# Comp_Nov09: VW Decay



## amy4342 (19 Nov 2009)

Name: Amy James (amy4342)

Tank Dimensions (Height/Width/Depth): 12 x 20 x 12

Aquascape Name: VW Decay

Hardscape/Materials used: Naturesoil, Pea gravel, VW Camper van model, model bricks

Plants: Hemianthus Callitrichoides Cuba, Eleocharis parvula, Rotala Rountifolia

Fertilisation: Easy Carbo and EI dosing

About the aquascape: I made the tank by cutting an old glass condensation lid using silicone I already had. The pea gravel and Naturesoil were leftover from previous scapes, and the plants are cuttings from my other tanks. The model bricks costed Â£8 from eBay and the model camper van costed Â£4 from eBay. Unfortunately, the seller sent the wrong model - the one pictured is a VW camper pickup, wheres I have the bus. He is sending me the correct model, so I'll swap them over when it arrives.

Inspiration: Well, as many of you know, my two favourite hobbys are aquascaping and VW classic camper vans. So, taking a leaf out of James Maslin's Foundation, I decided to re-create the scene where I first found my Volkswagen van. It was in a terrible state of disrepair, sat on the drive in front of somebody's house, which I recreated with model bricks. The grass had taken over, represented by the Eleocharis parvula, there were brambles obscuring the front of van, represented by the Hemianthus cuba, and the Rotala is supposed to represent the only nice thing growing in the garden - a gorgeous red tree of some kind.

Apologies for the dodgy pictures - never, ever buy an iPhone for it's camera. I'll upload better ones when I borrow my fiance's camera

I used carboard to seperate the substrates and the van is placed on the 'drive'.






This is the finished version with plants. Again, really sorry for the terrible picture!


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## Mark Evans (19 Nov 2009)

absolute genius!   

bring it on! James...you've got company!


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## JamesM (19 Nov 2009)

Schhhhweeeeeet!  

Love the bricks! When the van arrives are you keeping it clean, or are you going to sand it back a bit to rough it up some?


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## TDI-line (19 Nov 2009)

Dub love.


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## amy4342 (19 Nov 2009)

Oh wow, thanks for the positive comments! I'm glad you like it James - I absolutely love your Foundation scape!



> Love the bricks! When the van arrives are you keeping it clean, or are you going to sand it back a bit to rough it up some?



Thanks! Well, I'd really really like to sand it back, because I think if I let it rest in some salt water it would rust and be really true to the original, but whilst the top is made of metal, the bottom part is unfortunately made of plastic. Hmmmm, will have to see what i can do.

Thanks!


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## JamesM (19 Nov 2009)

Too many people are afraid to break the mold imo, and there's no rules in this game afterall  

Yeah, the sanding back will really help.. is the plastic blue right through, or white painted blue? If you could take it back some, then use a brown permanent marker or something.. even tipex with pen over the top. A little algae growth on the bus wouldn't look out of place either, so get the bus submerged and in a window for a few days at a time to encourage it 

I gotta think of ways of getting 2 foot Millennium Falcon in a pico tank now  fibre optic stars and stuff


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## amy4342 (19 Nov 2009)

> Yeah, the sanding back will really help.. is the plastic blue right through, or white painted blue? If you could take it back some, then use a brown permanent marker or something.. even tipex with pen over the top. A little algae growth on the bus wouldn't look out of place either, so get the bus submerged and in a window for a few days at a time to encourage it



Unfortunately, it's blue all the way through  . I was thinking about getting some modelers paint in a rusty colour? If I flick small blobs on, it might look ok. When I filled the tank, some dust from the Naturesoil also settled on the van which gave it a really really dirty look which was quite authentic. I was maybe thinking about supergluing a small amount of moss on there to replicate the amount of green mold that was on the roof, gutters, seals, everywhere basically, but I like the algae idea! Thanks!  



> I gotta think of ways of getting 2 foot Millennium Falcon in a pico tank now  fibre optic stars and stuff



, awesome idea! Dont forget R2D2!!!  . Fibre optic stars could be, um, interesting! Although, talking of electrics, I have a grand finale up my sleeve!


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## JamesM (19 Nov 2009)

Don't tell me the headlights work!?!?


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## Marco Aukes (19 Nov 2009)

Best entry I have seen so far.


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## samc (19 Nov 2009)

great idea  

my brother wanted a bigger tank like this, being a VW fan too


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## Steve Smith (19 Nov 2009)

Hah!

That's awesome!  We need Oliver Knott judging the contest, and you'd be garaunteed to win!


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## Themuleous (20 Nov 2009)

Haha quality.


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## amy4342 (20 Nov 2009)

hi,
amy is in hospital at the moment so i promised to upload some extra pics she took. as soon as she is feeling well enough she will be back and will let you know what sort of plants etc that she used.
hopefully i dont mess this up lol  8)


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## AdAndrews (20 Nov 2009)

Get well Soon


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## Tony Swinney (20 Nov 2009)

A great tank !  Hope you get well soon Amy   

Tony


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## mr. luke (20 Nov 2009)

This tank made me laugh although it is a great idea 
Something like this on a larger scale with moss 'bushes' would look awesome 
Get well soon.


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## JamesM (20 Nov 2009)

Speedy recovery, Amy.


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## Nelson (20 Nov 2009)

quality  .get well soon.


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## aquaticmaniac (20 Nov 2009)

Looks awesome  Hope it went ok, Amy. Get well soon!


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## James Marshall (23 Nov 2009)

For me this what aquascasping is all about, in that you are depicting a scene that is memorable to you.
Another excellent break with convention, to add to James Maslin's "without Foundation"

Cheers,
James


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## Steve Smith (23 Nov 2009)

Looking great!

Best wishes to Amy, hope she's feeling better soon


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## amy4342 (23 Nov 2009)

Hi all

Well, I'm back. And what a lot I have to catch up on - I'm sure I won't be bored!  . Thanks ever so much for everyones well wishes, and for the comments left - I'm really chuffed! 

I'm glad to report that no harm has come to the tank whilst I've been away - it was set up Thursday and nothing has been done with it yet, I'll probably be able to start dosing tomorrow. The only light has been natural sunlight, and since it's situated in an alcove, it hasn't received much light, which is what I'd attribute the lack of algae to. In fact, it looks much the same as when I left it, so I'm really glad!

Since I've been home, I've dissected two of my dads' submersible submarines and taken two of the propellers to introduce a bit of flow. I wonder how long it'll take him to notice ! Unfortunately, the one I've taken for this tank is way too powerful, and has whipped things up a little bit - uprooting a little of the cuba. I'll have to replant that tomorrow, and put in a variable resister. I'm just hoping I can get the plants to grow to get that wild look. 

Thanks again


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## aquaticmaniac (23 Nov 2009)

Glad to hear you and the scape are doing well  I can't wait to see it grown in.

Edit: the subs sound crazy! Was there a real sub where you found the VW


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## amy4342 (20 Dec 2009)

Ok guys, here are the final photo's. As you can see, the Rotala has grown very well and kept a nice pinky colour aswell, although that hasn't really shown in the photo's. The HC has grown extremely well and really bushed out, and whilst the original clump of Parvula I added hasn't really lost any of the algae it had in the tank it originated from, it's put out new shoots which you can hopefully see behind the HC. I didn't originally use any source of lighting apart from what was coming in the window, and I found growth to be extremely slow. In the last two weeks I nicked one of my sisters lamps and growth increased considerably, so I'm now kicking myself for not getting it earlier. I kept the model van in one of my mums glasses on the windowsill and put some TPN+ in it - AGLAE FESTIVAL! My mom was annoyed, but the van developed some great looking rust and mould spots! Also, the LED headlights - I just couldn't resist!  












Coming right at ya!


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## aquaticmaniac (20 Dec 2009)

That is awesome! I love the lights   The plants look healthy and nice rust.


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## amy4342 (20 Dec 2009)

Just wanted to post this as a final shot of the two tanks, which I've enjoyed hugely over the last few weeks (please excuse my manky dressing table  )


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