"Practice Valley"

[Morgan Freeman]

So here it is, my first scape. It's a 6 gallon tank, one 11w CFL daylight bulb, 2bps FE pressurised, 2 x 300lph internals, Eco complete substrate.

It's just for me to practice growing plants really, these pics are just after replanting, it was a bit of a jungle before but I've removed a few plants and added more of a scape now.

Some more crypts arriving soon for the back left corner.

 

[Morgan Freeman]

I know it's not much.

Had a swarm of plants arrive today. So many I had to add most of them to my emersed set up! Got plenty of crypts planted in here now so both sides are nice and full, hopefully they take well, had to seriously trim some roots just to get them planted.

 

[George Farmer]

I like it. Very serene-looking and superb for a first 'scape.

Consider shaping the front of the sand so it's more of a shallow 'V/U' shape. This will increase the sense of depth even further.

It's sometimes a challenge to aquascape without the 'crutch' of hardscape, but you've executed it well, and I'm sure it's going to look even better as it matures.

 

[Morgan Freeman]

Thanks George. Really appreciate the comments.

Hopefully once I get to grips with the DSLR my pics can do the scape more justice. It looks much nicer with all the plants swaying and the lights shimmering on the sand at night.

 

[chilled84]

I like it. Very serene-looking and superb for a first 'scape.

Consider shaping the front of the sand so it's more of a shallow 'V/U' shape. This will increase the sense of depth even further.

It's sometimes a challenge to aquascape without the 'crutch' of hardscape, but you've executed it well, and I'm sure it's going to look even better as it matures.

I can only second with George on this, Great first scape. Will look great once grown in.

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks George. Really appreciate the comments.

Hopefully once I get to grips with the DSLR my pics can do the scape more justice. It looks much nicer with all the plants swaying and the lights shimmering on the sand at night.

You're welcome.

If you need any tips on DSLR aquarium photography then I'm happy to help. Consider posting a thread in the 'Photography' sub-forum and I'll keep an eye out.

 

[Morgan Freeman]

Cool, thanks for that. Have a friend showing me the ropes tomorrow so fingers crossed.

My drop checker has gone clear, I assume this is way beyond yellow and and into stupidly high co2 territory?

 

[George Farmer]

Never experienced or even heard of a clear drop checker! Which pH reagent are you using?

 

[Morgan Freeman]

Ok back to the opticians I think!

Through the glass it's clear as anything, if I remove the whole drop checker from the tank and look closely it's a very pale green. It's 4dkh and Bromo blue, it certainly goes in dark blue. Just my eyes

 

[Morgan Freeman]

Diatoms, why must you hurt me so!? I'm getting the tooth brush out almost everyday. All other algae at bay.

Some crypt melt at the back, not sure some plants coped well with being replanted but I've now switched to dosing EI and moved the co2 diffusor as I think distribution was suffering. Hoping for an improvement!

Does it ever end!??

 

[Morgan Freeman]

Always remember to clean out your filter media, I almost threw up the amount of gunk that came out. Apart from the melt the plants are ok, it was actually algae covering all the leaves which I thought were deficiencies, so I'm assuming it was the sheer volume of crap stuck in my filter causing the problems. Bah.

 

[Morgan Freeman]

So I tore this down but forgot to take pics. Plants grew nicely and I resolved all the algae issues. New wabi Kusa type paludarium thingy finished last night.

Like I said, this is a practice tank and I'm trying out as many things as possible.