A Rocky Road - New inhabitants

[J Butler]

It’s been simmering along for quite some time now, but I think I’m about ready to embark on my first journal. Exciting times indeed! Welcome along, it's probably going to get bumpy...

Unfortunately, it appears my timing is impeccable as always and I’ve managed to coincide with tanks from such powerhouses as Victor and Mark, hopefully some poor lost souls will venture in regardless.

First things first, may as well start with some vital statistics:

• Tank: A rather dilapidated Rio 180 (Have serious tank envy with regards to all the rimless opti-whites that pop up on here, thought it best to hold off for a little longer though, for shame... )
  
  Lighting: Juwel high-light fixture, 2 x 45w T5 (Tropical bulbs from iquatics) plus a 20w T4 backlight
  
  Filtration: Fluval FX5 with custom spraybar and inlets. Ceramic rings, Seachem matrix, Purigen and foam for media.
  
  CO2 and Heating: I have a second loop run with an Eheim compact+ 2000 with an UP atomiser and 300w hydor inline (also outputting through spraybar).
  
  Substrate: Columbo Fluorobase black and Unipac Congo sand.
  
  Hardscape materials: Manzanita wood (Courtesy of Tom) and Baltic rock.

Apologies for the photos, unfortunately I only have my Samsung Galaxy SII camera phone. A dslr is certainly on the future wishlist. Probably after I get some fauna in there and get frustrated with the blurry smudges, there's always good ol' video though .



And a quick glimpse of my faithful Rio 180, must be around 7 years old now. (Mutton dressed as lamb )

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

Well, I’ve put together a preliminary scape which isn’t a complete eyesore (in my opinion atleast). I've erred on the side of caution however and bought far more hardscape than actually required so there's quite a bit of room to manouvre if something seems to ruin the composition.



Your experience and critique is more than welcome!



Some slightly different perspectives for you to lay into

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

And finally, let's get down to the serious business of plants.



I'm leaning more towards fine-leafed plants, I always seem to find myself longing for more room so this goes someway towards the deception of space atleast...

I do like the Bolbitis, however I don't think I will go for any as the leaves might get too large and throw the balance out. I feel the situation may be similar for the L. brevipes also.

I'm hoping for a mixture of mosses/liverwort. Will use them to cover the unnatural cuts on some of the Manzanita and possibly to soften the rocks at the boundary between sand and soil along with hairgrass.

Let me know if you feel something may be unsuitable or if you have any suggestions on the overall plans. This is my first proper attempt at aquascaping and any nudges along the steep learning curve are more than welcome.

 

[Ady34]

Re: A Rocky Road

Hi J Butler,
this is looking super slick, and for a 'delapidated old rio 180' that tank looks pristine!!!
You seem to have well thought out equipment and this bodes well for a successful first journal.
Maybe one thought on the sand bed would have been to adjust the rear rock positions slightly one way or the other to give the illusion of a 'dissapearing path' rather than one which directs you straight to the back of the tank... this is only a minor suggestion though and by no means am i an expert hardscaper. Also without knowing your plant plans and overall vision for the scape im maybe jumping the gun!
The manzanita wood and baltic rock combo is excellent and the sand colour looks well suited.
Regards your timing posting alongside journals from Mark and Victor, you already have me hooked and ill be following this one intently too!
Good luck, ill look forward to updates.
Ady.

 

[Ady34]

Re: A Rocky Road

I see i was composing my reply as you were posting your plant plans!
Plants look very interesting and varied, they will offer different colours and textures and i can envisage this being a really beautiful looking tank!

 

[Piece-of-fish]

Re: A Rocky Road

I am speachless :silent: Too good for a first one
You can trim every big leaf from bolbitis and it will stay small. It is a beautiful plant and will suite moss/liverwort scape really well as some needle leaf java. Classic combination.

What is Baltic rock and where you got it from?

 

[spyder]

Re: A Rocky Road

I saw the box of rock and wood and was hooked. I need to grab a box of Tom's Manzi sooner or later.

Looking forward to seeing it all planted up. You have prepared well and look organised.

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

Hi J Butler,
this is looking super slick, and for a 'delapidated old rio 180' that tank looks pristine!!!
You seem to have well thought out equipment and this bodes well for a successful first journal.
Maybe one thought on the sand bed would have been to adjust the rear rock positions slightly one way or the other to give the illusion of a 'dissapearing path' rather than one which directs you straight to the back of the tank... this is only a minor suggestion though and by no means am i an expert hardscaper. Also without knowing your plant plans and overall vision for the scape im maybe jumping the gun!
The manzanita wood and baltic rock combo is excellent and the sand colour looks well suited.
Regards your timing posting alongside journals from Mark and Victor, you already have me hooked and ill be following this one intently too!
Good luck, ill look forward to updates.
Ady.

Thankyou for the high praise Ady, I've certainly put in a bit of time (quite an understatement, I'm pretty boring which has left many hours to wile away, perusing forums, articles and comparing equipment )

One advantage of the relatively crappy camera phone is its deceptive abilities, the tank has a fair few scratches on the front glass, much to my annoyance. I'm hoping this will leave me even more excited and appreciative when it comes to future upgrades

I can see where your coming from with your 'pathway' comment, you're clearly a man after my own heart. I'm hoping to add a bit more curvature to the sand path but with moss stones and the like, similar to:

Although the sand channel will likely be a little wider.

As for the plants, there certainly is a mixture. Hopefully the colours aren't something that will remain only in the planning phase...

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Piece-of-fish]

Re: A Rocky Road

Baltic rock?

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

I am speachless :silent: Too good for a first one
You can trim every big leaf from bolbitis and it will stay small. It is a beautiful plant and will suite moss/liverwort scape really well as some needle leaf java. Classic combination.

What is Baltic rock and where you got it from?

Too kind Ed! Your scapes have evoked similar emotion from me and several others I think
(in fact, you didn't even have to scape, Marks tank and cabinet are more than enough! )

Maybe Bolbitis should be back in the game then, you can't beat that quintessential fern leaf shape, very Jurassic.
The Baltic rock is available from Aquaessentials, I thought it was worth a shot. I think it's referred to as Leopard stone also (atleast George did in a recent topic --> Clicky)

Thanks for the kind words

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

I saw the box of rock and wood and was hooked. I need to grab a box of Tom's Manzi sooner or later.

Looking forward to seeing it all planted up. You have prepared well and look organised.

Manzi certainly does make life a little easier, I swear you could probably throw a load in the air and let it drop for an 'insta-scape'

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

While I have a lunch break to flitter away, I may as well annoy you with some of the scapes i've taken inspiration from so you can get an idea of where i'm hoping to go with it perhaps.

edit: can't seem to get this image to work, will have to be a URL instead.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_I2Vgp-Gddxs/R77-cimj3lI/AAAAAAAACJs/lTQ0JNzpUEg/s1600-h/amano3.jpg

I find scapes with wood that overhangs sandy substrate very appealing, walls of green, though nice, don't have quite the same appeal as those broken up with a little clear space. (Maintenance may soon give me a good reason as to why everyone doesn't do this... )

Two sides of densely planted area, bridged by wood, love it. You really can't beat Amano for first class inspiration!


whole by George Farmer, on Flickr

and if George doesn't mind too much, I loved the hairgrass/rock combination in his Scree Iwagumi.

I'm not sure if you will be able to see, but TFH magazine has a feature in each issue written by Amano. (i'm not sure if it's a mistake, but digital subscription seems to grant access to the whole digital archive, amazing! ) The scape featured in this one isn't too hard on the eyes...

http://www.tfhdigital.com/tfh/201104/?pg=63&pm=2&u1=friend

Unfortunately for future monetary prospects, the aquascapes I prefer are genrally residing in the ol' 180x60x60 tanks, oh dear...

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

Just had a chance to test the TFH magazine link from the previous post, if you close the login pop up, it should let you view the article if you wish.

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: A Rocky Road

What a crackin start!

I love the presentation to matey.

 

[Ian Holdich]

Re: A Rocky Road

got to agree there, this is very well presented, i can't believe this is done on a camera phone though!

This will be a corker if planted correctly. Well done dude!

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

What a crackin start!

I love the presentation to matey.

Thanks for stopping by Mark! You've set the bar pretty high, I can but try...

I believe the saying goes 'give the people what they want', and I think the people want pictures!

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

got to agree there, this is very well presented, i can't believe this is done on a camera phone though!

This will be a corker if planted correctly. Well done dude!

Hehe, and that's probably where everything's going to unravel...

I'm determined to get a good start however, so the staff over at TGM may be getting hassled in the near future, just need to decide on the final plant list and arrangement.

The SGII camera is quite good to be fair, I feel I may not be as understanding when it comes to moving targets though.

Thanks for all the kind words so far everyone!

 

[Piece-of-fish]

Re: A Rocky Road

Heh made me think why did I get that bloody expensive 7D
You have posted couple of my favourite amano style work. I will be rescaping my 90cm and copying one of them.
Nice rock especially when in the box

 

[flygja]

Re: A Rocky Road

Looking great. I love the posters you created. Reminds me of those classic car shows where you need to show off pictures of the restoration.

Don't sell yourself short by the way. You've got talent.

 

[J Butler]

Re: A Rocky Road

Looking great. I love the posters you created. Reminds me of those classic car shows where you need to show off pictures of the restoration.

Don't sell yourself short by the way. You've got talent.

Glad you like the pictures, I wanted to jazz them up a little. I just paste them into Microsoft word, have a fiddle and then take a screen grab with the snipping tool => My take on a poor man's photoshop

Can't build myself up too much, planting is probably going to be an epic fail.

I love browsing through various aquascapes, picked up a copy of Nature aquarium: the complete works when it was published in English. However, as this is my first try at growing plants properly, rookie errors are almost guaranteed, best way to learn though!