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My one of the firsts scapes 'Edgeless Madness'

Piece-of-fish

Member
Joined
2 Jun 2009
Messages
1,383
Location
East London
Hi, i have been here for a while getting into this amazing hobby of aquascaping and its time to start couple journals finally.
This is my recent attempt which actually was born just using spare material i had. the only thing i bought was fluval 205 used filter. The tank was purchased originally as a qarantine tank (badly scratched unfortunatelly), plants came from my larger setup witch i will soon post as a journal as well.
So here is the data.
Tank: Juwel 60x30x35
Lighting: 2x24w T5 with DIY reflectors, 15w T8
Fertilization method: James's all-in-one daily, about 2ml of easycarbo daily
Substrate: Akadama, peat moss
Filtration Fluval 205 680l/h
CO2 DIY yeast into filter inlet (this should be changed soon to pressurized)
Hardscape: Rocks collected in carnwall.

Fauna: 10 cardinal tetreas will come from my housemates tank soon, possibly some otos will join them later and plus i want to try cherry shrimps.
Flora:
Ammania Gracilis
Glossostigma Elatinoides
Microssorum Pteropus
Anubias barteri var nana
Cabomba
Versicularia Dubyana (will be added soon)
Grassy plant (help with id needed here, echinodorus tennelus perhaps? it had short rounded leave tips when brought from lfs witch matches the description of ET terrestrial form)

I really hoped that glosso will be growing horizontally but its not so most definetely lights will be changed to 2x24w T5 from my office tank.
Would like to thank you all for your help, patience and time... I wouldnt be where i am now without UKAPS :clap:
Here go the pictures:
IMG_0267.jpg

IMG_0291.jpg


Advise, comments more than welcome. What do you think about that 3500K bulb, is it good?, wouldnt better K rating give me a chance to carpet glosso?
Regards.
 
This is going to turn into a beauty, I love the scape and the planting compliments it so well, good going!
 
Yep, so the light is going to be changed today to 2x24w t5 with diy reflectors due to glosso not groing properly, some more plants added as well and the first couple cardinals.
Will add pictures later.
What about that grassy plant, could anyone confirm its Echinodorus tennelus or should i add a better picture of it?
 
I really like it the proportions are just right. I wouldn't change too much around. I've never succeded that well with glosso but there are plenty of alternatives to try out if it doesn't work. Nicley done - T
 
Thanks a lot.
So glosso have no chance now but to grow properly :crazy: , after an hour of my crap DIY skills i finally managed to fit those 2x24w t5 (hagen starter unit), had to make holes in the lid :lol: but anyway this tank wont have a long life, plus i've left one 15w t8 to turn it on before and after the main lights, hope it will be less stresful to the fish. Trimmed gloosso back to the bottom, added some Java moss and some more grass.
Two first cardinals got in as well.
Will post an update tomorrow.
P.S. Completely forgot to mention a lonely crypt of an unknown sort to me witch has only 2 leaves and is not visible at the moment, its planted behind the anubias.
 
This is todays update, this should be final plant arrangement as well, i hope.
4 ottos added. have Seen an amazing pair of apistogramma cacatuoides in the shop today, almost forgot i was going to try cherry shrimps in this setup so these will have to wait untill office tank gets rescaped.

EMon281209.jpg

A question, whitch is more important for the carpeting plants (glosso in my case) to grow horizontally? Light duration or intensity?
 
intensity and durations arent interchangeable, if your lights arent bright enough, leaving them on for longer doesnt help, it just encourages algae growth...

i really like this setup, it seems like you have done a lot with a little. i hope the glosso comes right, but if you are still struggling you could try marsilea minuta instead, it does better in lower light.
 
The question probably had to be slightly different.
Is there a chance that under strong light but short period ( lets say 6h) carpeting plants would have a chance to grow upwards? Is there any other reason that they could grow up like co2 or ferts, substrate?
Thanks.
The light now should be more than enough, its 4w/g with average reflectors.
 
having seen this in the 'flesh' this morning,the pictures don't do it justice.looks really good :thumbup: .
hope the shrimp enjoy their new home and thanks for the plants.

oh,and cheers for the beers ;) .
 
Thanks a lot, they are a beauty, its the first time i have cherries, hope i will be able to give them a happy life and nice home ;)
Happy new year everyone.
 
Hi, i like your scape very much, simple and nice. Just my 2 cents experience with glosso :oops: ... I had 55w (8 hours)on a 1.5 footer (50x34x34cm) yet my glosso don't grow horizontally for the first month.

Even though they started to form runners after that on the substarte, it didn't reached the desired "lowness" that i wish too as it growns to around 1 - 1.5 inches among the runners.

I received feedback that a 72w for my tank would be sufficient to grown healthy glosso. Maybe you should give it a longer time to form the runners :)
 
It's flow, not light that's an issue, I've grown glosso with 24watts. 70whatever it was is way too much.
 
Thanks for advice. Its growing fine now since i added T5s. My friend is growing it with 30w T8, internal filter and DIY co2 and it grows well. I guess it was just the placement of the bulbs and crap reflectors in my case. ANyway as the tank is in the living room it really benefits from lots of light as looks much better. Whats about the flow by the way? How can it affect glosso?
 
I love the whole "how to grow HC and Glosso" debate. I found I can grow HC in a nice flat carpet but next to it the glosso is going all tall and leggy. My lates plan to try and succed with glosso is growing it in air :!: This should reduce some of the variables...... Best of luck with it, Tom
 
Yes thats never ending story :)
Would have switched to HC, i just had the staff in my other tank and onother reason is that hc grows slower as far as i know. If i get a nice carpet until mid February maybe it will be ready to enter European contest.
 
Hi, 3 weeks update and the first trim. Everything is going well, no algae so far, doing about 25% water changes daily though witch is not difficult and only takes max 10min. Glosso is filling in nicely, occasional stems would grow up but after trim spread as they should. Added some more java moss at the back for shrimps, noticed couple shrimps with eggs :clap:
Added 3 more cardinals yesterday so they are 5 now, 7 more waiting their turn.

trimmed.jpg
 
Re: My one of the firsts scapes 'Edgeless Madness' (01.02update)

Its been about 6 weeks since this is running.
Battling quite a fierce outbrake of staghorn atm. I stopped DIY co2 about 2 weeks ago and left it running only with easycarbo, guess there is too much light just to run it with liquid carbon.
anyway now i have finally received a cheap mono regulator from chinese seller (took 5 weeks due to christmas probably) so hope algae will go away. Increased waterchanges and liquid carbon dosing, taking as much out as i can witch you can see from the photo...
Will report in few weeks about that regulator as all setup cost me less than 25£ and would be an option for someone who doesnt want to spend a fortune, try to beat that price for pressurised :crazy:
(15 regulator including postage, 5 FE (check car boot sales, they always have loads), 5 line and bubble counter)

Would give an arm and a leg if you teach me how to use my canon 500D :shh:

IMG_0461.jpg


Comments welcome...
 
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