My Best Scaping Effort So Far...

[Aeropars]

Having been trying for ages to get a scape i liked, i think I might have done it!

I'll get pics tonight as the water is clearing after a major overhaul. Here's what I've done.

I removed everything and gave the whole thing a real good clean. I added a 5l bag of Tropica substrate then put back my Seachem Onyx Sand. Added an additional bag of the sand to enable me to slope up wards in places.

I've added 2 pieces of Redmoor wood, one on each side of the tank which has now created a bridge type look which i quite like. I had to weight this down a bit with some of the dragon stone i already had. Could actually do with some more if this but budget won't allow for the moment.

Plants in there are:
Crypt Wendtii
Crypt Wendtii Green
Valis Nana
Glosso
Green Stricta
Anubias barteri Nana
Anubias barteri var. nana 'Petite'
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae

I'm currently housing my fish in a large plastic box but don't want to put them back in the tank just yet because I'm sure the Angelfish will uproot the glosso.

Fish wise is a bit of a mix-mash at the moment. I'm coming to the end of a life cycle with most of them but my 2 angelfish and 1 bristle nose plec are here for the longterm.

Fauna at the moment is:
1 x Bristlenose Plec
2 x Angelfish
6 x Otto's
1 x Zebra Danio
2 x Wagtail Platy's
1 x Blue Gourami
2 x Siamese Algae Eaters
4 x Dwarf Neon Rainbow fish.

Ideally, I want a nice shoal of rummy nose tetras or cardinal tetras with a few of the neon rainbowfish thrown in to boot. This wont happen until the rest die off though. The girlfriend gets the hump if i talk about rehousing them with another owner.

Incidentally, something is eating the new growth on my Stricta. Does anyone know what it could be?

OK, heres some pics...

Please ignore the stricta in the pot as well as the stone anchoring the wood down. More plants to get in soon.

For some reasons I'm not sure the glosso is going to carpet like I want. Its growing upwards already. I have a sneaky suspicion its my compact t5s that are not dispersing the light enough.

All comments welcome!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

oooh that looks stunning, love the red moor wood. good work

 

[Themuleous]

That's gonna be a quality tank once it gets going, the wood is superb. Time will tell how the scape develops, but looking at the plants you've got, I think you might need to have a few more mid-ground ones, as it looks at the moment like it'll be very much, short foreground with tall back ground, but as I say time will tell.

Keep us posted

Sam

 

[rfisher]

Hi,

That is one good looking tank, cant wait it to see it again in a couple of months.

Richard

 

[doubledee]

Looking good. I have red moor wood as well and it's fantastic stuff. The bogwood was very boring in comparison. You might get white slime coming out of the wood after a week or so. I was told it was nothing to worry about and just wiped it off. It didn't have any affect on the tank or the fish. I'm looking forward to seeing how this tank develops.

 

[kewskills]

that does look very good

 

[Dave Pauls]

wow, that is going to look great once that glosso fills in, and the other plants grow some more.

 

[john starkey]

hi aeropars, i think your wood placement is very nice the only thing i would have done is added more fast growing plants but i hope it all goes well and i hope the plants you do have fill out nicely,regards john

 

[Aeropars]

Theres no real need for the fast growers. It's a well established tank and the water is pretty spot on.

 

[john starkey]

Theres no real need for the fast growers. It's a well established tank and the water is pretty spot on.

hi i think some faster growing plants would help you beat any algae issues you may get, what is your lighting per gal?

 

[Aeropars]

Lighting is about 3.5 wpg.

fingers crossed there shouldnt be any algae as the water is mature water. I'd agree with you if it was a new setup but its been up and running for about 2 years, just swapped out the plants really. Used filtered tank water from my second tank to fill it back up again which has no nitrates and no phosphates. As long as my amonia is kept to zero i cant forsee any problems with algae.

 

[john starkey]

Lighting is about 3.5 wpg.

fingers crossed there shouldnt be any algae as the water is mature water. I'd agree with you if it was a new setup but its been up and running for about 2 years, just swapped out the plants really. Used filtered tank water from my second tank to fill it back up again which has no nitrates and no phosphates. As long as my amonia is kept to zero i cant forsee any problems with algae.

hi lee well from what ive read new or mature water makes no diff to algae but i wish you all the best it will be lovely when it fills out, are you doing ei? . regards john

 

[rsands]

good looking tank, like the wood! be nice once it starts to fill out! whats your co2 method

 

[wei0204]

I love the setting. The woods are nice...

 

[Aeropars]

CO2 is pressurised JBL pro set 3.

John - The water does make a difference as its bare water with hardly no nutrients in so there cant be much in there for algae to get a hold of. Coupled with a dosing regeim of only potassium sulphate for the frist 2 weeks it should be in good health when the fish go back in.

I'm not saying I wont have any algae but the blooms that are expected with newly setup tanks dont apply here. The normal cause of the bloom is the excess nutrients in the water and not having enough plant load to take that away room the algae. Seeing as my water has hardly any nutricional value theres nothing for the algea to start from.