Sam's Now To Be High Light And Tech 20g

[blue acara]

Lovely tank Sam. It has grown into a nice Junglist style scape and has a nice sort of sloping shape to it. I like the lush green and the red of the Serpae's.
It has turned into a lovely lill tank!
A nice piece of branch or tree like wood would add to the look of the tank and would add a focal point- just my opinion.

dave



Love this pik, green is the best color.

 

[john starkey]

Hi Sam, will i be seeing this tank in person soon or is this the tank we will be rescaping, see ya soon sam, regards john

 

[Themuleous]

Yep, this tank will probably be much the same is it for that weekend. If I get a chance I'll prune this tank before, so it might look a bit battered by then!

We're scaping my nano 24x8x8" tank, should be fun, very long and very short.

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

You're right about the serpae's that what I means to write, honest

Of course that's what you meant.

 

[Themuleous]

Right, you probably know that I did a complete strip down and rescape on Sunday, so here are the pics. I wont go into to much detail, ask if you want to know anything. Other than the scape, I will be adding a 4th 18w freshwater to make it fully highlight as I run EI anyway so might as well.

Here's what it used to look like, nothing special but having a experimentation tank has taught me lots, in particular how to prune stuff to get it bushy. Hopefully that new skill will help with the new scape.

Here's the wood I got. Ive had to zip tie the two pieces together so it holds its shape and as I didn't have a time to soak it Ive got it tied it under the central brace of the tank to hold it down.

And here's what it looks like now I have to say I'm rather pleased, just hope the plant choice lives up to it and fill out as I want it to. Not sure about the sags as they might be a bit tall, but time will tell, hope the crypts get taller so they are a bit more of an effective mid-ground next to the wood.

Comment/question always welcome.

Sam

 

[fozziebear]

i am in love with that wood sam, what sizes of the redmoor are those? and have you heard anything about redmoor rotting at the base?

 

[Liam]

The wood is fantastic, the tank looks excellent.

 

[guppy_man]

Sam that looks real nice, loveing the wood

Maybe a black background?

 

[lljdma06]

Sam that looks real nice, loveing the wood

Maybe a black background?

Nah, blue with neon pink polka dots, much better choice IMO. All the rage now.



Seriously, I love the new look, Sam. The wood is a super find! It'll look really good once it fills out if the sags don't get too big. If you're going high-light, why not put more challenging plants in? Like really go for a lawncover effect. Would look interesting to see HC or HM hollyhocking against the wood with only the java fern to offset it. I don't know, just putting something out there.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks all, the wood was something of a find, even redmoor wood can be a bit hit and miss and these two bits fitted together perfectly. Not sure on their size, probably around medium. Neither bit on its own is huge.

Will probably put a piece of black card on the back for final shot photos.

Llj - cheers for the ideas. I think I'm gonna see how the sags do and take it from there, but I have wanted to try hairgrass for sometime so that might be the alternative. Biggest trouble with the wood are the zip ties, I need fairly tall foreground plants to cover them up, although I guess once the wood sinks it should stay stable so I might be able to cut them off eventually. Big a relatively tall tank, taller plants help with the scale of things. Have also thought about Echinodorus tenellus, not sure. But you are right, I might as well make the most of the high light and push things a bit

Sam

 

[lisa_perry75]

I think it looks great and when grown in will look even better. I would prefer to see the very tips of the most left and right pieces of wood trimmed, as although they are AWESOME pieces I'm worried they are a bit too big for the tank. They seem to be touching both sides. This is just my opinion though

Again, well done it does look good!

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Sam, it looks mah-valous!! The wood is a great find -- I'm jealous! I just finished typing my wish list in my journal and one of the things I'd like is a "branchy" piece of wood.....now that I've seen yours, that's definitely what I want!

Your setup truly looks great. You've inspired me to really get after mine now.

-sondra

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks you two

Lisa - you are right about the wood being to long, but I will at some stage get a 4ft tank, so have that in the back of my mind. It did make getting the wood into the tank tricky too!!

Sondra - I think this wood is a case of getting it as soon as you see it. I dont know about over with you, but its pretty rare over here, so I snapped it up when I had the chance!!

Thanks again. I've added a few more plants and need perhaps one more then its a case of wait and see how it develops.

Will keep you all posted for sure

Sam

 

[ICEEGRL]

I love the way the tank is looking. I have been wearing google out for several days hunting a way to get redmoor wood. Is it just not possible to get in the states?
I want to do something like that with val and anubias.

Crinum calimastratum (spelling ???) would look great in the center of that! That is just me though...

I have a 4 foot tank You could send the wood to me... Then I could show you what it would look like in one...

Amanda


By the way... if you added a little tahitian moon sand we would have the same substrate mix!
You said don't ask how it happened... I don't have to. I understand how that happens...

 

[Themuleous]

Haha cheers Amanda, Aquaessentials will ship to the US, but guess coudl cost a fair bit in postage.

While I'm at it, I will log that I added a fourth Arcadia freshwater to the tank over the weekend, so that's 4x18w tubes. I have upped it to 9hrs and am running a midday burst method.

3hrs - 2 tubes
3hrs - 4 tubes (3WPG)
3hrs - 2 tubes

I have three ballasts and I guess I could simulate daylight more if I wanted to but not sure yet will see. The wiring in the cabinet is pretty mad already, so don't want to over complicate things if I needn't.

The New plants seem to be doing OK, the Ludwigia (I think it is) has become a lovely reddy brown under the decent light and CO2, which is nice, doubled in size in under a week.

Sam