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My New Aquascape {Coast}

planter

Member
Joined
7 Nov 2007
Messages
426
Location
Surrey
Not Sure if should be posting this in the journals section but for now im just looking for some help with rock placement so figured this would be a good starting point -

Im currently waiting for a 20 inch (ish) opti white glass cube to arrive but being impatient I got tempted in the meantime to set up a little nano. For this project I will be using a supafish aqua 20 silver purchased from Maidenhead aquatics. I Use my local Maidenhead aquatics for all my fishkeeping items so you can pressume anything seen in this thread is from them .

The tank as the name suggest hold 20 litres and comes supplied with a nifty little internal filter and a 9 watt light.
Tank dimensions are 350mm x 235mm x 225mm.

DSC03675.jpg

Suafish aqua 20 Silver

I tend to buy rock and bogwood when I see nice peices even if I dont have immediate plans for it because you can never find what you want when you need it. Just recently ive managed to get hold of some nice rocks, This was all the incentive I needed to do another tank.

DSC03663.jpg


The rock needed a little attention and after a bit of persuasion with a hammer and a flat head screwdriver I had a number of smaller peices more suitable for the Aqua 20.

Substrate would be Red Sea Flora base. Ive used it before with good results and had a spare bag kicking around the garden. I may put a darker substrate, to tie in with the rocks, on top depending how the scape goes and how much I decide to plant. Im afraid I dont have any definite ideas yet for plants for now im just playing with rocks.
This is where I thougt you guys might be able to help! below are the results of an hour or so of playing with the hard scape I think the final photo is the prefered layout but I though I would get a second (third,fourth and so on) opinion.

Apologise for the quality of pics im no pro photographer im afraid -

Scape 1 - valley
DSC03677.jpg

I can see this scape with a light coloured sand path running through it

Scape 2 - 3 Rock triangle
DSC03684.jpg

A little less clutered with fewer rocks

Scape 3 - 3 Rock hillside
DSC03685.jpg

Thought maybe the smallest rock on the right might get lost when the plants grow

Scape 4 - Rock hillisde 2
DSC03695.jpg

The right hand rock has been replaced with a larger one.

DSC03692.jpg


So this is how the rocks are placed for now, I will try living with it for a few days and may decide to tweak it a bit. Would be great to get some feed back from some fellow Rock fans :D

Thanks
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

hillside 2 does it for me, I like the tension the opposite facing rock gives.
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

just reading tank specs, I doubt 9w will be enough light.
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

I think you might want to try turning the rock nearest the front right corner round the other way so it points in the same direction as the rock behind. It would give a sense of movement then IMHO.

As for the lighting you may need to put a more powerful light over or maybe try something a little unusual like a Fissidens carpet? I beleive they will grow in lower light like most mosses. Or put a more powerful light over it.
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

Garuf said:
hillside 2 does it for me, I like the tension the opposite facing rock gives.
Thanks Garuf, Nicky c I agree hillside 2 is best so far....
What do you think of Eds suggestion of turning left hand rock (thanks Ed)

Eds said:
As for the lighting you may need to put a more powerful light over or maybe try something a little unusual like a Fissidens carpet? I beleive they will grow in lower light like most mosses. Or put a more powerful light over it.

Garuf said:
just reading tank specs, I doubt 9w will be enough light

Yeah Ive been giving this some thought, Dont think it would be too difficult to upgrade the lighting, the obvious choice here would be to do a HC carpet for quick coverage which of course would require the extra light. The Fissidens is a nice idea Eds, I was also thinking about Mini Pelia? I have some growing really well in another tank and although the tank is well lit the tank is deep and the Mini Pelia is on the substrate, seems to be doing well without too much light. Will probobly upgrade lighting.
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

Agreed with Sam. I like the valley effect. I can imagine it with plants growing over to the middle from both sides with some growing upwards. Would look great :)
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

Hi planter, nice to see you back scaping again.

Hill side 2 is my chioce. I dont agree with eds on turning the rock in the right hand corner around. If you look, it points to the top right corner (diagonally ) and the mother rock points to the top left corner ( diagonally ), this is good composition. Its like stretching your arms out, it creats size, which is what you need when aquascaping. Well done mate.

I would leave the lighting. You will be suprised what you can grow under that light. Providing you add co2, and keep good maintainance, you will grow plants like HC. If it were me, I would go for a normal java moss carpet in the lower sections. Keeping it well trimmed back will make it thick and compact. Hair grass will grow under such light too. If your going to dose excel or easy life carbon, be wary, it seems to effect the moss in a nagative way. Possibly due to the moss being a more simple life form to other plants.
UG is a low light plant, but from what ive heard can be slow to get started.

Regards,
Graeme.
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

Graeme Edwards said:
Hi planter, nice to see you back scaping again.
Hi Graeme,
Good to hear from you, Not been away from scaping I currently have a 120 cm planted and an aquacube25 on the go, just havent added a journal for a while. Thought it was about time I made a contribution to the site and besides I knew I could count on you guys for some help.

Graeme Edwards said:
Hill side 2 is my chioce. I dont agree with eds on turning the rock in the right hand corner around
I must have read Eds post wrong I thought we were debating on moving the left hand rock. I think I agree with you and am happy with the two rocks on the right. I dont know much about adding tension etc. I think they just look right.

Graeme Edwards said:
I would leave the lighting. You will be suprised what you can grow under that light
Intersting to hear your thoughts on the lighting. I have grown HC before under reasonably low light conditions but have noticed it always seems to get a bit leggy. I would prefer the compact growth associated with high light levels. I have an Interpet 18watt HP T5 light unit to hand which should fit the lid niceley so I may just upgrade.
Still not sure if ill use HC, fancy a change and am finding it hard to resist the mini pelia I have put aside -

Mini Pelia -
DSC03699.jpg


Im hearing you Sam and Devuk the first scape (valley) is appealing too but I cant help feeling its a bit too hectic for this little tank. Somehow the hill side scape just seems more relaxing. If only I had 2 little tanks (now theres a thought :D )

Thanks for all your comments
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

I like scape one with the river idea. Plant wise... HC sounds good, pellia would be nice for something different!
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

I guess the plants might be too big for the valley to work properly. Scape 2 looks a little too flat to me. Its nice, just the front right rock looks to insignificante. Scape 3 has a great angle on the hill, but again a bit too flat. I like scape 4 more :)
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

I decided to upgrade the lighting and have installed an 18 watt HP T5 light -
DSC03722-2.jpg


It wasnt too difficult to fit the new light and I think I managed quite a neat job :D

The new light unit fitted -
DSC03717-1.jpg


When I fired it up I was shocked ( and momentarily blinded) by the amount of light this little tube put out

Blinding -
DSC03719-1.jpg


I also managed to pick up a nice little pedestal type stand and using it back to front it provides a nice hiding place for the Co2 bottle. Im much happier with the light level now.
This has kept me busy this evening so I havent really any more thoughts on the rock placement at the mo, Early days and am in no real rush to get it filled and planted. Im waiting for a glass diffuser too so I cant do much till I get that.

So far so good -
DSC03721-1.jpg
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

Looks great! Could you possibly confirm a few things for me? How long is the tube + end cap in total? Also, what reflector are you using? Looks along the lines of an arcadia 15w or similar?

Thanks :)

Steve.
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

planter said:
Intersting to hear your thoughts on the lighting. I have grown HC before under reasonably low light conditions but have noticed it always seems to get a bit leggy. I would prefer the compact growth associated with high light levels. I have an Interpet 18watt HP T5 light unit to hand which should fit the lid niceley so I may just upgrade.

Hi,
Wondeful hardscaping. I could have lived with any of the choices. Just as a FYI, leggy carpet plant growth can occur due to poor CO2 giving the illusion that the lighting is inadequate. I agree with Graeme that the 11 watt T5 rating would have been sufficient at such a small distance from the lamp. Increasing the wattage now increases your dependency on strict application of nutrients and even more CO2.

Cheers,
 
Re: Help with Rock placement

Ah, getting rock formations just right, what a grand way to spend a few hours.......days.......weeks! and just when you think you've settled on the winner, someone walks in and says "I'm not sure about the one on the right" :rolleyes: For what it's worth I like the last pic.
 
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