Solitude

[Ps3Steveo]

Was wondering round my lfs the other day when a guy came in complaining about a 1.4 litre tank he was sold with a Betta inside, it died and obviously he wasn't happy being sold a fish in a tiny tank which killed it. Should have done research before buying IMO but hey ho. After the argument finished the shop were gonna throw the glass cube out as it was dirty and scratched when I decided I'd take it off their hands (yay freebie).

Anyway after looking through some of the pico journals on here I took my moss ball out of my bucket in the garden, split it and layed it over the bottom of the tank, after two days on the windowsill in direct sunlight the moss was pearling so seeing as there was no algae developing I got some bits of dead ivy branch from the garden and after some tiny construction work, glue, a spoonful of sand and some moss from the planted fry tank I made up this little Bonsai looking tree for the scape and named it Solitude.

Hope you all like it, I'm very pleased with it, I was inspired by one of Amano's scapes.

All comments welome.

Pic's tomorrow once the water has settled and maybe some more pearling.

 

[mattbleasby]

Looking forward too the pics Sounds awesome.

 

[lljdma06]

Looking forward to the scape.

Liz

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Right guys, picture time. You can see in some of the pictures how much pearling is happening in the natural light.
Thing is as there is no filter rippling the surface the O2 being produced is just hitting the surface and staying there so its gonna run out of natural CO2 soon but its very well oxygenated at the moment lol.

I'm thinking of making a tiny pico filter with a spray bar at some point soon and then making up some kind of light unit for it, that way it will heat the water and keep it well lit in the winter months and I can add a couple of Cherries. Theres currently a few pest snails in there at the moment that must have come from the moss but at least if I get any algae they'll eat it.

I got the idea from one of Amano's scapes with the tree and pathway leading through, obviously his looks better but I'm pleased with it.

I still cant believe how much its pearling esp the moss on the branches, I've never had it pearl before.

Hope you like it, comments welcome, I put the last pic in to give you an idea of size.

Enjoy

 

[PDSimon]

You get bubbles like that from lots of fresh water

Scape looks great. Is the moss on the substrate java moss as well? It looks so soft

 

[Ps3Steveo]

The bubbles aren't from fresh water being added, when the sun is shining you can see the moss producing them, looks like upside down rain lol.

 

[lljdma06]

Awww, that looks so cute. Be careful, though, the moss on the substrate has like debris on it? That should be cleaned up, if you can manage it.

Liz

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Thanks, its just a bit of dust from the sand so I'll syphon it out when I next change the water.

 

[mattbleasby]

Woahh!!! This looks great. Im going to give this ago!!!! I have a small tank im going too setup as a nano for a male beta only

So might have too get a nice bit of wood like that, and a bunch of Java moss

Honestly mate, THis is a great looking tank. Inspiration

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Thanks for the kind comment mate, it's a bit of dead ivy branch with loads of odd bits bolted on, used the empty ink tube from a biro, snipped to short lengths, then drilled little holes in each piece and put the tube between, was quite glad after adding the moss cos it looked terrible before hand lol. Thanks tho

 

[ian]

looks nice Steve, i love the little pathway just past the tree. The pearling is from the C02 in the water, i may not carry on pearling once the excess C02 gases off. Either way, it looks good.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Cheers dude, yeah I'm hoping to get some kind of tiny filter running on it to get some surface agitation to get the O2 out and the CO2 in, worse case I'll get some Flourish Excel and chuck a bit of TPN+ in there once the filter is done. Really want a couple of Cherries in there too.

 

[ian]

have a look at Gills pico filter.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/344198-pico-canister-filter/

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Yeah found that earlier, so prob what I'll be doing.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

We have algae Im hoping to set up a tiny filter quick to get some flow but Im having trouble finding a small power head with flow adjustment. Fingers crossed.