# 45 cm "untitled" Aquascape



## ShawnMac (2 Jun 2016)

My 45 cm Aquascape from last year. Currently a new scape is in process using the same stones.

Chihiros 45 cm LED
Pressurized CO2
ADA Aquasoil
lean EI daily dosing
Chihiros 600 jet filter (or whatever their smallest model is)


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## Cor (2 Jun 2016)

Nice  very nice
Is the red one an Rotala Colorata?


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## ShawnMac (2 Jun 2016)

Cor said:


> Nice  very nice
> Is the red one an Rotala Colorata?



It is actually Rotala H'ra. It got very red in this scape. It doesn't get red in my other setups. Probably a combination of reasons: 1) very high light, somewhere around 180-200 micromoles PAR in the top middle. 2) There was some nitrate limitation and I used that to enhance the red colors. Some plants I had to remove from the scape since I liked the red better than the other plants. Blyxxa japonica for example, didn't take the nitrate limitation well. The really high light made it worse. It stunted and just wouldn't really grow. At first the limitation was unintentional, but after seeing my red lessen with better dosing I started to use it.


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## rebel (3 Jun 2016)

Wow that's super lush!

Do you have any tips for banking up the sub so high on the left? Which plant is the left background?


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## ShawnMac (3 Jun 2016)

rebel said:


> Wow that's super lush!
> 
> Do you have any tips for banking up the sub so high on the left? Which plant is the left background?



Ah, you've cornered me into a confession. The left side is actually an interesting tale. When I first planted this it was all hairgrass belem in the back. I later decided it needed something more so added the stems. Later, at one point I thought I would try some riccia on stones around the hardscape. It wasn't long before I decided I didn't like it, so pulled them out. The riccia had other plans and invaded the hairgrass. I didn't keep up with removing it and it soon was using the hairgrass as a scaffold to grow thick without floating. I began to just trim and shape it. The substrate is well below the slope.

But, a tip for getting substrate to slope high is to use substrate supports and/or DSM to get it to stay. Plastic credit cards or gift cards can work or other plastic pieces. The Green Machine sells their TGM substrate supports to prevent substrate slippage.


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## rebel (5 Jun 2016)

ShawnMac said:


> Ah, you've cornered me into a confession. The left side is actually an interesting tale. When I first planted this it was all hairgrass belem in the back. I later decided it needed something more so added the stems. Later, at one point I thought I would try some riccia on stones around the hardscape. It wasn't long before I decided I didn't like it, so pulled them out. The riccia had other plans and invaded the hairgrass. I didn't keep up with removing it and it soon was using the hairgrass as a scaffold to grow thick without floating. I began to just trim and shape it. The substrate is well below the slope.
> 
> But, a tip for getting substrate to slope high is to use substrate supports and/or DSM to get it to stay. Plastic credit cards or gift cards can work or other plastic pieces. The Green Machine sells their TGM substrate supports to prevent substrate slippage.


wow that's quite a saga! Thanks for taking the time to explain. It's a rare case of Ricca doing good things!


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## ShawnMac (29 Jun 2016)

Some in progress shots of this scape. You can see plans changed a bit


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## Possessed200 (6 Jul 2016)

Oh man that looks awesome, is that a do aqua?


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## ShawnMac (6 Jul 2016)

Possessed200 said:


> Oh man that looks awesome, is that a do aqua?



It is a tank from Green Leaf Aquariums in the US. Unfortunately, they are not selling tanks anymore. They were of equal quality to ADA.


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## BBogdan (6 Jul 2016)

Nice tank , have you think to put a semi-transparent/blasted background ?! , I'm pretty sure that will be a plus.


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## ShawnMac (6 Jul 2016)

BBogdan said:


> Nice tank , have you think to put a semi-transparent/blasted background ?! , I'm pretty sure that will be a plus.



I used a frosted glass backing for the final photos. I just need to get around to permanently applying it to a few of my smaller tanks. I like the look it gives. I also have some LED strip lights I'd like to setup as back lighting for this 45 cm and my 30 cm nano. I'm working on getting a stand for them so I can setup a better arrangement for the tanks. This one was sitting on a DIY stand I hastily threw together...and it was a bit wobbly. I anchored it to the wall and it was fine, but the equipment area was open and now that my son is a very mobile toddler I'd prefer to have the equipment inaccessible to him. So, for now this tank and a couple others are in a utility room.


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## ShawnMac (8 Jul 2016)

I finally got around to putting together a video of the tank from the footage I took before breaking it down.


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## Alexander Belchenko (8 Jul 2016)

Really like this video. Now, I've noticed how great your blue background matches to the rocks.

Are those fish regular whiteclouds or they are sp. vietnam?


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## ShawnMac (8 Jul 2016)

Thanks! Good eye, they are Sp. Vietnam.


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