# Mont Gumi



## Danny (16 Nov 2017)

After a few years out of fish keeping I am finally getting around to setting up what I hope to be my best ever tank, I'm not entirely sure at this point if it will be a mountain scape or simple Iwagumi.

I will be using Seiryu stone so will see what develops while dry scaping, I am also yet to decide on going full on high tech or not which will be dependent on the scape I settle on and potential plants.

As it stands I have the tank and a couple of other bits and awaiting delivery of everything else needed to get started which I hope to be this weekend.

Tank: TMC Signature 600x450x300
Light: ADA Aquasky 601, 14hrs or so a day
Filter: Eheim 2213 external
Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia
Decor: Dragon Rock
Ferts: TNC liquid carbon and Complete 
Plants: 
-Marsilea Hirsuta
-Rotala Wallichii
-Alternanthera Reineckii ''Mini' 

TBC


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## Danny (16 Nov 2017)

This is how it looks currently while I wait for more Aquasoil and the Seiryu stone to arrive along with a few other bits and pieces so I can make a start on the scape and DSM.


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## Nigel95 (16 Nov 2017)

Are you still thinking about a pressurized co2 system? I think the ada aquasky gives to much light to go w/o a co2 system. And plants benefit great from co2 w/e plants you choose. Even with co2 you might wanna block out some light with tape or so to keep algae under control. If you mainly have carpet plants.  

I would go for a mountain scape if you have enough stones. I also started with iwagumi's but they get boring very fast IMO.


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## Danny (16 Nov 2017)

Nigel95 said:


> Are you still thinking about a pressurized co2 system? I think the ada aquasky gives to much light to go w/o a co2 system. And plants benefit great from co2 w/e plants you choose. Even with co2 you might wanna block out some light with tape or so to keep algae under control. If you mainly have carpet plants.
> 
> I would go for a mountain scape if you have enough stones. I also started with iwagumi's but they get boring very fast IMO.


I'm hoping to be able to create a mountain scape based along the lines of a ridge or similar but it will be my first try at it and was never that great at aquascaping before, I have 15kg of Seiryu being delivered and if I can't work with that I have another 20kg on standby.

I might get a frosted cover for it or possibly some Amazon frogbit or similar floating plant at some stage or will just go for CO2. 

Plants wise my initial thoughts are I think HC or GE for a carpet and just some moss around the rocks, still early days yet so no doubt my ideas will change over the next couple of weeks. 

It currently looks like this, had to do something with it while I wait for the rest of the items lol


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## Danny (17 Nov 2017)

So 15kg of Seiryu has arrived and after a trip to the LFS I picked up some great Dragon stone after having a little scape in the shop with it.

Initial thoughts after playing with the Dragon stone in the shop are they will give me pretty much the mountain scape I am after.

Now to play with a few ideas with each set and see which stone I settle and scape I can settle on.


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## Danny (17 Nov 2017)

The first idea with Dragon stone, next will be with Seiryu stone. I would backfill this around the rockwork with some more ADA Aquasoil.

Any critique welcome.


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## Danny (24 Nov 2017)

DSM day 1, first time I've done it and oh how frustrating it is! Hopefully it will all be worth the effort.

Time to wrap it.


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## Danny (24 Nov 2017)

All wrapped, feeling anxious....


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## Danny (27 Nov 2017)

Going into day 3 looking good, I can see some fresh root growth on the marsilea hirsuta and a couple of new sprouts, the eleocharis parvula is harder to see any difference in at the moment.

The humidity seems to be going well with an average temp of 19 degrees, I'm running the light for 12hrs at the moment and a 5 minute period of a quarter of the tank unwrapped and sprayed a couple of times with just tap water.

It might be a bit soon to say but I'm feeling quite hopeful of this being a success at this point.


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## Tomfish (28 Nov 2017)

Before you start fertilising it is probably  worth noting that your tank it is 80l not 120l. I hope that's useful.


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## steveno (28 Nov 2017)

Looking great, liking the mountain scape you have created, like the top stone will be emersed , good luck with the DSM... I recently start my own DSM but using UG... also have  a very similar set and am using a ADA moonlight, those ADA led don't half put out a lot of light .


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## Danny (30 Nov 2017)

Tomfish said:


> Before you start fertilising it is probably  worth noting that your tank it is 80l not 120l. I hope that's useful.



Ahhh just had to google that, I must have seen it said as 120l somewhere. I will count as I fill it to be sure as I know there will be a huge displacement anyway but thanks for the heads up.


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## Danny (30 Nov 2017)

steveno said:


> Looking great, liking the mountain scape you have created, like the top stone will be emersed , good luck with the DSM... I recently start my own DSM but using UG... also have  a very similar set and am using a ADA moonlight, those ADA led don't half put out a lot of light .


 Yeah I am pretty surprised at the amount of light from the unit tbh, so far so good with some great growth all over now in just under a week so really looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Good luck with your start.


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## Danny (30 Nov 2017)

So thought I would give another quick update as I had the camera out for a play last night, excellent growth all over now with shoots and roots sprouting all over the tank including the eleocharis parvula.

I really should get a macro lens but thought I would share a couple of semi macro shots.


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## Danny (3 Dec 2017)

DSM day 9, starting to get quite a mix of emersed and submersed growth from the Marsilea Hirsuta now.


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## Danny (4 Dec 2017)

When I first thought about using Marsilea Hirsuta for it's undemanding needs I also accepted it to be slow growing and did not expect to see much progress anytime soon...... Well I'm seeing rapid growth daily now from shoots to root structure I'm really quite amazed! 

If this is in fact it's "slow growth rate" I'm intrigued by what the results are like on fast growers....


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## Danny (5 Dec 2017)

The amount of growth in about 30hrs is incredible!


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## Danny (9 Dec 2017)

Let there be water


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## Danny (9 Dec 2017)

Clearing up nicely and all plants holding.


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## Patrick Crowley (9 Dec 2017)

Looking good Danny.  I’m liking your tool holder, very smart 
Keep the updates coming 


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## Danny (9 Dec 2017)

Patrick Crowley said:


> Looking good Danny.  I’m liking your tool holder, very smart
> Keep the updates coming
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Cheers Patrick, spotted the tool set on Amazon so thought it was worth a shot and got a nice surprise at how good it actually is.


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## Danny (9 Dec 2017)

Not quite clear yet but looking good, I love the tool set too so thought it deserved a shot. An inline heater will be the next addition, can't stand looking at the heater in the tank.


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## Danny (10 Dec 2017)

Morning update


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## Danny (11 Dec 2017)

A little cloudy from planting earlier but I made some changes and additions, I removed the dwarf hair grass from the back and replaced it with Alternanthera Reineckii ''Mini' which I'm hoping I'll get away with staying low tech.

I also added some Rotala Wallichii to hopefully fill in the corners and with any luck get a nice pinky/red colour from.


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## Danny (13 Dec 2017)

Photo from last night, not sure how well it shows it but the growth rate and transition from emersed to submerged is amazing! 

Dosing TNC liquid carbon daily and have had one dose of TNC complete on Saturday 

 which is to be done weekly.


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## Danny (17 Dec 2017)

Very quick update, more for my own records really.

Had a weekend away from Friday afternoon, tank lights were off but the tank did have indirect daylight, great growth all round in those couple of days.


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## Danny (19 Dec 2017)

Tuesday night tank shot, almost time to trim the Rotala Wallichii, be interesting to hear the results others are having with; 

Rotala Wallichii
Marselia Hersuita 
Alternanthera Reineckii ''Mini"

In non injected co2 tanks.


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## fishpalace (19 Dec 2017)

Looks very nice and a cracking scape.

Would you say the lights are too bright or too early to say?  Can they be adjusted to a lower setting?

Paul


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## Guiller (20 Dec 2017)

It's impressive the growth you are getting from the Marsilea for a low tech!


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## Danny (20 Dec 2017)

fishpalace said:


> Looks very nice and a cracking scape.
> 
> Would you say the lights are too bright or too early to say?  Can they be adjusted to a lower setting?
> 
> ...


I can't say through knowledge really as I went for them purely on the brand and assuming ADA know what they are doing with lights, so far I don't have a single reason to fault them.

The light spill is minimal, growth is great, viewing temp is a pleasure and the unit looks great too.


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## Danny (20 Dec 2017)

Guiller said:


> It's impressive the growth you are getting from the Marsilea for a low tech!



I didn't have high hopes for signs of growth so it's a massive surprise to get such great results so far.


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## Danny (20 Dec 2017)

Wallichii and AR

 

 taking to the tank well.


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## Danny (21 Dec 2017)

Almost a full tank shot for tonight, can't stand the heater in photos so keep it out of most lol 

I increased my daily dose of TNC liquid carbon from 1 to 2ml three days ago just to see if there is any impact and it definitely seems to be an improvement for now, starting to get a little algae on the rocks etc which is to be expected from 14hrs of light but nothing ottos won't clear up when they are added after the cycle.


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## Danny (23 Dec 2017)

I am currently a very torn man lol after visiting a couple of local shops today I found two truly epic pieces of eucalyptus wood..... the pictures really do not do these justice and would need to be 360 degree to fully show them off lol

I've just donked them on my 60x40cm side table for an idea of how they could be used and I can already see a potentially amazing scape with them.....

Problem is I'm only currently only in possession of this tank and I think my mrs would go mental if I stripped it now, the plus side is we have already discussed an upgrade and I think these pieces would need a 90/120cm tank ideally so I'm going to have to do some serious thinking over Christmas.


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## Danny (23 Dec 2017)

A couple of very quick ideas, so many options with these. I need to get them in a tank to play properly for sure.....


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## Danny (23 Dec 2017)

Excuse the mess lol I'm thinking lowish light buces/crypts/mosses etc 

Few more Christmass beers and I'll be re-scaping tonight at this rate


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## tam (23 Dec 2017)

Clearly you need at least two more tanks!


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## Danny (23 Dec 2017)

tam said:


> Clearly you need at least two more tanks!


Most definitely lol


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## Danny (26 Dec 2017)

Looking a bit green at the moment, I've been playing with the daily dose of liquid carbon and gone from weekly dosing TNC complete to daily at double the dose.

It's had quite an impact on growth in both the plants and algae so I'm fine tuning it and trying to pull it back into line with big daily water changes which I've never done before, on the plus side the cycle is now in the final stage

Ammonia is 0 and just the nitrite left to come down now.

I trimmed the Wallichii a couple of days ago by about 4 inches and it's grown straight back already including the clippings I 're planted.

Getting errors uploading photos so they will follow.


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## Danny (26 Dec 2017)




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## Danny (27 Dec 2017)

A little update on the Wallichii and what I've noticed in the 16 days it's been planted.

Now I didn't have very high hopes for it to begin with with my non gas approach bit thought I would give it a go anyway, it's growing like mad but not getting the full rich coloration that I've seen it have in high tech tanks which is to be expected.

It is definitely showing it's demand for light to get good results as the stems directly under the Aquasky 601 are actually quite nicely coloured, anything other than directly below is more of a Browny Orange so far.

I guess time will tell better at just how well it will colour overall but so far I'm pleased with the results especially the growth.


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## Danny (28 Dec 2017)

Still haven't ordered an inline heater which I really must do, tank is all doing well.

Now dosing 2ml TNC liquid carbon and 1ml complete ferts daily.

I'm starting to get bored with this now, I really feel like it can't go anywhere or evolve at all.... doesn't help having some great hardscape material to hand I'm dying to use either lol 

Photos are playing up so will follow.


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## Danny (28 Dec 2017)




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## Danny (29 Dec 2017)

So today I finally got rid of that damn internal heater and connected a 200w Hydor inline external!! I am a happy bunny lol


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## Danny (1 Jan 2018)

Time for another update, 

Marselia Hersuita.....a slow growing undemanding plant..... 

It grows like a weed lol 

I've got a bit of green hair algae I'm working on clearing and decided the carpet has been to dense so been thinning bits here and there until today, today I removed about a third with thoughts of adding another type of plant around the rock work. Something bigger and bushier....no idea what yet.

The AR mini is really growing well, I separated one of the bigger bits and 're planted along the rock line as I had pictured it when originally getting it so glad that's working. 

The Marselia Hersuita has been over running the AR where they met too! 

I have also decided to get a full co2 system going in the very near future too, I'm just not happy with the Wallichii without co2 and the AR will also benefit from it so something to look forward to.

That's it for today.


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## Danny (3 Jan 2018)

Well it's all change here now,

I decided to 're scape the tank yesterday as I figured better to do it now while still cycling than when I finally get some fish in there.

One problem of the 're scape is the state of the Aqua soil Amazonia..... it will be removed and replaced.

But on to the more interesting info, I have ordered a load of plants for the new scape and re using the AR mini so really looking forward to what I can create now.

Exciting times ahead!

I have ordered;

Bucephalandra sp. "Deep Purple"
Bucephalandra sp. "Red"
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Rubella'
Cryptocoryne albida 'Brown'
Cryptocoryne beckettii "Petchii"
Cryptocoryne wendtii "brown"
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Rotala rotundifolia 'Orange Juice'
Riccia fluitans
Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping Moss' 
Vesicularia sp. "Creeping Moss"
Monosolenium tenerum
Vesicularia "Christmas Moss"


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## Danny (3 Jan 2018)

Decided to close this journal now and move to another for the new scape, it's been fun.

See you on the other side

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/journey-of-the-stones.51667/


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