Cave in the Hill

[Dominik_K]

Hi all together,

last year, about 9 months ago, I did my current 128-liter-setup with your help. That made me creating a far better result than I would have been able to create on my own. So I would like to try this again =)

As I did last year, I will take a tank, created by a member, and take my inspiration from that. One might say I will fake it This time it's the Mighty Cave, created by @Mikeba. I fell in love with that kind of layout the moment I saw it within this forum. I figured out that I love recreating existing tanks =) .

Since my 128-liter-tank is setup at the moment and I am waiting for the right moment for a last picture, I build myself a dojo (reference to scapefu here ). I would appreciate any comments on my work so far:

I tried a lot with the rocks I have and I think this is the one that pleases me the most:

My biggest issue is the one stone on the right hand side of the cave, killing the flow direction of the hardscape. I will try to find a stone that is tilted like this:

If I am successfull or not, this is the kind of plants I would like to go for (first with text, second without):

I would love to hear your oppinions on that plan =)

Have a nice day.

 

[Edvet]

the cave will collect mulm, so you'll need to clean it now and then. Make sure you can reach it.

 

[Dominik_K]

Thanks for your reply, I did not think about that so far. But it looks as if I will be lucky: the cave is about 10 cm away from the front glas, about 6 cm high and about 8 cm deep. It will be a bit unconfortable, but i think I might reach it without that big of a problem =)

 

[Mikeba]

I'm flattered!

I really like the feel of the stones, nice textures en depth!

One thing I regret now is that I didn't make the cave opening bigger. After adding moss en wood details it became too small. So maybe something you could take into consideration now, while you still can

And I think I would make the whole thing wider, so maybe loose half of the Monte Carlo carpet.

But great work!

 

[ian_m]

I gave up with caves and rock arches as they collect detritus and were not easy to clean at water change time. Better with an arch as you can lift it off to clean underneath.

Like the idea of the scape, just ensure you can clean it easily.

 

[Nigel95]

Use a turkey baster and a hose to clean the cave

 

[Dominik_K]

Thank you all

@Mikeba That was one thing i have learned from your Mighty Cave scape That's why my cave is opening directly to the front while yours seems to have an angle or is that just the pictures?
Making the whole thing wider will need more stone. I need to speak to my girlfriend before buying even more, since I already spent a lot of money on those rocks. Otherwise I get stoned to death with my own stones

@Nigel95 Thank you for that hint, I will use it for sure =)
@ian_m As i mentioned, the area is quiet big since it is not that small of a tank And further the turkey blaster will help too ^^ but I will check if i may arrange one stone a little different. I think if I manage to do that, I could simply lift of the upper part of the cave for maintanence.

 

[Dominik_K]

With a little bit of time, i added more realistic textures to the fotograph and i have to say: I like the idea, but I agree, the left side has to get at least a bit wider =)

 

[Dominik_K]

Hi,

today I tried to make the layout a bit wider. But I am not sure if i like the result I have to sleep a night and think about it.

And here is a little top down view to show the place i got to get into the cave:

 

[Dominik_K]

Hi,

today I placed the hardscape into the tank I think that looks good so far. It changed a bit but I like it even more. Just some cracks need to be filled with moss.

 

[Mikeba]

That is looking awesome! Love the shadows in the front, really ads to the depth. And the extension to the left played out well.

Only point of feedback I can give is that the right front is a bit too heavy .. would have been nice if the far left piece was smaller, making a sort of step up from low to high.

Are you going to cut away the excessive styrofoam?

 

[Dominik_K]

Hi,

thanks for the reply And thanks for the compliments!

Yes, i will cut away the styrofoam as good as possible. I think its better for making a substrate slope if i do so.

The big stones on the right side are a bit big, thats true, but i dont have another stone, that fits there and looks good. Tomorrow I get a few detail stones. I ordered "small to really small ones" as I mentioned via E-Mail to Aquasabi. So maybe, something will fit. Otherwise I place some smaler ones into the cracks. That should work out too I think =) (I used that technique in a lot of places within the tank ^^)

 

[CooKieS]

Nice try, the cave could be a bit bigger.

Are you going to add sand and which one?

 

[Dominik_K]

@CooKieS actually I decided to make that size of a cave on purpose I like that =) I will use sand within the cave and before it and go with soil to the sides. The sand will be eggshell white one, like Colorado, just a bit cheaper.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Looking good, I would play around with removing the lava stone from the cave area, I feel with sand it will look to shallow, also I would perhaps add one or two more smaller stones on the left to ease the slow down the the sand / substrate, tho with plants this may not be noticeable

 

[kadoxu]

Looks good! I wouldn't touch it anymore, adding the substrate/sand properly will make all the difference here.

 

[Dominik_K]

Hi,

yesterday was the day: I planted the tank. And I have to say, I love the result I am realy happy with it and there are only some minor issues, which are not a big deal.

1. I did not have enough moss. Already orded some more, so this will be done within the next week or two.
2. The amount of Rotala H'Ra is a bit low (the top view picture shows that) but since it is a stem plant, I will replant the toppings for the first two to three trimmings.
3. I need some more mini landscape rocks for the sand to add further details. But I am to lazy to crush stones at the moment

So here are the pictures:

1. Substrate added

2. Planted

3. top view of the rotala h'ra

4. A little view from the side, the rock formation is really not that deep, but looks much deeper from the front.

 

[Northie]

How are you planning to keep sand and soil separate? I have tried a few tanks with two different substrates but they always end up getting mixed unless I add some sort of barrier. The fact that I like keeping cories in most tanks certainly doesn't help but it happened even in my ram and oto tank.

 

[Dominik_K]

Hi,

that's an interessting question I had a tank with a similar mix of substrates with no issues at all. So I don't have any plan for that at the moment. I think I will address that one, if it is actually happening My first idea would be to insert some sort of substrate support. James Findley uses something like that to keep the substrate from going downhill. I think that would be the best way.

 

[1stgolf]

Fantastic layout.