Aquascaper 600

Looks like a completely different aquarium ? seems longer?
I like this setup and I like the previous setup. In comparison to the pic of where you have the stones laid out, the camera angle is lower on the tank pic and so don't get the same sense of depth with being able to see from back to front, but if you can see that in real life then wonderful, if not then would you need to create a slope?
Are the same plants still in there or have you removed loads?

Thanks it’s a bit of a weird photo as I didn’t have time to fill all the way up so a different aspect ratio making it look longer. It is sloped down the middle but I think the front is throwing it off as it’s quite a wavy front line which I did it realise until I saw the photo so hoping that will help.

I’ve taken out most of the super fast growers there is still some limnophilum at the back and the rotala will grow well once it’s established there are quite a few stems of h’ra that are doing well already and the carpeting plants should pick up quickly I was surprised to find how much marsilea I have now there is probably more of it that the hair grass!!

Oh Wills it looks fantastic! Well done!

Thanks seeing good growth so far too. Interestingly and fully aware I’m going to jinx it but since I removed my wood and just rocks algae has been very very minimal not even the glass is getting any which I’d get after a few days before so I’m wondering if using old wood was a massive mistake

sure has changed a lot

Wills said:

Thanks seeing good growth so far too. Interestingly and fully aware I’m going to jinx it but since I removed my wood and just rocks algae has been very very minimal not even the glass is getting any which I’d get after a few days before so I’m wondering if using old wood was a massive mistake

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Quite like where this is going, the Rotala Green is picking up on the right now - really looking forward to that growing so I can trim it diagonally between the two rocks at the back, or at least at an angle that emphasises that line. Same for the Limnophilla at the back left. I think I'm going to swap the rock at the back left that forms that side of the valley as I think its too small I have a bigger one that will make that gap more definite. I've also ordered some Fissidens Moss to grow on the flat surfaces of the rocks on the middle right and maybe around the front rocks too.

Just put this in an other thread but thought it was interesting to see the three stages of this tank together







Wills

Quite a bit maintenance session tonight. I sort of purposely left it a while to do a water change to see where I got to with algae, I think.... hope I timed it just right. Some of the staghorn is left but touch wood the BBA seems to have gone.

I moved some stuff around, some plants were growing in nicely but not in the right place and I wasnt happy with the rocks at the back so thats had a shuffle. Really want the right side to grow in more but its getting there! I've also added some fissidens moss in a few places (fingers still covered in super glue!). Will take a while to grow in but it does look really good when it gets going.

Put in a few different angles you dont see from the front, I did the layout this way as you walk past the tank in the house quite a lot so its nice to get different views as you walk by.

Wills

Looks amazing mate. Nice to see it from that other angle, didn't realize how wide that tank was! What fish have you got planned to go into it?

Mick85 said:

Looks amazing mate. Nice to see it from that other angle, didn't realize how wide that tank was! What fish have you got planned to go into it?

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Thanks I want a school of Galaxy Rasbora or Emerald Rasbora depending on what I can find. Purposly going to understock the tank so thinking 20-25 of them.

Wills

Wills said:

Thanks I want a school of Galaxy Rasbora or Emerald Rasbora depending on what I can find. Purposly going to understock the tank so thinking 20-25 of them.

Wills

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Galaxys would look great in there! I'm surprised you've gone this long without adding fish....i would have been itching to stock such a nice tank!

Looking wonderful! Interesting about the driftwood and algae, good to know as I work on setting up the 125gallon... I've had some driftwood sitting outside in an 80gal barrel for the last few months, definitely not what I would call "prime condition" lol. Hubby and I went to go check on how badly frozen my barrel was today and hubby's only comment was "ew this is covered in bird poop". Fun times. Will see how well it cleans off or if it will cause issues with excess nutrients haha. Hoping that 125gal is enough water to help dilute it a fair bit if nothing else

Mick85 said:

Galaxys would look great in there! I'm surprised you've gone this long without adding fish....i would have been itching to stock such a nice tank!

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Yeah it’s been tough but wanted to get Co2 right and with it being open too I’ve properly had to hack away at algae and such so wanted to get it under control as other wise fish would be jumping lol. Need to get a glass plate really.

mcordelia said:

Looking wonderful! Interesting about the driftwood and algae, good to know as I work on setting up the 125gallon... I've had some driftwood sitting outside in an 80gal barrel for the last few months, definitely not what I would call "prime condition" lol. Hubby and I went to go check on how badly frozen my barrel was today and hubby's only comment was "ew this is covered in bird poop". Fun times. Will see how well it cleans off or if it will cause issues with excess nutrients haha. Hoping that 125gal is enough water to help dilute it a fair bit if nothing else

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The issue I had was mine was old so it was probably rotting and causing issues that way if it’s new wood that’s sinking now you will probably be fine

Definitely not new wood, we will see how it goes haha

Having real issues with staghorn algae again, need to get it under control. I may need to rip up the front right corner and replant it but want to try some other things first.

Only major thing I did tonight was trim my H'ra on the left and plant the stems at the back right, I got a Ludwigia type and it is growing but super slow so wanted to over plant the H'ra to help it stave off algae as some of the lower leaves have diatoms.

So options are
- Blackout - maybe a bit drastic?
- Reduce lighting - not a fan as light is currently really low and only on for 6 hours.
- New diffuser - one of the route causes of staghorn is Co2 circulation issues so considering upgrading from my stainless steel one, its quite a basic piece of kit with just a regular ceramic disc, wondering if a branded one like ADA or Twinstar would give better results?
- Adding airstone on a night - not had it in for a while for cosmetic reasons but I've added it back in, thinking if I highly oxygenate the water it will level out the Co2 levels?
- Spot dosing liquid Co2 - sort of the nuclear option but proven to work.
- More clean up crew - one thing I've not addressed so far is that I've lost quite a few shrimp. At one point I had 20 Amano in there and when I emptied the tank to do this scape I only found 6, the good news is they are now thriving and much much more active than before. I think some of the issue I had is that they came from a shop in a softwater area so I'm going to go to a much more local store in the hope that they will thrive being that they are in the same water. My blue velvet shrimp are no where to be seen either. I am also wondering if what ever my wood was doing to the water before affected this? I'm considering adding some nerite snails too if they had them.
- Changing the circulation - the filter outlet is on the front left and the worst algae is in the front right corner where the water hits the glass and circulates so creating the highest flow. I've moved the pipes around a bit so that the outlet shoots towards the back right corner which is the furthest away from the pipe so thinking the flow will be spread out more as its a greater distance than across the width.

Wills