# Aqua at pet shop - Season 2 - layout #6



## Alexander Belchenko (15 Sep 2015)

Hi there, it's continuation of my thread http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/aqua-at-pet-shop-layout-no-3-the-end.32339/ so I think we can call it "season 2". The same pet shop, the same tank, the same equipment, different layouts. I hope you will like it.

*Contents:
*
_Layout #4_

Working on hardscape for layout #4

2015/09/13 - dry start - 1st week

Dry start chronicles - first 6 weeks
2015/10/17 - Wet start
2015/10/25 - 1st week with water
2015/11/14 - 4 weeks - layout is cancelled
_Layout #5_

Preview - 1.5 weeks old
1.5 months - the oak tree is growing
Maintenance mode
2016/01/31 - 2 months milestone.
Atomizer UP Aqua D-531
2016/02/14 - 2.5 months
2016/03/06 - 3 months
_Layout #6_

Starting layout #6
(About) 1.5 months update
~2 months update
IAPLC 2016 result
4 months update (August 2016)
September 2016 update - about 5.5 months
*Tank spec:*

60x30x36 - optiwhite
DIY light with 2*36W PL-C light bulbs, I like combination of OSRAM bulbs 840+880. Light period is usually 7-8 hours on timer.
Tetra EX 600 external canister filter (roughly measured flow ~400LPH)
CO2 injection 24/7 to get pH~6.5-7.0, sometimes using air pump when light went off
Liquid fertilizers, Ro+tap water to get KH~3-4, remineralize to increase GH up to 8-10.
*Last good* picture of the tank:*

2 months (IAPLC calling)
60x30x36 - 2 months by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (15 Sep 2015)

*2015/09/13 - dry start - 1st week
*
Layout was made previous weekend with help of another scaper in my town, his name is Stanislav, he has helped me with previous layout no.3 which is the best of my work so far. Stanislav is relatively newbie, last year he started to ask me advices on his first big aquascape (100L), but he's very good at rocks hardscape, so I'm learning from him of this, while teaching and helping him with plants secrets.

I bought 2 big stones for new layout, but they're not as tall as I'd like to have, so we spent more than hour trying to find the best composition of these 2. It was funny, but the truth is: using only 2 stones with very strong character is not easy. These stones didn't want to be placed in some combinations, several combinations required additional stones, some variants were too flat, or not high enough. So in the end we ended with something like that (already planted, no photo of bare hardscape sorry):

60x30x36 - dry start - 1st week by Alexander, on Flickr

It has good height, IMO.

As you can see there are quite steep slopes at the back, so I'm worry a little about it. As I will be out of town for more than week soon, I decided to begin with dry start method. I hope several weeks in dry start will be enough for plants to develop proper roots and start growing, so plants will hold the slopes from collapse.

I decided to re-use dwarf hairgrass from previous layout, and some stems as well. And try my luck with HC cuba this time. I've used already emersed cuba there, so it should start quite fast, I guess. Hairgrass will need more time to adapt.

Another angle:

60x30x36 - dry start - 1st week by Alexander, on Flickr

Your opinions are welcome. I have three or maybe more weeks of dry start, and can do some adjustments.


----------



## Andy D (15 Sep 2015)

Looks great!


----------



## Martin in Holland (16 Sep 2015)

I hope the shop knows how lucky they are. Great scape again.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (16 Sep 2015)

Martin in China said:


> I hope the shop knows how lucky they are. Great scape again.



Well, I hope so, they still allow me to work there. I know that it's me who is lucky to have this opportunity to scape a public tank. This is quite interesting experience for me.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (15 Oct 2015)

*Dry start chronicles*

I've never tried dry start method before, but thanks to this forum I was informed about it - I saw many inspiring examples in other journals.

Usually I just put water in and try to find balance in next weeks. This time I decided to go dry first for 2 reasons: I was going to vacation just in 2 weeks after starting new layout and I knew nobody will care about this tank as I do, so leaving it for too long time without my inspection was too risky. (And I was right!) And second reason: There is two quite high slopes around stones and I wanted hairgrass to properly root there to keep the slopes from collapsing when I put the water. This weekend I'm going to flood it, so I will have opportunity to verify the second argument.

I'll put pictures later in chronological order, so you can see how it evolved over last month.

When I returned from my vacation in sunny Kemer I was surprised by the state of plants. As I might predict nobody sprayed plants in my absence, neither ventilate the cover. Sigh. But overall the tank still going in the right direction: some hc has died, hairgrass was yellow with some tiny green new leaves. Hedyotis has gone mad and grown a lot. After that I started to spray and ventilate regularly and guess when I can finally flood it.

Also dry start period allowed me to think better about layout and suddenly I realized that we put big amount of styrofoam behind the rocks to make the substrate higher but I totally forgot to put some weight on it to avoid floating. SO, dig out the substrate, put some flat stones, put substrate back, replant hc. Now I see that thanks to rocks the level of substrate on the top (between rocks tips) is way too high, need to remove some. It seems hc at the top will have no chance to attach properly. Sigh.

The good news: I can see hairgrass to develop new shoots deep under substrate like it did at the beginning, I hope that means it developed enough roots and my slopes are safe? Anyway, I'd like to flood it this saturday. If you have any thoughts about it - please say quickly.

Let's see photos:

1st week
60x30x36 - dry start - 1st week by Alexander, on Flickr

2nd week
60x30x36 - dry start - 2nd week by Alexander, on Flickr

1 month (after my vacation)
60x30x36 - dry start - 1 month by Alexander, on Flickr

5.5 weeks - current state. I've trimmed hedyotis and put rocks under substrate on top.
60x30x36 - dry start - 5.5 weeks by Alexander, on Flickr

Closeup before trim
60x30x36 - dry start - 1 month by Alexander, on Flickr

Hairgrass at the back
Dry start - back side - hairgrass&[HASHTAG]#x27[/HASHTAG]; roots by Alexander, on Flickr

Thanks for watching.


----------



## alto (15 Oct 2015)

Well done.
I really enjoy your journals as they contain many adventures 
- from which we all get to learn 

I finally bought an ADA tank - a 45P & an Aquasky!
This tank is also in "dry start" - not because I planned this but my ordered filter is not arriving (shop promised only a couple days) ... 10 days later, no filter in sight - not even on paper  

& my wood keeps floating anyway


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (16 Oct 2015)

Thank you, I glad others find my adventures interesting too


----------



## parotet (16 Oct 2015)

Hi Alexander

Love the stones work! I guess it was not easy...

I never had luck with hairgrass in emersed form (except two plants in a moss setup I have right now). Every time I have tried to pass it from submersed to emersed I have ended up with brown leaves. The only time things went better was by flooding the plants in an invitro cup. The water level was covering most of the plants and then slowly reduced... I could see new growth but then I left home for a long weekend and when I came back I found that some birds had destroyed everything 

Jordi


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (19 Oct 2015)

*Working on hardscape for layout #4*


parotet said:


> Love the stones work! I guess it was not easy...



Yeah, Jordi, it wasn't easy.

So, we have 2 stones (only). I said "we" because there were 3 of us: my new aquascaper friend Stas who helped me with previous layout, me, and another one guy, who liked my previous work and hairgrass very much and asked to see how we made new layout. I allowed him to join the process with the condition: he should help us. By the way, my new aquascaper friend Stas is very good at stones work, and I think he has real talent to iwagumi, look at his latest layout here.

What do you think: how many hardscape variants you can make out of only 2 stones? I'm not sure we found all of them, but I was very surprised by number of combinations. We spent about 1 hour turning and moving stones in sandbox, then moved stones inside tank and next hour tried there. I was tired of all this trial & error and asked guys to finally use variant with biggest height of the layout. Below some photos of this process and almost final hardscape.

layout #4 - hardscape variants by Alexander, on Flickr

60x30x36 - hardscape by Alexander, on Flickr

Then we placed stones on platforms from styrofoam, put substrate back to the tank, made big slopes and start to plant. I should say that I spent almost all next week planting the tank, bought some more plants, and thus dry start began.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (22 Oct 2015)

*2015/10/17 - Wet start*

Last weekend after 6 weeks of dry start I've finally put the water in. The hills haven't collapsed - and that's great. But in some places substrate fell down into invisible caverns between/under rocks I guess, so I had to add some fresh substrate. Also, the hill where hc comes to the front glass has partially collapsed, you can see it on the photo. I'm going to fix it later when all plants properly root and establish themselves.

Photo was taken on the next day after flooding.

60x30x36 - 2nd day with water by Alexander, on Flickr

I got some positive feedback on the photo of bare hardscape without substrate (see my previous message), and now I think we shouldn't have added so big hills around rocks. Maybe I will redo this layout in the future, maybe if I get more rocks of such structure to add to the layout.

Right now the light period is 4 hours, minimal dose of ferts and inject CO2.

Yesterday I did first ~50% water change, and noticed quite bad diatoms in the middle of the right rock. It seems that area does not have enough flow. I have no idea how to improve flow in the middle, it seems flow today is almost circular with stagnant area in the middle (that was the problem as well in previous layout). I'm going to install spraybar at the back again, just need to figure out how to inject CO2. Maybe I will put it directly into filter inflow. Another option is to buy small pump and use it to distribute CO2.

Any tips?


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (25 Oct 2015)

*2015/10/25 - 1st week with water*

Today I've installed spray bar as planned. The only problem was CO2 distribution. I got advice about using small pump to push CO2 bubbles around the tank, bought cheap 200 l/h model (and it's very tiny) and despite my scepticism it works quite good. I need to replace skimmer with similar small pump later, and I think I will cover all areas with good flow.

Here is picture before maintenance, you can easily spot areas with bad flow - they are ugly, and look dirty from diatoms. Also a bit of blue-green algae starts to appear over the hc.

60x30x36 - 1 week with water by Alexander, on Flickr

I've applied liquid carbon to those areas using syringe, and after some time it was very easy to brush those algae out. Way too easy, I wonder if my rocks are actually limestome rocks. I haven't tested water parameters yet, should do that next week.

After maintenance and with all new equipment:

60x30x36 - 1 week with water by Alexander, on Flickr

Sorry for white haze - that's seachem equilibrium solution.

Now all plants are swaying very noticeable, I can see CO2 bubbles go to the middle of the tank, where hc comes down the hill. I hope that's improve situation with algae.

Now I just need to get rid off this ugly inlet pipe by eheim. Hopefully next week pictures will be without this green monster.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (26 Oct 2015)

Btw, I've tried to measure throughput of tetra 600 in this setup. It's strange but I got the same numbers with and without filter media: about 6.75 lpm or roughly 400 lph. Giving in mind there is about 40-50 l of water - I can assume it should be enough, although it's not enough without spray bar to properly cover all areas.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (14 Nov 2015)

*2015/11/14 - 4 weeks - layout is cancelled*

Sad news. I decided to redo this layout due to problems with flow and CO2 I had in past weeks. Without spraybar I can't get even flow in the middle of the rocks, but with spraybar I can't get good CO2 level. Also, I have serious suspicious about those rocks. It seems they affect water chemistry: slightly raise KH and prevent me to get decent pH drop with CO2 injection. Honestly, I thought: let's wait and see up to New Year, and if things won't go on track, I'll redo the layout. But in fact my patience just died today.

This is the photo I took before dismantle it.

60x30x36 - 4 weeks - sudden final by Alexander, on Flickr

As you can see there is a lot of diatoms on the rocks, glass and plants. Hc don't want to grow at all. Some of it has melted. I was about to replace it with some simpler plant. But diatoms killed my desire to continue working on this. Sorry.

I want to make new layout with a lot of stems and some branch wood.


----------



## Bacms (15 Nov 2015)

That is a shame as I really liked the rock layout you had. Hopefully the next one will be more successful

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (9 Dec 2015)

Sneak preview of layout #5:

60x30x36 - close up by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (18 Jan 2016)

I'm very sorry for not updating the journal - too much RL and new year holidays. Anyway, I'd like to show you the current state of the tank, it's already 1.5 months old, and looks very nice now. Almost no algae, I'm happy.

Before maintenance:

60x30x36 - 1.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 1.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

After maintenance:

60x30x36 - 1.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

As you can see from the shots - I'm using Eheim Flowpipe on the outlet of the filter. I'm very happy by this flowpipe. At first glance it looks like poorman's lily pipe, but in fact it's much more than this! It's plastic, so it's much safer to use in public place like pet shop - the tank stands dangerously close to counter and a lot of people walk around the tank and even bump into it, many times I saw they touch the pipes with their body parts. But more important - it has slow flow feature: small round circle placed right in front of the output jet and it slows down the flow very effectively, but in the same time does not affect the turnover. I'm very happy with this device, and fish seem to enjoy slow flow as well.

EHEIM flowpipe - close-up by Alexander, on Flickr
EHEIM flowpipe - back view by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Martin in Holland (19 Jan 2016)

Great layout again. I like the Eheim design, but just can't get over that ugly green colour.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (19 Jan 2016)

Martin in China said:


> Great layout again. I like the Eheim design, but just can't get over that ugly green colour.


Yep. That color should be called: death for eyes.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (19 Jan 2016)

*Maintenance mode.*

I think I didn't mention that wood is detachable from the tank. That's very useful feature for regular maintenance. Without such big and branchy wood I can easily clean the tank. I just need to spray the plants on wood every 5-10 minutes while it's outside.

60x30x36 - 1.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (22 Jan 2016)

Just to show you the tank from different view points:

60x30x36 - 1.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 1.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

Fish:

60x30x36 - 1 month by Alexander, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 1 month by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (31 Jan 2016)

*2016/01/31 - 2 months milestone.*

Today after maintenance.

60x30x36 - 2 months by Alexander, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 2 months by Alexander, on Flickr

Broke rock wall into more natural formation, with help of my colleague @Stanislav


----------



## Nelson (31 Jan 2016)

That's coming along real nice now 
Are they Corydoras venezuelanus ?.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (31 Jan 2016)

Nelson said:


> That's coming along real nice now
> Are they Corydoras venezuelanus ?.


Thank you. Yes, these are venezuelanus orange corys.


----------



## Nelson (31 Jan 2016)

Great looking fish.


----------



## Greenfinger2 (31 Jan 2016)

Hi Alexander, How did I miss this  Another stunning scape Congratulations


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 Feb 2016)

*Atomizer UP Aqua D-531*

New toy for big boy: nano atomizer. Very fine mist, very small size (compared to previous glass one). I had fears it may gas the fish ('cause I run CO2 24/7 though in slow rate, about 0.6 BPS), but no, everything is OK. So, despite it looks like working much better than glass diffusor (at least visually) - it does not necessarily ten times better inject CO2. Next weekend I'll try to get pH measurements and will see how effective it to drop my pH.

Beware! Shaky video below:



Love that fine mist, and small size. And yes - it's plastic, which is way better than glass - less chance to break it.


----------



## Sarpijk (8 Feb 2016)

Ι have bought many of these Up Aqua diffusers on Ebay. Beware there are some potential knock-off ones. After a while they would start leaking big bubbles from the glue that connects the plastic body to the stone.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 Feb 2016)

Thank you for info! I've noticed some relative big bubbles from glue area, but still it works much better than glass diffusor which mainly produced big bubbles and occasionaly small ones. I will keep my eye on that!


----------



## Sarpijk (8 Feb 2016)

I forgot to also mention that after a while the cheap ones would crack.


----------



## shrimpaholich (8 Feb 2016)

great layout! id be careful with co2 and anything plastic though. will eventually have to be replaced as it will become brittle and crack


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 Feb 2016)

I'm going to buy couple spare atomizers. They're on par with cheap madeinchina glass diffusors anyway.


----------



## shrimpaholich (11 Feb 2016)

good thinking. you dont want broken glass in there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (15 Feb 2016)

You were right, guys, about cracking. My colleague and I have bought 2 atomizers, and while my one still works good, but another one from the same batch has already cracked around glue joint (along the axis). Probably the reason was different CO2 pressure in different tanks. I don't know, but still watching mine to see whether it crack or not. If it lasts at least a month I will think that either I'm lucky or the reason is in the lower pressure.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (16 Feb 2016)

*2016/02/14 - 2.5 months*

Trying different new plants for the top of the tree. Some of them will be removed soon if don't match my idea.

60x30x36 - 2.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 2.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 2.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Greenfinger2 (18 Feb 2016)

Hi Alexander, Stunning  Love the colours in the tree looks like autumn has arrived


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (29 Feb 2016)

Atomizer sad story: after 2 weeks I decided to clean my atomizer which was still worked fine and put it to bleach for about 30 minutes. That was my fault. After cleaning it was worked well, as I thought, but in fact next day it failed around glue area - there were a hole and all CO2 went through it. No more fine bubbles, just one big bubble. I was unaware of this failure - nobody at shop thought it's abnormal. Very sad. Some plants, like ludwigia super red, are suffered a lot, lost their colors, others are not such much.
Anyway, reverted back to glass diffusor. I'm not sure I'll be trying it again. Very disappointed.

Other not so good news. I'm not happy with area under the tree. It gets too little light for plants to grow properly, had to change my plants to more shade tolerant species, but I'm going to think about changing this layout. Will try to make decent final photo first.


----------



## Nelson (29 Feb 2016)

Sorry to hear about the diffusor.It's a beautiful tank and already looking forward to the next one .


----------



## xandro007 (29 Feb 2016)

What are you dosing on this tank


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (29 Feb 2016)

@xandro007 I'm using ferts from local manufacturer: http://aquayer.com/index.php?page=akvariumnie_udobreniya&cat=0&lang=en - macro/micro regularly, sometimes after w/c Fe and PO4 from another brand.


----------



## alto (29 Feb 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> area under the tree. It gets too little light for plants to grow properly


a common complaint among gardeners too 

This isn't my favorite scape you've done but I admire the efforts involved ... & it's fun to do different things, especially in a shop display tank


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (29 Feb 2016)

Lol!

At least I know I'm not alone in my complains! Thank you for your feedback


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (6 Mar 2016)

*2016/03/06 - 3 months
*
I've slightly reworked back side under tree - removed bigger plants, and put there what I think is more tolerant to low light. Will see whether it works. Sorry for poor photo, but it's not great in flesh anyway, although I like it.

60x30x36 - 3 months by Alexander, on Flickr

But I'm sure I don't need any extra plants at the top of the tree. I'll try to revert back to January state. Sometimes it's fun to do some experiments, but it's not late to go back. Yet.


----------



## tim (6 Mar 2016)

Is it moss you've used behind the tree Alexander, I really like this layout, despite its difficulties, another great layout mate.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (6 Mar 2016)

@tim thank you for feedback. 

What do you mean by "behind the tree"? Do you mean on the ground? Or at the back side of the tree itself?

On the ground I've re-planted pogostemon sp. meng-meng, here is better photo of the original clump I had couple weeks ago:

Pogostemon sp. Meng Meng by Alexander, on Flickr

Here is back side of the tank:

60x30x36 - 3 months by Alexander, on Flickr

There are mainly stem plants, many different species.

Maybe top view will be better?

60x30x36 - 3 months by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## tim (6 Mar 2016)

I meant the plants on the ground, the pogostemon looked a little like moss from a distance, the top view of the tank is lovely mate.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (6 Mar 2016)

Yeah, that pogostemon has very smooth pattern on the distance, it's hard to see its leaves. Let's see whether it works here.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (14 Apr 2016)

*Starting layout #6*

Good news: I've managed to fix my atomiser with help of epoxy glue. About 1/3 price of new atomiser - I have repaired one.

Other news: at the mid-March I finally re-designed this layout to something different. I think this Bolbitis was too much: too big, too much shade. I diagnosed myself with strange desire to have a bigger tank. Probably 120 cm would be enough. My wife said - well, you just need another home then. It was very clear  

Well, this is fresh picture of the tank after redesign, with some new fish here (flame tetra - very nice fish, BTW!)

layout #6 - 2 weeks by Alexander, on Flickr

This is start of layout #6. As you might imagine - the wood is the same, just positioned differently. I still need to add more plants at sides. Shorter plants of course - I like the idea to have taller plants around taller branches only, thus making island-style again.

I'd like to mention that new layout is somewhat influenced by this great Amano's work: http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/favourite-takashi-amano-photos.40289/#post-437346


----------



## Greenfinger2 (14 Apr 2016)

Hi Alexander, Love it Well you new I would 

Following


----------



## alto (14 Apr 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> I diagnosed myself with strange desire to have a bigger tank. Probably 120 cm would be enough.


you must begin with 2 x 60cm tanks, then mention how nice it would be have only a single slightly bigger tank ... 120cm tank is only slightly wider than 2 x 60cm tanks 



Alexander Belchenko said:


> the wood is the same, just positioned differently


versatile wood 
I have some old dark (almost black) wood that I've used many times.

I was not such a fan of the "tree" in the beginning, but will miss it now, it really was very well done ... of course, a new scape is always so much fun


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (15 Apr 2016)

Thank you guys, I hope this time it will be much better. Although I liked the tree style, but it had some drawbacks.
This wood has another 2 different angles, I might try in the future.
I hope I can get something out this new layout for this year contest. Will see.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (5 May 2016)

*(About) 1.5 months update*

60x30x36 - layout #6 - 1.5 months(?) by Alexander, on Flickr

This layout looks better and better every week. The photo above has taken after maintenance and trimming. I hope it will look great in couple of weeks.
Somehow my layouts in that shop are more successfull at spring-summer time. I dunno why. Maybe something in the air? 

And this is just photo on the go I walked home through small town park and suddenly saw this splash of colors. This picture is very close to what I'd like to see in the tank - different nice colors and textures.

Spring colors by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Tim Harrison (5 May 2016)

Nice scape


----------



## alto (5 May 2016)

Tanks is coming along very nicely & I very much like _your_ park


----------



## BBogdan (5 May 2016)

Looking really nice !
I love your flame tetras.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (5 May 2016)

Many thanks for your feedback, guys!


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 May 2016)

Fresh (shaky) video - please see in HD quality.


----------



## tim (8 May 2016)

Version #6 is lovely Alex, nice inspiration shot, this scape will just get better with age, top job mate.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (16 May 2016)

*~2 months update*

It's about 2 months milestone, but the tank is better and better each week, thanks to the fact it was already about 5 months mature. Last weekend I've tried to get something for this year's contest with help of the same photographer I work with during last year or. I hope we were lucky enoug to catch some good shots.

60x30x36 - 2 months by Alexander, on Flickr

The fish are extremely stubborn or maybe too much brave. They do not fear any trick that worked with other less confident fish in the past. I literally had to use pincetes to move fish from undesired spot near side glass. It was crazy.


----------



## CooKieS (17 May 2016)

Wow, very Nice Colors in this scape, plants and fishes are going very well together! 

One word about the eheim 'lily pipe' design; that thing is looking ridiculous, please eheim guys, makes some clear tubing and an decent looking pipe!


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (19 May 2016)

Fragment with venezuelanus orange corys. I like corys of all sp, but these are very colorful guys:

Fragment with orange corys by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## GHNelson (19 May 2016)

CooKieS said:


> Wow, very Nice Colors in this scape, plants and fishes are going very well together!
> 
> One word about the eheim 'lily pipe' design; that thing is looking ridiculous, please eheim guys, makes some clear tubing and an decent looking pipe!


Its about time they got into the 21st Century!
hoggie


----------



## alto (20 May 2016)

Think of it as Eco-Friendly ...
back in the Dawn of Eheim, a vey special Manufacturer of Extraordinary Products was Discovered

- & Eheim Greeen was Born

In their Excitement, ALL that SPecial Green became the Exclusive Product of Eheim  ...

& so it REMAINs to this Day & Forever Forward

Tradition
Longevity
Posterity
Future

the GREEN of EHEIM


----------



## alto (20 May 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> venezuelanus orange corys


Do you know much about adult size of these fish?

  I just found the answer on PlanetCatfish


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (20 May 2016)

@alto I searched earlier and it seems they should be about 5 cm, but mine don't want to grow more than 4cm (approx). So I'd say they're medium sized corys


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (13 Jun 2016)

_From this to this...  or something like that._

Sorry, had no time for proper update and proper maintenance of the tank. Too much work, and want to get some summer. But I have some photos waiting to share.
Mid May I took some photo for contest, I published fragment earlier. After the session I decided to see how far this layout will go wild without trimming. So, from more or less good shape to the jungle:

May 15 - couple of days after trimming and right after photo session:

60x30x36 - 2 months by Alexander, on Flickr

May 22 - week later, usually I'd trim it but skipped that time:

layout #6 - 1 week after trimming by Alexander, on Flickr

One more week later - May 29:

layout #6 - 2 weeks after trimming by Alexander, on Flickr

Yeah, totally uncontrolled. After that I've been forced to use scissors again. But had no time for proper trim, I just cut here and there every week. Waiting for some free time and inspiration.
Last weekend it looked like that (trimmed some pinatifida):

60x30x36 - 2.5 months by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (13 Jun 2016)

Fresh video, nothing special though. But in RL it's very interesting to watch the tank, fish, shrimps and plants. HD mode is better.


----------



## rebel (14 Jun 2016)

Lovely scape. This should inspire many who visit the store!


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (14 Jun 2016)

rebel said:


> Lovely scape. This should inspire many who visit the store!


Yeah, I hope so!


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (27 Jun 2016)

Yesterday I've got a request to set-up the tank for customer who said he liked this tank. I'm quite pleased, but I don't expect too much. He does not have the tank yet, and pretty new to the hobby. We still need to educate people about important things and what should be done to get successful planted tank.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 Aug 2016)

IAPLC 2016 - 1033 place. Better than 2 previous years, but I've hoped to break 1000 bar this time.

IAPLC 2016 - 1033 place by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## alto (8 Aug 2016)

Congratulations


----------



## Tim Harrison (8 Aug 2016)

Saw the bare bones, but somehow I think I missed this maturing, it's a lovely scape


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 Aug 2016)

Thank you, guys!


----------



## zozo (8 Aug 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> IAPLC 2016 - 1033 place. Better than 2 previous years, but I've hoped to break 1000 bar this time.



What would one need to come up with with over 2300 entries competing? I realy wonder how that all is judged.. I have no idea, most be something mindboggling for the judges, wouldn't be surpriced if it's some kind of a lotery concept in the end. I try to imagine, saying something about over 2300 works? I once went to Madrid and visited 3 art museums in 3 days, when i was done i was happy i could just sit in a park looking at green grass only. Not even remebering what i all did see, but a few.. And next to that, looking at art is also something of a personal emotional state you're in at the time youy watch it. I think if you let them judge the same batch 4 weeks later again they come up with totaly different results..  

Anyway this is one hell of a beautiful setup, very pleasing to the eye and very relaxing, the way the colors flow into eachother is supurbly done. 
With so many entries, scaled down to 1 in 10 you still got a top 5 scape and it certainly looks like that.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 Aug 2016)

zozo said:


> ... I once went to Madrid and visited 3 art museums in 3 days, when i was done i was happy i could just sit in a park looking at green grass only. ...



This story made my day! LOL, thank you Marcel!


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 Aug 2016)

zozo said:


> What would one need to come up with with over 2300 entries competing? I realy wonder how that all is judged.. I have no idea, most be something mindboggling for the judges, wouldn't be surpriced if it's some kind of a lotery concept in the end. I try to imagine, saying something about over 2300 works?



As far as I know all entries are pre-screening by some ADA staff, they rank them into 2 groups: top-100 and all others. Others took numbers based on this pre-screening process. I suppose this is quite hard work, and these numbers are just ballpark figures. So people used to say: I'm in top-500, or in top-300. There is fine works category for top-200 IIRC. I have IAPLC catalogue from 2014 (my first entry) and I suppose they could be ranked based on how good they look in very tiny format printed on paper - the size if just about matches sticks box. As you can imagine - all works looks quite good or quite bad - depending on your mood - in such small size.

Top-100 works are sent to international judges who score each work accoriding to 6 given criteria. They spend several weeks to do their job.

So, here is top-100 - and all others.

I'm always trying to repeat this to myself: numbers are just numbers. I know my tank is good, not the best of the best, and I'm OK with it. Our hobby is not only for aquascaping competions.


----------



## AnhBui (8 Aug 2016)

Too early to say now. Let's wait for top 50 pictures this October


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (8 Aug 2016)

One more shot from IAPLC session. I like it more than contest photo I show you above. There are much more fish visible, you can see my orange corys. But unfortunately I decided not to send this one 'cause this flammeus tetra swim quite chaotic. I thought it might affect ranking. Maybe I was wrong, who knows. 

60x30x36 - 2 months by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Dantrasy (8 Aug 2016)

The same guy who ranked #1 in 2015 ranked #1 in 2016. Incredible! Can't wait to see his tank.

+Congratz to your placement Alex!


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (16 Aug 2016)

*4 months update (August 2016)*

I've done major change in plants list: most of stems plants went out, bolbitis as well. Replaced with crypts and java fern sp. minor.

60x30x36 - 4 months by Alexander, on Flickr



Let's go back to less jungles and more simplistic look.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (11 Sep 2016)

*September 2016 update - about 5.5 months.*

I've been very busy with home renovation, so had no time and energy to visit to pet shop for almost 3 weeks. And nothing bad happens actuaaly when I saw the tank yesterday and do maintenace. Of course, a little bit more BBA than usual, but I'm still think it's under control. Photo taken before maintenance with dirty glass:

60x30x36 - 6 months by Alexander, on Flickr

For me nothing really bad in the state of the tank. I've done the maintenance, prune some plants and clean external filter. This time I've decided to set it up with media exactly as manual recommends (only active carbon I'm missing). The major change I've used bio-media plastic balls for second tray, as it should by the manual. So far all those years the canister have been working without those balls. I can't explain, but recently reading about sumps and refugiums, and how some big Amano's tanks have set up, I started to think I need more bio-filtration in my own tanks, rather than mechanical filtration. I expect to see better control over BBA, which is very possibly related to big amount of fish (about 20) and constant over feeding by pet shop staff (they simply don't want to hear my arguments about overfeeding). So my plan is to experiment with bio-media and see whether it's good for this particular tank with regular maintenance, and maybe I can start to do maintanence every 2 weeks, if it works.

Anyway, so far tank looks more or less OK after maintenance:

60x30x36 - 6 months by Alexander, on Flickr

I'm startig thinking about rescaping it as riparium with rich emersed part, maybe fill the tank on half and make small waterfall with water from filter outlet. Also the fish. It's nice, but somewhat pale, I'd like to put there something more colorful, maybe cardinal tetra.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (12 Sep 2016)

Flame tetra on white sand look really great. I guess with white backlight it should "flame" as well.


----------



## Manisha (12 Sep 2016)

Lovely tank & 'large' cories - are they a bigger species? It will be interesting to know how the changes to your filter will work - I always change the eheim plastic mech pro with sponge, as just can't see how it could be effective at filtering enough dirt from the biological media in the next stage!


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (13 Sep 2016)

@Manisha those "large" cories aren't large at all IMO, they're about 4 cm. It's venezuela orange cories - I have them since January 2016. Very cute fish, I like corys.

60x30x36 - 1 month by Alexander, on Flickr

I'm happy with these corys - quite hardy and unfussy at all. But they're shy a little, if there is no food to eat they prefer to hide into the jungle.


----------



## Greenfinger2 (13 Sep 2016)

Hi Alexander, Fantastic journal stunning scapes  Love the fish too


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (19 Sep 2016)

About 6 months now. Excuse me dirty sand.

60L - 6 months by Alexander, on Flickr

60L - 6 months by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (19 Sep 2016)

I have no clear idea what to do with background. Most likely I will put bolbitis there, but for now there is rotala valichii - just because I have no other room for it :-/


----------



## alto (19 Sep 2016)

I like the R wallichii in the background


----------



## Manisha (19 Sep 2016)

Beautiful! You tetras have very vibrant colours ☺


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (19 Sep 2016)

Thank you! Sometimes I feel those flame tetra is better suitable for close watching. On overall photos they're not so prominent. I wonder if cardinal tetra would be more colorful there...


----------



## Manisha (19 Sep 2016)

I thought they looked like rubies at first, until I read back...Cardinals would fare well in your established set up, but as is is very nice, far better than I would be able to put together, haha!


----------



## AnhBui (20 Sep 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> I have no clear idea what to do with background. Most likely I will put bolbitis there, but for now there is rotala valichii - just because I have no other room for it :-/


I think not. Better leave it like this. It is dense enough in low middle and background. You need to create a space in upper area for eyes ease


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (20 Sep 2016)

Oh, I meant middle of V shaped area between upright branches. There was a lot of pinatifida, but it's too big for this tank, so I trimmed it heavily.


----------



## dw1305 (23 Sep 2016)

Hi all,





Alexander Belchenko said:


> I feel those flame tetra is better suitable for close watching


The Flame Tetras look really healthy, I don't think I've ever seen them look that colourful.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (26 Sep 2016)

New fish - diamond neon tetra:


----------



## Greenfinger2 (26 Sep 2016)

Hi Alex, Looking great love the new fish


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (2 Oct 2016)

Today we had a small meeting in the pet shop: 3 enthusiast of planted tanks I invited to come and look at new Aqualighter Aquascape LED unit. Below you can compare difference between fluorescent lamps and led unit.

2*36W fluorescent lamps (8000K+4000K)

60x30x36 by Alexander, on Flickr

1 Aqualighter Aquascape unit in full power (6500K+3000K)

60x30x36 by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Manisha (3 Oct 2016)

Hi, that sure is a difference, though it may be just the way the camera picks up the light, I like how the hygrophila pinatifida colours show best with the led - but I  actually think the florescent lamps show better colour on the green plants lower down in the tank? Though I know what our eyes see & what's optimum for plant growth is very different...


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (3 Oct 2016)

I think that led light is a bit reddish so green look darker.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (11 Oct 2016)

This photo was taken during water change.

60x30x36 - water change by Alexander, on Flickr

I think shallow tanks have some charm. Also, I'm thinking about turning this tank into paludarium, maybe one day.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (30 Oct 2016)

Testing new LED light of local manufacturer:

IMG_5249 by Alexander, on Flickr

Very very bright light, I've already purchased a dimmer.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (22 Nov 2016)

Tender Flower by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (28 Nov 2016)

4 weeks with new LED light unit. Manufacturer gives such parameters on unit: 3400 lm light intensity, power unit is 12V and 36W. I must to say the light is ridiculuosly bright. I don't need such bright light. So I'm using dimmer (for LED stripes, wtf?) and trying to find a way to set it slighter higher. So far it seems I need only half or even third the power to have the same amount of light as previous 2*36W T5 unit (about 30 cm above water). Adding more light - and I have short green hair on the glass next week.



60x30x36 - 4 weeks with new light by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (12 Dec 2016)

6 weeks with new light. After I've dimmed the light to match CO2 and ferts, everything grows very good and very fast, and almost no algae on glass. Dimmable light FTW!



60x30x36 - 6 weeks with new LED light by Alexander, on Flickr


----------



## alex08 (12 Dec 2016)

Equilibrium, in one word. Nice setup, Alexander!


----------



## Manisha (14 Dec 2016)

Super lush! (pink tinsel a nice touch also!)


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (14 Dec 2016)

Pink tinsel is a part of new year and Christmas preparations.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (26 Dec 2016)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year:



P61225-103236 by Alexander, on Flickr

This tank has been running on the same sand substrate for all last year since December 2015. The system is very stable, and even with ridiculuously small CO2 injection rate everything grow good and bushy. It was not easiest year for me, but I finally started to use LED light, and this is interesting experience. Though, I can see T5 lights still can provide better color redintion in my case. I'd like to check some RGB light in next year.

After new year, I'm going to rescape this tank with more red plants to see whether this LED unit can grow reds.


----------



## Costa (27 Dec 2016)

The red tailed fishes in layout #6, are they rainbows or tetras? Great work overall


----------



## Alexander Belchenko (27 Dec 2016)

@Costa only tetras were there. No rainbows. Flame tetra couple months ago were replaced by diamond neon tetra.


----------

