica plant growth substrate under sand or gravel. I've used Africana in one tank but there is tropica substrate underneath.
All the info on the ADA soils is straight from 'The book of ADA'
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the soils, I don't think i'll be using any of these then for this particular scape, I'm looking at eco complete at the moment mainly because I've not tried it yet. I wouldn't mind having a sand or gravel front and use eco complete for the back, but I just know i would end up mixing them up over time and it would drive me mad :mad:

maqua said:
it looks good,
what is you plan for plantation?
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I was looking at maybe some plants i've not yet tried, such as some slow growing needle leaf java fern or even the miniature version to maybe give the appearance of the aquarium looking bigger. I would like Java Moss on the Redmoore root and the rest i'm really still looking for ideas :confused:
 
Java moss doesn't have much structure and needs lots of trimming to look nice. Fissidens fontanus, Christmas and even spikey moss look nicer. I love java ferns and have mini, narrow and needle leaf. I also have the windelov one with the tattered leaf edges which I now don't like but can't get out!
 
Why not use tropica substrate capped with gravel at the back and sand at the front?
 
ldcgroomer said:
Why not use tropica substrate capped with gravel at the back and sand at the front?
Click to expand...

Thats another good idea to take into consideration, I've just dismantled my scape to soak the Redmoore root so it doesn't float or move, this is the painful stage as I know it takes what seems like a life time. I'm gonna buy a big dustbin at the weekend so I can sink the wood deeper and put some rocks on top, maybe this will increase the pressure a little and speed things up, who knows? On the other hand it'll give me more time to browse the UKAPS forum for ideas and inspiration.
 
ldcgroomer said:
Java moss doesn't have much structure and needs lots of trimming to look nice. Fissidens fontanus, Christmas and even spikey moss look nicer. I love java ferns and have mini, narrow and needle leaf. I also have the windelov one with the tattered leaf edges which I now don't like but can't get out!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll definitely use your suggestions in my tank, I've always used java moss in the past, Fissidens fontanus looks really good and the other mosses will make a nice fun change! :thumbup:
 
Timms2011 said:
I've just dismantled my scape to soak the Redmoore root so it doesn't float or move,
Click to expand...
I always have my wood tied down to some heavy slate or stones so it doesn't move. Got fed up with snagging on wood during maintenance and plants getting shifted or damaged by the wood.
 
ldcgroomer said:
I always have my wood tied down to some heavy slate or stones so it doesn't move. Got fed up with snagging on wood during maintenance and plants getting shifted or damaged by the wood.
Click to expand...



I've tied my wood down once in the past, but found I could never get the wood to look right and as it was tied down it was almost impossible to tweak or adjust, also I've taken wood out in the past to clean and to rearrange the scape. On another note, I now have had input from my wife who says she doesn't like the sand substrate and the good thing about this is now I have an excuse to push a little more money into my project, as I'm making the scape look nice for her ….cough,cough :happy:
 
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