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I think we're still doing okay especially since we have so many knowledgeable and helpful members, and more joining all the time. In fact someone commented on another forum regarding UKAPS, that, 'I've never seen a more technically oriented forum with so many knowledgeable members' :) I'm...

Very nice, well done :)

Welcome back. Good to see you've both decided to finally take the freshwater plunge, and share your new journey through a journal :)

Decided I'd better plant those plants I bought from AG nearly 2 weeks ago at our annual meet up. Been too busy, but with the temp increase lately I didn't think it wise to leave them in their plastic bags any longer. I had a bit of a maintenance session and cut back the stems at the back of the...

Dario Dario springs to mind but they're perhaps best at least kept as a pair, that is if you can find a female. But Sparkling gourami make pretty decent centerpiece fish in a small aquarium.

Beautiful fish. His pout is better than Derek Zoolander's

Beautiful build as usual. Both fish species will love it in there. I think you could get away with a few more rice fish. They'll perhaps be a little less skittish in a larger group.

Great journal, very inspiring :)

I must admit to having been very sceptical about animal sentience in general and especially that regarding fish. However, over the past few years I’ve read some peer reviewed scientific research, and witnessed both animal and specially fish behaviour which has unequivocally changed my mind...

Not sure I’m comfortable with this. I guess we can reason all we want about what is ethically, scientifically, morally and philosophically appropriate. And I’m not sure it meets with UKAPS rules and regulations regarding animal welfare. I guess that’s a judgement call for a forum that has...

That's the problem, the wild form is quite hard to come by these days. Probably not commercially viable compared to the more colourful strains.

Really nice suggestions @AquaBonsai99, thanks. Sundadanio axelrodi is a lovely little fish, definitely worthy of a biotope themed scape. Absolutely love honey gouramis. I've kept them before a few times. Not a big fan of the new strains though. Much prefer the species in its original natural...

Thanks Steve. Yes, I thought a dozen small tetras. Maybe green neons or embers. And maybe a pair of dwarf cichlids, open to suggestions though 🙂

Made a few small changes. Many thanks to @G H Nelson for sending me some beautiful Anubias mini coin. I've swapped them out with a buce and placed them in a suitably shaded position. Hopefully, they'll fill out the space given time. The buce has been placed higher up the big bolder nearer to the...

Welcome :) Looking forward to seeing those pictures ;)

Thanks Marcel. I’ve put the ferns back in the garden wall where they belong. Mainly for the reasons you mention above. They’re doing okay there. Although these are evergreen, I think. But just don’t look so good during the winter. Anyway, spring has sprung and I think we’re all hoping for...

@richardcunliffe I guess it’s just experience, and with that comes a great deal of misplaced confidence. I can envisage how it’ll look if I do this that and the other. It doesn’t always work out. But it’s just a hobby and for me, the essence is daring to try new things and different...

It's been a while, and neglect had taken its toll; rampant moss completely taken over. I finally found the time and energy to spend an hour or so getting to grips with the scape and removed most of it. I was surprised to see the plants below were still healthy and had grown. The epiphytes had...

Awesome looking build 👍

Looking great @Courtneybst. And all the best in your new country. Hope you settle in okay.

It has that look usually only achieved in a long term scape when the plants have been allowed to mature and grow in to one another. Excellent work, well done. I’d definitely enjoy it for a while longer yet 🙂

Pure Walstad method is as the title of the video. But dirted doesn’t necessarily mean low-energy or low-tech. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/soil-substrate-or-dirted-tank-a-how-to-guide.18943/

Not too shabby for someone who doesn’t consider themselves an aquascaper. Beautiful tank Paulo 🙂

Looking good 👍

@RickyV Some fish and shrimp will eat planaria and help keep them in check. Take a look at this article https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki_parasites_planarian-flatworms#:~:text=Of%20course%2C%20certain%20types%20of,shrimp%20such%20as%20Macrobrachium%20peguense. Tank is looking amazing 🙂

I removed the rim from a 60cm version of the same range which worked out okay. But I wouldn’t really recommend it at all, especially with anything larger. This thread might also be of interest. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/removing-braces-from-aquarium.1496/#post-15452

Looks great, well worth the effort. Well done. I always favour deep bodied hyphessobrycon spp. in a set up like this.

It’s seriously low maintenance. A few mins a day at most.

Thanks @DeadFish, not absolutely certain, last year was a blur, but I think late June.

Brilliant as usual. Looking forward to seeing where you go with this and learning more 🙂

Thanks @_Maq_ 🙂 It’s not always. But at worst it’s only partially obscured. I keep the water level to a minimum by sucking the excess out with a turkey baster. Other than that the ambient room temperature is always warm. That might have something to do with it. And I almost forgot to add, the...

Posted the first image a while back elsewhere in the forum. At the time I was unsure where this scape was going, or whether it'd survive our ongoing home renovations. Because of this it's become a perpetual dry start or I guess more of a terrarium. It's gone through the good bad, and ugly...

Beautiful Ady, love how you’ve trimmed and grown on all those stems.

It’s no easy feat growing plants low-energy. I think it looks natural and very nice. Well done 👍

Looking great Ady, Love the image of your cat looking in to the tank. Reminds me of our old cat, Scruffy; must be a tuxedo cat thing :) Sadly he passed away a couple of weeks ago. Had a good innings for a cat though, over 18 years old.

Not a great picture so can’t really tell for sure but maybe bacterial bloom or maybe this will be relevant https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/white-fungus-like-dots-on-anubias-making-my-fish-sick.37756/#post-407892

and still looking amazing. Beautiful tank 👍

Stunning scape :)

Well done. It’s a stunning tank 🙂

Very nice. One of my favourites atm 🙂

Nice, I’m guessing you put that together in one of AGs dojos. What species are in your big tray of green things?

This may also be of help https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/soil-substrate-or-dirted-tank-a-how-to-guide.18943/

Welcome back. Good to see you posting again after such a long hiatus 🙂

Welcome, good to see you’re diving straight in with a journal 🙂

Absolutely, although not strictly necessary, for some it’s part of the hobby. I must admit I enjoyed using multiple test kits for a while. Now I just do ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at the beginning of setup to help gauge when the tank is ready to introduce fish and other critters.

I think so. I set up a JUWEL 180 for my son last Christmas. He has a busy life so we decided to just go with plug and play. It’s working out fine. And that’s relatively high energy, green drop checker rather than lime green.

Usually, there is really no need to test extensively nor regularly. For one thing, hobby grade tests are not particularly accurate; there are confounding factors. However, planted tanks are often very robust and stable. The prime indicators of health are the plants and critters. Observation is...

Looking great, and growing in very nicely

Remind me, who you are again 😂 Really nice to sign on and see this update. All looking awesome as usual.

I’m guessing you’re planning to use the ammonia for fishless cycling. It’s a bad idea and totally unnecessary in a planted tank for various reasons. And especially a soil substrate tank. There will be enough given off by the soil to cycle several tanks. See Darrel’s comments above.

Nicely done 👍

Also check out the Tutorial and Articles section. Aside from a mine of info, you'll find a tutorial on how to set up a low-energy dirted system. However, if you dose water column fertz, sand is a good low maintenance alternative to soil, which in time will accumulate organic matter and act like...

Welcome :) If the Juwel aquarium is new, with its filter and lights etc intact, I'd just plug in and play. They're pretty good systems especially for low-energy, no CO2. You really don't need anything else. Spend your money on plants instead.

Very nice Ady, love how the wood is rooted in the stone. You've got a Fibonacci or golden spiral going on there, and it's really easy on the eye but still has tension.

Looks great. Congratulations on the babies and really nice to see those loaches in a planted tank.

🤢🤮

It's a work of art. Should be in the Tate Modern.

Very nice 👍

Fantastic.

Looks nice, I'm sure it'll look even better grown in, as it did before.

Definitely the best ripples in the planted tank universe

Here is perfect. Your tank in the members introduction thread looks amazing. so looking forward to seeing and reading more ;)

Always impressed by how clean, neat and tidy your scapes are and how they are presented within their immediate surroundings. It's a minimal aesthetic I try to subscribe to as well.

Nice warts 'n' all post. It's reassuring to know we're not alone when it comes to fighting the good fight. Hope it's turning a corner.

Lovely tank, and great story.

Love the minimalism of both. Less is more . . .

Looking great. Really healthy, and vibrant aquatic plants.

Lovely video Ady. Very relaxing tank.

Best let them grow a bit more first. At least reach the surface. Them cut them back to just below the hardscape and foreground plants, so the cut is hidden and then replant the tops in among the rooted stems. That way the original rooted stems will grow many new shoots which together with the...

it can be difficult to get rid of all of it. I remove most by hand and then use the end of my straight forceps to comb the residue from between the roots. Apparently a fork can be used to do the same job.

Nothing like a fresh batch of plants waiting to be washed, divided and then planted.

Haha, I also discovered I’m a footnote on the Wikipedia aquascaping page, under references. Now that’s true fame 😁 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquascaping#cite_ref-2

Whilst trying to find my lost YouTube channel I stumbled on something a bit surreal. I found a step by step guide on how I created Return of the Shallow. . . on a Chinese news channel type website. Nice to know UKAPS truly has a global reach. https://kknews.cc/home/p9vmvx2.html

Very nice @Wookii, the sand and wood compliment one another and provide contrast. Which along with the epiphytes give a strong impression of a lake or river bank.

Great little scape. All looks really healthy, and love the emersed growth.

Loved the subtlety of that scape. Looking forward to the next one.

Couldn’t agree with you more 🙂

Then you’re looking for a panacea. EI with frequent and substantial water changes is probably as close as it gets. Then you can concentrate on what’s really important, optimising CO2 flow and distribution.

I found it undemanding. Just requires good fertz and co2. But whatever your objective frequent and fairly substantial water changes are often key to aquarium and critter health

Looks like you might be falling between two stools. Perhaps consider what your aims and objectives are and formulate a cohesive strategy

Okay, thought it worth mentioning anyway, if only to point out another potentially mis-sold product. Could also be a CO2 issue. Perhaps flow and distribution isn't quite optimised. Your drop checker is nice and green, but perhaps not lime green, difficult to tell. Maybe try injecting more CO2...

This fertiliser is sold as "an all-in-one, universal plant food which is suitable for all water plants in aquaria." However, I don't think it contains nitrogen or phosphate. Which if true is a pretty serious omission for an all in one plant food, and could be the reason for stunted plant growth...

Really nice @AnhBui. Good to see you're still posting.

Looks great, nicely done, both hardscape and planting.

Very nice. Those large rounded cobbles or boulders look great.

Very nice and very well done.

Looking good. You may also want some light further to the front. Otherwise it could be that the fish swimming in the space between the plants and front of the tank aren’t lit so well and therefore not seen at their best.

Wow, what an amazing project and on a scale most can only dream of. Not sure what function the rock work is performing, hiding filter or pipes etc, but maybe give some consideration to alternatives, like very large pieces of dead wood, and actual rock. You can use both to anchor epiphytes and to...

Sure, looking at it now can't believe it was 10 years ago. Scroll past the first image to the next to see the actual hardscape. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/primordial-the-beginning-of-the-end.28845/

Very nice Courtney, I like it alot. I did something similar a long while back but with seiryu.

Looking great Geoff. Your son is doing a great job and I hope he's enjoying the journey. That moss is unbelievable. It's got to be the most indestructible plant I've ever come across.

That's awesome Ady, NA style is where it's at. It really is a piece of nature in doors.

That reagent solution definitely doesn't look right Could be a good point. And not only but also, I doubt the reagent is standardised to any high degree throughout the industry, which could lead to discrepancies. Some I've used just don't work very well at all. It'd be a review worth reading if...

You could also try blowing on it, see if it turns lime green then. How to check your drop checker....

Those drop checkers look great but I don’t think they work very well. Perhaps not enough of an opening to allow CO2 in or out. I had one, always gave a false reading. Dark green for ages and then when it finally went lime green it stayed that way regardless. If you’re getting similar results...

Great little project Graham. As always, looks awesome 👍

Nothing quite like a blank canvas, clean aquarium, set up just so, and the anticipation of what's to come. And nice to be able to follow your journey in a journal :cool:

Very nice Ady. Great to see it planted in a more traditional Nature Aquarium style too; showcasing the retro hardware and doing it the justice it deserves.

Stunning. Welcome back, nice to see you posting again 🙂

Looking good. Welcome 🙂