My New Project "rocky Mountain"

[Aquamaniac]

Hi 
 
Its been a while since i came to the forum.I'd like to share my latest project,
This scape took a month to plan and to collect all the stuff i needed. It was planted yesterday so the photos i have to share are day 1. But first let's go to the setup.
 
Setup:
 
Tank: Fluval Roma 240 
 
Size : 120 cm x 40 cm x 50 cm ( Aprox. 240 liters)
 
Heating : Fluval Mirrored M
 
Filtration : Fluval 305 + All pond solutions EF 1000 plus 9 watt UV sterilizer  (APS filter is still running in another tank to keep my cycle running, until i decide to add fish to this tank).
 
Wavemaker : All pond solutions WM- 2500 (2500 liters hour) 
 
Lighting: All pond solutions unit 4x 54 watts ( only 2x 54 watts during 6 hours for the first few weeks).
 
Co2 : Pressurized co2 with a 3kg bottle. It starts 2 hours before the light and goes off 1 hour before light shutdown.
 
Substrate: Tropica plant growth ( 5 kg) capped with unipac black sand ( 40 kg) 
 
Hardscape: TGM blue stone
 
Plants: Eliocharis parvula 
 
Here are the photos:
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 
Hope you guys like it.

 

[techen]

Love the idea, Will look good once the grass grows in which will take awhile

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Will look great once the grass fills in! Great idea!
 
What do you think you will stock it with?

 

[Aquamaniac]

Love the idea, Will look good once the grass grows in which will take awhile

Thanks. It will take quite a while to grow but i took a month planning this. I did all the substrate and hardscape three weeks ago and kept the tank empty just to make sure i was really happy with it, it's the most ambitious scape i ever done, so as long as it goes ok the waiting will be rewarding in the end.
 
 

Will look great once the grass fills in! Great idea!
 
What do you think you will stock it with?

Well i could stock it today to be honest. See when i dissassembled the tank a month ago i moved  the filters from this tank to my other tanks to keep the cycle going,
 
The biggest of the two filters is still working in another tank with all the cycled media in it.
So this tank is cycled.
 
I did decided to wait some time before putting fish at least until the plants start rooting better, i do not want fish digging  plants out.
 
And i need to make some decisions, my last project was using angelfish and rummy nose tetras, it became obvious while developing that this  scape will look awesome with small schooling fish as opposed to looking awful with big angels.
 
For now i think at least my rummy nose tetras will eventually go in and some shrimp when the carpet is fully grown and secure.
I need to rearrange one of my other tanks to house the angels permanently before making my decision.

 

[*pete*]

Beautiful !

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I can just imagine a really big school of Cardinal Tetras, I think they would look great, so would the Rummynoses!

 

[Aquamaniac]

Beautiful !

Thanks.
 
 

I can just imagine a really big school of Cardinal Tetras, I think they would look great, so would the Rummynoses!

Me too. It's one of the options in am looking at. 

 

[dhartIndy]

Great scape!!!!!

 

[Blobfish]

Looks great already but it should be stunning when grown in.

 

[Aquamaniac]

Great scape!!!!!

 

Looks great already but it should be stunning when grown in.

Thanks, I'm loving it. Can't wait to see it all grown in.

 

[Aquamaniac]

Hi again
 
Time for an update
 
Here is a week ago:

 
 
Here is today:

 
During this week i added:
 
14 rummy noses
20 Gold mountain minnows
18 neons
 
I was able to do this by moving in the cycled filters i kept working on other tanks during the build.
 
The plants seem to be spreading and growing. Two days ago i did put the lighting at full power.
That's 4x54 watts T5 for 240 litres.  I might have made a mistake by doing it.
What do you guys think?
 
I want to try it for a couple of days and then make a decision. For now the plants are spreading fine but since the extra light the amount of runners popping from under the substrate has multiplied greatly.
 
I do have some brown algae on the glass and rocks, but i was having them even before the extra light.
 
The other thing is even though the plant is spreading and new runners are healthy the original clumps i planted are turning brown and ugly.
Is this normal?
 
I am not dosing fertilizers yet, i am still using my fertile soil has source of nutrients.
 
More fish will be added soon,the tank still looks empty.
 
 

 

[greenmumma141]

Let me start by saying, what a great choice in the hardscape, with the layout and the rock itself. I don't think I've seen an iwagumi with this type of rock before. I absolutely love it, really fits the name!
 
I like your choices in fish as well. I would suggest to add a group of otos. They shouldn't uproot anything, and they don't stand out too much, and they should take care of the brown algae.
 
I'm no expert and I could be completely wrong but I would think that if you have that high of ligh output, you should have some ferts going in there.  I don't think I've ever heard of anyone successfully growing Eliocharis parvula without ferts. Maybe worth throwing up a post to the wizards in the fert or plant section??
 
Again, looks really great, I really love this tank. I'll be watchin for sure

 

[Aquamaniac]

 

Let me start by saying, what a great choice in the hardscape, with the layout and the rock itself. I don't think I've seen an iwagumi with this type of rock before. I absolutely love it, really fits the name!

 
I like your choices in fish as well. I would suggest to add a group of otos. They shouldn't uproot anything, and they don't stand out too much, and they should take care of the brown algae.
 
I'm no expert and I could be completely wrong but I would think that if you have that high of ligh output, you should have some ferts going in there.  I don't think I've ever heard of anyone successfully growing Eliocharis parvula without ferts. Maybe worth throwing up a post to the wizards in the fert or plant section??
 
Again, looks really great, I really love this tank. I'll be watchin for sure

 
Thanks for the nice comments.
I'll definitely follow your advice on the ottos. I know they do the job having used them before on various ocasions.
And increasing the light was a big mistake. I should rather increased the light hours of the 2 bulbs i was already using instead of going for the extreme light. Now i have algae becoming a nuisance.
I went back to the 2x54 watts for 6 hours. And when the algae problem is under control i'll go for 2x54 watts for 8 hours.
As for fertilizing i will start doing EI dosing soon. But i did use 5 kg of tropica plant growth fertile soil under the black sand and i was curious to test if i could run it just with that for some time.  

 

[greenmumma141]

cool beans..  yeah i think ottos are definitely the way to go, plus it will give you some action on those rocks!
 
I'm dosing EI at the moment, what a difference! Now if I could just stick to the schedule   Just a tip, I wish I took a picture the day I started dosing, and then another pic a week later. I knew there was a difference and I really wish I got proof lol

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Has grown in quite a lot already!
 
Looks much more lively, will look awesome with even more fish!