I initially posted introducing myself saying that I was going for a planted aquarium, trying to replicate a famous movie scene.
Well, now that the aquarium is put together, I'm happy to share photos
I was going for the Moon of Endor scene from Star Wars, but this is my first foray into aquascaping/diorama's/etc, so I've made a few mistakes that I've learned from and will do better with next time!
Yet to get fish in whilst I cycle it, but here it is...
I'm not completely happy with the layout, for instance the actual movie scene is in a forest, which is what I wanted to go for, but I dont have the knowledge of the correct plants etc to replicate that kind of design. Also, I found a video on YouTube saying "If you want to fill large areas of the tank with soil, use lava rock in a netted bag as its a cheaper way of doing it... I wish I hadn't followed this advice, as the rock shifted the bunker that was glued to the bottom of the tank after I started putting water in the tank. The moment I started planting the plants, the soil shifted so much that it all started collapsing, hence the lava rock holding the soil back in.
I also found that the valves on the pipes running to the airstones actually don't let much air out (yes they are on the right way round), which is a bit annoying as I wanted more bubbles coming up from the air stone over by the filter, so I'd look for better valves next time.
I also put some of the plants in the wrong position, but moving them is a complete nightmare now as the soil collapses further when I move them, so they'll just have to stay there for now.
I'm likely to add a few more plants in there, specifically the large sweeping one that goes across the top of the tank (not sure of the name at the moment), and some of the surface growing fluffy stuff (again, not sure of the name, need to do a bit of research to find them).
Still, the kids are happy with it, so we'll leave it as is.
It just so happens that I made sure the 3D print of the bunker was the right scale for the opening to match Lego men height, so we'll be setting up the remainder of the scene for the kids using Lego... Things to add are:
- Speeder bikes
- Multiple Storm troopers
- Princess Leia (one of my youngest has already made one up)
- Han Solo
- C3PO and R2D2 (my parents have these at their place, so I'm sure they wont mind parting)
- Multiple Ewoks (again, my folks have some of these)
- An AT-ST or two. If I get a second one, I'll likely lay it down with a sort of exploded head, and the other one i'll have the hatch open with Chewbacca standing out the top
- A small Imperial Transporter to hang down from the top of the aquarium. My 6 year old is working on that at the moment
What you can't see is underneath the sand in front of the bunker, is a Lego board for building, so we have something to clip the figures/models onto
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the outcome, but I've learned a lot, so will set things up slightly differently when the aquarium needs to be moved next summer.
Well, now that the aquarium is put together, I'm happy to share photos
I was going for the Moon of Endor scene from Star Wars, but this is my first foray into aquascaping/diorama's/etc, so I've made a few mistakes that I've learned from and will do better with next time!
Yet to get fish in whilst I cycle it, but here it is...
I'm not completely happy with the layout, for instance the actual movie scene is in a forest, which is what I wanted to go for, but I dont have the knowledge of the correct plants etc to replicate that kind of design. Also, I found a video on YouTube saying "If you want to fill large areas of the tank with soil, use lava rock in a netted bag as its a cheaper way of doing it... I wish I hadn't followed this advice, as the rock shifted the bunker that was glued to the bottom of the tank after I started putting water in the tank. The moment I started planting the plants, the soil shifted so much that it all started collapsing, hence the lava rock holding the soil back in.
I also found that the valves on the pipes running to the airstones actually don't let much air out (yes they are on the right way round), which is a bit annoying as I wanted more bubbles coming up from the air stone over by the filter, so I'd look for better valves next time.
I also put some of the plants in the wrong position, but moving them is a complete nightmare now as the soil collapses further when I move them, so they'll just have to stay there for now.
I'm likely to add a few more plants in there, specifically the large sweeping one that goes across the top of the tank (not sure of the name at the moment), and some of the surface growing fluffy stuff (again, not sure of the name, need to do a bit of research to find them).
Still, the kids are happy with it, so we'll leave it as is.
It just so happens that I made sure the 3D print of the bunker was the right scale for the opening to match Lego men height, so we'll be setting up the remainder of the scene for the kids using Lego... Things to add are:
- Speeder bikes
- Multiple Storm troopers
- Princess Leia (one of my youngest has already made one up)
- Han Solo
- C3PO and R2D2 (my parents have these at their place, so I'm sure they wont mind parting)
- Multiple Ewoks (again, my folks have some of these)
- An AT-ST or two. If I get a second one, I'll likely lay it down with a sort of exploded head, and the other one i'll have the hatch open with Chewbacca standing out the top
- A small Imperial Transporter to hang down from the top of the aquarium. My 6 year old is working on that at the moment
What you can't see is underneath the sand in front of the bunker, is a Lego board for building, so we have something to clip the figures/models onto
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the outcome, but I've learned a lot, so will set things up slightly differently when the aquarium needs to be moved next summer.
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