My 90 Litre Tank Journal/ Aquascape

Hello all.
 
I have started various topics and followed loads of other's especially journals or aquascaping, combing for hints and ideas. I finally feel ready to attempt my own aqua scape.
 
I have a Marina 125 (90 litre) tank, currently has rainbow coloured gravel (chosen by the kids) with allsorts of random plastic plants, some real ones and spongebob squarepants toys.(you will have to bear with me on this, ha ha)
 
Dimensions are 80cm long, 30 wide and 40 deep
 
So here it goes. From what i have gathered argos play sand is just as good for tropical aquariums as that over priced stuff in the lfs ! I have 30 kg on order at the minute, 2 new pieces of bogwood and there are plenty of live plants at my lfs for when ive finished.
 
So far the spend on this aquascape is -
£2.5 per bag of sand x 2
£5 per piece of bogwood x2
 
Totaling £15
 
Pictures are to folow as soon as i can work out how to upload them
 

You're going to love switching to sand, it makes such a big difference Can't wait to see pics!

Ok, photos. sorry they are small, couldnt get the size down small enough.
 
This is the  current look. See the colourful gravel and spongebob items. Iplan on keeping the little wood cave on the right and the plants in the back left but getting rid of the others
 

 
 


Bargain Bogwood. The newspaer is the exact size of the current tank. The wood is just thrown on to give is scale.
 



Bogwood 2. Im thinking of this being to the right corner is this type of set up, with the cave in the left corner half covered in sand. Looks good in my mind anyways, hopefully will when ive finished
 



Give em a good soaking ! Literally just done it so its all churned up and mankey but gonna re wash it in the morning. The bogwood really is like tea. soooo much tannin.



here is another picture showing all 3. The Mrs isnt very happy as she cant get to the bath ha ha
 

Enjoying reading this. I'm about to long slog a new 180L setup myself, have the tank, filter annnnnnddddddd...... thats it so far

Hope to skim thoughts and idea from others

The actual bogwood in the bucket. only been submerged for 20 minutes but the water is brown ha ha
 

 
More pictures soon when something interesting happens ha ha

I like that wood cave, is that a buy from a lfs or a bargain find on a dog walk?

PlumbersMerchant said:

The Mrs isnt very happy as she cant get to the bath ha ha

Click to expand...

She better get used to not being happy then  
 
Bring on the rest of the journal and the rest of the tanks when you get MTS!

No i paid for them, £5 each. Been going to my lfs, each week for the last 6 weeks. Gets quite a bit in aswell. At first he watched me for about 10 minutes laying it all out on his shop floor tryign to get them to fit. finally found the pieces i want ha ha

Haha, I did the same thing when picking out my driftwood, brought my measuring tape and everything. Got some strange looks, but it had to be done  

So, here is where im at now after my sunday blitz of the tank. 3 hours later ah ha. I chose 8 buckets as 4 were to keepmy old water in, 1 had the bogwood and 3 the sand(as shown above)
 



Sand is in with a bit of water to try and help settle it in. as i find later it wsnt a great idea.....
 

 
 


Waters all in, just leaving it to settle a bit before adding the filter and the fish. The heater is up and running to try bring it up to temperature as the fish have been in bags for 90 minutes. wanna get them out a.s.a.p
 



Another shot, lights on and filter working, trying to clear all the cloudiness. dont think it will take too long ? (hope rather than thibnk ha ha)
 



Just thought i might as well post these to prove to myself aswell that im not purposely killing my fish

Wow, that's a lot of buckets!
 
I can barely see in the cloudy water but the wood already looks great 
 
We trust you're not killing your fish too, there's no need for the photos
 
I hope you've managed to get them in by now!

Looks good. Only thing I'd change so far is the background

This looks promising. I'll keep following.
The cloudiness will disappear, but i suggest you to have the sand as dry as possible when you put it in next time( with no water but not entirely dry).This way and with care when filling the tank you won't get any cloudiness.
I have done with argos sand,silica and cat litter before and no cloudiness.
Anyway keep posting you sure look to be the methodical and planning to the detail kind of person so i expect that tank to be a success.

Cheers for the kind comments. as of yet , visibility is about 6" ha ha. thought i had kile one of my frogs but it turned out he was chilling on his back ha ha. gonna have to wait till nest weekend to get some real plants as i wont get chace before then. Any advice with the plants as in do i need to get plant food or anything #?

The plants all depend on how much wattage you're getting from your lights?  Any plants will appreciate fertilizers.  I would go with a basic one, like seachem flourish, and you can dose weekly to start out with, but can do a daily dose too if you feel the plants need it.