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Fluval Studio 900...'Dragons Crypt' Journal finished.

Re: Fluval Studio 900...'Dragons Crypt', Decisions, Decision

Well, ive been a little inactive on the forum recently, building up to my brothers wedding which took place over the weekend. It was a great day, and even better for me as as a gift for being his best man he showed his appreciation in the form of £150 TGM vouchers :D
The tank has suffered a little neglect over the past few weeks and was already becoming a bit unmanageable. Mouldy wood, c02 running out and not being able to get on top of a few issues means it will be coming apart over the next few weeks. Its been a great learning experience but its time to move on as ive lost the drive for this tank.
Recently ive been considering lots of options for a new scape and have kind of baffled myself and lost any sense of direction. Having little finances available to put towards the tanks reinvention was leading me to the possibility of a plantless scape, and maybe i may still go this way. On the other hand now i have some funding in the form of the vouchers im considering a trip down to Wrexham at the end of the month, mainly to look at some options for hardscaping in the form of rocks, but it has got me thinking again about plants.....plus a trip to TGM is always a nice day out anyway! :thumbup: Maybe i could look at a moss and rhyzome plant tank which may be lower maintenence and less high energy? Maybe gravel base with tropica substrate? £150 sounds a lot but i know i could easily blow that on hardscape and substrate, let alone plants and the glassware i would like to add so what do you guys think?
The tank is coming down, so should i keep it empty and wait until finances allow to go the whole hog again or just get something set up to keep me occupied for a while? I quite like the idea of sturisoma and corys so a wood and rock layout may work with a few less demanding rhyzome plants for a splash of green.
Id also been considering an iwagumi with grassy plants (possibly reusing much of the existing substrate and topping off with a bag of amazonia powder), which is now financially do-able at a push.
I know its all pretty vague, but suggestions would be appreciated :thumbup:
Cheers,
Ady.
 
Re: Fluval Studio 900...'Dragons Crypt', Decisions, decision

Hi Ady, for a start, the glassware you want can wait. That should be an item that you buy when you can afford it rather than using your start up budget. I expect you have that covered but thought I would mention it as sometimes we can overlook the option of shelving unnecessary items in the initial buy. Have you considered the bonsai soil/ akadama as substrate with fert tabs and then an area of sand for the corys ? Or even a few 'sand lagoons' to attract the corys ? (I recall a layout in one of my scaping books that has haphazard bare patches in the scape to offer some open space for the corys and it looked great). Also, dont get drawn into the trap of spending a lot of money on rockwork. Some of the fancy stones available to us are all well and good but we read plenty of reports of members getting lovely stone from quarries, or large pebbles and cobbles from the beach or riverbeds for little or no money. That way you have money to spend on the plants. Im sure the CO2 wont cost you a lot to refill if you have not already done so and you certainly have the skills to manage a high tech tank so again, don't necessarily allow yourself to persuade yourself against it. Ultimately you must do what you WANT to do, and you hit the nail on the head about possibly waiting. Having said that if you WANT an expensive substrate which will blow your plant budget you could always do what you suggested, chuck in a bag of playand and some low tech plants as a temporary scape, buy the substrate you want (remember someone is selling 12L of malaya on here for 30 quid) and keep it on hold until you have the remaining budget to complete what you want to do. It would give you time to think as well, but still have something running. Hope that has not confused you all the more.
 
Re: Fluval Studio 900...'Dragons Crypt', Decisions, decision

Hi Ady, I know what you mean, I've been there myself.

You can try Tropica substrate or JBL Aquabasis topped by Unipac gravel (1-2mm), just don't make it as deep as you did in this scape, 1-2 cm for the decorative sand in front of the aquarium and a slope of 6cm deep in the back.
Reuse the stones you have to make the transition between the decorative sand and the rest of the scape and plant only stems in the back, 1-2 species should be enough, middle a couple of crypts (you already have them, just keep the good looking ones) and some glosso or hc around the rocks. Skip wood and fancy stones add them later when the scape is mature. You can hide the pipes with stems so you don't have to buy glassware :)

Mike
 
Re: Fluval Studio 900...'Dragons Crypt', Decisions, decision

Cheers for the suggestions guys.
Chris, I know what you mean about glassware etc, but with this tank it's impossible to swap it all over without a strip down as its drilled base. This is the only reason I wanted to do it straight off, but like you say it's not essential and really I need to decide on my direction first before making any decisions. As for buying rocks, again sound advice however I do feel it's worth paying a little more for rocks as they are an investment and I haven't found a suitable au naturel rock I'm keen on yet :) I need to decide what I want to do as this will determine substrate choice although I am strongly considering the tropica option for the next scape.
Mike, I hear you too and reusing existing plants is an option but I do fancy something new and fresh so I'll be ditching most of these existing plants. I already have a nice batch of manzy wood in stock so although at the risk of being a bit repetitive ( like in the CR Shrimp tank) I'm going to be going using this somehow and maybe adding to the remaining dragon stone within this tank and in stock. Really now I just need to decide on the style I want to achieve and this will direct me into plant scheme.
I'm pretty indecisive at the best of times so I'll be hoping for some further inspiration from my trip to TGM next weekend :thumbup:
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Re: Fluval Studio 900...'Dragons Crypt', Decisions, decision

good luck with it Ady, i'm sure it'll be a winner. The Tropica stuff is quite cheap for what it is. Give me a nod when you sell all that lovely Balasae! ; )
 
Re: Fluval Studio 900...'Dragons Crypt', Decisions, decision

ianho said:
good luck with it Ady, i'm sure it'll be a winner. The Tropica stuff is quite cheap for what it is. Give me a nod when you sell all that lovely Balasae! ; )
Cheers Ian.
Will do if I think it's up to a good enough standard to pass on :)
 
Re: Fluval Studio 900...'Dragons Crypt', Journal finished.

Well this first planted tank venture has come to an end. The tank is now stripped and cleaned ready to go again. It's been a great learning experience helped along by the guidance of many ukaps members so thanks all for the advice along the way :thumbup:
No pics unfortunately as currently can't upload but hope to get it sorted in the not too distant future to journal the next scape :D
Cheerio
Ady
 
Whitey89 said:
Absolutely fantastic Journal Ady, shows how far you've come. One if the best journals I've read!

Bravo :clap:


I second that. You achieved massive growth in there too. Have thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I will the next no doubt. PLEASE do a journal including all the stages :) Its so cool to read that way, and I am too lazy to do it for mine, LOL. Actually its what I am hoping to do for my new scape. Looking forward to yours :)
 
tim said:
looking forward to your new scape ady :thumbup:
Cheers Tim, me too :thumbup:

Whitey89 said:
Absolutely fantastic Journal Ady, shows how far you've come. One if the best journals I've read!

Bravo :clap:
Thanks very much Nath, really nice of you to say. Hopefully people may have learned something from it along the way as there have been a few ups and downs :)

Antipofish said:
Whitey89 said:
Absolutely fantastic Journal Ady, shows how far you've come. One if the best journals I've read!

Bravo :clap:


I second that. You achieved massive growth in there too. Have thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I will the next no doubt. PLEASE do a journal including all the stages :) Its so cool to read that way, and I am too lazy to do it for mine, LOL. Actually its what I am hoping to do for my new scape. Looking forward to yours :)
Cheers Chris, much appreciated and I'll do my best to document as much as I can. Good luck with your new optiwhite, looking forward to following that one :thumbup:
 
I really like this tank... Love the bog wood used, the fact they are long peices is really nice, instead of the small single peices i'm more accostomed seeing..

I will be following this post.. Good luck..
 
I really like this tank... Love the bog wood used, the fact they are long peices is really nice, instead of the small single peices i'm more accostomed seeing..

I will be following this post.. Good luck..
Hi Ste and thanks for the positive feedback :thumbup:
i too loved the wood, and the pieces were easy to use as there was only 2 so it wasnt a complex scape to put together. I found that the vine wood is not suited long term to submersed life as it began to rot, getting a nasty coating of fungus as you'll probably have seen :eek:

this journal has now been closed and the tank has followed a couple of different routes, currently running as the 'sticks and stones' journal in my links below, after a brief rock only scape (coastal erosion) which didn't last long!
Thanks again, was a surprise seeing this one pop up again!
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
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