juwel rekord 600 aquarium (day 8)

[Jon1706]

Hi everyone.

Well I've finally got round to rescaping my Juwel rekord 600 aquarium (61x31x42) after moving. I have just started this new scape on Friday. I have kept everything simple this time, and I am hoping to keep this way as I still have a lot of work to do in the house. The idea for this scape came from looking at the different styles of layouts on this web site.

Here are the specs

Juwel rekord 600 aquarium (61x31x42)
Tetratec EX60 Aquarium External Filter
Arcadia T8 18" 15w Tropical Tube /Reflector (8 hours a day from 4pm to 12am )

Two pieces of bog wood
Landscaping rock from my local garden center
Graded gravel (Unipac Canterbury Spar)
Tesco cat litter
Active carbon out of my filter
Argos Play sand ( would like another side to go with this )

Plants (all Tropica plants)
Cryptocoryne wendtii ''green''
Microsorum pteropus
Microsorum pteropus 'Windeløv

Ferts
TPN+ 1ml a day
Easy Carbo 2ml a day

Set up

The cat litter and carbon and TNP+ tabs (which are covered up )

Top covering of cat litter and filling in with sand island

The rock and wood + Microsorum pteropus

I will post a pic of the tank today of the tank as it is now.
I would like to add another plant but I'm not sure which one to go with Pogostemon helferi or Echinodorus tenellus. I'm not after a lawn effect with the tenellus just to go between the rocks around the wood and the rock out crop. Also caught between with gravels to use. I have some 4m graded Dorset gravel but I was thinking with the white rocks with the purple / red veins of using Unipac Canterbury Spar Aquarium Gravel (http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/unipac- ... g2u3ntcaf7)
Comments very welcome and thank you for looking
Jon

 

[Jon1706]

Day 3

Hi guys here is the pictures of the new scape.

Day Three

This is the rock i was on about

I want to keep the back ground clear but to hide the pipes at the same time any ideas would be great thank you, also any comments are welcome thank you
Jon

 

[chrisfraser05]

Re: juwel rekord 600 aquarium

I like what you've done with the sand and litter. Not too sure about the lack of backdrop though to be honest!

 

[Jon1706]

Re: juwel rekord 600 aquarium

Thank you chris, well ive just put a old black back drop up untill i can get the frosted backing. Thank you again chris

 

[nayr88]

Re: juwel rekord 600 aquarium

Good start, definitely needs a frosted backdrop. I think the stones are too light with the light sand, if possible replace with some darker ones, chuck in the mentioned graided gravels, some stem plants behind the fern, maybe a little windlov fern bush infront of the crypts and a little moss dotted about infront of the main 'wall'

or centralise the fern at the back, and hairgrass infront of both the crypts and fern. then mosses.

will you be adding pressurized co2?
15w over a 60ltr is quite low light but decent enough for ferns mosses and the crypts

 

[Jon1706]

Re: juwel rekord 600 aquarium

Hi thank you for the comments I was thinking of changing the sand to a dark sand but I'm not sure which one to go with
Unipac Zambezi Sand or Unipac Senegal Sand as I've ordered the Unipac Canterbury Spar Gravel so I would like to keep the rock as it is a little different to some of the rocks out there. . I like the idea of the use of windelov fern would you go with it on a piece of wood or on a rock. I did think about stem plants but i wasn't sure what to go with, with only having 1wpg. As for the c02 I am hoping once I get the house finished of setting up a cheap pressurized kit. What moss would you go with? and i take it you would place the moss on the some of the rocks around the fern or on some slate as a carpet sorry for all the questions. But thank you again for the comments.
Jon

 

[Jon1706]

Re: juwel rekord 600 aquarium (day 6)

Hi everyone I thought I would do a quick up date. After nary88 comments and thank you again for everyone who as left me comments I went to my LFS and got two small Microsorum pteropus 'Windeløv cuttings from his one and only planted display tank. I have placed these on to a small piece of bog wood. I have now placed this between the Microsorum pteropus and the crypts. I'm still not sure which sand to go with yet, but I was wondering if I could put it on top of the play sand to bulk it out? Also I'm not sure what stem plant to go with I want something simply as I am trying to keep this scape simply. I did think about vallis but I think I read some where or was told it dose not like liquid carbon is this right ? So I'm not sure which stem plant to go with with only 1 wpg lighting. I would like some moss but not Java moss so any ideas about the mosses would be great as well.
Thank you again for reading and any comments are always welcome
Jon

Ps sorry about the photos I'm still trying to get the hang of taking pictures of my tank.

 

[nayr88]

Re: juwel rekord 600 aquarium (day 6)

hey dude.

looking good, i think you might have to dip into your pocket for a decent bit of windlov, the amount you have there is going to take centuries to grow into a decent bush, i got a really decent portion of here for a fiver. Same with the moss, something like spikey moss/xmas moss just do it on a few small bits of slate dotted around on and infront of you wall.

With the sands if its the same grain but different colour yourll proberly end up with abit of a mess haha, just get 2 different sizes of pea gravel you could get from bnq or homebase.

also with the low light, id recommend water sprite, im not sure of the latin name but i had it in a very low light set up with no ferts and it went keeeeerazy going up out and across the water its a floaing plant but i pushed it into the gravel wich at 1st it didnt like so maybe try it wiegh down and not in the gravel. If you want some low light plants look up diana walstad method on aquatic plant central (yank site) there is a section called 'el natural' and on there is a thread called 'plant list' these tanks use 1wpg so there riiiiiight up ur street shun shhhhiiiine

 

[Jon1706]

Re: juwel rekord 600 aquarium (day 6)

Hi mate thank you for the reply. I will take you up on the windlov, but I cant get it until I get paid I'm just a bout broke as it is lol, As for the the pea gravel should i just mix them in with the sand as I did want a sandy area and not just plain gravel? do you have have any links to the website as I cant find it lol. And thank you again for the comments.

 

[Jon1706]

Hi everyone I thought I would do a quick up date. Well my gravel turned up this morning so I thought I crack on and change the sand for a dark sand. I used a bag of sliver sand and some of my play sand and added maybe a bit to much fine gravel to it still not sure on it at the moment so any feed back be great please. While the tank was empty I changed the lay out a bit by adding more of the cat litter and forming a centre mound so I think its called a island set up ? if I'm wrong please tell me. Then I used the Canterbury Spar to grade around the wood and rocks which now I'm not sure on and maybe thinking of going for a dark colour but again I'm not sure if the dark colour will go with the chipping I got for grading. Any ways still thinking what stem plant to try I do like the water sprite or Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae any ideas on they crypt be great. Also if anyone as any spiky moss/Xmas moss coming up shortly I would love some please I will pay for postage and ect , but I will be placing a add in the wanted section shortly. Oh and I made a make shift white back ground till I can get the clear backing, which my local Wilkinson didn't have in stock. Thank you again for reading and please feel free to leave comments.
PS I forgot to say the water is still a bit milky.
Jon

 

[verchap]

the additional gravel is a good addition, although i'd prefer a little less gravel on the left hand side and front left corner personally, as it looks like its the bottom of a slight slope. definitely getting better and better jon