# Aquascape: Edens Gate



## Aqua Hero

i thought i would just show my new aquascape

aquascape: Edens Gate

Tank: 61 x 41 x 58 Juwel Lido 30 UK Gallons

Lights: Odyssea Quad T5HO Unit, 2 x 24W 6400K Bulbs, 2 x 24W IQuatics Plant Growth Bulbs. 9 hours per day

Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia mixed with ADA Power Sand, White Sand

Hardscape: Lava Rocks, Bonsai Driftwood

Filtration: Tetra Tec EX800 Plus, Pondguru setup with biohome ultimate and ultra mini

CO2: 1.5% Glutaraldehyde Solution in DI water (its the same stuff used in Seachen Excel and EasyCarbo)

Fertilisers: EI Ferts
	

	
	
		
		



		
			





[/URL][/IMG] 

Plants: Eleocharis parvula, Hydrocotyle Tripantita, Water Lettuce, Weeping Moss, Taiwan Moss, Christmas Moss and some stem plant

Fish: 12 Strawberry Rasbora, 4 Otocinclus sp, 7 Pygmy Cories, 6 Amano Shrimp, 1 Crystal red shrimp (i got it free with the amanos), a ton of Red Cherry Shrimp

and 1 awesome Black Orchid Crowntail Betta. his name is Ryuu (which in Japanese means 'Dragon')


This was inspired by the lake i live next to. it has weeping willow trees that grow alongside the lake so i thought why not recreate it. the bonsai trees obviously represent the willow trees and the sand is suppose to represent the river. i bought nano fish to keep a sense of scale and to make my tank look bigger than it actually is. the rasboras are suppose to be birds and pygmies, shrimp and otos are land animals. Ryuu is actually suppose to be a dragon in the forest.

the water lettuce are supposed to be clouds which the betta (dragon) spends most of its time.


----------



## Aqua Hero

Hardscape


----------



## Aqua Hero




----------



## Aqua Hero




----------



## CanisDraco

Oooh, I like! I'm looking forward to seeing this grow in and seeing the dragon swooping through his domain


----------



## Aqua Hero

He's been flying through checking out his new Land. 

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua Hero

Here are pictures on Ryuu terrorising the forest dwellers XD 



















I got a black orchid because they add mystery to the tank. Also the tip Ryuu fins change colour and reflect the colour of the light. So it will change from blue to white or pink.

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua Hero

Nice pic of Ryuu soaring through the skies



Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua Hero

Week 3


 

 
sorry for the poor quality, it was taken on my phone


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

Probably, you want to know that betta is very good at hunting on cherry shrimps. Over time it will eat all of them.


----------



## Aqua Hero

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Probably, you want to know that betta is very good at hunting on cherry shrimps. Over time it will eat all of them.


Lool I have had this tank set up for quite a while and I haven't seen my betta once my shrimp. He doesn't hurt them, he just ignores them. My shrimp population has depleted at all, it's only increasing.

Not all bettas are killers you know, it all depends on their personality. I got lucky I bought myself a peaceful one

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Roman B

Loving it!
Looks great, waiting for some photos with crystal clear water


----------



## Aqua Hero

Well the scape hasn't exactly finished growing yet

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## rebel

Lovely scape which is very unique. You have kept to your brief really well! Dragon in the sky!! Classic stuff.


----------



## Manuel Arias

Maybe stupid question, but... what´s the name of the wood you use here? I saw it in the last months in quite many aquascapes but not found reference to it.


----------



## Aqua Hero

Manuel Arias said:


> Maybe stupid question, but... what´s the name of the wood you use here? I saw it in the last months in quite many aquascapes but not found reference to it.


Bonsai driftwood. The only places I know they sell it at is shrimpcorner UK and bonsaidriftwood.com.

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Manuel Arias

Thanks a lot Aqua Hero!  That was very useful.


----------



## Aqua Hero

no problem. i prefer bonsaidriftwood.com because the have more wood in different sizes. Shrimpcorner only have small sizes, however, it does come with free moss


----------



## Aqua Hero

Well I'm not sure what week it is lool but here's what the tank looks now.

There is some good news and some bad news 

Good news that all the mosses are growing in nicely on the wood and lava rocks. Also my cheery shrimp population is going out of control and the hydrocotyle sp Japan is exploding with growth.



 



 

The bad news are Snails. Lots and lots of snails. Mostly ramshorn and pond snails. I defeated the ramshorn before but they have seem to come back. It's so bad that they got into my spray bar and blocked the spray holes. Water pressure built up and the tip of my bar came off and now I can't find it . For a week I haven't had much flow in my tank. No algae problems came but that stupid oily film built up. I had to do some DIY to increase the flow. I have to wait for my LFS to have more assassin snails in stock. Right now i only have two.



 

Another minor is that my hydrocotyle on the right is growing slower than the one on the left. Not sure why but both are healthy. I will give it some more time.



 

Overall everything seems to he growing in well. And Ryuu is enjoying him self. Soon i will be using diy c02 and i will buy some tiger shrimp to add some diversity to the tank. might re name the tank to Tiger Woods XD


----------



## rebel

Tiger woods,... Classic stuff!!


----------



## Manuel Arias

Aqua Hero said:


> The bad news are Snails. Lots and lots of snails. Mostly ramshorn and pond snails. I defeated the ramshorn before but they have seem to come back. It's so bad that they got into my spray bar and blocked the spray holes. Water pressure built up and the tip of my bar came off and now I can't find it . For a week I haven't had much flow in my tank. No algae problems came but that stupid oily film built up. I had to do some DIY to increase the flow. I have to wait for my LFS to have more assassin snails in stock. Right now i only have two.



Good job, Aqua Hero. I think your tank will be very beautiful after some time. 

Regarding the snails I got a similar problem, and I used assassin snails too, which will decimate the snails population with the time, but they are not very active, so it will take several weeks until you feel their impact, unless of course you introduce many of them. A practical solution that I did and helps quite a lot is to use a small silicon  tube to suction them out of the tank. This of course removes water of the tank, but you can perfectly invest some time during the water changes to remove them in this way. As the pipe is small, you can move it in small spaces as well as avoiding damage to the plants. Be careful however with moss and grass, as if they are not well rooted the suction can be a problem. But beyond that, it works. I have been doing that and you see the difference in few days.  It is a bit more of work, but with visible impact.

I also recommend you to pay a look to the filter media from time to time, as I also observed that the filter system (mine at least) absorbs snails that remain alive in the filter media, which can propagate to the tank again later, so cleaning the filter for that also helps, if you observe snails on it.

Hope this help.


----------



## Aqua Hero

Manuel Arias said:


> Good job, Aqua Hero. I think your tank will be very beautiful after some time.
> 
> Regarding the snails I got a similar problem, and I used assassin snails too, which will decimate the snails population with the time, but they are not very active, so it will take several weeks until you feel their impact, unless of course you introduce many of them. A practical solution that I did and helps quite a lot is to use a small silicon  tube to suction them out of the tank. This of course removes water of the tank, but you can perfectly invest some time during the water changes to remove them in this way. As the pipe is small, you can move it in small spaces as well as avoiding damage to the plants. Be careful however with moss and grass, as if they are not well rooted the suction can be a problem. But beyond that, it works. I have been doing that and you see the difference in few days.  It is a bit more of work, but with visible impact.
> 
> I also recommend you to pay a look to the filter media from time to time, as I also observed that the filter system (mine at least) absorbs snails that remain alive in the filter media, which can propagate to the tank again later, so cleaning the filter for that also helps, if you observe snails on it.
> 
> Hope this help.


Yeah i know about the filter. I will start cleaning it every other week.

I don't want to do extra work so I will just stick to assassins lool. I live the way they look and I don't have to feed them. Also I can sell them when they breed.

I think the scape will be complete is when the weeping moss on the trees grow out fully and they look like real weeping willow trees. This will take a long time but when I have diy co2 it will at least speed up the process. When by the time the miss grows out fully, all the other plants would have grown out fully as well.

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## JBronsveld

Great looking scape!
Looking forward to see this evolve. 

Ryuu looks great too!


----------



## Aqua Hero

Well it's been months now, and things have really grown in well. I got tired of the hydrocotyle sp Japan carpet on the right looking so crap. So I bought a pressurised co2 (since Co2 was my limiting factor) to speed things up. Still waiting for my diffuser to come through the post.

Also sadly Ryuu died of a fungus disease.










Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## rebel

Looking lush! I would consider a massive trim to show off the hardscape more. 

Sorry to hear of the tiger.


----------



## Aqua Hero

rebel said:


> Looking lush! I would consider a massive trim to show off the hardscape more.
> 
> Sorry to hear of the tiger.


Yeah i definitely in the next WC.

It was my fault honestly, I neglected the tank for quite a while, and then the water quality got bad. Even my weeping moss was turning brown and my shrimps were breeding less. Tank was a mess so after the death and dedicated more time. Never will I neglect it like that again.

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua Hero

So I need your opinion on this one guys.

I have tons of grass now and I will he planting in the afternoon.

But I'm in a tight spot and can't decide on something.







 





At the very back of the tank should I have Eloecharis paruvlus and let it grow nice and tall to make a dark background, or should I have Eloecharis Acicularis to make a light background 

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## akwarybka

E. parvula doesn't grow tall enough to make it a background IMO, so I would probably use acicularis


----------



## Aqua Hero

Oh alright Thanks, but it's a bit to late lool. I already put the Eloecharis paruvlus at the back and the Eloecharis Acicularis at the front. I will just trim the Acicularis and let the paruvlus grow wild

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua Hero

Okay the Co2 system and new plants are in action.









My weeping moss has got alot of burns from the liquid carbon I was using so I won't be using that's anymore. I have seem alot of new fronds popping out so hopefully the pressurised co2 will bring it back to life.

New plants I have got are:

Eloecharis Acicularis
Eloecharis sp mini 
Eloecharis paruvlus 
Ammania sp Bonsai 
Dwarf baby tears
Mini pellia 
Phoenix moss
Rotala wallichi 

For now Im putting 6 t5HO bulbs but later I will reduce it to 4.













Fine tuning the Co2 rate to 1 bubble per second is a real pain in the ass. I'm still fiddling with it.

There is some bad news though. An old enemy has returned to my aquarium. HYDRA. yep it came with the phoenix moss. Long ago they almost wiped out my shrimp colony.





Fortunately, after my triumphant victory I saved some dewormer left just incase the villain would return to my forest.

Also I have a question, my spiro glass diffuser is working but I'm not seeing the "spiral' effect in it. Why is that?

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Clint Hewitt

Aqua Hero said:


> Oh alright Thanks, but it's a bit to late lool. I already put the Eloecharis paruvlus at the back and the Eloecharis Acicularis at the front. I will just trim the Acicularis and let the paruvlus grow wild
> 
> Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


I think it looks great like that, being able to see beyond the "trees" creates depth.


----------



## Aqua Hero

Clint Hewitt said:


> I think it looks great like that, being able to see beyond the "trees" creates depth.


Yeah i was watching alot of aquascaping videos and they looked better when they trimmed the massive bush at the background, revealing the hardscape more.

Thanks.

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua Hero

Well, second day of planting and first attempt with Co2. I had it on 1 bubble per 2 seconds and my plants are pearling.













Hope that's a good sign

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqua Hero

After finding and add on Gumtree for blue carbon rili shrimp I fell for the temptation and bought them. I got 6 shrimp Altogether. Three berried females, one normal female, two males and a baby shrimp which I got for free.

Before I bought them I learnt that they can interbreed with the cherries which is no good. So I made a nice diy trap from a cut out bottle and algae wafers. 





The next problem I had was were would I put them. I have alot of Cherry shrimp so it will take a while to catch them all or even get close. I needed the breeding box for my Blue carbons. Soo, I dug up some old equipment and found a spare aqua zonic 25w heater and my filter pump. It was supposed to be broken but when I plugged it in it just miraculous worked. Anyways, with some suction cups and prefilter and a bucket (as well as quality British engineering) I was able to make a mini quarantine bucket for my shrimp. I have alot of buyers as well so it will be a good place to store them where I can easily pick them up and give away.

Another thing I was trying to do was catch all my mirco rasboras. Catching the smallest of the micro rasbora sp with a net in a forest. What could possibly go wrong...

...Well nothing ￼ 

I took some advice from a guy called ADU Aquascaping on youtube and was able to catch all of them at night so easy. Less than 20 minutes. I am replacing them with green neon tetra for my scape.

They are now in my black bucket along with the cherries ready for sale tomorrow.

As for the aquascape well the plants are pearling and growing fast. Things seem to be going well. I will post pictures tomorrow 

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk


----------

