My journey from March 2020 to current time 2021

[Nathanh2150]

Hi all,

Throughout lockdown and working as a front line key worker I decided to take my mind of work and to accomplish a key hobby of mine to get my hands stuck into aquascaping watching too many YouTube vlogs and researching different type of plants and equipment needed to accomplish the right scape. it’s had many highs and lows but without fail every mistake has been taken on board and always resolved as quick as possible. I started researching for the right aquarium last March 2020 looking into different makes out there but decided in the end to go for a Evolution Aqua Aquascaper 900 Aquarium and Cabinet in concert grey as this tank does not come with any assesories like external filter or inbuilt filtration i know that I needed one that would live up to the tank needs so decided to go for the oase biomaster thermo 600 which has a built in heater. Which worked out ideal for me as my tank is open top so keeping as much out of the tank is key for space and looks. Wile looking into the biomaster thermo I also decided to go for oase glass Lilly pipes work with service skimmer . As I knew I was going to be running co2 due to doing aquascaping I found online a co2 infuser to connect onto the outlet of the external filter pipe work which is made by CO2Art Inline CO2 Aquarium Atomizer Diffuser System also wile browsing there website I stumbled onto the co2 regulator to attach to a co2 fire extinguisher or co2 canasta in my case I’m using a co2 fire extinguisher as this is a cost effective way to add co2 to the aquarium. Lighting the aquarium I have gone for the twinstar 900s powerful light and have also added an automatic light timer which sets the light to come one which gradually goes brighter then dims thought the day till light unit turns off this is called a LED Controller/Dimmer well worth the money !.

Wile doing research on plants and equipment it’s been quiet tiresome but well worth it.



Plants I have gone for are

6x Monte Carlo (tropica)

1 pot of red root floaters (tropica)

1 pot of Christmas moss (tropica)

1x Alternanthera

1x Bacopa

1x Lysimachia

1x Hygrophila

1x Rotala

1x Echinodorus ozelot Red (Aquafleur)

1x Pogostemon erectus (in-vitro) Dennerle

1x Pogostemon helferi (tropica)

1x Heteranthera zosterifolia (in-vitro) Dennerle

1x Rotala indica (in-vitro) Dennerle

1x Ludwigia arcuata (in-vitro)

1x tiger lotus bulb

1x Proserpinaca palustris - Dennerle

1x Madagascan lace

1x pot of bucephalalandra brienie ghost (tropica)



Plant food that I’m currently dosing daily is Tropica Specialised Nutrition.

I’m also using two types of aqua soil which is

Tropica soil pellet and powder and also Fluval pellets aqua soil. Which I highly recommend!As backup I have also evolution aqua plant food.



Equipment I have

1x DENNERLE NANO HANGON THERMOMETER

1x TROPICA SPRING SCISSORS

1x AQUAVITRO STRAIGHT FORCEPS

1x small fish net

1x measure cup container (plastic)

1x AQUAVITRO SOIL SPADE

1x curved plant scissors

1x C02 ART CO2 RESISTANT AQUARIUM POLYURETHANE TUBING - CLEAR

1x CO2 ART CO2 DROP CHECKER KIT

1x AQUARIO NEO FILTER MEDIA for external filter.



As tank decorations I am using a large pice of bog wood that soaked for over a month but is still leaching brown tannings.

10x dragon stone different shapes and sizes



So as u all can see from above I have spent a fair bit on this aquarium but know the out come will be amazing and as any hobby it’s doesn’t come cheap I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to do this and ever so grateful to have a partner that has supported my decision to achieve my passion and hobby also time that it has taken to do all the research into the project.



Below is photos of the progress so far from March 2020 to now the 13th Jan 2021.

 

[Paulthewitt]

Thats looking good - I was drooling over those tanks the other day!
Fits perfectly in the alcove too.

From years back my experience says that tannins will continue to be leached for a long time - but water changes knock it back, so no big deal.
The wood is a lovely piece too that works well and the rocks also look good. Will be amazing once carpeted around them. I'm not sure if you will feel the back left is a bit bare once it all gros in, but you can always add to the scape later if you do with some bigger plants. Then again, this could just be taste as I love full and busy, wild type scapes the most - so as long as you are happy it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks