# Brighid Sleeps



## JohnC (10 May 2015)

Hi,

Since my last year has been full of a couple of major moves I've had little time to do in house large scapes but have managed to keep this one building up until now.

The title is Brighid Sleeps after the celtic god of the same name. She was a goddess of fire and springs often depicted with flames shooting up from her head. Celebrated at the festival of Imbolc.

Specifics 

Tank Size - 60x37x30 Old Clearseal with trim removed and silicon tidied 
Lights - 2 x 60cm TMC Aquabar, 8 hours a day
Filter - Fluval 205 with Glass lily intake and outtake
Substrate - TMC Planted Substrate
CO2 - Reg/Sol, 9 hours a day
Flora - Hygrophila sp. ''Araguaia'', Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo', Pogostemon helferi
Fauna - Iriatherina werneri, Otocinclus, Caridina multidentata, Neocaridina Davidi
Maintenance - 1 hour a week
Time Running - 18 months










Best Regards,
John


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## Greenfinger2 (10 May 2015)

HI John,Wonderful Scape Congratulations


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## JohnC (10 May 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> HI John,Wonderful Scape Congratulations



Thanks man. I just wish my photography was a bit better sometimes. Always learning. I was a little impatient in getting the photos done last night and actually like the fish arrangement in this photo better (below) but i overdid the exposure (corrected a touch in photoshop).



Oh and here is my weird DIY cabinet in full light. I got bored of the wood so stuck pages from a eastern religion book to it and varnished them.



Best Regards,
John


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## Greenfinger2 (10 May 2015)

Hi John, Its not Weird Its called Decoupage  Something different makes a change 

Ho forgot nice photo too


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## John S (10 May 2015)

Nice one, looks great John


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## Tim Harrison (10 May 2015)

Nice, and I like the themed Decoupage...


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## JohnC (11 May 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi John, Its not Weird Its called Decoupage  Something different makes a change
> 
> Ho forgot nice photo too



You should see the rest of the room. My partner is busy converting the whole place into an "Steampunk, Adventure, Explorer Family room". Sometime soon the stuffed animal heads will be mounted on the walls to go with the old maps etc...




John S said:


> Nice one, looks great John



Thanks man.




Troi said:


> Nice, and I like the themed Decoupage...



Cheers. 

-------------

I thought i would mention it here as I have been staring at this evolving for so long I see the reason I named it as Brighid Sleeps pretty obviously but a lot of people seem to have missed it on facebook. The name was partially inspired by the shape of the mounds reminding me of the old scottish myths of sleeping giants on the hills of lewis near Callanish stone circle where I did archaeology decades ago.

The right hand mound is Brighid's face, the left the rise of her breast. Flames coming forth from hair and skin as she is covered by water and plants while sleeping for eternity.

Best Regards,
John


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## Tim Harrison (11 May 2015)




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## JohnC (11 May 2015)

Troi said:


>


love it 



 
the view from Callanish stone circle 



 
the "old woman of the moors" or "sleeping beauty of the moors"


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## Tim Harrison (11 May 2015)

I can see that, even without too much imagination...it's what makes the UK's landscape so special


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## JohnC (13 May 2015)

Troi said:


> I can see that, even without too much imagination...it's what makes the UK's landscape so special



Indeed.

After 18 years in the city i've moved to the scottish highlands for the last year and a half to get closer to the landscape. My new house (as of 3 months) is 200m up and surrounded by birch forest on 3 sides. 

Crazy plans a plenty. Going to be setting up a Fish Shed sometime in the next year. Although i first have to overcome the 200m height and living somewhere that is above the snowline for a quarter of the year. 

Then, since it's a old train station it's the Walipini plan across the old platform with the aim of making a large natural tropical pool at the back as a heat store with solar thermal to keep the temp up.

Plotting.


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## Tim Harrison (13 May 2015)

Sounds awesome...


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## -serok- (15 May 2015)

Hi there!

Really nice scape! I like the way you used the Hygrophila in this layout.


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## JohnC (15 May 2015)

-serok- said:


> Hi there!
> 
> Really nice scape! I like the way you used the Hygrophila in this layout.



Thanks man, its a great plant.

It really has been a good indicator of water param's too. When I was in the old place the tap water was much harder and the rocks added a bunch more hardness (there are a few more pieces buried under the plants). The Hygro didn't do so well under the harder water conditions. Now my new house tap water is spring fed and I add KH/GH to it to my desired levels (starts at zero). It's done much better over the last few months. 

It also goes MUCH redder as the water column nitrates bottom out if i've been lax on dosing. Its very cool.

best regards,
john


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## Greenfinger2 (21 Aug 2015)

Hi John, Hows are things going ? On this Scape


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## JohnC (21 Aug 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi John, Hows are things going ? On this Scape



Still ticking along. i've actually let it grow WAY big on the mounds. it's amazing how large monte carlo can get and still be green underneath. i'm planning on rescaping the tank once i've set up the cleanseal edgeline 90 in the sitting room. I've also done a 30cm cube puffer tank that i'll start a journal for soon (although i have to confess it's already 2 month old). 

So things to do list is as follows.....

Start journal for 30cm cube puffer tank 
Set up Edgeline 90
Break down and rescape this 60cm


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## Greenfinger2 (21 Aug 2015)

Hi John, Any photos  Looking forward to seeing your new scapes and reading your new journals


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## JohnC (21 Aug 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi John, Any photos  Looking forward to seeing your new scapes and reading your new journals



I'll journal the lot with photos. After a gap for moving north and buying this new place after renting it's about time i gave something back to UKAPS again 

I will aim to take some photos of the puffer tank this week at least.


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## Lukmana91 (30 Aug 2015)

Hi John, 

First of all, great aquascape, really loving the hints of red in that tank. 

Anyway, I am planning to add threadfins to my high tech tank, but i heard that they pump their gills in CO2 tanks. 
I am wondering about your thought on this subject and also your experience in keeping the beautiful threadfins in your high tech tank. 

Cheers,


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## JohnC (3 Sep 2015)

Lukmana91 said:


> Hi John,
> 
> First of all, great aquascape, really loving the hints of red in that tank.
> 
> ...



I'm not familiar with the term pump their gills? i've not noticed them "heavy breathing" as such. They have been fun but i'd not consider them for another planted tank of this size or minimal scape I think. 

They are very skittish. As soon as I put my hand in the tank they shoot off at high speed often wedging themselves in the Monte Carlo. I've also had a number just plain jump out of the tank while trimming. (there is a glass lid on all the time normally).

Feeding them was difficult at the start as their mouths are tiny, crushed flake being mainly what I've given them. 

They also seem to periodically get a buoyancy issue which i assume is from ingesting air while feeding. Causing them to struggle to keep from floating up, tiring themselves out in the process. I've lost a couple over the year from that I think. 

Flow wise they seem to cope ok. 

When I finally break this down I will add them into the larger 90cm clearseal and see how they fair in the more heavily planted scape I have in mind. 

You're right thou, they are very beautiful fish. I'm eager to see how the colours look when I switch one of the existing aquabars for a colour plus unit (boosting the blues and reds).

Best Regards,
John


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## Edvet (4 Sep 2015)

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/iriatherina-werneri/  I think these fish will benefit/feel better in a densly planted tank with floaters


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## JohnC (4 Sep 2015)

Edvet said:


> http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/iriatherina-werneri/  I think these fish will benefit/feel better in a densly planted tank with floaters



Indeed. They do settle in ok however, with plenty of displays of courting and such like. I've also made sure I had a decent ratio of females to males. Other then the alarm they show when you access the tank they generally act pretty chilled and are always on display or in central areas.


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## Ady34 (8 Sep 2015)

Nice tank John.


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## Konrad Michalski (12 Feb 2016)

Hi John. What sort of ferts were you using here? Cheers


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## JohnC (12 Feb 2016)

Konrad Michalski said:


> Hi John. What sort of ferts were you using here? Cheers


Hey Konrad 3ml all in one per day. 50% water change once a week. Aquasoil was new from the start of the tank. although by the point of the photos the rear planting was actually mostly detached from it in a low mound.


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## Konrad Michalski (12 Feb 2016)

What sort of all in one if you don't mind me asking? My monte carlo covered a whole required surface already but it doesn't grow very fast so I thought I may not dose enough ferts. Thanks


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## JohnC (13 Feb 2016)

Konrad Michalski said:


> What sort of all in one if you don't mind me asking? My monte carlo covered a whole required surface already but it doesn't grow very fast so I thought I may not dose enough ferts. Thanks



Different types tbh. Sometimes I used tropica, sometimes the TNC complete. Sometimes DIY ones i've mixed myself. If i had to pick my preference i'd buy more TNC Complete. 

I also have tap water that is basically RO now and reminerlize with a GH/KH booster.


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## Konrad Michalski (13 Feb 2016)

Thanks John.


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