# Nano cave scape journal



## navneethtk (19 Sep 2014)

Hey guys my first post/thread on UKAPS.
this is my first scape which is a bit next level for me. Got the idea of it from a book. 

I used Laterite stones which I collected Behind my house. And for soil I've used amazonia and white sand as decorative.

Right now I've left it in DSM for the trichomanes sp. To latch itself to the stones. Will do the same for the mosses.

Planning for HC Cuba and japan hair grass in the soil. And a bit of crepidomanes sp. Also.

Comments and critics welcome!


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## EnderUK (19 Sep 2014)

Very very nice. Did you cut the rock to get the flatness? It almost looks like a reef.


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## tim (19 Sep 2014)

Nice rock work.


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## navneethtk (19 Sep 2014)

EnderUK said:


> Very very nice. Did you cut the rock to get the flatness? It almost looks like a reef.


Thank you! Few of the rocks I cut using a hammer. Some I found it as it is.

These are actually used as bricks for construction in coastal south India. So I guess that's why some are flat.


tim said:


> Nice rock work.


Thanks Tim.


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## James D (19 Sep 2014)

Welcome to the forum Navneeth, that should look great planted up, what size is the tank?


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## Martin in Holland (19 Sep 2014)

Nice....very nice
I would like to know how big/small this tank is too


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## Tim Harrison (19 Sep 2014)

Marvelous...


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## navneethtk (19 Sep 2014)

Martin in China said:


> Nice....very nice
> I would like to know how big/small this tank is too





James D said:


> Welcome to the forum Navneeth, that should look great planted up, what size is the tank?



Thanks guys! The tank size is a foot cube. Since its small I'll either be keeping just shrimps (carbon rilis) or a school of danionella priapus.

Can someone help me with filtration? A canister is out of my student budget so I thought I'll use a HOB and a small internal filter. Will this be effective? And where should I place the filters?


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## EnderUK (19 Sep 2014)

If you are using co2 then a HOB is not the most efficient filter. If low tech then a HOB will work great, place it were ever.

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## navneethtk (19 Sep 2014)

EnderUK said:


> If you are using co2 then a HOB is not the most efficient filter. If low tech then a HOB will work great, place it were ever.
> 
> Sent from my Radar C110e using Tapatalk


Oh shuck... 
yes I will be having pressurized co2 

Reason I asked about filter placement is because the rocks might block flow.


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## Martin in Holland (20 Sep 2014)

I've used a HOB filter in my "Dong Hu Gorge" tank, worked perfect, just take out those prefabricated cartridge filters replace with just a bit of floss to keep your tank somewhat clean and place some course filter media (cut into small pieces) on the bottom for bacteria to grow on, this will increase the output and will become cheaper in use as you don't need to buy those cartridge filters anymore.


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## navneethtk (20 Sep 2014)

Martin in China said:


> I've used a HOB filter in my "Dong Hu Gorge" tank, worked perfect, just take out those prefabricated cartridge filters replace with just a bit of floss to keep your tank somewhat clean and place some course filter media (cut into small pieces) on the bottom for bacteria to grow on, this will increase the output and will become cheaper in use as you don't need to buy those cartridge filters anymore.


Thanks martin!

A small update:
Added Japan Hairgrass to the lower regions of the tank in the crevasses.

 Added a mist maker to help in DSM.
added few more small stones and soil on the bridge.


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## Ryan Thang To (20 Sep 2014)

nice. keep us updated


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## navneethtk (23 Sep 2014)

Sorry for the delay. I had to change the soil on the bridge as the particles were too big for HC. So changed it, replanted the HC added some diced peacock moss here n there too.



Hope you guys like it. 
yet to add more moss and fissidens.


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## navneethtk (28 Sep 2014)

A bit of the HC melted away while I wasn't home. But new leaves seemed to have sprouted over it. Should I leave it as it is or should I do something about it?

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## Dantrasy (28 Sep 2014)

If I had more hc on hand, I'd pull it out and replace the melted plug. But that's just me. How long to do plan to do the dry start? Growth looks a little vertical on the hc, may be your light intensity is on the low side. What light are you using? How many hours?


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## navneethtk (29 Sep 2014)

Dantrasy said:


> If I had more hc on hand, I'd pull it out and replace the melted plug. But that's just me. How long to do plan to do the dry start? Growth looks a little vertical on the hc, may be your light intensity is on the low side. What light are you using? How many hours?


I thankfully had some more HC, So I replaced it. Hope it does well.

Lights are 36w pll. So its high light and I've seen to it they get good light. 

I also added fissidens fontanus now. I hope that latches itself.

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## navneethtk (22 Oct 2014)

Quick phone snaps. HC  Cuba started doing well after adding a fan.





Japan hair grass is packing in.
o also added few crepidomanes sp. Here n there.

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## navneethtk (29 Oct 2014)

Hope you guys like an update. Need to add moss to cover the blank stones.

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## Crossocheilus (29 Oct 2014)

Looks great, extremely original and dynamic scape. Although I do agree, needs more plants!


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## Dantrasy (29 Oct 2014)

I'm liking this one a lot.


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## navneethtk (30 Oct 2014)

Crossocheilus said:


> Looks great, extremely original and dynamic scape. Although I do agree, needs more plants!


Thanks! 
Thing is I got exams now and no time to work on it. Hopefully in two weeks I'll stuff in a lot of moss!

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## ADA (30 Oct 2014)

Jealous lol, I've been trying to do something similar in my 8L micro habitat for last couple of months but I'm still having issues fitting it in. Nice work tho, really inspiring.


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## Crossocheilus (30 Oct 2014)

navneethtk said:


> Thing is I got exams now and no time to work on it. Hopefully in two weeks I'll stuff in a lot of moss!



I've not got exams just yet but life, school and controlled assessments in French, German and English have got in the way of setting up my new tank, its been lying empty for months, I'm still trying to source acrylic spray bars...

Hope you get that moss in soon, it will look perfect with a few more plants and of course I just can't commend that rock work enough 

Good luck with your exams!


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## navneethtk (30 Oct 2014)

ADA said:


> Jealous lol, I've been trying to do something similar in my 8L micro habitat for last couple of months but I'm still having issues fitting it in. Nice work tho, really inspiring.


Haha thank you. I'm loving nano and pico scaping. After my exams I'm gonna get a lot of small tanks to scape with!


Crossocheilus said:


> I've not got exams just yet but life, school and controlled assessments in French, German and English have got in the way of setting up my new tank, its been lying empty for months, I'm still trying to source acrylic spray bars...
> 
> Hope you get that moss in soon, it will look perfect with a few more plants and of course I just can't commend that rock work enough
> 
> Good luck with your exams!


Just can't live with myself when there's an empty or unfinished tank! I have to finish it! Adding moss is just one thing. 

In two weeks I'll be starting work on my very own Aquascaping studio/store!

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## Vivian Andrew (30 Oct 2014)

Welcome to UKAPS Naveen , your tank looks great following in IAH also


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## Jason King (5 Nov 2014)

Great rock work 

Are the rocks glued? or balanced?


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## navneethtk (11 Nov 2014)

kisanjong said:


> Great rock work
> 
> Are the rocks glued? or balanced?


Only the top portion is glued. Rest sat in place thanks to its jagged structure. 

Here's a time lapse. 





I've modified it further more after the last pic was taken and plan on making two more modifications during next water change.

Hope you guys liked it!

Sent from my Panasonic P11


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## DivZero (11 Nov 2014)

Looking amazing! Definitely watching this


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## Greenfinger2 (11 Nov 2014)

Hi Navneethtk, 
Superb  Rock work  Looking forward to the updates


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## navneethtk (13 Nov 2014)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Navneethtk,
> Superb  Rock work  Looking forward to the updates


Thanks guys!


DivZero said:


> Looking amazing! Definitely watching this




My HC  Cuba drilled its way through the stones and now its roots can be seen on the underneath of the bridge. 



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## DivZero (13 Nov 2014)

navneethtk said:


> My HC  Cuba drilled its way through the stones and now its roots can be seen on the underneath of the bridge.



At least you're are sure it's not gonna be floating any time soon!


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## navneethtk (5 Dec 2014)

"Orb moss" a native Indian moss I've nicknamed. 

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## drodgers (6 Dec 2014)

Looks really nice!


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## navneethtk (11 Dec 2014)

candid time 









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## Greenfinger2 (11 Dec 2014)

Superb


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## Joost (12 Dec 2014)

The rock work is really great. How did you do it?


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## Dantrasy (13 Dec 2014)

Fantastic scape. Just needs a heavy trim imo.


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## navneethtk (13 Dec 2014)

Dantrasy said:


> Fantastic scape. Just needs a heavy trim imo.


Haha yeah I'm waiting for the HC  to cover the whole bridge and the moss to cover more area.


Joost said:


> The rock work is really great. How did you do it?


These rocks are very jagged so the stones below have interlocked very well without any additional support, the bridge portion I've used an adhesive to bind it together. Its holding well.


Greenfinger2 said:


> Superb


Thank you!

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## mungo (13 Dec 2014)

This looks great. Very original and skilled hardscaping, especially considering it's a 30cm cube. I wish I could collect stones like that from behind my house.

I'm also very interested in the idea of putting high light loving plants high up in the tank, rather than the traditional base carpet.

Will definitely be following with interest.

What (if anything) are you planning for fauna? And which book did you take inspiration from?


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## navneethtk (14 Dec 2014)

mungo said:


> This looks great. Very original and skilled hardscaping, especially considering it's a 30cm cube. I wish I could collect stones like that from behind my house.
> 
> I'm also very interested in the idea of putting high light loving plants high up in the tank, rather than the traditional base carpet.
> 
> ...


Thinking of CBS or rilis with galaxy rasboras. 

I referred to a book by readers digest called wonders of the world. Lots of inspirational landscapes in that book. 

Sent from my Panasonic P11


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## navneethtk (16 Dec 2014)

Finally added some shrimps. Have added red rilis. If all goes well will add few more.

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## Vivian Andrew (18 Dec 2014)

Nice


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## navneethtk (22 Jan 2015)

Day 100 update 



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## Vivian Andrew (22 Jan 2015)

Nice snap, post one color photo too sony rocks


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## navneethtk (3 Feb 2015)

Some candid shots of my tank 

The rilis are carrying. Soon will have enough to give away. 

sent from my Sony z2


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## Vivian Andrew (3 Feb 2015)

how much time fissidens will take to grow and establish?, kept in new tank which is 8 days old but now only new shoot coming.


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## navneethtk (28 Apr 2015)

Completely forgot about posting here. 

I took the final shot for TGIAC, IAPLC & AGA here are some close ups.

Golden bee shrimps added 





At first I thought I'd add boraras sp. But realised that the stone will hide the fish. So instead went for sundadanio Axelrodii "blue" 





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## navneethtk (31 Aug 2015)

Rank 809  Here's the fts. 

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## Greenfinger2 (1 Sep 2015)

Hi Navneethtk, Congratulations on your ranking


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