TMC 600 Unboxing + Emersed Setup (Picture Heavy)

[Julian]

I started this hobby a few years ago and this will be what I consider my first (proper) attempt at an Aquascape. I always thought of my previous attempts as testing grounds to teach myself the basics and gain experience.

Here's a pic of the old tank:

I learnt a lot of hard lessons about CO2, flow and Algae while I had this tank. A few months after installing a pressurized CO2 system, while trying to get my DC to turn the right shade of greeny-yellow, I came home one day and my drop checker had turned orange. Needless to say there were lots of casualties that day, but I persevered. Next time around I decided that I needed more lights which quickly resulted in a tank full of BBA and Cyanobacteria. I had to strip down the entire tank and buy completely new substrate it was that bad, but another lesson learned.

I realised from the beginning there would be a steep learning curve in this hobby (learning-crater in my case), but I knew that one day I would have the experience to produce something similar to the pictures that inspired me to take it up in the first place. And today is that day! Or at least it will be once things have grown in a little and it's been flooded...

Details:

TMC Signature 600 (60x45x30) + Arctic White cabinet
Lights are 2x TMC Mini 400's mounted onto my DIY luminaire.
Substrate is a mixture of Eco Complete and pure white Silca sand to help bulk it out.
FE + CO2 Art Regulator + bubble counter UP inline Atomizer.
APS 1400 Filter (soon to be upgraded to a Fluval 206).
Hydor 300 inline heater.

Plants:
Glossostigma Elatinoides
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Eleocharis Parvula
Staurogyne Repens
Hydrocotyle Tripartita
Java Moss

There's also a few old cuttings of Rotala rotundifolia which I don't expect to survive. Once the tank is flooded, depending on how well these do, I will replace them with some new ones.

And now for the pictures!

Installed some holes for the filter pipes:

Not being happy with a red fire extinguisher and keeping with colour of the cabinet:

Incase you were wondering how I made the jars magnetic:

Substrate in:

And then the hardscape:

Plants I'd had growing in a propagator since I tore the old tank down:

Some HC and Glosso from freshwatershrip.co.uk (excellent service and communication btw).

Lights are on 90% for 9 hours, humidity is at 80% and temp is about 24C. I've learnt in the past that any higher than this and things start to get moudly.

More pics in a week!

 

[Andy D]

Not sure if it is just me but most of the pics are not showing.

 

[Julian]

Not sure if it is just me but most of the pics are not showing.

Fixed!

 

[Edvet]

Any reason you didn't put the wood in the other back corner? It would seem to be more viewer friendly, you could look more "into "the tank, now it seems to block more

 

[Julian]

Any reason you didn't put the wood in the other back corner? It would seem to be more viewer friendly, you could look more "into "the tank, now it seems to block more

Yeah, the other side of the wood doesn't look as good. Plus I might move next to a wall on the opposite side at some point in the future.

 

[bogwood]

Excellent start. some very impressive ideas. Looking foward to its progress.
Reminds me of when my identicate signature set up arrived.

I thought about two 400, as i was using them on my smaller tanks, but in the end went for a 1500.

cheers

 

[KarthikC]

Looks very nice. Will wait for updates. Going to be one neat looking tank

Cheers,

Karthik

 

[Julian]

So things didn't go so well... the Glosso and the HC started to turn really dark, I figured I had nothing to lose so flooded the tank. Some other glosso that I bought from a different supplier seemed to make it just fine though, no idea what happened.

Guess I will order some more from somewhere else

 

[Judgegeo]

Watching this with great interest..

 

[Tomfish]

Me too, definitely looking forward to seeing how this progresses. I've got the same tank and the same lights and I'm planning a similar hard scape layout. Just waiting for a few necessary bits and bobs. Also I've got a seneye reef in the post, so at some point I can probably give you some useful data on par and light coverage. Cheers

 

[Julian]

Just a quick update.

Things went bad, the HC and Glosso I bought died off for unknown reasons, while another batch of glosso from a different supplier made it just fine. No idea what happened.

The surviving glosso was growing quite tall, I believe this to be down to my outlet configuration. Going to get a glass spray bar as soon as possible so the flow runs down the front of the tank. I'm hoping this will solve the problem.

The good part about leggy glosso is that you can trim it quite easily and replant, a weeks worth of growth has given me enough trimmings to replace a quarter of the glosso that died:

The hair grass at the back isn't doing much but again I think this is down to flow. And I still haven't got round to ordering the rotala rotundifolia yet, but I'm happy with the progress so far.

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[Julian]

So I bought some new HC, Glosso and Rotala Rotundifolia, hopefully they will survive this time around.

I've also added a spray bar to improve flow as the Glosso was growing upwards instead of carpeting, I'm hoping that will change in a week or 2:

 

[KarthikC]

The tank would look really nice once the plants fill up! good luck. How about some S.repens at the edges below the wood? Don't worry, glosso will set itself well in the coming weeks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Julian]

The tank would look really nice once the plants fill up! good luck. How about some S.repens at the edges below the wood? Don't worry, glosso will set itself well in the coming weeks.

You can't see it very clearly but there is some staurogyne repens above the patches of HC. Again, these plants weren't in the best condition when I planted them but they are slowly bouncing back.

Thanks for the assurance about the Glosso. What would you advise if it continues to grow upwards, more trimming? I feel like I've done everything I can so far. DC is lime green at lights on, yellow at lights off. Flow is excellent at the front of the tank. If I look at the side, I can see the mist of bubbles flowing down the front of the glass and then back along the bottom, then up towards the rear.

 

[KarthikC]

Hi Julian, Sorry, I was viewing the pics in my cell phone all along. Didn't observe it; pardon my ignorance. I think trimming would be a good idea. Trim it and plant the trimmings back into the substrate. Just a matter of time before it sets into a beatiful carpet. Have Plans of mixing more carpet plants?

 

[Julian]

Hi Julian, Sorry, I was viewing the pics in my cell phone all along. Didn't observe it; pardon my ignorance. I think trimming would be a good idea. Trim it and plant the trimmings back into the substrate. Just a matter of time before it sets into a beatiful carpet. Have Plans of mixing more carpet plants?

Yeah there's some e.parvula at the back (right) which I'm hoping will fill out and grow towards the front, should look nice and natural when it starts to merge with the glosso. It hasn't really done much in the 4 weeks its been planted though.

I've got some Java moss growing on the wood, I used the yogurt method but I'm not sure I got the ratio right, its growing but its very patchy, just needs more time I guess.