# 300L MA store tank - First trim



## Tony Swinney (20 Jan 2011)

So, here we go with another journal 

I've been asked to scape a tank in my local Madenhead Aquatics, using only products available within the store, or, in the case of hardscape, available in the garden centre they are within   

I had some time this afternoon, so I played around with the rockwork, using black garden slate from the garden centre.  Having dug through two huge troughs of rocks, I made some choices and came up with this...






Looking at it this evening, I'm not happy with the angle of a couple of the rocks, but I think its getting there.  Hopefully a little tweak or two on Saturday morning will get it right, then I'll plant it up    Alot of the gravel will be stripped out, and the substrate will be Florabase Black.  Planting will be 'grassy'   

Tank Specs:
120w x 60h x 45d (cm) - approx 300L
Lighting: 4 x 54w T5
Pressurised CO2
Flaura and fauna to be finalised   

Tony


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## Piece-of-fish (20 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Tony its amazing. The only thing i would do is just move the left rock back a bit without changing any angles. Looks very natural. I am surprised how slate could turn out in proper hands   Who'd say now slate lacks texture!


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## George Farmer (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Nice one, Tony!  Hardscape is great - best use of slate I've seen!   

I always harp on about how most shop's planted display tanks are rubbish, and how more folk on here should offer their services.  So seeing journals like this is wonderful!  It's the best advert for the hobby possible, and if you can achieve a stunning planted aquascape with using only in-store products, then there's little excuse for others not being able to replicate, especially if the staff pay attention to you too.

Will you be running 4 x 54w T5?  Does the shop stock decent ferts with NPK?  I know Mark had issues with this with his in-store displays.

Great work mate. Looking forward to following this, and seeing how the staff and customers react.   

Which MA store is it?


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## nayr88 (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Very nice layout tony, I like it a lot.

I'd love to do something like this at my LFS, how do you go about arranging it? Things like daily maintenance. Water changes filter cleans, budget and equipment ect. I would be really interested to know. 

Who will be picking fish? 

Cheers


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## George Farmer (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				nayr88 said:
			
		

> I'd love to do something like this at my LFS, how do you go about arranging it?


I hope Tony doesn't mind me interjecting in his thread.  This subject is somewhat of a passion of mine.

Strike up a good relationship with the staff.

If they have a planted display tank then ask questions about it.  If it's full of algae and/or suffering plants (most are!) then suggest to them that you may be able to help if they're interested.  

Bring in some photos of your previous work to back up what you are saying.  A lot of staff are still frightened of nitrates and phosphates so don't mention this right at the start or they may stop listening from that point onwards.

It's really important to come across as polite and well-mannered, and not arrogant.  Most staff have been into the hobby for many years and won't take kindly to being told what to do! 

If they are interested then maybe suggest you can do a re-scape of their current set up using their current stock.  You will have to design the 'scape and planting around the available stock.  No point in having a glosso carpet if CO2, lighting, nutrients and circulation can't be supplied appropriately.  Low maint plants are always a good choice - Java fern, Anubias, crypts.

If it's local then and you have time then offer to maintain it once a week or more frequently.  Try to get a member of staff to shadow you throughout the whole process, so in your absence they can take over.  Once the staff have a bit of ownership of a nice looking planted aquascape they will want to keep it looking good.  

Long-term the display tank will not only look great in the store and sell them products, but it will be a training aid for the staff and potential customers.

It's no surprise that shops with decent planted display tanks sell a load more plants then shops without...  A decent planted tank will pay for itself in no time.  Think about excess plant cuttings, as well as the advertising aspect.  

It's a real win win process.  You get to 'scape and maintain nice tank, they get to sell more stuff and the customer gets educated properly.


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## mlgt (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

If its looking like that already Im sure once planted and mature will look even better 

How tall is the tank? Or is it wysiwyg? Will you be keeping the mound at that height? I think just a tad more height will be nice


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## B7fec (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Hi Tony,

Really liking the scape layout, very interesting use of slate......most slate scapes tend to struggle to create the look you've achieved, nice start for sure. Whats the thoughts on planting?


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## Tony Swinney (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Thanks guys, I got lucky with some very textural pieces of slate - it took some digging out amongst the square, flat slabs !

Here is a quick retouch of the tweaks I'm planning, and to give an idea of the black substrate too.  I'll try to get this tomorrow when I go back to plant it up.







			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> Will you be running 4 x 54w T5? Does the shop stock decent ferts with NPK?



Hi George.  There'll be 4 x 54w T5s above the tank, but only two will be on all day.  The shop is open 9 to 6, and they like to have the lights on the tanks for the whole time for obvious reasons, but that would be a 9 hour photoperiod so I'm going to try to get them to leave them off for the first and last hour.  Alternatively I might raise the lights higher to reduce the intensity.  After a few weeks I'll probably look to introduce the second pair of tubes for a midday burst, but we'll see how it goes.

The ferts are a slight concern, and I have to resolve that tomorrow.  I have to use stuff they sell, which is a JBL product which specifically boasts about not having N or K    They do order Tropica in for customers so I'm going to try to get them on to TPN / TPN+ instead   



			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> ...seeing how the staff and customers react.    Which MA store is it?



Me too, the staff are really keen so hopefully they'll take it on, and follow my initial instructions.  The tank is right in the entrance to the store ( its the Weybridge MA ) so every customer sees it first, so I'm hoping it'll get alot of attention.  I'll find out on Saturday as its their busiest day, and I'll be there, tweezers in hand   



			
				nayr88 said:
			
		

> I'd love to do something like this at my LFS, how do you go about arranging it? Things like daily maintenance. Water changes filter cleans, budget and equipment ect. I would be really interested to know.
> 
> Who will be picking fish?



Hi nayr, fish choice will be led by me, but obviously has to be in stock with them - they've a lot to choose from     Georges explanation is pretty much exactly how this came about - thanks George     I've been buying from the store for a while, and the guys in there are really friendly and very interested in all things aquatic - particularly plants.  I know that should be a given with their jobs, but its not the case in every aquatics store !  I'd offered some advice with their planted tank which was suffering algae and pointed them towards ukaps where they spotted my journals.  Then when they were talking about rescaping the tank they asked my advice and I offered to do it for them   

I had a chat with Mark, about his MA tank, and he made me aware of some of the issues that I may face - different staff looking after the tank each day, limited choice of ferts and hardscape etc  I'm going to try to tackle these as George suggested by getting one person to look after it as fas as possible, and take responsibility for it.  I'll pop in once a week or so, but I'm hoping after a couple of months they'll be looking after it all, without much input from me.  Their enthusiasm for it suggests this might well work.



			
				mlgt said:
			
		

> How tall is the tank? Or is it wysiwyg? Will you be keeping the mound at that height? I think just a tad more height will be nice


Hi Rick, its 60cm tall. You're right about the height, and I tried to get more !  The substrate will come up an inch once filled, and the tank canopy hangs over the top inch too, so that will help.  Despite having all the garden centre rocks to choose from the only other taller one was very slab sided and just didnt fit in.  



			
				B7fec said:
			
		

> Whats the thoughts on planting?


I've got to finalise that tonight but the overall plan is 'grassy', with E Acicularis , E. Tennelus i (both of which are due in today from AquaFleur), and hopefully vivipara at the back, though we're struggling to get any right now.  That said, they've some really nice Lilaeopsis novea-zealandiae in stock, and I want to try a glosso / riccia carpet too  :?   I'll accentuate the rocks with some crypts, maybe parva and some beckettii "petchii".  I'll decide tonight   

Tony


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## mlgt (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

I think the black substrate suits it better and probably a better chance to create a better slope. 
Hopefully over time this will compact better. 

Look forward to seeing the updated pics on this mate.


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## George Farmer (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Looks even better!  Love it mate.    

Plant choice sounds good too.  Similar to Mark's latest, which is a very good thing! 

Good luck with it all mate.  I can see there being a UKAPS / LFKC get together at Weybridge MA soon...


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## Tony Swinney (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Thanks George, yep its heavily inspired by marks latest and greatest    I just need to make sure its different too  

I'll be there all morning tomorrow if anyone wants to swing by and say hi   

Tony


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## George Farmer (21 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				Tony Swinney said:
			
		

> I'll be there all morning tomorrow if anyone wants to swing by and say hi


Would love to pop down myself but busy with my own tank tomorrow.

Have fun!  Look forward to seeing the pics.


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## Mark Evans (22 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Tony, like George, this in my opinion is the best use of slate I've seen. A great advert for so called 'inadequate hardscape'  here in the UK. It just goes to show...talent will always prevail

it's killer mate. 

I look forward to the next process of planting


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## Gill (22 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Really like the use of the slate. And will sure be great show tank.


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## toadass (22 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Ye, fair play to you Tony  . It'l be a great advert for the hobby, Looking great so far....especially with the limited choice on hardscape


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## Tony Swinney (22 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Thanks guys     I was a bit nervous about having to use the garden centres slate, but once I got rummaging around in the crate, I found bits that could work OK.

I planted it up this morning    6 pots of glosso, 12 pots of E Acicularis, and 10 pots of E Tennelus went in, along with 5 pots of riccia on slate stone.  I could've done with a bit more glosso really, but that was all we had.  I had to head off to a family do, whilst the tank was still filling, so I left the guys in the shop to gently fill it, get the filters up and running, and the CO2 aswell - I'll pop in in the morning to see how its doing, and take some pics too.

I've some cryptocoryne petchii set aside which I may place in amongst the rocks as a few feature plants, and I still have to decide whether to go with a tall 'grass' at the back like vallis nana.  At the minute I'm thinking not, as I think it might detract from the rocks, but we'll see.

Pics tomorrow   

Tony


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## JEK (23 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Great use of slate! Were you inspired by this 'scape: http://www.pracownia-roslin-wodnych.pl/ ... m_lasu.jpg


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## George Farmer (23 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Looking forward to the pics.    

Good to see you've chosen nice and slow, low maintenance plants like Riccia, hairgrass, glosso and tenellus!!    

Who will be maintaining the tank?

Did you get much interest from staff and customers during planting?


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## Tony Swinney (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				JEK said:
			
		

> Great use of slate! Were you inspired by this 'scape: http://www.pracownia-roslin-wodnych.pl/ ... m_lasu.jpg



Hi Johan.  I hadn't seen that scape, but its a stunner - just goes to show how good slate can look   

I checked in the garden centre yesterday and those rocks are £2.60 each, so for this tank thats £13 - bargain considering there's over 40kg in there.




			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> Good to see you've chosen nice and slow, low maintenance plants like Riccia, hairgrass, glosso and tenellus!!    Who will be maintaining the tank?  Did you get much interest from staff and customers during planting?



Hi George.  Yep I'm throwing them in at the deep end    The assistant manager Chris is in charge of the day to day running, with instructions from me.  I'll pop in a couple of times a week in initially to keep an eye on things and do initial trimming etc. 

There was loads on interest when i was doing it    It sits right next to a huge marine display so has some competition in the eye-grabbing stakes, but judging by the initial response I think it will do well.  I was asked lots of questions, and gave a few demos of prepping the plants and planting them, and of course, I pointed everyone towards ukaps   

Tony


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## JEK (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				Tony Swinney said:
			
		

> JEK said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You're absolutely right. Maybe "slategumis" will be the new trend in the hobby.  

Also good that it's so cheap. I can image many newcomers in the hobby getting shocked when they see the prices on mini landscape rocks, dragon stone and not to mention, manten stone, so it is great with a cheap alternative.


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## George Farmer (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				Tony Swinney said:
			
		

> There was loads on interest when i was doing it    It sits right next to a huge marine display so has some competition in the eye-grabbing stakes, but judging by the initial response I think it will do well.  I was asked lots of questions, and gave a few demos of prepping the plants and planting them.


This is great news!  

I think it will provide a wonderful contrast to the marine.  Most marine is high-impact, in your face.  This will be more subtle, more relaxing.  It could well change the perception of the hobby for many, in fact.

Brilliant work, Tony.


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## Tony Swinney (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

I forgot to put the pics up ( not that they're terribly exciting ! )

This was the final hardscpae, with the Florabase Black added too ( sorry about the crappy pic, but theres a marine tank directly opposite   )






And a few hours, and many pots later, this is it planted...





The middle foreground is glosso, and the riccia stones.  Behind that and to the left and right is the acicularis, and the tennelus is around the back.  I've also adde some Cryptocoryne Petchii in between the rocks as features, and to bring in a little bit of colour.  We're going to add 6 more pots of glosso on Thursday when it comes into stock, so as to merge it more around the riccia and into the acicularis.

This is the view as you come into the shop.  I've told them we should make the big marine cube a planted tank too     









Heres the specs for the start up period:
120w x 60h x 45d (cm) - approx 300L
Lighting: 2 x 54w T5 - 11am to 5pm
CO2 - 8am to 3pm, many bubbles per second   
Substrate: Columbo Florbase black ( 20L )
Fertilisers: EI dosing Sunday through to Fridays
Maintenance: 50% water change every other day for the first couple of weeks


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## Mark Evans (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Thats gona look fantastic mate! 

reminds me of the good old days....MA, scaping, displays etc etc (ponders)


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## George Farmer (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Looks good!  Give it a couple of weeks and I'm sure the plant growth will be significant.



			
				Tony Swinney said:
			
		

> Fertilisers: EI dosing Sunday through to Fridays


Surely they don't stock EI powders!!??


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## Tony Swinney (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				Mark Evans said:
			
		

> Thats gona look fantastic mate!



Thanks Mark, hope it does as the staff have high expectations !!





			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> Looks good!  Give it a couple of weeks and I'm sure the plant growth will be significant.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thats just our little secret !  Given the instore option of JBL Ferrapol, I felt it prudent to give them some powders to get things going.  They were going to get TPN+ in for me, but they cant stock it anymore


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## Garuf (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Why can't they stock it? Maybe get them to start dealing with Fluid sensor?

The scapes excellent you can see your inspiration in it straight away, I knew the tank that had inspired your choice before you'd even posted it. One of my favourites of recent years.


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## George Farmer (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				Tony Swinney said:
			
		

> Given the instore option of JBL Ferrapol, I felt it prudent to give them some powders to get things going.  They were going to get TPN+ in for me, but they cant stock it anymore


Very prudent mate! 

It is a shame the shop doesn't or won't stock NPK products.  

I hope you can talk them around.

Hopefully the proof will be in the pudding when they see how effective adding NPK can be.

One of the shop's aims should be customers attempting to replicate your set-up using available products in-store.  They won't be able to without access to a comprehensive nutrient dosing regime...


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## Tony Swinney (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> Hopefully the proof will be in the pudding when they see how effective adding NPK can be.
> 
> One of the shop's aims should be customers attempting to replicate your set-up using available products in-store.  They won't be able to without access to a comprehensive nutrient dosing regime...



I'm hoping to show them exactly that.  Dealing with a big company like MA means you can't just ask the store manager to order something for a new supplier, as that would mean accounts having to be setup from head office etc etc.  There's no way thats going to happen just because I suggest it, but if we can get the tank looking great, and generating lots of interest and plant buyers in the shop, they'll have to offer a good fertilising product for their customers.

Does anybody know a good off-the-shelf product I could try to get them to stock ?  Unfortunately it can't be Tropica.

Tony


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## Garuf (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

That makes no sense at all about the tropica. Seachem?


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## George Farmer (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				Tony Swinney said:
			
		

> Does anybody know a good off-the-shelf product I could try to get them to stock ?  Unfortunately it can't be Tropica.


Does the shop stock TMC?  A lot of MA get their fish from them...

TMC are just about to release a product very similar to TPN+, called TMC NutraFeed.  Hopefully by the time you convince them NPK is good and doesn't cause algae, they will be able to stock it.

There's the Easy-Life and Seachem range too, but I doubt MA stock them.  Not as easy as an all-in-one either.


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## Tony Swinney (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

As I said Garuf, the product has to come from one of their suppliers, and the UK distributor for TPN/TPN+ is not one of them.  

Thanks for the heads up on the TMC product George.  They stock the new TMC planted range ( we're using their CO2 diffuser in the tank ) so they will be able to get that once it becomes available.

Tony


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## nayr88 (24 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Good start Tony I love riccia mixed glosso carpets.

I went into a Peterborough MA and they stocked a 'flora gro' fert and liquid carbon product, it was 1pump per 10Liters for the fert, and 1pump per 15L for the carbon, and at 8.99 each its good for a nano. But your finger will full of before you manage to dos a 300L tank haha.

Keep us posted mate


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## LondonDragon (26 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Been busy lately and missed this one, very good use of the slate, looking forward to seeing how this will turn out. Congrats.


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## Ian Holdich (26 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

thats going to look good Tony when grown up. Lets hope the store numpty doesn't leave the lights on for the whole weekend like they did at one of my local MA's. The scape was really good as well!

Good work Tony!


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## howanic (26 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

This is my LFS and I saw this tank on saturday. It looks even better in the flesh and I can't wait for it to grow in. I will have to find more excuses for a weekly visit. 

Can I just say a huge thank you for doing this. People don't often get to see really good planted tanks and the staff are always so helpful and friendly, its such a shame to see algae in their usual planted tanks.


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## Tony Swinney (27 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*



			
				nayr88 said:
			
		

> Good start Tony I love riccia mixed glosso carpets.  I went into a Peterborough MA and they stocked a 'flora gro' fert and liquid carbon product, it was 1pump per 10Liters for the fert, and 1pump per 15L for the carbon, and at 8.99 each its good for a nano. But your finger will full of before you manage to dos a 300L tank haha.



Thanks for the headup, but I think your right about losing a finger   



			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Been busy lately and missed this one, very good use of the slate, looking forward to seeing how this will turn out. Congrats.



Thanks Paulo - me too 



			
				ianho said:
			
		

> thats going to look good Tony when grown up. Lets hope the store numpty doesn't leave the lights on for the whole weekend like they did at one of my local MA's. The scape was really good as well!



Thanks Ian - I've had them put the lights on timers to (hopefully) avoid just that !



			
				howanic said:
			
		

> This is my LFS and I saw this tank on saturday. It looks even better in the flesh and I can't wait for it to grow in. I will have to find more excuses for a weekly visit.  Can I just say a huge thank you for doing this. People don't often get to see really good planted tanks and the staff are always so helpful and friendly, its such a shame to see algae in their usual planted tanks.



Thanks alot Howanic, its nice that a member has seen it in the flesh and likes it    I'll be in there late Saturday morning for trimming if you are in the area - pop in and say hello 

I havent been back in yet this week, but apparently all is going well     The CO2 and lights are both on timers now, and the drop checker is nice and yellow.  Apparently the glosso is shooting upwards so I'll get in there on Saturday to trim it back, and replant the cuttings along with some new glosso too - i want to spread the glosso closer to the riccia and into the acicularis too.

Tony


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## andyh (27 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

I am currently trying to engineer a client meeting in Surrey, so i can pop in and see it in the flesh in the next couple of weeks!


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## Tony Swinney (27 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

Good stuff Andy - let me know if you get a day sorted   

Tony


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## sanj (28 Jan 2011)

*Re: 300L MA store tank*

I dont know if it is just me, but dont you guys notice some of our scapers on here have a personal style that comes through in thier scapes. I think I have noticed it in yours Tony and in Graemes also George. It is hard to describe exactly, but its like personal handwriting or painting style.


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## Tony Swinney (30 Jan 2011)

sanj said:
			
		

> I dont know if it is just me, but dont you guys notice some of our scapers on here have a personal style that comes through in thier scapes. I think I have noticed it in yours Tony and in Graemes also George. It is hard to describe exactly, but its like personal handwriting or painting style.



Hi Sanj.  Thanks for that, though I'm not sure if mine is a 'style' as such, but rather a case of sticking to what I know     I particularly like height in my hardscapes, and like mound style scapes too - those are probably my main pointers.

I was in the store today to see how things were going, and its going good   The glosso is looking very healthy and growing upwards, the acicularis is growing at a rate, with a couple of runners evident, whilst the tennelus has quite a few runners spreading around.  There was some melt on the crypt leaves, but I expected that, and the new shoots are evident so there's no need for concern.









I trimmed the taller glosso back, and planted a couple more pots to spread it out some more either side of the foreground, and to fill in the gaps around the riccia stones and back towards the acicularis too.  I really want the riccia / gloss / acicularis to grow in amongst each other rather than having defined patches.

We'd been trying to get vivipara in for the background, but cant source any from their suppliers.  They got some cyperus helferi in this week, so I've added a couple of pots at the back too.  i think the extra height finishes the planting off nicely   Though I may add a little more to the left and right of the existing bunch 

Tony  (sorry about the crap pics - its tricky with the tank in the main entrance to the store !)


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## Mark Evans (30 Jan 2011)

Great start Tony! 

It always puts your mind at ease, when you see plants getting off to a great start. Especially, with a tank you cant tend to daily. 

I remember the tank i did @ MA, the first few weeks made me real anxious.


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## Luketendo (30 Jan 2011)

Looks fantastic, I work at maidenhead brighton and yes we don't stock anything NPK but your best bet would be TMC, as we most definitely deal with them.

We have a small river reef running, nothing special really but it's a nice little jungle and nothing is used on it except liquid carbon.


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## Tony Swinney (5 Feb 2011)

Mark Evans said:
			
		

> Great start Tony!  It always puts your mind at ease, when you see plants getting off to a great start. Especially, with a tank you cant tend to daily.  I remember the tank i did @ MA, the first few weeks made me real anxious.



Cheers Mark.  You're right - its been tough for the last couple of weeks as I haven't been able to get in there as much as planned.  The staff are doing a great job so far, with 50% w/c's every couple of days, and they're following my EI instructions.



			
				Luketendo said:
			
		

> Looks fantastic, I work at maidenhead brighton and yes we don't stock anything NPK but your best bet would be TMC, as we most definitely deal with them.



Thanks Luke, we've been speaking to TMC, but unfortunately their fert product is not available yet.


I got over to the store yesterady and all is going well, with runners now visible from the Acicularis, glosso and big ones from the Tennelus     I trimmed the glosso back again, and also some of the foreground acicularis, and pruned one of the crypts which has suffered melt on most of its leaves - its right in the middle of the tank between the 2 main stones and I wonder if it doesnt get much CO2 flow in there, or whether its just stringent about the golden ratio and doesnt like its positioning     Most of the riccia is looking great, except for 2 stones right in the middle which are struggling a bit -hopefully by next week they'll have recovered, and will be ready for a little scissor action too     I've got to get those foreground plants intertwining   

Anyway, a few phone pics ...


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## LondonDragon (6 Feb 2011)

Looking great Tony, whats the reaction from the store and customers?


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## Tony Swinney (6 Feb 2011)

Its been excellent Paulo.  The staff are really liking it, and always keen to talk, and be involved when I go in there.  The customers are taking alot of interest too, with it being in the entrance everyone passes it and the regulars check its progress each time.  i think its starting to open their eyes towards how good a planted tank can look 

Its too early to say whether its affecting their plant sales yet, but the staff have got the plant sales tank looking great too, with good stock of very healthy plants from AquaDip and Aquafleur - they got some cracking Pinnatifida plants in this week   .

We've started to think about livestock now, and will be adding a load of amano shrimp in a couple of weeks, and a large shoal of otos too.  later on the main shoaling fish will be added - I'm edging towards a big shoal of white cloud mountain minnows at the minute   

Tony


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## foxfish (6 Feb 2011)

Great project, great for the hobby too..


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## Dan Crawford (6 Feb 2011)

This is a cracking tank Tony and great choice of hardscape from what I can imagine was slim pickings!

It's awesome to hear that the public are really taking an interest, great work Tony.


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## John Starkey (7 Feb 2011)

Hi Tony,i have been following this since day one,and what a cracking job you have done,love the layout and the planting,its going to look great when its grown in,

My local MA are moving to new site across worcester and David the owner has asked me if i would be interested in doing a low light setup for them   ,so i am looking forward to having a go myself,

regards,
john.


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## Aeropars (7 Feb 2011)

Great job Tony.

Can I ask what you are using to get good CO2 distribution? I didnt see a filter listed.

Lee


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## Tony Swinney (7 Feb 2011)

Thanks guys   



			
				john starkey said:
			
		

> My local MA are moving to new site across worcester and David the owner has asked me if i would be interested in doing a low light setup for them   ,so i am looking forward to having a go myself,



Good stuff John   I'm really enjoying doing it, and seeing the positive response it gets from people seeing it in the flesh - not something you often get when the tank is in your own home. 



			
				Aeropars said:
			
		

> Can I ask what you are using to get good CO2 distribution? I didnt see a filter listed.



Hi Lee.  Theres a TMC Power Diffuser ( http://www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/planted-tank/aquagro-power-diffusers.asp ) in the back right of the tank.  Its a fairly new product, which is stocked by the store so we were keen to use it.  So far it seems to be doing a great job, though aesthetically its not that great bring in the tank.

Tony


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## George Farmer (7 Feb 2011)

Tony Swinney said:
			
		

> Theres a TMC Power Diffuser ( http://www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/planted-tank/aquagro-power-diffusers.asp ) in the back right of the tank.  Its a fairly new product, which is stocked by the store so we were keen to use it.  So far it seems to be doing a great job, though aesthetically its not that great bring in the tank.


Can these be used externally too, Tony?

I guess it's inside the tank to give it more 'views'?


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## Tony Swinney (7 Feb 2011)

Hi George

Yep they can be used externally, but as you guessed, its good for the shop to have it visible in the tank to that they can explain the CO2 system to any customers.  Its a shame TMC only have 13mm connectors on these units as its causes a restriction on bigger setups.

Tony


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## Tony Swinney (17 Feb 2011)

A little update on this one....

We had an outbreak of diatoms last week, so upped the water changes to 50% daily, making sure to agitate the plants and brush the rocks before and during the water removal, so as to get rid of as much of the diatoms as possible.  We also introduced 5 oto's and about 15 amano shrimp too as a cleaning crew.

I got over to the store today for a look, and it's doing pretty well.  The diatoms have all but gone, and the glosso and acicularis are rooting well, and spreading too.  I was pleased to see the riccia has recovered well, as it was looking a little sorry for itself last week.

We've concluded that the supposed E Tennelus that we were provided with, and had assumed was in it's emmersed form, is actually Sagittaria Natans ( thanks for the id Mark   )     It's throwing out runners like mad, with plenty of new plantlets, so is obviously quite happy in there, but it just doesn't look quite right as it is paler then the E Tennelus would have been and means all the plants are the same shade.  I think we'll see how it goes, and will add some other crypts initially, maybe walkerii to add some reddish tones. If the Sagittaria tries to take over it may have to come out.

Here's a couple of pics off the phone today after I trimmed things a little...
















Thanks for looking 

Tony


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## Mark Evans (17 Feb 2011)

coming along nicely indeed Tony! 

When everything merges together, it's going to look incredible. A real crowd pleaser.


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## Mrmikey (18 Feb 2011)

you're hard work is paying off  nice job


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## Dan Crawford (18 Feb 2011)

Wey hey, that looks awesome!!!

If it were me, i'd bin the Sagittaria natans at the front and leave it at the back, it looks great back there.

Have you thought about a white background to contrast with the dark stones?


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## Tony Swinney (18 Feb 2011)

Thanks guys 



			
				Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> i'd bin the Sagittaria natans at the front and leave it at the back, it looks great back there.
> 
> Have you thought about a white background to contrast with the dark stones?



I think you're right Dan - thats where I'm thinking of a few crypts ( where the foreground sag is ).  Something like walkeri ?  I'd like wendtii brown but in a Parva size !

I may yet go back to plan A, and introduce some Tennelus - I'm about to rip loads out of my optiwhite 

White background might be a nice touch - I'll get one ordered and give it a go.

I'd like to do some proper pics of this in a few weeks, but its position in the shop makes that tricky.  It'd have to be done out of opening hours so i could turn all the other lights off, and get the flash lights in.

Any suggestions for stocking ???  We'll be adding some cherries next week, as they'll pop put against the greens, but fish ???  A large shoal of white cloud minnows would be nice and simple ?

Tony


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## Tony Swinney (25 Feb 2011)

Another little update...

Things continue well   Theres a little bit of very fine brown algae evident on the glosso and riccia, but its very minor.  We're adding some more ottos today to clean that up.  The water changes continue at 50% daily with remineralised RO.

I realised that the CO2 wasnt coming on early enough ( it was on at 10 am ) so we've now adjusted that to an 8am start to make better use of the photoperiod - we now have 2 tubes on from 11am to 6pm, and another 2 on from 1pm to 2pm.

I've followed Dans suggestions, and pulled out the Saggitaria that was in the foreground, and added some E.Tennelus from my optiwhite tank.  Only about 20 plants for now, but hopefully I can train them towards the back of the tank, and gradually let it take over the Sag.  The tank looks better for it straight away.

We've also changed to a white background - again I think its an improvement, giving a lighter, more airy feel to the display.  The left hand rock is reallly annoying me, as its appearing alot lighter than the others.  Its partially due to the fact that its slipped down flatter so is catching the light alot more.  We're gong to try propping it up again to see if that helps.

We did lose another shrimp this week, and it looks like the deaths might be due to dosing salts straight from the back ( ie undissolved ).  The guys in the shop spotted a couple of the shrimp appearing to eat the salts if they could get to them before they dissolved.  This theory also ties in with me losing a load of cherry shrimp which I'd put down to poor water quality, but actually tied in with me dosing salts straight to the tank.  from now on I'm only adding salts dissolved into tank water   

Apparently a ukaps member has been in there to see it - who was that then  :?:  :?:  :?:   
Tony


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## chilled84 (25 Feb 2011)

If you look closely lol The guy in the backround of one of them pics has been caught zipping his fly low up lol


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## John Starkey (25 Feb 2011)

chilled84 said:
			
		

> If you look closely lol The guy in the backround of one of them pics has been caught zipping his fly low up lol



I am a bit concerned about you chilly spotting that   ,tank is looking super swish Tony,i see what you mean about the stone thats slipped down,easily fixed though,all in all exellent scape   ,

john.


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## Tom (25 Feb 2011)

Looks really nice, great growth  And yeah, nice catch with the flies!

Tom


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## Tony Swinney (20 Mar 2011)

chilled84 said:
			
		

> If you look closely lol The guy in the backround of one of them pics has been caught zipping his fly low up lol



Well spotted Chilled - we've had him removed form the premises  



			
				john starkey said:
			
		

> tank is looking super swish Tony,i see what you mean about the stone thats slipped down,easily fixed though,all in all exellent scape   , john.



Thanks John, we've lifted the left hand stone a tad, but its slipped again   We need to engineer a better solution.



			
				Tom said:
			
		

> Looks really nice, great growth  And yeah, nice catch with the flies! Tom



Thanks Tom 


Update...

The saggitaria has suffered some of the past week or two, as we were having issues with CO2.  The filter we had the CO2 diffuser on was not powerful enough, so it wasnt breaking the CO2 up enough, hence there was only really enough in the half of the tank - which was where the dc was   

We've moved the diffuser onto the other side of the tank, with the more powerful filter, and already there is a big change in the sag', looking healthier, and greener already.

Otherwise, we've had several unexplained shrimp deaths, and have an infestatoin of snails, which should be taken care of by the Botia Striata we've just added.  We've also decided on the main shoal of fish, and have ordered 120 Long-Finned White Cloud Mountain Minnows 

Sorry, the pics are rubbish, but I only had the phone with me.  I'll take the camera next time and get some new pics, and will sort out the splurdge on the background too 

Tony


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## spyder (21 Mar 2011)

Looking great. There are going to be some very happy WCCM's dashing around in there.


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## Bobtastic (19 May 2011)

Do you have an update for us Mr Tony?


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## mjenner (11 Feb 2012)

I just popped into MA Weybridge today, got talking to the staff in there and they mentioned that Tony had 'scaped their tank a quick search and I've found this journal.

It's looking pretty different now, less nature aquarium, more jungle-based, but I rather like it.  The tank has a large swathe of java-fern pretty much covering from the surface to most of the way down the right-hand side of the tank, very lush and verdant, along with a line of red-crypt below it.

The right-hand side at the back has one or two of what I think was either Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae or Crinum Natans (looking at the Tropica catalogue for ID...) right in the corner.  The slates on this side are still visible, backed by a thick growth of vallis (or something similar, I was distracted by the glosso  ) in front there's a glosso-carpet, there are two mounds of riccia towards the middle and some clumps of HC, not exactly manicured,  but still all very healthy and lush.

There's a massive shoal of long-fin white-cloud mountain minnows in there, along with amano and cherry shrimps (all over the place), the red of the white-clouds looks very impressive against this lush jungle-style background.

They've moved the diffuser, the inline TMC diffuser wasn't working well-enough, so they've gone for an in-tank ceramic diffuser and are blowing it round the tank with a larger hydor koralia powerhead aimed from the right behind the java-fern forest.

They've moved off from dry-ferts after the "shrimp incident" to one of the easy liquid fertiliser products (I think it was ProFito?), they also dose easy-carbo in addition to the CO2 as they say it doesn't do any harm and helps with the algae.  

I was kicking myself that I didn't get a photo at the time, as just now I wanted to show my wife the fish-choice (she wants cardinal tetras in our tank but I'm quite taken by the long-fin white-cloud mountain minnows now! ), I'm also I'm thinking of taking the slate idea for my tank when it's finally up and running again, well-done Tony the tank's having it's desired effect, making me think about buying lots of stuff! 

I'll try and get a pic next time I'm over there.  I'm going to try and order some plants through them from Aquadip sor Aquafleur so I should be popping in over the next few weeks to collect them all being well.


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