# Aqua at pet shop - layout no.3 - the end



## Alexander Belchenko (23 Mar 2014)

Hi everyone. Almost 4 months ago, at the very end of November 2013, I was lucky enough to be able to scape the tank in small local pet shop near my home, in my home city. There was an empty 60L optiwhite tank with ADA-style cabinet and DIY a-la solar 2 lamp, which was intended to be scaped with another aquascaper from my city. But that tank gathered the dust for many many months with only some wood and couple of stones inside. That aquascaper wasn't able to find the right time and moment to finally setup the tank (and last year he moved to another country). So I stepped forward and asked the owner of the pet shop to design that tank and got a warm approval.

I've used redmoor wood, manten stones (from Carpathian Mountains) white sand and ada amazonia for design. I put frozen glass film at the back side, I really like it. I've used mostly slow plants for design: microsorum narrow and anubias nana, also bolbitis compact, crypt, potagemon gaya a bit of moss, hygro pinnatifida and ludwigia super red to add red color to picture.

Tank specification:
* 60L 60x30x36 cm optiwhite
* DIY lamp with 2*36 W tubes (OSRAM dulux 8800K and 4000K). I've started with 5 hours and very slowly increased period to 7 hours.
* Tetra EX 600 canister filter with gush lilly-pipe like inlet/outlet
* CO2 injection
* Internal heater for 23-25 C
* Tropica Nutrition+ all-in-one old style fertilizer (I believe today it's called Tropica Specialized fertilizer).

After almost 4 months it's developed very slowly into pleasant scape, I can be proud of. I like the stability of slow plants. I usually come to the pet shop at weekend to do a maintenance job (water change, trimming, dosing fertilizer one time a week) and thanks to slow plants I don't have to worry that something going wrong. I believe it was the right choice of plants for my first public scape. It proved to be more or less success.

Pictures time!
It started like this:


DSC04281 by bialix1, on Flickr

And now it looks much better:


100_6052 by bialix1, on Flickr

More pictures in the following posts.[DOUBLEPOST=1395604677][/DOUBLEPOST]*Day 1*


DSC04118 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04122 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04125 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04126 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04132 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04131 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04135 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04138 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04139 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04142 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04143 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04145 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04149 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04159 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04164 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04165 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04166 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC04167 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04168 by bialix1, on Flickr[DOUBLEPOST=1395604734][/DOUBLEPOST]*Day 3*


DSC04247 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04245 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Alexander Belchenko (23 Mar 2014)

*Day 9*


DSC04281 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04279 by bialix1, on Flickr[DOUBLEPOST=1395604882][/DOUBLEPOST]*Day 24*


DSC04482 by bialix1, on Flickr 


100_5708 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04453 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04468 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04473 by bialix1, on Flickr[DOUBLEPOST=1395604930][/DOUBLEPOST]*Panda corys*


DSC04575 by bialix1, on Flickr


DSC04581 by bialix1, on Flickr[DOUBLEPOST=1395604997][/DOUBLEPOST]*Day 50*


100_5839 by bialix1, on Flickr


100_5844 by bialix1, on Flickr


100_5845 by bialix1, on Flickr


100_5847 by bialix1, on Flickr


100_5849 by bialix1, on Flickr[DOUBLEPOST=1395605078][/DOUBLEPOST]*10 weeks - before first big trimming*


20140209_093342 by bialix1, on Flickr


20140209_101023 by bialix1, on Flickr[DOUBLEPOST=1395605114][/DOUBLEPOST]*11 weeks - trimmed*


100_5902 by bialix1, on Flickr[DOUBLEPOST=1395605167][/DOUBLEPOST]*16 weeks*


100_6052 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## allan angus (23 Mar 2014)

nice simple and elegant looks ideal for low maintenance


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## Alexander Belchenko (23 Mar 2014)

Allan, yes, maintenance is a breeze there. Almost no algae, glass is clear all the time. Only the white sand need to be refreshed from time to time.


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## Robbie X (23 Mar 2014)

Great job, love the pandas also, my fave Cory's


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## Brian Murphy (23 Mar 2014)

Looks well .... well maintained aswell


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## Alexander Belchenko (24 Mar 2014)

Thanks, guys for your kind words.


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## dafil (24 Mar 2014)

Really a good  job!!!


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## tim (24 Mar 2014)

Lovely setup Alexander, well done promoting the hobby so well.


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## Ady34 (24 Mar 2014)

Very nice aquascape. They should let you do more


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## Alexander Belchenko (24 Mar 2014)

Ady34 said:


> Very nice aquascape. They should let you do more



LOL. Actually I set up one more in nano format (approx. 30L) just yesterday. I didn't finish it yet, so I didn't take any pictures


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## Ady34 (24 Mar 2014)

Well don't be shy sharing it once it's complete


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## Alexander Belchenko (24 Mar 2014)

tim said:


> Lovely setup Alexander, well done promoting the hobby so well.



Yes, that's right. When I do a maintenance I look around what customers do.
Most people just pass by this tank for dog/cat food (the tank located just next to counter) and didn't notice it. 
But it's really fun to watch how children look at it. A lot of small shrimps are definitely eye catchers there, not only fish.[DOUBLEPOST=1395649098][/DOUBLEPOST]





Ady34 said:


> Well don't be shy sharing it once it's complete



I'm going to participare in Dennerle Scaper's tank contest this spring with that nano. I have only 1 month to complete it, because April 30 is deadline. 
It would be fun sprint, or maybe it would be one big fail. Who knows?


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## Alexander Belchenko (24 Mar 2014)

At the center of the tank you can see a branch going out of water. I put HC there initially, but due the low humidity it's died very fast. So I gathered some terrestial moss from city park (the park is called "Rainbow" due to big rainbow-like arch at the entrance) and put it there. It does not die but in the same time I don't see it grow. Maybe it's just very sloooow moss 


100_6032 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## pintainho21 (24 Mar 2014)

really nice, congratulations


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## Greenfinger2 (25 Mar 2014)

Hi Alexander, Superb little Aquascape


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## Alexander Belchenko (4 Apr 2014)

Well, new nano tank ~30L is not complete yet, because I didn't finished planting. Just took some pictures yesterday after w/c, and I don't really like the result so far. I have to rework background. Right now at right side background there is hairgrass, but the tank really asks me to put there some stems. Probably hemianthus m. What do you think?


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## Alexander Belchenko (6 Apr 2014)

*Maintaining white sand foreground.
*
If you look closely at 16 weeks foto you can spot algae on white sand and front glass. There were some diatoms, gda and cyano. Ditto on left side glass. Also most of the top surface of the sand got a touch of green color. I have never replaced the sand before in a such tank, but I had to do it sooner or later. So yesterday I spent several hours at shop doing maintenance job, including cleaning external filter and glassware, and replacing dirty sand with fresh one.

I sucked out sand from the glass area at front and left side and cleaned the glass from algae.







You can see the difference in color between sand at bottom not exposed to light and top surface with greenish color.
I also sucked out that green sand at top surface (about 0.5-1cm).

I've replaced dirty sand with fresh one. The difference is huge! The last shot taken without top light (because the light day finished at that moment) and the only light source was daylight from outside and regular light at the shop. You can clearly see how's clean the sand now 



Stay tuned. More pictures and short video will follow.


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## Alexander Belchenko (6 Apr 2014)

After trimming.



[DOUBLEPOST=1396819622][/DOUBLEPOST]My pocket camera is not good in filming video :-/


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## Luís Cardoso (6 Apr 2014)

Lovely Scape...


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## Greenfinger2 (7 Apr 2014)

Hi Alexander, Coming along nicely Congrats


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## Alexander Belchenko (7 Apr 2014)

Thanks guys.

Not sure why, but latest photos with clean white sand I like less than 16 weeks picture with "dirty" sand. 
Perhaps that was the right moment for photo, now I need to wait couple of weeks to let it grow and restore a bit chaotic look.


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## Alexander Belchenko (14 Apr 2014)

Photo shoot.

IMG_0197 by bialix1, on Flickr

Top view during water change. That plant mass is so yummy 

IMG_0172 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Greenfinger2 (14 Apr 2014)

Hi Alexander,Yummy  Superb design& planting  This just gets better


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## Alexander Belchenko (15 Apr 2014)

Thanks Roy for your kind words.

I should admit the result of last photo shoot is far from satisfied. Even though there was used a real DSLR camera.
My colleague and me don't have required skills to get the proper result yet. 
I'm going to do photo shoot again next weekend. Maybe I'll hire some profi to help.

Today I have another nice (well, I guess so) colors for you. Your suggestions about title for that, please?


DSC05042 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## flygja (16 Apr 2014)

Very nice set up there!


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## Alexander Belchenko (16 Apr 2014)

Today I printed 5 photos from last session, and accidentally got some advices from profi from photo shop. I hope I can use advices next weekend.

And another macro for you. Those minnows are not the prettiest fish in our tanks, but they have some charm, aren't they? And I think they are good match in color to overall composition and can tolerate flow from filter.

DSC05031 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Alexander Belchenko (20 May 2014)

Fragments.

IMG_0699 by bialix1, on Flickr

IMG_0732 by bialix1, on Flickr

IMG_0726 by bialix1, on Flickr

IMG_0723 by bialix1, on Flickr

IMG_0707 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Greenfinger2 (21 May 2014)

Simply Superb Nice photos too


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## Alexander Belchenko (22 May 2014)

Thanks Roy.

Here is a short video.


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## parotet (22 May 2014)

Very healthy Alexander, I was quite surprised to see that the outflow pipe is standing on a large piece of plant biomass thus the flow is quite reduced... My 60 liters tank looks like a washing machine compared to yours 

Jordi


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## Alexander Belchenko (22 May 2014)

Jordi, that video was filmed almost month ago, and now the situation is much worse, I'd say. I managed to broke the both glass pipes (during regular cleaning 1/month) and tank was without external filter for 1 week, now it's running again with Eheim green pipes. I found their performance much worse than glass pipes (in the same position) or maybe the filter need to be cleaned/restarted again, I dunno.

The plants are going like crazy after I increased light period up to 7 hours (back in April, IIRC). Maybe it was mistake?

Anyway, today there are too much plants and I'm not happy anymore with photo shooting results. When you watch the tank for the man's height stays tall - you enjoy the lush plants on the upper part of the tank. But in the same time they create too much shade over right bottom corner and therefore it's too hard to make a proper photo. (And my very own camera is crap - I'm desperately trying to find something not too expensive but with good quality - any tips guys?)

Here is my failing attempt (last weekend) to get something for IAPLC (silly me: I forgot to disable timestamp).

100_6072 by bialix1, on Flickr

Obviously there were too much p.gayi at left. So I cut it:

100_6101 by bialix1, on Flickr

I think that one is better but still not enough for IAPLC.

Thinking about the layout I'd say my mistake is typical: too much plants, too big plants. I need either remove half of plants (e.g. narrow fern) or simply start new scape.

Or I may let it running on its own and watch where it arrives in the end...[DOUBLEPOST=1400790267][/DOUBLEPOST]Sales person in the shop told me about customers asking about that tank: "Oh, look. Are you changing there something?". 
And she replied: "No, the plants just grow."  
Funny.
But that's true: every month, every week every planted tank changed a little bit, and that's, well, nature magic!


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## parotet (23 May 2014)

Hi Alex, I personally love that 'excess' of plant biomass, it gives you an idea of the maturity of the tank. I've seen plenty of tanks in the contests with such biomass and even 'darker and more shaded' scapes... But they probably used additional lights or flash to take the final pictures and have light everywhere. Nevertheless I rarely agree with the first position in the contests I have lately seen... I guess it is normal, most of the tanks are exceptional and their relative position between them is very subjective.

You tank looks very nice. You are an experienced aquascaper and I'm sure that you will be able to make the necessary last changes before the final shot. I agree that a light trimming could be the first step, additionally I would personally include some elements on the bottom and bottom left as a transition from the plants to the empty part of the tank. Maybe some nice, larger and more textured rocks embracing the roots and then dispersed toward the left would be enough.

Anyway... Brilliant!

Jordi


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## Hamza (23 May 2014)

The HC and moss growing out on wood looks gorgeous!


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## Alexander Belchenko (10 Jul 2014)

Fresh photos with pocket camera taken last weekend after maintenance.
I've cut a lot of plants and replaced white sand again (2nd time). The tank is 7 months old now, and going quite stable.
I think this are the last days of this layout though, I already want to make a new one.

IMG_1155 by bialix1, on Flickr

IMG_1158 by bialix1, on Flickr

IMG_1149 by bialix1, on Flickr

Thanks for watching [DOUBLEPOST=1404970153][/DOUBLEPOST]I'd like to hear some criticism from you guys. What do you not like in this layout? What's wrong there? What could be better if...? I already found several mistakes in the layout, but probably there are more.


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## allan angus (10 Jul 2014)

well i think its a great scape better than i could achieve !!! but if i had managed to do it i would have left the small stones in foreground out and just used the larger moss covered one  but its hard to find fault with a scape that's better than you can achieve yourself


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## Martin in Holland (10 Jul 2014)

perfect scape....did the shop get more sale from it?


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## Alexander Belchenko (10 Jul 2014)

Thanks Allan. I think I understand what you mean. Strange thing; some people told me they dislike such big area of just white sand that looks empty. White bright sand makes the tank feels like seaside, beach, sun and a lot of fun. Couple of times I heard something like "wanna to dive in there" [DOUBLEPOST=1404997986][/DOUBLEPOST]





Martin in China said:


> perfect scape....did the shop get more sale from it?



Do you mean aquatic products? I think the answer is mostly "no". There is some interest from customers to shrimps they saw in that tank, but shrimps population is not so big to sell. Other items - below the line. Also, the summer is here, not the best business time, and more other problems in my country. Not the best time to enjoy the hobby  Furthermore, online sales of aquatic plants has dropped significantly there in terms volume and price. But I keep it going while I can.


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## Martin in Holland (11 Jul 2014)

Does it mean that the hobby is declining? Or is it just the summer time when people are out enjoying the sun?


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## Alexander Belchenko (11 Jul 2014)

Martin, IMO - both.

Sent via Tapatalk


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## Martin in Holland (11 Jul 2014)

sad to hear this...


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## Alexander Belchenko (11 Jul 2014)

yep


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## Alexander Belchenko (31 Jul 2014)

I've got several replies from members of ukrainian aqua forum similar to UKAPS about too big space of white sand at left. Before I dismantled the tank I wanted to check their criticism and tried very quickly to add more wood and rearrange stones at left side. I should admit result was pretty promising. I think if I'd started the tank with such composition it would be a slightly different in style and probably slightly better. What do you think?

IMG_1223 by bialix1, on Flickr

I see some potential in such hardscape. But, anyway I planned to finish this composition and start the new one.


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## Deano3 (31 Jul 2014)

Looks excellent before but I do prefer it with less sand on the left and more plants like in the last pic but I  always like a bit of open space to show off the fish aswel so all look excellent


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## Alexander Belchenko (3 Aug 2014)

This is the end

IMG_1382 by bialix1, on Flickr

Close your eyes and count to ten...

In several weeks I'm going to start new layout.


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## Alexander Belchenko (25 Aug 2014)

*Result of IAPLC 2014.*
This is the photo I've applied with to IAPLC 2014 contest. I think it's not the best photo of this tank, but other were worse. I'm working on improving my photo skills.

IAPLC 2014, rank 1159 (of 2320) by bialix1, on Flickr

And this is result of my first IAPLC attempt:

IAPLC 2014 result by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Rini (25 Aug 2014)

Nice scape and result! I'm looking forward to your new scape.


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## allan angus (25 Aug 2014)

grats nice scape


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## Alexander Belchenko (25 Aug 2014)

Thanks guys. Right now I'm working on new hardscape. Stay tuned.

Sent via Tapatalk


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## tim (25 Aug 2014)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Thanks guys. Right now I'm working on new hardscape. Stay tuned.
> 
> Sent via Tapatalk


Look forward to it Alexander, congrats on the placing.


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## Greenfinger2 (25 Aug 2014)

Hi Alexander,Congratulation on a fab little scape and ranking  Will be tuned in for your next scape too


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## The_Iceman (25 Aug 2014)

Congratulations on your ranking Alexander! 
Nice and sweet looking tank


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## Alexander Belchenko (31 Aug 2014)

I've decided to continue this journal for next layout. In the end it's the same shop and the same tank 

Today I finished (well, almost) new layout. Most of the plants are in, I expect to make some tweaks here and there in next week and add red plant (guess what).

Here is the composition of wood I made almost 2 months ago, later I've tried to compose something better, but ended up with that first variant. It's nice to have photo of layout to compare different efforts. Also I've printed photo to have the image at my hands when I'm at shop.

IMG_1137 by bialix1, on Flickr
IMG_1138 by bialix1, on Flickr

This time I've tried to fix the mistake with the first scape: I've tried to ensure there is enough room for foreground. Well, basically in 30cm depth of tank I have about 10cm for each plan: foreground, midground and background. We rarely see how best scapers plan their layouts from the side point of view, but now this point seems very important for me, almost as important as golden ratio and good selection of hardscape. My previous composition had too little space for foreground at the right side, where all wood and rocks were. And that made maintenance of the tank not so easy. (And probably it made composition is not so good to get better placing in contest . Now I want to make sure the foreground is at least 10 cm and my maintenance job won't be hard. Although with all that branches at background it won't be very easy.

Photo taken right before I put water in, nothing special so far:
IMG_1523 by bialix1, on Flickr

Right now the water is a little cloudy, next weeks I'll try to show you the progress.


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## Crossocheilus (31 Aug 2014)

Looking good, that's a great piece of wood.
Should be another great scape, kinda a shame that you can't have it at home.


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## Alexander Belchenko (31 Aug 2014)

There are 3 pieces of wood actually. And plus one little branch. 

At home I have the same sized tank, I haven't created a separate thread for it yet. But I'm going to do.


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## parotet (31 Aug 2014)

Hi Alexander, I will keep tuned to see the evolution, looks promising!
There is a quite a lot of wood there, what kind of filter outtake are you planing to ensure good flow?

Jordi


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## Greenfinger2 (1 Sep 2014)

Hi Alexander, Looking Great


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## Alexander Belchenko (1 Sep 2014)

Hi Jordi, Yep, there is one potentially problem spot there: right back corner where I need think about flow. We use the same filter Tetra EX 600 (600L/h) with Eheim 12/16 in/out green pipes. And the outflow is rather strong right now.
I'm not very skilled in the flow question, so it's time for me to improve my skill. 

Maybe I just need to add small pump in the back corner to ensure the flow.


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## Alexander Belchenko (13 Sep 2014)

*2 weeks check point.*

Thanks to Jordi and his thread 2+ I've decided to buy spraybar to re-work the flow. 

Right after planting I've just put my eheim pipes and was surprised by the flow power. Somewhow it was not so scary in the previous layout. But the bad thing there was the dead flow point on the back right side, I think my wood just screens that area against the flow. I didn't take the video so you might to guess. All left part was in very strong flow, plants swayed a lot, while the right part did not.

Photo has been taken after filling the water:
IMG_1526 by bialix1, on Flickr

Water was clear just the second day. I've started with 4 hours of photoperiod, with CO2 and dosing Potassium only. The filter was already cycled from previous layout.

2 weeks later: no big and bursting grow of the plants yet, I roughly follow Tropica's 90 day slow velocity tank start-up process, today I've added 30 min more to photoperiod. I've used the same slow start-up with first layout and it proved to be good thing for this tank. The biggest change though is installing a spraybar. I should say I'm very satisfied by its action. It makes roughly equal flow along the length of the tank, and I think now  there are no criticial dead-spots there.

Photo:
IMG_1548 by bialix1, on Flickr

Video is uploading atm, I'll publish it a bit later.

Put couple of young ancistrus in there to get rid the bacterial stuff from the wood, I've heard they eat that stuff. Tomorrow several amanos shrimps will go to help clean the tank.


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## Alexander Belchenko (21 Sep 2014)

*3 weeks.*
I can see it grows bit by bit. Put 20 red nose taxi drivers in there.

DSC01411 by bialix1, on Flickr

IMG_1560 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Crossocheilus (21 Sep 2014)

Great stuff Alex, even better once its grown in!


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## The_Iceman (21 Sep 2014)

Definitely great stuff!

Give it more time for the growth and it will look stunning!


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## Alexander Belchenko (21 Sep 2014)

Yeah, I think one more month needed to fill the gaps.


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## Alexander Belchenko (21 Sep 2014)

Short video of schooling tetras.


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## allan angus (22 Sep 2014)

great start looking forward to seeing fish in it  ok posted thisw and the video appeared looks great


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## REDSTEVEO (22 Sep 2014)

Nice and tidy job, including inside the cabinet...I like tidy!


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## Alexander Belchenko (1 Oct 2014)

*4 weeks*
Quick and bad quality shot (sorry). With all equipment. Tennelus spreads well. Ranunculus suprises me in good sense. Usually it's slow starter in my tanks, but in this tank it has already started to grow new leaves. 

IMG_1575 by bialix1, on Flickr

I think using CO2 ceramic diffuser plays bad with spray bar. I've ordered in-line reactor.


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## Greenfinger2 (1 Oct 2014)

Hi Alexander, Looking good the plants are settling in nicely


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## Alexander Belchenko (6 Oct 2014)

5 weeks.
No photo today, sorry. Nothing really changed much, and I was busy this weekend. It was very warm and sunny weekend, I've tried to catch some warmth and inspiration in a park.

New in the tank: I've decided to install new hardware: in-line co2 reactor: Ista max mix co2 reactor. That's quite big thing, glad it went into cabinet. It's a bit noisy, although I almost can't hear it when door is closed. But I wouldn't use it at home though. The reason why I've decided to try it is its cheap price 
So far it looks that it works good, I've checked tank this evening, looks like plants was pearling all day. I think with spray bar it's better to use inline reactor, to get better co2 distribution.

Sent via Tapatalk


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## Alexander Belchenko (13 Oct 2014)

*6 weeks.*

New inline CO2 reactor installed, less equipment inside the tank, yay! It works very good, I nearly kill the fish by overdose, but fortunately it was wise to come back and check situation before the shop was closed.
Got some green thread algaes. I don't worry much, yet. Everything should be sorted with higher level of CO2, as I have now. But maybe I need to lower the light. Surprisingly, but the central wood shades the fern at right side.
Pictures time! I haven't removed inlet pipe, because it was hard, but I found spare Eheim furniture, so that will be easier in the future.

Regular light:
DSC01417 by bialix1, on Flickr

Flash light:
DSC01430 by bialix1, on Flickr

The light unit suspended as high as about 30 cm above the water level:
DSC01435 by bialix1, on Flickr

Runners:
DSC01455 by bialix1, on Flickr

I like this slow progress. I slowly increase light duration and ferts dose week by week. And of course active soil is good for plants.


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## Alexander Belchenko (15 Oct 2014)

Fishy photos 

DSC01460 by bialix1, on Flickr

DSC01469 by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Alexander Belchenko (30 Oct 2014)

*8 weeks*

I'm fighting algaes invasion last 2 weeks. Last weekend I spent several hours to remove threads algae, cut old and infected leaves of tenellus, treatment with H2O2 and liquid carbon. Mostly green thread algae on tenellus and some other plants, and BBA on wood. I'm going to adjust CO2 this weekend when I'll do filter maintenance. Also new fertilizer I'm using now is not as strong as it suggests on bottle, so I had to experiment with dosing until I found something suitable for this tank. This is local ukranian brand, and I'm not very impressed so far, want to come back to use tropica specialized again (but tropica is quite expensive here).

Anyway, you hardly can spot algae on photos, due moderate quality  Let's look:

60x30x36 - 8 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 8 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 8 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr
And short video:



I'm happy with progress of this tank (minus algaes of course). I expect the carpet of tenellus will cover most of the foreground in 1 month. It grows very nice, although I don't really like its yellowish/red color, that's because of good light. It's going to get some purple color on leaves. I want to add more hairgrass to the carpet to add green back.


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## Alexander Belchenko (17 Nov 2014)

*11 weeks / 2.5 months*

The plants have grown nicely, but I still have quite large amount of green thread algaes, and some BBA on wood. Probably it does not visible much on photo, but those algaes are quite stubborn so far. I'm using H2O2 + liquid carbon for treatment.
I think the reasons for that algae invasion are: not ideal flow (esp. keeping in mind I've installed in-line CO2 reactor on output which reduced the flow), and under-fertilization (still can't get the right amount of liquid ferts, also I've changed from cheap local ferts to tropica specialized again). Also for me there are not too many plants, but they're eating 2x to 4x times more than suggest dosing on a bottle. The battle is going on.

60x30x36 - 11 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

Side view.

60x30x36 - 11 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

And, btw, have you noticed, I removed big horizontal branch at left side.


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## James D (17 Nov 2014)

Looking good Alex!


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## Alexander Belchenko (18 Nov 2014)

Where are the fish?


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## Jajke (18 Nov 2014)

Nice Alexander


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## Alexander Belchenko (5 Dec 2014)

*2014/11/30 - 3 months / 13 weeks*

Photos was taken last weekend. Still fighting algaes invasion. I'm using strategy of simply removing algaes as much as I can, water change, put fertilizers and wait next weekend. Sometimes this helps.

60x30x36 - 13 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

The quality of photo does not help you enjoy that alage fest, unfortunately. I'm sorry about it. A bit.

60x30x36 - 13 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 13 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Alexander Belchenko (19 Jan 2015)

*Update - December 2014*

Two picture from december 2014. The tank matured and I did first trim to the carpet and also trimmed a bit alt.mini. But a.mini didn't like that trim, and as of today, it's mostly died off. Maybe another reason for this is deep shadow from murdania keysak which grows like a mad. My plan is to trim or completely remove murdania. I don't decide yet what I should use instead. I think red bush of a.mini should be restored, no matter what.
Anyway, 2 pictures, before and after trim.

60x30x36 - 15 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 17 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

I don't have post new-year pictures yet. I only last weekend visited the shop.

The good news is: we almost win over algaes.


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## Greenfinger2 (19 Jan 2015)

Hi Alexander, 

Congratulation on a wonderful Aquascape  

Great Thread Too


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## Alexander Belchenko (19 Jan 2015)

Thank you, Roy. You're too kind. I'm not quite happy with current state of the scape (no pictures till next weekend though). I hope we can stabilize and repair the red part.


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## kirk (19 Jan 2015)

I've just been drawn into your thread too, very nice, like the rummy nose shoal.


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## Greenfinger2 (19 Jan 2015)

Hi Alexander, Not sure i think its like Cryptocóryne beckéttii or softer leaved Crypts  After trimming other leaves will die back too ??
Soon new young leaves will appear from the crown of the plant 

Just read the last post  Where are the fish now ???


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## Alexander Belchenko (19 Jan 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Just read the last post  Where are the fish now ???



Yeah. The fish are very shy. They don't like me or my camera. I dunno. Always hide behind the ferns at the right side when I'm taking the pictures. I can only get some video with them if I put some food there.


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## Dantrasy (20 Jan 2015)

Great scape, the carpet has turned out as good as I've ever seen.  Love the splash of red too.


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## Martin in Holland (20 Jan 2015)

The shop must be happy to have this tank ....I hope costumers like it too and don't find it to empty again...LOL


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## Alexander Belchenko (20 Jan 2015)

Dantrasy said:


> Great scape, the carpet has turned out as good as I've ever seen.  Love the splash of red too.


Thanks, mate. The carpet indeed turned out very nice. There are helantium tennelum, couple of species of dwarf hairgrass and lilaeopsis. But of course - helantium is definitely "the first violin" there. Splash of red will come back.



Martin in China said:


> The shop must be happy to have this tank ....I hope costumers like it too and don't find it to empty again...LOL


Yeah, customers and shop staff very much liked it. Last weekend while I was doing maintenance I had couple of nice conversations with people who really enjoys the tank. It was pleased me a little bit. It's quite interested to hear that some people silently watches the progress of my work and only tell me this in person, not in forums. Ah, my 5 minutes of glory


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## Alexander Belchenko (25 Jan 2015)

*2015/01/25 - 21 weeks - let's change it
*
It was inevitable. As I wrote before I need to slightly tweak the layout to improve it. Today I removed all murdania keysak and most of fern from central part of wood to provide more light to althernathera mini. Also planted new stem to bush. And new plant replaced murdania: miriophyllum roraima (not visible on photo yet). I want to plant there juncus repens but unfortunately haven't found it yet. But maybe roraima will work too. I like its bronze-reddish color.

Before:

60x30x36 - 21 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

After:

60x30x36 - 21 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

Next week I'm going to trim ferns at the right side, and carpet at the left. I think in 2 or 3 weeks the tank will flourish again.


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## Alexander Belchenko (1 Feb 2015)

*2015/02/01 - 5 months - heavy trim*

Today I've trimmed those ferns and carpet. Somehow I decided it's required to remove some h.tenellum from the glass. So I cut with scissors about 1 cm thick strip of the carpet along left, front and partially right side. And then I was able to finally clean glass from the algae. The carpet is so tight that no shrimp can reach the substrate now. I've never had such carpet with tenellum.

60x30x36 - 5 months by bialix1, on Flickr

Looking at the speed the carpet grows I'm sure I'll have all substrate covered again in 2 weeks max. That's crazy. Hope the red bush will recover soon too.

60x30x36 - 5 months by bialix1, on Flickr

Next week I'm expecting to get some juncus repens to plant at the background behind the wood. Can't wait to try it


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## Greenfinger2 (2 Feb 2015)

Hi Alexander, Stunning mate


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## Dantrasy (2 Feb 2015)

Super clear glass now


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## Alexander Belchenko (2 Feb 2015)

Dantrasy said:


> Super clear glass now



Haha, thanks.

Thank you guys for kind words and likes. I know the tank is not reached its full potential yet, but it's going in the right direction, I think.


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## Alexander Belchenko (14 Feb 2015)

*2015/02/14 - 24 weeks*

Last week I've finally got some juncus repens. The seller said it's slow grower plant, will see. Now it's planted behind the wood and m.roraima, so it's not very visible yet. Once it will grow big enough I'll decide whether I should remove roraima or not. I never had roraima before and should say that I very like it's bronze reddish color. It adds a touch of warm color.

60x30x36 - 24 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

The crypts at the background started to mature and grow big. That's what I had in mind when I planted them. Like the effect.

60x30x36 - 24 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

Also you can spot red algae on the wood - caloglosa cf. beckari. I think that dark colored thing is not good in this scape though. There are several spots of it in the carpet, and it looks almost black from the distance. And it's nightmare to get rid of. I think it was a mistake to use it there. Also I still have some ideas how to use it later (on light background though).

And FTS (right before water change, so excuse me any dirty glass):
60x30x36 - 24 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

And side view:
60x30x36 - 24 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

I think this time I made the layout right in the terms of 3 layers: foreground, midground and background.


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## rodoselada (14 Feb 2015)

I like your setup!


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## Alexander Belchenko (15 Feb 2015)

rodoselada said:


> I like your setup!


Thank you, I like it too. 

I've compiled a short video with some details of the tank. Just for fun.


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## Greenfinger2 (15 Feb 2015)

Hi Alexander, 

Looking good


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## Alexander Belchenko (17 Mar 2015)

*Layout no.2 has finished*

This is final photo, not very good quality, and overall I'm not happy with the state of the tank.

60x30x36 - final - 28 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

This one I think was the peak of the tank (~3 months). After that it was only worse.

60x30x36 - 15 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

Layout is already dismantled. This weekend I hope to build new one. Back to white background, using rocks and simple classic U-shape.


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## Alexander Belchenko (23 Mar 2015)

*Hardscape for layout no.3*

For layout no.3 I wanted to created something simple, U-shaped, with rocks, plants and again frosted background. At the shop there are some Carpathians rocks (a-la ADA Manten Stone). Unfortunately most of them were too big for that tank.

This time several people created new layout: I asked for help shop owner, and another scaper-beginner (who I'm mentoring for last several months for scaping foo). So after about 30 min session of trial and error we ended up with something like that:

hardscape for 60x30x36 by bialix1, on Flickr

Funnily enough, after moving rocks from playsand area to the tank - some rocks ended up in slightly different angles and positions, even though we tried to re-create the layout based on the photo made.

Stay tuned!


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## The_Iceman (23 Mar 2015)

Nice rocks, Alexander!

Looking forward to the update!


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## Alexander Belchenko (23 Mar 2015)

*Layout no.3 - beginning*

Restart was very quick, we started at about 11am at Saturday. Remove all remaining plants from previous layout, catch the fish and shrimps, and emptying the tank. I've kept old water to re-use it after planting, because I wanted to put livestock back to tank as soon as possible.

We started to play with rocks in separate playground with dimensions 50*30 (the tank bottom area is 60*30). After 3 or 4 attempts we ended up with something that we all liked.

Hardscape for 60x30x36 by bialix1, on Flickr

Hardscape - top view by bialix1, on Flickr

I initially wanted to use smaller amount of rocks and fill corners with stems, but our hardscape directed us in slightly different direction, it was almost obvious that we need to use shorter plants, otherwise we destroy the sense of scale, created by rocks. So we planted the shorter stems only behind rocks and at sides, to hide some not-so-good-sides of rocks. Unfortunately we had only small amount of rocks of suitable size, so it's not the best of the best hardscape. One may say some rocks have ugly sides, and I won't disagree.

My plan for planting was: dhg for foreground and middle path, staurogyne for middle ground (between smaller rocks), and some stems at sides and corners. I had about 3 times more plants than we can ever use in this layout. Thanks to this we have enough material to select from.

We finished planting and installing hardware at 4pm and went home, leave the tank to clear muddy water after filling it in. 5 hours sprint, it was something! I understand now why working on new layout is so productive and fast when there are other people who help you.

Anyway, the next day I've put frosted background to the tank, put the fish in and made some shots and video. Please enjoy the picture:

60x30x36 - day 2 by bialix1, on Flickr

I feel that new layout has some potential. It makes me feel there is hope for better times in our lives.

Stay tuned, I'm working on making a short video.


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## luckyjim (23 Mar 2015)

Very philosophical!

I really like those rocks, looking forward to this


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## Alexander Belchenko (24 Mar 2015)

Video. Just for fun.


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## alto (24 Mar 2015)

The tank is looking fabulous!


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## Alexander Belchenko (24 Mar 2015)

Thank you. Of course it needs couple of months to mature.


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## Alexander Belchenko (25 Mar 2015)

*Planting staurogyne with custom anchor*

I'd like to share small trick I've used while planted staurogyne. I didn't have enough quantity of that plant and its stems were rather short to properly anchor them to the substarte. Usually to proper plant stauro if I have long stems of it I just remove all leaves from the bottom 1cm part of the stem and use this bare stem to plant it, because otherwise leaves of stauro tends to uproot it. This time I had cuttings of stems by 2-3 cm, so I can't use the mentioned approach.
So I decided to make artificial anchors with some wire bend around the main stem of stauro cuttings. Then I put those anchors deep into substrate while the entire plant was on the surface of substrate.

staurogyne_anchored by bialix1, on Flickr

I didn't invet this trick, I saw similar tip from Filipe Oliveira on the facebook, but he showed it for anubias. I thought: why not. Any hard rizhome or stem plant can be planted this way: anubias, ferns, staurogyne, some others? Didn't work well for donwoi I planted there though, cause it has too small and soft central stem.


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## limz_777 (25 Mar 2015)

might be better you use stainless steel wire , the green ones off hardware shop will rust and break off


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## Alexander Belchenko (25 Mar 2015)

Thanks for your comment.
The wire I used is quite similar to ADA product: ADA Wood Tight - i.e. it has steel wire inside plastic cover. I'm not sure it's stainless though. My green one is made in China, you know.
Anyway for staurogyne it does not matter if it rust over time, because the plant should grow its own roots. So such wire is just temporary anchor.


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## Alexander Belchenko (31 Mar 2015)

Left mountain after 1 week. Maybe it's hard to tell for sure, but alternanthera mini is started to improve it's color to bright red, and overall condition of the tank is ok. Adding CO2 from the day 1, and fertilization (Tropica Special, 1ml/day). This time I want to speed up initial phase.

60x30x36 - 1 week by bialix1, on Flickr


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## Greenfinger2 (1 Apr 2015)

Hi Alexander, Wonderful Scape Love the rock work and planting


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## Alexander Belchenko (8 Apr 2015)

*2 weeks*

Right side is not so great as left part, probably due the fact there more distance to the CO2 diffuser. Anyway, it's just only 2 weeks passed.
60x30x36 - right side by bialix1, on Flickr

Eleocharis mini seems to successfully transforming into submersed form and shoot new runners. I have no idea why it tries to bury itself down into substrate, it looks a bit weird at the front glass.
Eleocharis sp mini - new runners by bialix1, on Flickr

Probably next weekend I will be finally able to cut it, it looks too big at the back.

60x30x36 - 2 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

And probably I need to clean rocks.


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## Greenfinger2 (8 Apr 2015)

Hi Alexander, Looking good


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## Alexander Belchenko (15 Apr 2015)

*2015/04/13 - 3 weeks*

I think this layout is heading to the right direction, at least looking at FTS. But I'd like to change plants in both back corners. And probably will do something about the right hand middle ground. There are some downoi there planted between rocks, but you can't see it yet due it's slow grow speed and problems with not enough room for roots.

60x30x36 - 3 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

What do you think about balance between hardscape and plants? What would you changed if you wish?


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## Ivan Lugovic (16 Apr 2015)

Hi Alexander,
I really like you aquascape, really healthy, neat and clean.
Only thing I can suggest is to get more volume in the center upper part. 
I suggest that you use Eleocharis vivipara on both left and right back side and form some kind of tunnel on the top.
What do you think about that?


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## Alexander Belchenko (17 Apr 2015)

Thank you, Ivan, for your feedback. I understand your advice, but I'm not really sure about using tall plants, honestly. I must admit I'm under impression of this work: http://www.aquascapingworld.com/threads/triple-that-by-yoda.8607/ . So I'd like to use shorter plants.
Also, here is another look to the tank: from the height of standing man.

60x30x36 - 3 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

I think I'll try to take frontal photo with lowered water level, as you did with your Mirkwood. Probably that may help to reduce open space and get the feel the tank is more "packed". Will see.

Also, yesterday I already started to tweak and change hardscape, adding more rocks at sides, in place of plants. I don't like using mosses due the fact their trimming is nightmare for me personally, but will try to use some. New pictures soon.


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## Alexander Belchenko (29 Apr 2015)

*2015/04/28 - 5.5 weeks*

During last weeks I've been slightly adjusting the layout. The photo above (from previous comment) told me I need to remove alt.mini from the back, and all anubias, due to big leaf size. So I removed everything but dhg and stauro and tried to re-think the layout. Here is some intermediate point:

adjusting hardscape by bialix1, on Flickr

If you compare with previous photos you could see why I need stem plants at the sides: the bigger rocks aren't so good at sides. This time I've decided to add more smaller rocks at sides, so I have cone-shaped mountains.

Later more moss, dhg and stauro has been added. And now I have new fish there: tetra amanda. Lovely tiny fish. Very bright and not so shy as I saw in the past.

Here's current state:

60x30x36 - 5.5 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 5.5 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

I need one more month to have all plants grow to desired shape and volume, IMO.


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## James D (29 Apr 2015)

Looking great Alex, those new tetras are really nice.


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## Alexander Belchenko (18 May 2015)

*8 weeks*

Last 2 weeks I'm fighting green thread invasion, I suspect that was triggered when I (mistakenly probably) decided to reduce ferts dosing in half. I'm using Tropica's specialized, and this tank is proved to eat 2x dose of ferts. With my new NO3 test kit I was scary to see 50mg/l of nitrates level, so I thought I need to reduce dosing. Now I need to fight those green algaes over the hairgrass carpet. Trying to double punch method: H2O2 for 15 minutes then liquid carbon. And back to 2x dosing (about 10ml of ferts per week plus additional PO4). Additional PO4 may be the reason of BBA I also have there, but that algae is always make me trouble. Anyway, if you don't look too closely from far distance the scape looks not so bad. Sorry for bad quality pic, I was totally exhausted by maintaining task last weekend.

60x30x36 - 8 weeks by Alexander, on Flickr


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## Alexander Belchenko (30 Jun 2015)

*14 weeks*

A little bit overgrown. Photo taken before maintenance.

60x30x36 - 14 weeks by Alexander, on Flickr


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## Andy D (30 Jun 2015)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Last 2 weeks I'm fighting green thread invasion, I suspect that was triggered when I (mistakenly probably) decided to reduce ferts dosing in half. I'm using Tropica's specialized, and this tank is proved to eat 2x dose of ferts. With my new NO3 test kit I was scary to see 50mg/l of nitrates level, so I thought I need to reduce dosing.



Let me say the tank looks great but this post goes to show what Clive and others bang on about with regards to test kits leading you to make poor decisions.


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## alto (30 Jun 2015)

May also just be all the layout adjustments (re plant removal - especially as plants can release various "phytochemicals" - I often feel there is not enough thought given to this aspect on planted tank forums, but I identified an enzyme inhibitor with picomolar binding when the substrate affinity is measured in millimolar - yeah, boss thought I was crazy for 2 years there, I just kept arguing & finally proved our hypothesis by isolating that enzyme~inhibitor complex - well at least we identified the chemical bond & then much later isolated the active site nucleophile~sugar compound complex) ... and changes in water composition if its tap water used for water changes ... ie it's really a complex response.

Anyway I am such a fan of your (Alexander Belchenko - hope situation has improved in your country!) tanks!


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## Alexander Belchenko (30 Jun 2015)

Andy D said:


> Let me say the tank looks great but this post goes to show what Clive and others bang on about with regards to test kits leading you to make poor decisions.



That's probably true. But, that still bothers me. Now I have 2 test kits (JBL and Tetra) and both show similar (and expected) results on different tanks, and only this tank (pet shop 60L) still shows me about 40-50 ppm of NO3. To prevent this tank from next algaes invasion I'm dosing small amount of algaecide (read: liquid carbon) almost every day. Dosing extra phosphates fert. Less main fert. I started to add 1 click of iron fert after maintenance. So far so good.
I have suspects that something other in that tank may affect test kit results. Several years ago I had similar problem with test kit of another manufacturer. It always showed 50ppm of nitrates for my tank, despite anything.


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## Alexander Belchenko (30 Jun 2015)

@alto thank you.


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## Felix Wagner (30 Jun 2015)

Wonderful  Alexander 

Liebe Grüße Felix


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## Tim Harrison (30 Jun 2015)

Test kits aren't necessarily that accurate and nitrate is very unlikely to do any harm anyway...http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/seneye-vs-liquid-test-kits-in-a-tank-emergency.37376/#post-403544
Great scape either way...


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## Alexander Belchenko (1 Jul 2015)

Troi, thank you for the link to discussion. I also found interesting bit, I've probably been looking for so many years.

...are there some compounds that interfere, sure (specific test kit reagent chemistry will usually provide a list of likely interfering substances)...​I guess it's good to know there is possible error source. Also, good to know this obviously innacurate test results won't kill my livestock.

I know that we should not rely on absolute numbers that test kits give us. But we can track dynamics of parameters: whether it stays almost the same, or maybe increased, or maybe decreased.


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## Alexander Belchenko (4 Jul 2015)

Today I've tried to clean vertical seams from green tint of algae. Simply using brush did not help me. So with advice of using H2O2 or liquid carbon I've tried to fight it. The most visible result was after applying H2O2 for 15 minutes with syringe (while filter was off) and then cleaning with brush. I think I need to repeat this couple of time again in next weeks.

Seam cleaning by Alexander, on Flickr


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## xim (4 Jul 2015)

My silicone seams also have algae problem. I don't know how ADA Japan keep their tanks' seam so clean. Even though those tanks have been in used for years. Maybe they brush them every night?


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## Alexander Belchenko (4 Jul 2015)

xim said:


> Maybe they brush them every night?



I guess so! )))


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## tim (5 Jul 2015)

Scape has come along nicely Alexander, the embers really suit the layout, the only way to keep silicone joints clean is to brush them regularly especially under higher light, easier to ignore it


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## Greenfinger2 (10 Jul 2015)

Hi Alexander, Scape looks great

With the silicone edge I use liquid Co2 when i do a water change with the filter off. Apply at the top of the silicone and let it run down its heavier than water so sinks all the way down then leave for 10 minutes then give it a brush down comes up nice after a couple of times of doing it


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## Alexander Belchenko (10 Jul 2015)

Thank you, Roy! Will try your method tomorrow. Cheers


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## Alexander Belchenko (21 Jul 2015)

15 weeks. After trimming.

60x30x36 - 15 weeks by Alexander, on Flickr


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## Dantrasy (21 Jul 2015)

This is looking soooo good now. The green is so vibrant!

The flame just needs to grow a little so the scissor straight cut is less apparent. Maybe in a fts you can't see it? 

Going to enter a comp? ista and/or aga


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## Alexander Belchenko (21 Jul 2015)

Thank you, Dan. I love the green too.

Yes, probably you're right about straight cut. This photo was taken 3 weeks ago, now the tank grew more.
I think about those comp, also I can enter european eaplc.

2 weeks ago we made photo shooting with guest photographer. 2 men (me and my friend who helped to create the hardscape) tried to keep tetra in a school formation, while photo-man took some shots. More than 100 shots was taken - only 3 or 4 are more or less good. As usual 

Here is one shot from that series. I titled it "Sunset":

60x30x36 - sunset by Alexander, on Flickr

What do you think about flame on the back? Did it look better then?


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## Greenfinger2 (21 Jul 2015)

Hi Alexander, Great scape  The photo sunset is a stunner


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## Alexander Belchenko (21 Jul 2015)

Thank you Roy, I like it too.
We have good shots with yellow and light blue background. But I think yellow is better, more like warm summer.
And kinda matches ember of tetras.
Later I'll show you 2 backgrounds.


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## Jaydip (21 Jul 2015)

Wondarful tank.Love the school of tetra. However it would me more stunner if could catch all
those below the upper line of the tank.Little more contrast of sunset could be more eye catching.


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## Alexander Belchenko (30 Jul 2015)

Results of photo shooting. The photo slightly edited to remove snails/shrimps from glass where it was possible. I usually don't do this because I don't have required skills, but guest photo pro did. Enjoy!

60x30x36 - in blue by Alexander, on Flickr

And another background:

60x30x36 - in yellow by Alexander, on Flickr

The same tank - different mood ))


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## Greenfinger2 (30 Jul 2015)

Hi Alexander, Wonderful


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## Dantrasy (30 Jul 2015)

Skillfully done!


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## Edvet (30 Jul 2015)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> 2 men (me and my friend who helped to create the hardscape) tried to keep tetra in a school formation


How do you do that? (p.s.: i like the blue background more)


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## Alexander Belchenko (30 Jul 2015)

@Edvet: yeah, your picture is about right. We have used towels and tried to scare the fish, so they suddenly stash to the center of the tank, wait for couple of seconds and they swim back quickly. As you can see in all photos the school heading to right side, it's where they decided to "hide", so our job before each shot was to make them swim to center and then wait they swim back. So, I held one flash light above the tank and tried to wave with towel, another man worked with towel too, and camera man had to wait the right moment to shoot. It wasn't easy! 100+ shots total and only 3-4 which are not bad.


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## Edvet (30 Jul 2015)

Next time try a larger fish on a stick, that'll scare them


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## Alexander Belchenko (30 Jul 2015)

LOL. Piranha maybe?


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## Jaydip (30 Jul 2015)

Nice Click!


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## Alexander Belchenko (20 Aug 2015)

*2015/08/20 - 5 months old. Green & wild.*

After the photo shooting I decided to not cut plants, esp. staurogyne. After more than a month you barely can see a hardscape.

60x30x36 - 5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

60x30x36 - 5 months by Alexander, on Flickr

In next few weeks I'm going to dismantle this and start a new layout.


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## The_Iceman (20 Aug 2015)

Really liked this one Alexander...

But, of course, looking forward to your new layout


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## Ewa (24 Aug 2015)

Loving the tank! Can you tell me what did you use to matt the back glass when you did set up the tank first please?

Thank you!


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## Alexander Belchenko (24 Aug 2015)

Ewa, it's vinyl film, search for Oracal 640 transparent matt one. I've used cheaper brand though.


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## Greenfinger2 (27 Aug 2015)

Hi Alexander, Wonderful  Looking forward to your next scape


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## Alexander Belchenko (30 Aug 2015)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> 60x30x36 - 11 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr



Ranked 1181 @ IAPLC 2015. Worse than previous year, but the tank itself wasn't great either. Let's hope next year would be better.


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## Dantrasy (31 Aug 2015)

Still a good rank, you beat the majority of entrants  

Well done!


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## Alexander Belchenko (31 Aug 2015)

Thanks, Dan. But as I understand, only first 2000 are ranked. So, as in previous year, I'm not in the top-1000, so less than average.
That's not bad at all, this tank is not primarily for contests, but for my own joy of aquascaping.

Yesterday I saw as teen boy and his father get down on a knee to look closer to the tank, I suppose they watched at shrimps.
When I see ordinal people enjoyed my work in pet shop, I feel very pleased.


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## Alexander Belchenko (1 Sep 2015)

Layout No.3 - last days. Left side view. Love the staurogyne walking down the mountain and fresh green of hairgrass. This sp. mini - is the best hairgrass for me! It requires high light and CO2 injection though to grow successfully.
(Sorry for the quality - shot during maintenance)

60x30x36 - side view by Alexander, on Flickr

That brown-leaved stem plant in the right bottom corner - here it's called "brown staurogyne" but of course it's NOT staurogyne. Probably some sort of hygrophila. It also requires high light and CO2. Anybody have an idea about proper name of that plant?


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## Alexander Belchenko (7 Sep 2015)

*Fan art*

Fan art by Alexander, on Flickr


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## Dantrasy (7 Sep 2015)

What comp did this go to? (sorry if I missed it). It's a real beauty. The red fish make it pop!


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## GHNelson (7 Sep 2015)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Ranked 1181 @ IAPLC 2015


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## Alexander Belchenko (7 Sep 2015)

Dantrasy said:


> What comp did this go to? (sorry if I missed it). It's a real beauty. The red fish make it pop!



Probably I need to start new thread, there are 3 layouts in one topic. I guess Dan's asking about the last one (numbero 3) with tetra amandas? I sent it to EAPLC (with blue background) and to AGA (with yellow). 

Previous layout (numbero 2) with black background and woods was entering IAPLC 2015 - got 1181.


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## zozo (7 Sep 2015)

Alexander those Carpathians rocks are these regular known available stones in export or DIY found in the Carpathians?  Never heard of it and they are absolutely beautifull..  Also an adorable scape you made with it.  Also thanks for the tips along the way of this topic, very inspirational.


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## Alexander Belchenko (7 Sep 2015)

@zozo I think these rocks are Ukrainian equivalent of ADA Manten stone. At least they look similar.
Thank you for your kind words.


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## alto (7 Sep 2015)

Another fan here 
I really like your scapes & their journals


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## banthaman.jm (10 Sep 2015)

really really nice.
Jim


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## The_Iceman (11 Sep 2015)

Your "fanart" shot (Istanbul shoe) is looking great! It has a nice ADA Amano touch to it!

Looking forward to your new layout!

But imho, the stones don't look like Manten


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## Alexander Belchenko (11 Sep 2015)

The_Iceman said:


> But imho, the stones don't look like Manten



Err, sorry then. You know, we're locally calling them "manten-like" and looking at the photos of Mantens in the internet - they look similar. Of course, I didn't used genuine ADA Mantent stones, so I can be utterly wrong.


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## The_Iceman (11 Sep 2015)

They really have a nice structure to it... I love them


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## Alexander Belchenko (15 Sep 2015)

Can I boast a little bit, why not?

Layout No.3 photo with blue background has won local competition "tank of the month" on big ukrainian aquatic forum, there were 5 entries of may-july months, with people voting and some serious jury making choice of the tank as well. Actually in people voting this tank was only second, but all 3 members of jury have chosen this tank as number 1, and as bottom line - I won.

It was a big surprise for me. Several times in previous 2 years I was only second (as highest rank) in this competition, but this time the fortune has smiled on me. You maybe don't believe, but two of jury members are from top-100 of last IAPLC: Grigoriy Polishchuk and Jozeph Feldeshi. That's why I so excited.

On the other hand, I still was only second in people voting. Voting was multi-choice, so anybody can choice as many tank as they find they like. So numbers were: 224-153-117-55-51. The tank on 1st place of people voting is more like dutch tank with a lot of healthy and beautiful plants, but I guess the reason why serious jury chose me is in quality of the picture itself and more aquascape-like of my work.

I'm looking forward for results of AGA and EAPLC, but those contest have a lot of really cool works, so I only interesting in relative numbers (comparing to previous year) and maybe feedback from jury.

Anyway, new layout is already started, and I think it's time to start new thread, let's call it "season 2"


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## The_Iceman (15 Sep 2015)

Congratulations!


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