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From Borneo with love

Manu

Member
Joined
19 May 2015
Messages
192
Location
Milton Keynes
Hello everybody,

Here is the beginning of my second journal :)

It’s only been 10 months that I discovered aquascaping, and here comes a second tank in the house! Actually, a third one arrived last sunday… maybe another journal later…

The first time I went in our lfs with my girlfriend to look at fish, we loved a particular fish: the Boraras brigittae, or Mosquito Rasbora. Reading about their needs, we knew that the tank we were setting up at that time would not suit them and we decided to postpone our dream of keeping them…

But in November, Kirk from our great forum, sold me his fantastic set up:
a TMC signature 45*45*30 and all the gear that went with it :)
It was then the time to set up biotope for our loved Boraras brigittae!!!

Here is a brief description of the set up:

Tank - TMC signature 45*45*30

Substrate - ADA Amazonia and ADA Sarawak sand

Filtration - JBL 701e

Light - Maxspect R420R LED 120w

Plants
-Cryptocoryne balansea - at the right back corner, the long leaves will grow toward the front of the tank, giving shade and cover for the other plants and fish.
-Limnophila rugosa - in front of the crypt balansea, I will try to get this bushy.
-Hygrophila polysperma - on the front right of the DW.
-various cryptocoryne which I don't know the names - between the DW and the sand.
-Rotala wallichi - completely on the left side, a bit worried about that one but I wanted to give it a go...
-Microsorum pteropus (Java fern)
-Microsorum pteropus "orange narrow" - Thank you Roy and Marcel
-Microsorum pteropus "Trident"
-Taxiphyllum barbieri (Java moss)
-Fissiden fontanus
-Bucephalandras (various species arriving on tuesday)

I am planing to do a dry start using the greek yogurt recipe from George to cover about 50% of the wood in moss. There will be crypts, ferns, bucephalandras and more :)

Here are some pictures:

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I hope you like it...
Can't wait to plant :)

Cheers,
Manu
 
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Wow nice job Manu - lovely chunk of DW...I can see you've really given this some great thought. Have you decided on a plant list yet? Either way I'm sure it'll look awesome and be an amazing home for chilies.
 
Wonderfull piece of wood.. :woot: It's like a Madonna statue, without the baby... Well the baby you got to plant in there.. Me too, very curious about your plant list..

ISince your wood goes emersed and consider a biotope, if you like an Asian Moss sp. that nicely grows submersed as well emersed you should definitively look at Taxiphyllum sp. "Peacock Moss".. Very beautiful moss.. :)
 
There are several recipes that'l work, yogurt, beer and sugar blended together seems to work very good on any kind of moss. Only yogurt seems to work, only beer also but little less effective. Using it as drystart with aquatic mosses it still needs to be kept relatively moist, some people reported molt growing the first weeks.. Make sure the hardware you smear the goody on is very clean, rinse it off with a hard brush and hot water before applying it. :).. Don't use mosses found in the garden or forest with this method in the tank, mosses found in nature certainly can contain fungal spores.
 
There are several recipes that'l work, yogurt, beer and sugar blended together seems to work very good on any kind of moss. Only yogurt seems to work, only beer also but little less effective. Using it as drystart with aquatic mosses it still needs to be kept relatively moist, some people reported molt growing the first weeks.. Make sure the hardware you smear the goody on is very clean, rinse it off with a hard brush and hot water before applying it. :).. Don't use mosses found in the garden or forest with this method in the tank, mosses found in nature certainly can contain fungal spores.

Thank you both for the advice. When growing as a dry start do you just keep the spay routine up till you are happy with the results, or do you do it for 'x' amount of time then submerge to let it grow?
I've always struggled with getting a nice spread of aquatic moss. I'd love to achieve a nice moss covered boulder look
 
hi, looking good!

Awesome piece of wood! Fissidens fontanus would look perfect on this.
 
Fantastic wood.
I've been wanting to do a tank for Boraras brigittae.Got two tanks already though :(.
Looking forward to seeing this planted and flooded.
 
Hi everybody :)

Thanks a lot for the great comments!

Wow nice job Manu - lovely chunk of DW...

Hi Tim, thanks a lot! Very happy with the wood too :) Funny enough, when I bought it in the lfs, one customer made a slightly sarcastic comment : "well, someone's got a big tank!". I replied that the tank was only 60 litters and the guy looked at me like I was completely mad :lol:

I can see you've really given this some great thought.
Yes, a lot :) Waking up at night wondering about where to place the plants,...:crazy: :nurse:

Have you decided on a plant list yet?
Here is the plant list which I will add to the first post too :
-Cryptocoryne balansea - at the right back corner, the long leaves will grow toward the front of the tank, giving shade and cover for the other plants and fish.
-Limnophila rugosa - in front of the crypt balansea, I will try to get this bushy.
-Hygrophila polysperma - on the front right of the DW.
-various cryptocoryne which I don't know the names - between the DW and the sand.
-Rotala wallichi - completely on the left side, a bit worried about that one but I wanted to give it a go...
-Microsorum pteropus (Java fern)
-Microsorum pteropus "orange narrow" - Thank you Roy :thumbup:
-Microsorum pteropus "Trident"
-Taxiphyllum barbieri (Java moss)
-Fissiden fontanus
-Bucephalandras (various species arriving on tuesday)

Hi Manu, Great piece of DW :rolleyes:Scape is coming together well mate. Looking forward to the updates :)
Thanks a lot Roy :)

Going to keep an eye on this, I've always loved biotopes and I love watching them evolve into beautiful pieces like this.
Thank you Boxerbrad :) I hope not to disappoint :nailbiting::)

That driftwood is fantastic, looks great! Can't wait to see it planted!
Thanks a lot jag51186 :)

Wonderfull piece of wood.. :woot:
Thanks Marcel :)

It's like a Madonna statue, without the baby... Well the baby you got to plant in there..
:lol::clap:

Since your wood goes emersed and consider a biotope, if you like an Asian Moss sp. that nicely grows submersed as well emersed you should definitively look at Taxiphyllum sp. "Peacock Moss".. Very beautiful moss..
I am already "painted the wood with a mix of Fissiden fontanus and Java moss but mr.Luke on Ukaps is sending some more mosses (with the Bucephalandras) that I will add to the top of the wood. Hopefully it will grow well :)

Thank you Piotr :)

hi, looking good!

Awesome piece of wood! Fissidens fontanus would look perfect on this.
Cheers CooKieS! :) I love the Fissiden fontanus, and you're right it should look great on the wood :)

Can't wait to see this planted!!
Thank you :)

Fantastic wood.
I've been wanting to do a tank for Boraras brigittae.Got two tanks already though :(.
Looking forward to seeing this planted and flooded.
Thanks a lot Nelson, can't wait too. Planted is done, but I've got to be patient with flooding the tank :nailbiting:
First time I try the dry start...

Love the scape, very impressive use of the wood
Thanks a lot Tim :)
Manu are you planning to add any rocks or pebbles to separate the aquasoil/sand border ? That soil will slide over time and if you plant to add shrimp they will do a great job of moving the soil onto the sand area
Yes, I do, but thanks for making sure :) Happy with the advise.

Here is the picture of the pebbles covered in moss "paste":

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And here is the tank with most of the plants in it:

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I've put a co2 diffuser on an air pump just below the water surface to moisten the air a bit (plus the spraying of course)
There's a heating mat inside, to keep the plants warm.

I just want a three weeks jump in time :nailbiting::nailbiting: can't wait to see the plants grow :)

Thanks for watching :)

Cheers,
Manu
 
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