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Finally my Aquascaping Journey Begins :)

A

aquascape1987

Member
Joined
6 Nov 2014
Messages
368
Location
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Hi folks. As the name of my thread suggests, this is my first scape after literally being enchanted by an Amano aqua scape I saw featured in pfk 2 and a half years ago now... And becoming massively obsessed with creating something so beautiful in an aquarium of my own.I've been working on a project building a juwel trigon scape ever since, which has involved many mods to the tank as it comes, 2.5 years of research, and a lot of money and time spent building and modifying the aquarium, from the research I had done... In the end, the trigon project has proven massively taxing for me,both in terms of time and money,but the tank is now ready to scape. Unfortunately,I have had to pack it up at that point, until I move in with my girlfriend next year. The more I have got into the research of aquascaping and nature aquariums,the more I have realised that the trigon was the wrong choice of tank,but it's something I have been both unwilling to give up on, and determined to make work, which I still intend on doing, once I get into my new place.. But that will make for different journal.

Unwilling to completely postpone my dream of creating a scape, I have bought a Dennerle 50 l scapers tank,and am setting up a smaller scape to house my beta, and plan on adding a few Galaxy rasporas/ celestial pearl danios, or something similar.

The scape is going to be a valley, the main foreground and centre carpeted with glossostigma elatinoides. On the slopes of the valley will be Redmoor root with interspersed hydrocotyle tripartita, with some type of anubias ( I've been thinking mini) groupings bushing around areas of the wood. Not sure at this point about using 1 or two other lone mid ground plants as well or to keep it less busy with different species?? The background plants, I plan on using rotala rotundifolia, or perhaps rotala wallichii, maybe even both, heavily planted in the back corner peaks of my valley, thinning as you work down to the centre, leaving the centre open with just the glosso covering the ground.
I also have some small Yamaya stones to use to attach the Anubias to as well.

Here are some pics of a couple of different arrangements of my wood that I have positioned and like. Any thoughts, opinions and suggestions on either the arrangement or the planting would be massively appreciated :)
 
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The last and first arrangements, I'm thinking of removing the end of the right hand (as you look at the photo) pierce of redmoor that you can see fouls the centre of the valley. As in removing it up to the point where it creates an eye shape,but keeping the eye shape, if that makes sense. Any feedback anyone can give would be great, before I place my order for the plants :)
 
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Its a Dennerle Scapers flow. Although Im not too sure about its performance capabilities, and Im probably going to replace it with an eheim or something at some point.
Its handy that it sits there at the back,but not too confident that it will perform, just from looking at it its specs and also reading what people have said about it
 
nice wood & your plant plan sounds good - make sure you've space to clean glass etc around the wood, also are you intending to place "substrate supports" ... otherwise your soil etc will tend to level over time re gravity & filter flow

I suspect not many comments re scape as there are so many distracting elements in the photos ... and I suspect most of your potential layouts would work fine :)

Maybe try placing a background to block filter

Light details? CO2?

I'd begin the tank with R rotundifolia as it's an easy, fast grower, switch out later to R wallichii if you like - for first planted tank runs, start with "Easy" plants or at least include some in your initial setup.
 
Hi, thanks for your thoughts. good point on the distracting elements in the pics, I'd not really thought about that as I had literally took the pics as I was working on it, and the whole areas a bit of a building site as a result :)
Note made about the glass cleaning. It's easy to forget maintenance issues when you get carried away trying to be creative!
With regards to the substrate supports, yes I've got some corrugated plastic from the green machine. With those, how deep into the substrate do the need to extend? Fairly deep, or just a few inches below the surface? And what sort of arrangement would be the most effective do you think to keep the substrate in place?
I've got a background vinyl from dennerle, which is white, but I'm just waiting for some jbl fixol to arrive that I've ordered to fit it with.i initially tried using water as the instructions suggested,but it only held for a couple of days before it started peeling off. Lighting is 2 x Dennerle scapers light ,24 watts each, which will be on a timer.Co2 is Co2 Art dual stage with solenoid and needle valve, hooked upto a 2 kg FE, which will also be on a timer. Im diffusing it with an UP inline atomizer.You can see it in the pics. I have put it on the dennerle filter, which I haven't tested yet, but I'm sceptical about the filter in any case, let alone with this added on. I'm already looking into potentially replacing it soon after starting the tank with an Eheim Eco pro or something like that. Oh and will also be EI dosing as well,which I'm quite well read up on, but like I say, first time actually applying everything I've read. I'm really excited though!Thanks again for your comments :)
 
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What do you think about chopping off that bit of redmoor, that protrudes into the centre of the valley? You can see it on the right hand piece of wood. It kind of forms an eye shape at the base, before protruding out into the valley centre at the rear of the tank, which I think kind of detracts from the balance of the scape, but at the same time, I do like the eye shape it forms at the base. Due to the size of the wood, and because its one single piece, it can't be rotated or repositioned to stop it sticking out like this.Was thinking of chopping off the protruding bit, but still keeping the eye shape.
 
I like the wood going into the valley - look at alex08 newest scape :) - but it's your vision so cut that bit if it displeases ... you can then use it as a substrate support ;)

If you've not already done so, check the changes in perception that occur with water in place (easiest not to wet your aquasoil just yet)
Also if you're planning on glosso etc across the front of the tank, make sure you've enough substrate depth
 
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