# Tonys "Mojito's Cove" 200L - 4 week update pics



## Tony Swinney (11 Aug 2013)

This is a new scape I've just done to replace "Horatios Cave" which has now been stripped down.

The scape is sponsored by Tropica, who kindly supplied the plants.

For some time I've wanted to do a scape with Seiryu Stone and Manzanita Wood, with a sand foreground and centre section, so this is it.

Its nothing groundbreaking at all but I think its quite nice and should develop well over the next few weeks.

Tank:  100cm x 45cm x 45cm optiwhite by Natural Aquario, supplied by Ed at FreshWaterShrimp.co.uk
Filtration: 2 x Eheim Pro3 2075
Heater: Hydor inline 300w
Lighting: ADA Solar 1, 150W NAMH
CO2: Injection via Aqua Medic 1000 reactor
Substrate: Tropica substrate, capped with unipac gravel, foreground of pale sand
Hardscape: Manzanita Wood & Seiryu Stone

Plants:
1-2-Grow Glossy
Christmas Moss
Ranunculus Inundatus
Eleocharis Parvula
Hygrophila Pinnatifida
Bolbitis Heudelotii
Bacopa Australis
Hygrophila sp. Araguaia
Lindernia Rotundifolia

I'll try my best to keep the updates coming on this one 

Tony


----------



## Tony Swinney (11 Aug 2013)




----------



## Tony Swinney (11 Aug 2013)




----------



## samc (11 Aug 2013)

That looks brilliant Tony! is the Ranunculus Inundatus tied to the wood higher up?


----------



## Ady34 (11 Aug 2013)

Stunning!


----------



## Tony Swinney (11 Aug 2013)

samc said:


> That looks brilliant Tony! is the Ranunculus Inundatus tied to the wood higher up?


Hi and thanks Sam, great to see you back on here   I've marked the ranunculus in this pic ...







Ady34 said:


> Stunning!


 
Thanks alot Ady 

Tony


----------



## Ian Holdich (11 Aug 2013)

Looks fantastic mate, it's a winner already! 

I can't help feel responsable for the name though...


----------



## samc (11 Aug 2013)

Surprised you remember me haha. I have been away from aquascaping for a while now so missed these new plants. I have my own shop now so ill be posting a few journals of the tanks. Just rescaped my 5 footer actually.. inspired by your tank you did a while back with the driftwood that was almost like rocks.. something hollow? anyway your producing some stunning tanks still, given me a few ideas actually...


----------



## flygja (11 Aug 2013)

That's brilliant Tony! I'll be hoping for more updates on this one!


----------



## StevenA (11 Aug 2013)

Looks fantastic Tony, I loved Horatios Cave, especially the use of the Hydrocotyle, but this is gonna be a stunner, great use of minimal species, well done once again


----------



## Nice (11 Aug 2013)

Hello
This is a NA tank? NA made a custom tank size for you? Oh you were lucky men, i thought they weren't doing custom sizes any more.

The tank is amazing, the driftwood is so dramatic. Were did you get it?


----------



## nduli (11 Aug 2013)

Stunning.....subscribed.


----------



## Tony Swinney (12 Aug 2013)

Ian Holdich said:


> Looks fantastic mate, it's a winner already!  I can't help feel responsable for the name though...


Yep, all naming rights go to you Ian from now on  Thanks mate.



samc said:


> Surprised you remember me haha. I have been away from aquascaping for a while now so missed these new plants. I have my own shop now so ill be posting a few journals of the tanks. Just rescaped my 5 footer actually.. inspired by your tank you did a while back with the driftwood that was almost like rocks.. something hollow? anyway your producing some stunning tanks still, given me a few ideas actually...


 
Thanks Sam - that is Triassic Hollow, its still going strong too.  The shop sounds exciting - I look forward to seeing the scapes you do for it.



flygja said:


> That's brilliant Tony! I'll be hoping for more updates on this one!


 
Thanks flygja - I'll try to keep them coming !



Tourney said:


> Looks fantastic Tony, I loved Horatios Cave, especially the use of the Hydrocotyle, but this is gonna be a stunner, great use of minimal species, well done once again


Double thanks Tourney 



Nice said:


> Hello  This is a NA tank? NA made a custom tank size for you? Oh you were lucky men, i thought they weren't doing custom sizes any more.  The tank is amazing, the driftwood is so dramatic. Were did you get it?


Yep, its a custom size - they do charge 25% more for it though.  It was ordered about 4 months ago so not suer if they are still doing it ?  The drfitwood is manzanita wood from Tom Barr in the US.



nduli said:


> Stunning.....subscribed.


Thanks nduli

The tank is a week old now, and looking fine  - no signs of algae anywhere, and the plants look to be adapting to submersed life very well.  I'm doing 30% water changes everyday.

Tony


----------



## George Farmer (12 Aug 2013)

Great job, Tony! Super layout, lovely kit, and smashing photography.

Watching with lots of interest.


----------



## tim (12 Aug 2013)

Superb, looking forward to updates.


----------



## Tony Swinney (15 Aug 2013)

Thanks guys. Heres a few more pics of the tank at 8 days old. 35% water changes everyday so far, but I'm away for the next 4 days so its being left to its own devices 

Theres no algae at all so far, and the plants are growing or throwing out runners at a rate already !  Testament to the quality of Tropica's plants I think.

Tony





















And the obligatory insitu shot ...


----------



## stu_ (15 Aug 2013)

Tony Swinney said:


>


 
Hi
cracking pics & a great look all round.
What's the bladed plant, just to the right of dead centre please ?


----------



## Ady34 (15 Aug 2013)

Looking great Tony. 
Are they the new glass spraybars from apfuk?
Also, will you run the halide that high always, or will it get lowered? What sort of photoperiod are you running please?
Thanks,
Ady.


----------



## Tony Swinney (15 Aug 2013)

stu_ said:


> Hi
> cracking pics & a great look all round.
> What's the bladed plant, just to the right of dead centre please ?


Thanks Stu, its a Bucephalandra Malawi, not from Tropica though  



Ady34 said:


> Looking great Tony.
> Are they the new glass spraybars from apfuk?
> Also, will you run the halide that high always, or will it get lowered? What sort of photoperiod are you running please?
> Thanks,
> Ady.


Hi Ady, yes they are the new spray bars - and I quite like them    The arch of the shephards crook is perhaps a bit tight, but they certainly generate alot of flow across the top of the tank.  I have them angle slightly downwards so they fire across the top of the higher plants, and then hit the front wall and down to the front substrate.

I'm hoping to leave the Halide that high, as if it goes lower it doesnt spread to the edges of the tank enough.  The NAMH bulb in there is 2.5 years old, so I've just bought a new one.  I'm going to try to borrow a par meter from somewhere to take a reading with the present bulb, and one with the new one, it'll be interesting to see the difference.  The new bulb will dictate the height.

Tony


----------



## Alastair (15 Aug 2013)

Beautiful Tony I love the full room shot too. Very jealous

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Gary Nelson (15 Aug 2013)

Yes it looks great, very natural looking and great photos too! I like your plant choice.


----------



## Christian Walker (15 Aug 2013)

Hi there, this is a really impressive scape and is the basis of something I had in mind (basic shapes and structure but I cant hold my hand up to having anywhere near the vision you have since your plant choices is fantastic).  One question if I may though...  I see you put the plant substrate in those sections at the back... and then you put your hardscape in place... surely that made planting REALLY hard though ?  Was it a case of using your tongs and getting stuff into nooks and crannies with some difficulty, or is there an easier knack you can share ?  Im imagining you need to be very accurate with such a complex hardscape "in the way" of planting ?  Would welcome any hints and suggestions you have 

Also, I worry about fish food getting stuck in all the nooks and crannies that such a scape creates.  How do you deal with that ?

Thanks and keep up the good work, Im subscribed to this one for sure


----------



## Tony Swinney (16 Aug 2013)

Alastair said:


> Beautiful Tony I love the full room shot too. Very jealous


Thanks alastair, thats the messy corner of my office !


----------



## Tony Swinney (16 Aug 2013)

Gary Nelson said:


> Yes it looks great, very natural looking and great photos too! I like your plant choice.


Thanks Gary, I'm hoping the plant choice will remain very natural looking once it all matures, with different species intertwining with each other rather than having separate  clumps of plants.



Christian Walker said:


> Hi there, this is a really impressive scape and is the basis of something I had in mind (basic shapes and structure but I cant hold my hand up to having anywhere near the vision you have since your plant choices is fantastic). One question if I may though... I see you put the plant substrate in those sections at the back... and then you put your hardscape in place... surely that made planting REALLY hard though ? Was it a case of using your tongs and getting stuff into nooks and crannies with some difficulty, or is there an easier knack you can share ? Im imagining you need to be very accurate with such a complex hardscape "in the way" of planting ? Would welcome any hints and suggestions you have
> 
> Also, I worry about fish food getting stuck in all the nooks and crannies that such a scape creates. How do you deal with that ?
> Thanks and keep up the good work, Im subscribed to this one for sure


 
Hi Christian.
The planting was tricky but a set of long fine tweezers really helped.  I also topped up the substrate and the gravel capping after the rocks were put in, so theres not as much space under them as you might think.  I'm away for a few days, but when I get back I'll post a side view of the tank so you can see how the substrate banks up towards the back.
Regarding fish food, I'll be feeding carefully and slowly to avoid much food getting to the bottom, plus there will be alot of amano shrimp going in here as a clean up crew.  That said it is going to need regularly siphoning as there are 'caves' under the rocks which will gather detritus.

Tony


----------



## Christian Walker (16 Aug 2013)

Thanks , looking forward to the side shot, Im sure it will be helpful


----------



## LondonDragon (9 Sep 2013)

Really nice Tony, hardscape looks great  looking forward to seeing this one develop, never been a fan of the Ranunculus wanna see how that develops in this scape  congrats Tony, top scape as always!


----------



## flygja (11 Sep 2013)

Great scape! And I'm also insanely jealous of the gear p0rn in the other corner... ADA Aquasky and Superjet!


----------



## Tony Swinney (11 Sep 2013)

LondonDragon said:


> Really nice Tony, hardscape looks great  looking forward to seeing this one develop, never been a fan of the Ranunculus wanna see how that develops in this scape  congrats Tony, top scape as always!


Thanks Paulo.  The ranunculus is going well, though it did suffer more melt than anything else in the tank, as it adjusted to submersed life.



flygja said:


> Great scape! And I'm also insanely jealous of the gear p0rn in the other corner... ADA Aquasky and Superjet!


Ha - well spotted flyga !  I'll be starting up a journal on that one very soon 

Tony


----------



## Tim Harrison (11 Sep 2013)

Very accomplished...rock placement, wood placement, plant placement and choice, and interesting title Mojito's Cove...but not a patch on your mancave...manland...mantuary...manspace,...




Surely you can't be married or nuffink...there is no way I'd get away with this...


----------



## Tony Swinney (11 Sep 2013)

Happilly married thanks Troi   But this is my studio, so its my space - all MINE !!!


----------



## virgojavier (11 Sep 2013)

Amazing and truly inspiring scape!


----------



## Tim Harrison (11 Sep 2013)

Tony Swinney said:


> Happilly married thanks Troi  But this is my studio, so its my space - all MINE !!!


 
Genius...build a mantuary and call it a studio...its all in the spin...


----------



## Tony Swinney (12 Sep 2013)

Unfortunately the spin involves spending many hours a week in here too 

Right, an update ...

At 38 days things are going well. I had some signs of detritus on the manzanita and rocks, so introduces a cleaning crew ( 50 x amanos, 50 x otos ) which nailed it in a day ! The ranunculus suffered the most melt, but its adapting well now. The pinnatifida is going great guns, as is the moss.

The first pic shows it pre-trim, and the second pic is after its first major trim. Other pics are just over indulgence, but thought you might like them !

Tony


----------



## Deano3 (12 Sep 2013)

beautiful  very tranquil

dean


----------



## flygja (12 Sep 2013)

50 otos is a bit of an overkill don't you think? Looks like you're breeding frogs now


----------



## Ady34 (12 Sep 2013)

flygja said:


> 50 otos is a bit of an overkill don't you think? Looks like you're breeding frogs now


 
thats enough for the Stockport P@H tank!! 
Surely your not planning on growing that much algae to feed them all? 

Looking great Tony, fancying trying a bit of ranunculus myself. Blue tetras are a nice subtle fish choice too.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## LondonDragon (12 Sep 2013)

Tony Swinney said:


> CO2: Injection via Aqua Medic 1000 reactor


what media do you have inside it Tony? cheers


----------



## zanguli-ya-zamba (12 Sep 2013)

How come I have missed that one !!!!
very nice realization Tony.

cheers


----------



## zanguli-ya-zamba (12 Sep 2013)

Tony,
do you have any distribution (flow) issue behind the big rock on right and left ?
because with spraybar set up flow should be block by the hardscape !?

cheers 
zanguli


----------



## Eboeagles (12 Sep 2013)

Great tank - very clean. It looks like an instant winner, as if you've managed to create an amazing tank effortlessly...

I'm even more impressed with the man cave though - I'm totally jealous!!

I also see you have an Aquasky on your other tank in the cave - where did you manage to get that from? I'm having trouble finding a reasonably price and attractive light and that looks like it may fit the bill, but I can't seem to find someone to ship me one to the UK!


----------



## Tony Swinney (12 Sep 2013)

flygja said:


> 50 otos is a bit of an overkill don't you think? Looks like you're breeding frogs now


Nah, they soon spread out and hide away!  Once the tank has settled in, some of them will move to another tank



Ady34 said:


> thats enough for the Stockport P@H tank!!
> Surely your not planning on growing that much algae to feed them all?   Ady.


 
The algae has no chance Ady - it wont even get a look in !  I like the ranunculus, its a really interesting shape, and once it gets going it will fill a tank rapidly !  Its my first time with Blue Tetras, and i like their subtlety, they're definitely not a 'shoaler' but I like their randomness in this tank.



LondonDragon said:


> what media do you have inside it Tony? cheers


Its just the standard media balls Paulo - works fine and isn't clogging at all.



zanguli-ya-zamba said:


> How come I have missed that one !!!!  Very nice realization Tony.  Do you have any distribution (flow) issue behind the big rock on right and left ?
> because with spraybar set up flow should be block by the hardscape !?
> 
> cheers
> zanguli


Hi Zanguli, and thanks :0  Distribution is fine in the tank - there are a pair of Eheim 2075's on there so alot of flow is generated.  The substrate is built right up behind those rocks, so theres not a massive void in there, and the plants are primarily above the rocks anyway so they get flow.  I do get detritus buidling up around the rock bases, but its easily solved with a weekly siphon.



Eboeagles said:


> Great tank - very clean. It looks like an instant winner, as if you've managed to create an amazing tank effortlessly...
> I'm even more impressed with the man cave though - I'm totally jealous!!
> I also see you have an Aquasky on your other tank in the cave - where did you manage to get that from? I'm having trouble finding a reasonably price and attractive light and that looks like it may fit the bill, but I can't seem to find someone to ship me one to the UK!


 
Hi Ebo', it wasnt quite effortless, but has been very straightforward so far, I hope it continues that way, as this tank has job to do in a month or so's time 

I bought the Aquasky on a trip to Europe earlier this year.  The ADA distribution agreements prevent any dealer from outside the UK from shipping to the UK, and as the Aquasky has not met UK electrical regulations I dont think they'll be available here anytime soon.  Book a holiday to somewhere with an ADA dealer in town 

Tony


----------



## Antoni (12 Sep 2013)

Looks very good, Tony! I like the placement of the wood and stones, beautiful! Noticed that you are using spray bars as well, do you find them better than lily pipes? What make are those?


----------



## Aron_Dip (12 Sep 2013)

You must have amanos and otos coming out your ears lol ... Love the setup .... and the tank aint bad too 

My eyes are fixed.


----------



## Iain Sutherland (13 Sep 2013)

Progressing nicely tony, the pinna has taken off. 

Do you feed the ottos? I always had issues keeping 5 happy let alone 50!! Which is ironic as my tanks weren't exactly algae free. 

What do you think of the aquasky? Videos I've seen don't look like they give off the best colour rendition??


----------



## Tony Swinney (15 Sep 2013)

Antoni said:


> Looks very good, Tony! I like the placement of the wood and stones, beautiful! Noticed that you are using spray bars as well, do you find them better than lily pipes? What make are those?


Hi Antoni, the spraybars were some prototypes, that were going to be sold by John at Aquarium Plant Food UK, I'm not sure if they're available yet.  They give a good flow if you have strong enough filtration, and do get all round the tank 



Aron_Dip said:


> You must have amanos and otos coming out your ears lol ... Love the setup .... and the tank aint bad too   My eyes are fixed.


Thanks Aron, theres plenty in there, but with lots of 'caves' the amanos keep a low profile !



Iain Sutherland said:


> Progressing nicely tony, the pinna has taken off.
> Do you feed the ottos? I always had issues keeping 5 happy let alone 50!! Which is ironic as my tanks weren't exactly algae free.
> What do you think of the aquasky? Videos I've seen don't look like they give off the best colour rendition??


 
Thanks iain, yes the pinna could become rampant, so it going to be kept in check with lots of trimming - hopefully that will help it develop a redder colour too.  The oto's are feeding on algae wafers, and cucumber too - so far so good.  The amanos completely cleared the little detritus there was in about a day - they\re feeding on crab cuisine now.

I like the aquasky a lot - aesthetically theres nothing to beat it.  The colour rendition is on the yellower side, as you can see in the studio shot, when comparing it to the MH on this tank.  That said, I'm getting nice deep reds in the ludwigia sp red thats in the 45P, though its proving tricky to stop it being leggy.  I'll put a journal up for that tank this week 

Tony


----------



## Mark Green (18 Nov 2013)

Wow beautiful hardscape,  beautiful planting, beautiful equipment.....

Wow


----------



## steveno (18 Nov 2013)

Simply amazing, not much more to say... So Jealous!


----------



## Mark Green (10 Jan 2014)

Tony
Any chance of an update on this beauty...   Are you planning on entering this in this years iaplc????



> this is my studio, so its my space - all MINE !!!


 
Every aquascapers dream . I want one


----------



## Ady34 (24 Jun 2014)

Agree with Mark, would be great to see how this evolved mate


----------



## Tony Swinney (25 Jun 2014)

Thats very spooky timing Ady - I've just stripped it down this evening, and was just washing the tank out when an email pings in with an alert to your message !

The scape had to fend for itself for most of this year, as my daughters needs have increased as she has gone through her first year of schooling, plus I've been crazy busy with work, including a lot of travel.  The bolbitis had held its own pretty well despite no ferts but everything else suffered.  Then the CO2 ran out whilst I was away a couple of weeks ago, so I came back to BBA too.

As we have now sold our house, and are looking for another place, I have decided to strip it down and sell it all off ( I'm selling my 5ft tank too ), as the new place is going to need renovation work, and the likelyhood of these tanks being just the right size for them is slim, so I'll get shot of everything and start again once the new place is sorted.

Sorry not to give a more positive update !

Tony

NB lots of stuff coming up for sale in the next couple of weeks


----------



## Martin in Holland (25 Jun 2014)

wow....amazing tank...to me this could be a AGA winner


----------



## sciencefiction (25 Jun 2014)

Very nice tank. I love the stocking choice too


----------



## Ady34 (25 Jun 2014)

Ahh, never mind Tony, family is much more important and you have to make hay while the sun shines regards work!
Good luck with the house hunting, at least your in a favourable position having already sold yours  
Will keep my eye out for some goodies.
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------

