Dave`s Juwel Lido Journal.

[Dave Spencer]

I am now trying to get the Micranthemum umbrosum in to shape, and still waiting for the Hemianthus micranthemoides to have some kind of impact. HM is one seriously slow growing stem in my experience. One things for sure when trimming Riccia, you need a decent pair of scissors!

Don`t forget, all criticism and advice is welcome from anyone.

Cheers, Dave.

 

[lljdma06]

I don't know what look you are going for, but I definitely see a wild field. There are places near wear I grew up that looked very much like that. It's very pretty, and I like the slightly over-grown quality to it. The pearling riccia kind of give it the picture of grass covered in dew. To develop the morning effect, have you considered shooting with another background, one kind of similar to George's nano, perhaps with some backlighting to create a dawn effect?

llj

PS: Can't see your fish.

 

[Dave Spencer]

I don't know what look you are going for, but I definitely see a wild field. There are places near wear I grew up that looked very much like that. It's very pretty, and I like the slightly over-grown quality to it.

Go to the top of the class Llj. Right next to where I live is a small one acre grass meadow surrounded by a few hundred years old dry stone wall. The grass has an undulating look to it, growing in small rounded mounds (are these what little Miss Muffett sat on?). The Riccia has been used to simulate this, with the MU representing the line of trees at the far wall. I have even placed small rocks in amongst the Riccia to represent where the wall has fallen down through the ages, but they keep geeting lost amongst the growth.

The pearling riccia kind of give it the picture of grass covered in dew.

There could be a name for this aquascape in there somewhere. "The dewy acre" or "The crystal acre".........

To develop the morning effect, have you considered shooting with another background, one kind of similar to George's nano, perhaps with some backlighting to create a dawn effect?

I did this with my 26l tank when I first put just the rock scape in, and I can`t believe I never thought of trying it on this tank. You are a genius!

PS: Can't see your fish.

There is a good reason for this. I have one CO2 diffuser which is excellent, but it needs soaking in bleach once in a while. While it is soaking overnight, I use my standby which makes a slight squealing noise that the fish hate, so they hide. There is a shoal of 20 Cardinals in there.

Dave.

 

[Themuleous]

Its really coming along Dave, give it time. You're almost there. I love the way you go from the vibrant green through yellow to almost red on the right side, its excellent. I always found HM to be fairly quick growing, but that was in my nano which is only 8" tall so anything could look like it was growing fast in that tank!

 

[Liam]

Its really beautiful

 

[zig]

Your best yet Dave IMHO, if you can get the stems into better shape through careful pruning or just filling in a bit better, you will have a very nice little scape there From my experience of pruning timewise, it takes about 2-3 weeks to fully take effect, the first week it will look terrible during week 2 you will see lets of new shoots, week 3 it should start to look its best. With this though I would probably just encourage it along here and there rather than a mass prune, unless your feeling brave of course! Good job.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Thanks for the kind words people.

This is my favourite scape as well Zig. Unfortunately, I have let it go a bit because I wanted to see how far I could push the Riccia before it started to detach itself. I reckon I must have been getting it to grow 4 - 5 inches before it fell apart.

Anyway, the recovery process is under way. The Micranthemum umbrosum has been cut right back as the lower parts of the stems were starting to become light deficient, and it has been replanted a little less densely. The HM finally started to grow and eventually looked great, but totally out of sync with the rest of the scape. It is now planted in three discreet areas in and around the Riccia.

This is one seriously high maintenance tank that will tolerate absolutely no neglect whatsoever, and cleaning up the floating Riccia after a prune is the biggest pain of all. I feel it is worth it though.

Here are a couple of pics of how it looked a couple of months ago for the PFK competition. It was a couple of weeks before it looked its best, and my pruning was less than meticulous, but I have all year to prepare my tanks for next year`s, so no excuses anymore.

Dave.

 

[SJ2K]

I must say it looks absolutly fantastic, its not very often I can look at an aquarium and be so interested and amazed by the plants that I take no notice of fish/lack of them very impressed and inspired! Planted is deffinatly for me in the future

 

[mlawson]

It looks brilliant , I like the elevating levels of the riccia.

 

[Themuleous]

Crikey! I kinda liked it the way it was before the prune, but the prune has tidied things up.

Sam

 

[Luketendo]

Any updates?

I have a lido too and I envy you. Mine is no where as good.

I have no ferts or co2, just stock high-lite 1.5WPG.

I might upgrade to what you have and see what I can do with that.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Any updates?

I have a lido too and I envy you. Mine is no where as good.

I have no ferts or co2, just stock high-lite 1.5WPG.

I might upgrade to what you have and see what I can do with that.

Hi Luke. Thanks for the interest.

I started a new scape in January, which I am trying to get through, so that I can move this tank in to someone else`s house and set it up for them. I have tried to be original and really go to town with the rocks. There is still a lot of work to do regarding pruning and moving the Hemianthus micranthemoides about.

There is some HC in there too, but it didn`t enjoy being moved from 60cm, and has taken an age to start growing again. The Micranthemum umbrosum is growing like mad, as always. It`s a real favourite of mine. Ah well, my tanks never finish out the way I envisioned.

Dave.

 

[lljdma06]

Dave, I love this tank. Perhaps not what you envisioned, but really great nevertheless. To me, it looks like a craggy mountain side. You may have addressed this previously, but what was your inspiration for the scape?

Are you entering this scape in any competitions this year?

llj

 

[Dave Spencer]

Hiya Llj,

Long time no speak. Are you still treading the boards?

Thanks for the remarks. This scape, like the prior Riccia one, was influenced pretty much by the scenery around me in N. Wales and the Clwydian Mountains. The rocks are small parts of the mountains themselves, that I collect during my wanderings.

I may enter this one in Mr Amano`s little shindig, but it depends on how my rescaped iwagumi shapes up. I can only enter one picture of one tank.

Dave.

 

[lljdma06]

Of course I still tread! My super-duper mod status requires it. My journals, however, have fallen by the wayside. I will still post on them occasionally, but since they are now mostly low-light and low tech, change really doesn't happen all that quickly. No sense in updated every week with "Ooooo, new anubia leaf" or "I see a root in my Bacopa". Makes for a very boring journal.

Glad you are considering this tank as an entry. It is very lovely and all the better since your rocks are from the actual landscape of your inspiration. If I did that, that would be bad, or I'd have a SW tank!

llj