# Project P



## Kezzab (18 Feb 2018)

I've had a spare 60l tank sat in the back garden slowly turning quite mingin.

Today i gave it a clean and started experimenting with some rock and a big root I've had lying around outside.

My idea is to have it about a third filled with water. The back left corner behind the rock will be filled with substrate to water level and I'll have emerged growth of some kind, moss, maybe buce, hc japan, crypts, Mc, rannunculus. probably start with what i have in the house already.

Submersed there'll be java fern, Anubis, bolbitis - all from a tank ill decommission.

It'll house a couple of dwarf puffers i have in the tank above. The tank will have a cover.

The root was a local find, not sure exactly what it is. But only a bit is actually in the water. Stone is local. The moss on the wood is taken from a dead ash tree we felled for firewood.

I'd welcome your thoughts on the plan and the hardscape.

Thanks


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## Tim Harrison (18 Feb 2018)

Looks like an awesome piece of DW, and a local find as well...wish I was that lucky


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## Kezzab (18 Feb 2018)

Helps to live near a lot of lakes and rivers!


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## Kezzab (19 Feb 2018)

Moody lighting!


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## Kezzab (24 Feb 2018)

So i shifted everything inside and started getting sorted. Water needs to clear now. Filled up the back corner with organic compost. I'll get a few plants this week.


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## Kezzab (25 Feb 2018)

Water's clearing...


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## Edvet (25 Feb 2018)

Looking good, which dwarfpuffer?


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## Tim Harrison (25 Feb 2018)

That is looking good, very naturalistic.
Are you going to use a background of some sort?


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## Kezzab (25 Feb 2018)

Edvet said:


> Looking good, which dwarfpuffer?


Carinotetraodon travancoricus



Tim Harrison said:


> Are you going to use a background of some sort?



Not sure. I may well black out the back, i don't think ill do the living wall thing. I quite like the juxtaposition with the artificiality of the tank. Not ruling it out though.

k


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## Edvet (25 Feb 2018)

Kezzab said:


> Carinotetraodon travancoricus


You got a plan to produce snails?


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## Kezzab (25 Feb 2018)

They've done well for the past year on a diet of bloodworms, live mosquito larvae in summer and the occasional snail from my high tech.


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## Smells Fishy (25 Feb 2018)

I'm watching this.


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## Eduard18 (25 Feb 2018)

Looking good


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## Edvet (26 Feb 2018)

I expect you know about their teeth then ( feed snails, or cut them).


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## zozo (26 Feb 2018)

And they are dirt bags to the max..  If fed snails. Puffers kill snails for a hobby, bite off a chunk, the snail retract falls to the substrate and dies. The puffer simply goes on to the next one. I'm breeding pond and blader snails in the garden, these breed the fastest in all kinds of weather. Ramshorn slows down or even completely stops when temps get low. I have rather very little ramshorn outdoors. One day i thought it was a good idae to put an full grown adult pond snail with the puffer. It was 7 times bigger than the puffer itself.. But the little blighter bit off a chunk everytime he passed that snail. It took him 2 weeks but finaly managed to kill it and leave the rest to rot.

That's also the origine of the thumb rule 60 litre per puffer as a minimum. Or clean clean clean and clean.. Mine was an extremely grumpy one, he din't like me cleaning it frustrated him and shot like i little bullit through the tank. Slowly maturing he got so frustrated he attacked everything in his territory and that was the intire 110 litre tank. Imagine 1 little pea puffer dominating 110 litre, it urned hin the nick Master Puffy.. He chased and harassed 3 barbs bigger then himslef to a stressfull death. I was forced to rehome him to a new tank for himself.. He also didn't like beeing solo and got even more angry frustrated he was in hidding all day long and started shooting through the tank when i came close to it if he wasnt in hiding. Because he was always in hiding he was hard to spot after a few days searching i found it dried out on the floor. He commmited suicide.

My personal Master Puffy experience tends me to think in the direction they are beter of with leaving these little dominant psychopatic personanlities where they belong, in India in nature.


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## Kezzab (26 Feb 2018)

I've housed the pair successfully, healthy, no squabbling, eating well for the past year in a 20ltr tank. I know it's not ideal. They get 50% wc a week.

My experience with feeding them snails is as zozo says, they bite the head off then leave the rest to rot. The evidence of intact, but empty, snail shells isn't suggestive of them crunching through the shells.

The new tank will have a similar water volume but bigger footprint so i think they should be ok.


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## Kezzab (27 Feb 2018)

Popped into local P@H to see what they had. Have added a Crypt. Usteriana, some Bucephelandra sp, 'Red' and some Salvinia Natans. Also added some tiny cuttings of MC and Crypt. Neveli salvaged from other tanks. Starting to shape up.


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## Kezzab (28 Feb 2018)

Fish have moved in.


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## CooKieS (28 Feb 2018)

Nice pic, looks like an real river


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## Kezzab (4 Mar 2018)

Experimenting with a black (binbag) background. Think it's better.


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## Kezzab (6 Mar 2018)

Added some Beech nuts.


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## Kezzab (16 Mar 2018)

Exciting news. A random thing has germinated in the wild moss.


And also i found some unknown liverwort in the river so I've added a bit of that too.


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## Kezzab (17 Mar 2018)

Now with added Orchid. This is new territory.

Bulbophyllum Grandiflorum

Fingers crossed it will do well. Everything just needs to grow in now. Plants list:
H T japan
Marisela hirsuta
Monte Carlo
Buce red
crypts - neveli, usteriana, moelhani (sp!)
Ranunculus inundates
Native UK moss sp.
Native UK liverwort sp.
Random unknown germinating things
java fern
bolbitis
Anubis nana
salvia natans

Excuse spelling!


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## Edvet (17 Mar 2018)

Just make sure you dry the orchids out once a day, They get a lot of moist in nature but get dry also (dry exterior that is, not dessicate)


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## Kezzab (17 Mar 2018)

Roger that. Thanks for the tip.


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## Kezzab (19 Mar 2018)




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## Kezzab (2 Apr 2018)

Short update:
- The orchid is growing, not dying, it seems. Good result.
- The unknown seedling that arrived in the wild moss appears to be a Birch tree i think. This may be challenging. Bonsai tips please...


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## Kezzab (8 Apr 2018)

Hah! Misidentification Alert.

My Birch tree is actually Nettles.

Anyone else got an aquascape that features nettles?

Thought not.


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## Kezzab (11 May 2018)

Staring to grow in a bit now. Contemplating adding some additional plants into the moss. Not sure what though, any suggestions?


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## rebel (11 May 2018)

Amazing scape and denizens .Kudos!!!


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## Kezzab (11 May 2018)

Thanks @rebel I appreciate the kind words. All the BGA is out of shot!


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## Kezzab (11 May 2018)

Added some java fern up round the top...


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## Kezzab (13 May 2018)

I was weeding the drive this morning, thought this looked neat. Not sure what it is. In it goes!


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## Kezzab (16 Jun 2018)

This is really starting to grow in now. I added some woodlice as a clean up crew!


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## Edvet (17 Jun 2018)

Tropical springtails are often used as cleanup crew too


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## Kezzab (14 Jul 2018)

Quick pic.


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## zozo (14 Jul 2018)

Kezzab said:


> Not sure what though, any suggestions?



Utricularia ...


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## Kezzab (7 Sep 2018)

Latest...


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## dw1305 (7 Sep 2018)

Hi all,





Kezzab said:


> Not sure what it is. In it goes!


Bit late, but it's _Saxifraga tridactylites, <"_Rue-leaved Saxifrage_">.
_
cheers  Darrel


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## Kezzab (7 Sep 2018)

Ah, well it died...


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## dw1305 (8 Sep 2018)

Hi all,





Kezzab said:


> Ah, well it died...


It's an annual, so once it had flowered it was always going to die.

cheers Darrel


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## Kezzab (9 Sep 2018)

That would explain it.


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## Kezzab (30 Sep 2018)

Really pleased with how this has turned out.
The orchid has thrown out a couple of new leaves, I assume that's good but it does seem to.be growing extremely slowly. As usual with my tanks it suffers from guano, but cest la vie. Other weird thing is the rotala leaves, they are all twisted, but seem healthy. I wonder if it is the humidity or high light?


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## Kezzab (30 Sep 2018)

Haha, predictive text, cyano becomes guano!


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## Edvet (1 Oct 2018)

Kezzab said:


> suffers from guano


I was looking where the birds entered the scape...................


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## dw1305 (1 Oct 2018)

Hi all,





Kezzab said:


> The orchid has thrown out a couple of new leaves, I assume that's good but it does seem to.be growing extremely slowly.


 Looks good, they are slow growers. 

cheers Darrel


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## Kezzab (21 Oct 2018)

Getting ready for a trim I think!


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## Kezzab (3 Dec 2018)

Top shot! Running out of tank...


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## Edvet (3 Dec 2018)

What did you put in the water front right?


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## Kezzab (3 Dec 2018)

Anubias, variety forgotten...


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## Edvet (3 Dec 2018)

With those partly emerging pointy leaves??


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## Kezzab (3 Dec 2018)

Yep.


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## Kezzab (19 Dec 2018)

This is approaching the point of entirely overgrown, hardscape has been swallowed, plants pressing against the lid. Super lush. Puffers just survived an accidental 48hrs at 18c which was lucky!


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## Marc Davis (19 Dec 2018)

....time to fill the tank up


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## Kezzab (19 Dec 2018)

Marc Davis said:


> ....time to fill the tank up


It's crossed my mind more than once! But then it'd probably all just melt and be a mess...

I could fill it just for the sake of a photo then drain, perhaps.


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## Marc Davis (19 Dec 2018)

Kezzab said:


> It's crossed my mind more than once! But then it'd probably all just melt and be a mess...
> 
> I could fill it just for the sake of a photo then drain, perhaps.


Looking at the species you have, I don't think you will get much melt at all to be honest. Get some diy co2 on the go to help the transition period. Easy.


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## Kezzab (19 Dec 2018)

You may be right. I'd need to remove the orchid. Everything else should grow submersed. The moss is an unknown seeing as it came off a log in my firewood pile, i'm not sure how it will behave.


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## Kezzab (16 Jul 2019)

Been a long while since i updated this. Now a big overgrown jungly mess!


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## Kezzab (7 Oct 2019)

Latest overgrown mayhem. This is after a big trim!


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## Kezzab (24 Nov 2019)

This tank has become adumping ground for any plants that dont have a home after rescapes in my other 2 tanks. There's quite a selection now!


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## Kezzab (15 Dec 2019)

I got around to doing a trim tonight. It was almost completely filled with plant mass.
The plants seem almost self sustaining now, i only give a very very occassional mist with fertiliser.
In it now we have java ferns, hc japan, ar mini, s repens, various crypts, rotala, anubias, an orchid, wild moss.




Can you spot the Puffer?


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## Kezzab (23 Feb 2020)

This tank is 2 years old now! Very overgrown jungle.

I really like how it's got a grungy lived in look now.

Puffers are doing well.


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## dw1305 (23 Feb 2020)

Hi all,





Kezzab said:


> I really like how it's got a grungy lived in look now.


Perfect tank.

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (23 Feb 2020)

Kezzab said:


> Can you spot the Puffer?



In the middle at the surface under the diagonal Anubias leaf. 

Very beautiful tank!...


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## Kezzab (23 Feb 2020)

High praise! Cheers


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## Gill (24 Feb 2020)

Such a great tank for a puffer. Lots of natural hunting to witness amongst the tangle of roots etc.
You could add some Gammarus shrimp this this scape, and you an watch the puffer chase them down. Very cheap and easy to culture and grow.


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## igirisujin (24 Feb 2020)

Agreed, it looks like puffers would feel very comfortable in there


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## Kezzab (5 Sep 2020)

I hacked this back a couple of months ago as it was getting overgrown. Still going strong. Barely do anything with it. Monthly water change, feed fish, that's it.


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## Melll (5 Sep 2020)

I love this tank


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## Tim Harrison (5 Sep 2020)

Nice 👍


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## Kezzab (19 Nov 2020)

Anubias has gone a bit mad.


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## dw1305 (19 Nov 2020)

Hi all, 


Kezzab said:


> Anubias has gone a bit mad.


My guess is that it is a _Spathiphyllum? _The plant in the bottom left hand corner of the photo looks like an _Anubias._

cheers Darrel


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## Kezzab (19 Nov 2020)

Aha, they are the same plant!


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## dw1305 (20 Nov 2020)

Hi all, 


Kezzab said:


> Aha, they are the same plant!


Damn, just when I thought I was on a roll the truth comes and bites me on the bottom, but wait......

If I can mobilise my base we can stop this plant ID steal. I didn't have an independent person at the ID, I can tell you that @Kezzab is a friend of Venezuelan socialists, and funded by George Soros  Farmer, alternative facts say that they are two different plants and I'm not a loser.

cheers Darrel


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## Karmicnull (21 Nov 2020)

dw1305 said:


> alternative facts say that they are two different plants and I'm not a loser.


Demand a recount Darrel!


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## Kezzab (21 Nov 2020)

There were independent observers who had full access. Deal with it.


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## Kezzab (14 Mar 2021)

Just noticed I'm past the 3 year mark with this tank!
Sadly one of the puffers died last month. Old age I think, had them 4 years.

Tank is crazy overgrown, piles of mulm,  swimming space slowly being filled by roots. Succession in action.

Nice antidote to all the high tech fretting on the other tanks.


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## Kezzab (14 Mar 2021)




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