# saintly's Pastel Shades



## Mark Evans (15 Dec 2008)

oh yes, its another journal.  

preliminary plans....either 

iwagumi The henge part 2.....






or....nature style aquarium with borneowild wood from AE.....





both are just ideas, i know, i know the iwagumi dont follow the rules, and the rocks are just holding the wood in position  but these are just rough ideas remember.jeees im having to defend myself already   

this is just to get the ball rolling so to speak


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## Steve Smith (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

What sort of planting are you going for mate?  Any ideas?


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## Mark Evans (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				SteveUK said:
			
		

> What sort of planting are you going for mate? Any ideas?



hi Steve 

planting for iwagumi. e parvula, acicualris, hc blyxa, e tennelus....something along those lines.

wood/nature aquarium.... glosso, small leaf stems,h umbrosum hm r sp green. e tennlus, moss


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## John Starkey (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Hi mark,it was nice to finally meet you on friday,i will be watching the progress of this scape with interest,its the same size as the one i will be doing after xmas,regards john.


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## Mark Evans (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				john starkey said:
			
		

> Hi mark,it was nice to finally meet you on friday



was nice to meet you to buddy. your welcome to mine anytime and if i get pegged next to you in a match?.....we'll have a pound on it!


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## Steve Smith (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Both sound really nice 

I'd like to do both scapes myself!


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## JamesM (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Can I come and live at your house?  8)


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## Mark Evans (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				JAmesM said:
			
		

> Can I come and live at your house? 8)



of course, why?


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## Nick16 (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

forget that, more like, can you live at my house for a few hours and help me with my new scape. !!!! thats more like it.   how many tanks do you have now mark?


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## Mark Evans (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				Nick16 said:
			
		

> how many tanks do you have now mark?



too many, im only ever having 2 running at anyone time though. the 2 optiwhites. this set up is at my mums house.and maybe another to keep vital plants like certain moss' and blyxa.


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## Steve Smith (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

I take it the blyxa got home safe then Mark?


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## Mark Evans (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				SteveUK said:
			
		

> I take it the blyxa got home safe then Mark?



yeah, you cant imagine how much i wanted this plant. im just going to grow as much as i can. it seems to be like rocking horse crap.


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## Mark Evans (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

heres the gumi with a slight adjustment.


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## GreenNeedle (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Blyxia will grow on you.....quite literally Mark.  It was just as prolific if not more in mine than the needle ferns are!!!

I like the second...nature style one   

AC


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## Thomas McMillan (15 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

And another of Mark's Monster Journals begins... Just a few hours old and already two pages!

I have an evil vendetta against 'standard' iwagumis, hell iwagumis in general so please don't do that! You already did something similar at the beginning of the Henge anyway.,

I'm a huge sucker for the second option style, so I'd say go for that any day. It's just gonna turn out like a mini version of your 120cm though. Do something different altogether!


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## Tom (16 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

That's a great base for an Iwagumi! Go Iwagumi!


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## Garuf (16 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

I like the nature style one though I'm throwing my weight behind the iwagumi, the only thing I'd do is to add a whole lot more substrate at the back to really force depth. I have 2 tanks, not on the scale as yours but both are nature style and I really wish I'd done an iwagumi with one, just for the contrast. 
Now is your chance to break the mould again with the gumi, remember, left of centre and outside the box.


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## Steve Smith (16 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Love the rock work btw mate   The colour of the sand and the shape of the rocks reminds me of a Star Trek set from the 60's   It just needs a mini Kirk running around punching aliens and the classic Amok Time music screeching out


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## LondonDragon (16 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Mark is becoming very good at this, and is setting the standards for all other to follow, great rock work mate 

Looking forward to this one too


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## aaronnorth (16 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

the 2nd iwagumi is the one


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## Mark Evans (17 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

some very very kind words there   thanks. just a lucky rock layout though

 im thinking i shall go with the gumi. im late in placing a plant order this side of crimbo, but come new year it shall be up and running.

plants,
i might go glosso instaed of hc, e acicularis, parvula, blyxa (to be kept under control?...never grown it) e tenellus.


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## John Starkey (17 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Hi Mark,it was nice to finally meet you last friday,well you certainally have lost the fishing bug and got the plant bug but still with the fish   ,to be frank Mark i think you have taken to aquascaping amazingly well,you are doing some nice work at the moment and i think if you keep producing work like this you will go a long way,the only thing i think is missing is the need ofr more substrate,take care john.


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## Mark Evans (17 Dec 2008)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

bless ya john, the substrate is jbl flora boost? (something like that)...anyway ive put ADA AS on the top and the re-located the the rocks to there original position
. i'd post the image but its the same as the current one only higher   

im thinking i can fire this scape out quickly and then do the wood style. i plan on a large scale iwagumi in the 120cm after the current " The Miracle Mire" i just love gumi's


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## Mark Evans (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

OK, I'm only going to post a couple of images from this newly set-up tank   

I've been hard at it again today.

plant list....

 Tropica stuff from Aqua Essentials   http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... &cPath=255

moss and blyxa from some very good UKAPS members   

5 pots glosso
5 pots rotala rotundifolia
3 pots bacopa australis
3 pots Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'
2 pots eleocharis acicularis
blyxa
riccia ( because my mother loves the plant, tank is at parents)
moss (nice one   not sure which one it is....looks good in moss tank)

now some of these I've never had experience with so I'm just as interested as you to see how this pans out. it's high maintenance again, put that's what i love   

hard scape....

borneowilde wood from Aqua Essentials   http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... 11_238_322

Dragon Stone from Aqua Essentials   http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... ts_id=1102

filter

eheim 2028 second hand from Markuk (thanks mark)

co2...
pressurized

The plants...






Preparation...





After preparation...





as you can see i'm planting real heavy again, like George often says cover most of the substrate.....! i covered 100% of it, its stuffed! there was another 2 smaller containers with the riccia slates in and the gloso cubes.

Planting time...

just a teaser really









That's as far as I'm taking you   

thanks for looking! 

mark


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## Superman (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

I notice you've shown a stanley knife blade, please can you explain how you used it and why? Was it just to split the rock wool portion up before you remove the wool?


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## Nick16 (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

looks like a promising start once again.

with regards to the woods,are the individual pieces held together by the stone on top are are the joined? 
i had a bit of a    moment and though i better ask.


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## GreenNeedle (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

I would guess the stanley blade was to seperate the glosso plantlets but Saintly will confirm.  I gently drag my tweezer tips through the roots to remove the rockwool.

AC


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## JamesM (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Sweet mate  The wood is ace, and its going to look so much better when the moss fills out. Hard to tell from the pics, but it could be flame moss..


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## Mark Evans (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				JAmesM said:
			
		

> Sweet mate  The wood is ace, and its going to look so much better when the moss fills out. Hard to tell from the pics, but it could be flame moss..



thanks james, it might be flame moss. i was sent some. it kinda went up, looked lovely



			
				SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> I would guess the stanley blade was to seperate the glosso plantlets but Saintly will confirm. I gently drag my tweezer tips through the roots to remove the rockwool.



i was going to do the whole "individual plantlet" =thing but the emerged growth was that good and tight, there wasn't way on this earth i was going to plant individual so in blocks it went. I've done it before and was fine. i've even seen amano tanks (newly set up) with glosso in big clumps.



			
				Nick16 said:
			
		

> looks like a promising start once again.
> 
> with regards to the woods,are the individual pieces held together by the stone on top are are the joined?
> i had a bit of a   moment and though i better ask.
> ...


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## Thomas McMillan (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Looking good, will look amazing I'm sure when it's grown in. It's intetesting to see you're not using Anubias or Ferns especially that are often used in island scapes like this.


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## Mark Evans (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				Thomas McMillan said:
			
		

> Looking good, will look amazing I'm sure when it's grown in. It's intetesting to see you're not using Anubias or Ferns especially that are often used in island scapes like this.



cheers Thomas, i considered ferns and anubias, in fact anubias still might feature(the mini stuff) TBH, its more of a plant growing exercise more than anything, trying new ones see what they do. that kind of thing. 

George put me onto the idea of small tank...practice, big tank...display. he's right. if this end's up looking good....bonus. if not, at least I've learnt a few new plants. this is my downfall at the minute, with only a year of experience my knowledge of plants and the placement is limited when it comes to ventures and aquas capes. i cant keep scaping with the plants that i know.

so for me, it's head first as far as the plants go, the scape?...i just look at the ticket, look at tropica catalogue, aquatic plant central, aquajournals  and figure out where it may look at its best in the aquascape. I'm not going to be producing scapes that i feel comfortable with I  for maybe 1 more year, I'll cram in as much as i can to this year like i did the last.


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## hellohefalump (10 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

looking forward to seeing updates on this


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## George Farmer (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Nice play tank mate.  You'll have lots of fun, I'm sure.

I like the photo presentation.  You have too much spare time!


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## Mark Evans (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				hellohefalump said:
			
		

> looking forward to seeing updates on this



thanks helloherfalump, there'll be more pics soon.




			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> Nice play tank mate. You'll have lots of fun, I'm sure.
> 
> I like the photo presentation. You have too much spare time!



thanks mate, just wish i had a couple more to practice in.  8)


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## Nick16 (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

did you plant with the rockwool or did you serperate it out slightly?


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## GreenNeedle (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

If you go forthe 'dwarf' anubias this is the time to do it.  It grows really slowly compared to larger anubias.  Someone will say all Anubias grow slowly but my larger ones grow pretty quickly to the point where I have sold on about 25cm worth of rhizome over the past couple of weeks from the 1 tank!!!

I find that one reason is they get overshadowed really quickly and get easily lost.

So if this is a practice tank it will give you the opportunity to buy some and get it growing so that if you use it in a 'working' scape you will have much more to work with.  Can get pretty expensive to buy a large amount.

Tom Barr spoke a long time ago of it being a possible plant to try as a carpet!!!  If you can get enough growing could be a good experiment for the future 

AC


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## TDI-line (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Looks great Mr Saint, i'll look forward to seeing this one mature.  

By the way, i like the UKAPS logo placed on one of the tank shots.


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## Mark Evans (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				TDI-line said:
			
		

> By the way, i like the UKAPS logo placed on one of the tank shots.
> Looks great Mr Saint, i'll look forward to seeing this one mature.
> 
> By the way, i like the UKAPS logo placed on one of the tank shots.



i didnt even notice that   yeah, it looks like UKAPS own tank. thanks buddy.



			
				SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> If you go forthe 'dwarf' anubias this is the time to do it. It grows really slowly compared to larger anubias. Someone will say all Anubias grow slowly but my larger ones grow pretty quickly to the point where I have sold on about 25cm worth of rhizome over the past couple of weeks from the 1 tank!!!



i'm toying with the idea, now would be the time to do it i guess.



			
				SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> So if this is a practice tank it will give you the opportunity to buy some and get it growing so that if you use it in a 'working' scape you will have much more to work with.



good point, i already have a load of it, from garuf. so i could introduce it like now.



			
				Nick16 said:
			
		

> did you plant with the rockwool or did you serperate it out slightly?
> 
> rockwool inclusive. it does no harm and keeps it all together. if you look at oliver knott tanks, i think he does something similar, also with HC i think.
> did you plant with the rockwool or did you serperate it out slightly?


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## aaronnorth (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				TDI-line said:
			
		

> By the way, i like the UKAPS logo placed on one of the tank shots.



Now there's an idea!

Looks like the start of another good scape, need to define the midground more, but i suppose the stems are going there? Or have you not put them in on that last picture? Oh what the heck we need more pictures!

Ps. i caught with Sam today


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## LondonDragon (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

another great looking scape mate, you wanna come over and do mine too??? hehe


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## Nick16 (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> another great looking scape mate, you wanna come over and do mine too??? hehe


yeah or mine, when i get round to it! anyone local want to have a laugh and create a scape?


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## Mark Evans (11 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> another great looking scape mate, you wanna come over and do mine too??? hehe



 yeah, once ive got over the stress of my own.



			
				Nick16 said:
			
		

> yeah or mine, when i get round to it! anyone local want to have a laugh and create a scape?



as daft as that sounds, the guys in Malaysia and the likes have meets all the time from what i can gather and practise different stuff. oh well, that's never likely to happen here.....


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## viktorlantos (12 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

the tank looks really good! congrat! can not wait to see some updates on it.


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## StevenA (12 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				saintly said:
			
		

> LondonDragon said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yeah shame we can't have some regional get togethers, create a scape, maybe have a UKAPS regional compo


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## Mark Evans (16 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

a little up date,

the tank's substarte is doing good, the jbl_old AS mix is doing it's bit. e acicularis is showing good health a new growth. the best i've seen from this plant in one of my tanks actually.

glosso spreading, stems upright.   i'm happy

mark


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## Mark Evans (23 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

i'm a couple of weeks in to this "play tank" and all is ok. there's 3 ottos in there and 5 guppys! yep guppys. i saw an aqua journal where amano had a tank with guppys in...i loved it instantly.

so as you can guess 2 weeks only gives so much growth so the images shall reflect this. there's a fern in there too which is changing form also. 

the plan is for the stems (after a bout of trims) should fill the back of the tank.

before all you start saying about the "foreground to mid ground transition" I'm going to allow the riccia glosso and e acicularis to all grow in together and hopefully get some kind of natural transition to the blyxa. remember this is only an experimentation tank.  

my mothers doing a grand job of EI   thanks ma!














thanks for looking


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## Garuf (23 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Very nice, makes me wish I had _less_ wood in my new scape.


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## Mark Evans (23 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				Garuf said:
			
		

> Very nice, makes me wish I had less wood in my new scape.



cheers Garuf. i initially thought i didnt use enough....that thought soon disappeared. 

The real exercise for this tank is stem trimming and learning how to create amano style stems. not really sure where to start


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## Dave Spencer (23 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				saintly said:
			
		

> The real exercise for this tank is stem trimming and learning how to create amano style stems. not really sure where to start



You might find keeping the moss pristine an even bigger PITA Mark.

I can`t belive how prolific you are and still maintaining such a high standard. You do know you have a wife and kid, don`t you? 

Dave.


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## Thomas McMillan (24 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Looking good, Mark. Very unusual fish choice but I'm a sucker for Guppies so I like it!


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## George Farmer (24 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

I've got fancy guppies in my latest desktop nano.  Nice fish that give a sense of fantasy and fun rather than pure nature.

'Scape is looking very nice, Mark.  Well done to your Mum too!


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## Mark Evans (24 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> 'Scape is looking very nice, Mark. Well done to your Mum too!



hats off to her.



			
				Thomas McMillan said:
			
		

> Looking good, Mark. Very unusual fish choice but I'm a sucker for Guppies so I like it!



hopefully when this is all grown in, the guppies should add flashes of colour to the final images.



			
				Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> You might find keeping the moss pristine an even bigger PITA Mark.



it's a royal pain. discovering that in "The Miracle Mire" 



			
				Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> I can`t belive how prolific you are and still maintaining such a high standard. You do know you have a wife and kid, don`t you?



my little lad does the EI and helps with water changes, the wife?.....runs around franticly trying to mop up behind me   

i do believe I'm driving my wife nutty with  aquascaping talk.


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## aaronnorth (24 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

I love it when people use a carpeting plant then have patches of riccia dotted about, i would like to try it but i dont fancy having riccia again  

Tank looks nice


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## Mark Evans (24 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				aaronnorth said:
			
		

> I love it when people use a carpeting plant then have patches of riccia dotted about, i would like to try it but i dont fancy having riccia again



yeah it does look quite attractive. but if you don't want riccia problems then i guess you should stay away from the stuff.


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## Mark Green (27 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

great looking scape.    

What ferts are you dosing? and by how much a day?

Also how long is your lighting set for and do you have all the lights on or do you have a mid day burst?

Keep up the great work.

Thx

Mark


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## Mark Evans (29 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				Mark Green said:
			
		

> great looking scape.



cheers mark



			
				Mark Green said:
			
		

> What ferts are you dosing? and by how much a day?
> 
> Also how long is your lighting set for and do you have all the lights on or do you have a mid day burst?



ferts are EI dosing regime for 60L tank,  8ths and 32nd.....kno 3 + po4. tpn for trace.

easycarbo every other day.

lighting it's just 1 x 24wt5 so it's more room for error as I only go once in a blue moon.(goodnes george is running 2 24wt5 with no co2, hats off to ya george)

 mothers doing a cracking job, secretly I think she's loving it.  it's looking great and i'm a tad jealous its there and not at mine   

another week and i should be up for rotala trim. i think from the full frontal you can see what I'm up to and trying to create. the whole point of this tank was stem trimming and shape.

nice bit of dirt on the CCD


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## LondonDragon (29 Jan 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Looks great Mark, mom is doing a good job with the dosing  
She should join us at UKAPS might teach us a thing or two hehe


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## Mark Evans (2 Feb 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> She should join us at UKAPS might teach us a thing or two hehe



she's loving it   

I've added some cardamine lyrata by tropica today to see the look it gives.i've seen amano put it to good use in smaller aquariums...... curiosity killed the cat and all that stuff... 8)


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## Mark Evans (6 Feb 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

just a little image of the practise tank....


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## LondonDragon (6 Feb 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Mark is on a mission to get everyone scaping hehe  you doing a fine job


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## George Farmer (6 Feb 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Forget the 'scapes!  The photography is awesome.

Nicely presented too.  I you have time Mark, a step-by-step on how you do the background to the photos would be great.


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## Mark Evans (6 Feb 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*



			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Mark is on a mission to get everyone scaping hehe  you doing a fine job



cheers ld. YEP, I WANT EVERYONE TO GET THE SCAPING BUG!

(capslock) sorry



			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> Forget the 'scapes! The photography is awesome.
> 
> Nicely presented too. I you have time Mark, a step-by-step on how you do the background to the photos would be great.



thanks George, i may due a post on the subject soon  8)


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## StevenA (6 Feb 2009)

*Re: saintly's 60cm opti-white*

Great idea guys as I've just ordered my new digital camera and got Photoshop elements too


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## Mark Evans (9 Feb 2009)

hi everyone. i've renamed this scape "Pastal Shades" i didnt think it would turn out so well but it's a jem to photograph.

anyway, weather is the bane of my life at the minute so i just grab the camera in times of trouble....errrrr paul mcartney?....  

anyway a couple of pics....feel free to comment, dont be shy with the critique! notice how football fish survibed the gassing


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## aaronnorth (9 Feb 2009)

cool name


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## Mark Evans (9 Feb 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> cool name



cheers aaron.  8)


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## Vito (9 Feb 2009)

Geat looking tank mate. loving the photos and the way your presenting them, great stuff, keep it coming!

Vito


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## TDI-line (10 Feb 2009)

Great pics and scape Mark.


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## StevenA (10 Feb 2009)

Love the scape Mark, and the photography is awesome, please keep posting those pics


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## Mark Evans (10 Feb 2009)

Tourney said:
			
		

> Love the scape Mark, and the photography is awesome, please keep posting those pics





			
				TDI-line said:
			
		

> Great pics and scape Mark.





			
				Vito said:
			
		

> Geat looking tank mate. loving the photos and the way your presenting them, great stuff, keep it coming!



cheers guys. at least i dont feel now like my efforts are going to waist on the photography front.


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## Tony Swinney (10 Feb 2009)

Certainly not going to waste Mark - inspirational stuff.  And the PS presentation just adds to it


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## Mark Evans (13 Feb 2009)

Tonser said:
			
		

> Certainly not going to waste Amrk - inspirational stuff. And the PS presentation just adds to it
> Certainly not going to waste Amrk - inspirational stuff. And the PS presentation just adds to it



cheers tony

I've worked away for a couple of days and I've just popped in to see the tank. it seems my mum runs a better tank than me   it appears there starving!....they've seen off my cardamine lyrata.   with 30 odd red shrimp  a dozen amano shrimp 5 otts, and proper dosing in the first place, i can safely say there's no algae what so ever. it's probably the "cleanest" tank i've run. in goes the cucumber.

the MA scape is spotless at the mo too  8)


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## Mark Evans (14 Feb 2009)

here's mr shrimpy. theres about 40 or so in this tank now.





i've given the tank i right butchering too!  8) well the stems at least.


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## Thomas McMillan (14 Feb 2009)

nice shot


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## Mark Evans (8 Mar 2009)

i'll be ripping this riccia breeding tank down at the weekend.   

i cant be bothered to go through with the whole trimming lark, as it's just a fun tank....mums fun tank at that!   

to be re scaped with plants I've never grown before!

BTW mum did a good job of dosing and stuff...it's the "cleanest" tank i've had. but ridiculously untidy. the riccia spread like wild fire in the glosso, but i will use only in a tank that i can take full control over.


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## samc (8 Mar 2009)

oh mate thats some mad growth in there and it does look real clean too what plants you trying in there next?


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## aaronnorth (9 Mar 2009)

excellent growth


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## Mark Evans (12 Mar 2009)

for anyone that might be remotely interested.... :? 

 changing 1 tube can bring on amazing growth. I've changed the combination to what I've got in MA scape and the difference is awesome. maybe not to everyone's tastes but it seems to work for me. 

sorry to bore you with more photos, but I'm practising final shots. and looking to see how they might turn out. i didn't take out the kit, (you can see the lilly pipe still) but it is only practise.





lets hope the fish play on the day of photography


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## Tony Swinney (12 Mar 2009)

Beautiful shot Mark - shows real depth through the tank   

I'd be interested to know what your tube selection is now ?

Cheers

Tony


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## Thomas McMillan (12 Mar 2009)

That shot is definately one to keep. It has great depth to it.


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## JamesM (12 Mar 2009)

Nice pic matey


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## Mark Evans (12 Mar 2009)

Tonser said:
			
		

> I'd be interested to know what your tube selection is now ?



nothing special, i've been using osram 8800 for some time and dont get me wrong there good. i get good growth, but since using different tubes at MA i decided to swap to the same.

arcadia plant gro. it's quite warm in colour but great for defining colours in plants. 

and a hagen power glo with a kelvin of 18,000. it's an amazing tube. great colour and my plants love it (or it appears as if they do apologies to the lighting experts in advance)

i'm putting this combo on my 4 footer for sure!

last pic....i just need to train the fish


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## Mark Evans (12 Mar 2009)

JamesM said:
			
		

> Nice pic matey



thanks fella


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## Tony Swinney (12 Mar 2009)

saintly said:
			
		

> arcadia plant gro. it's quite warm in colour but great for defining colours in plants.
> 
> and a hagen power glo with a kelvin of 18,000. it's an amazing tube. great colour and my plants love it



Thanks Mark - they're the tubes that came with my Osaka, so I look forward to trying them   

Cheers

Tony


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## aaronnorth (13 Mar 2009)

saintly said:
			
		

> for anyone that might be remotely interested.... :?
> 
> changing 1 tube can bring on amazing growth. I've changed the combination to what I've got in MA scape and the difference is awesome. maybe not to everyone's tastes but it seems to work for me.
> 
> ...



reminds me of an Amano tank/ picture


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## Mark Evans (13 Mar 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> reminds me of an Amano tank/ picture



cheers aaron. i plan on rescaping this tank shortly, maybe along the same lines as this but with liliaepsis in the front. and different stems in the rear.   

i'm slowly beginning to get my head around the illusion of depth too.


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## Mark Green (13 Mar 2009)

Wow   Thats a great picture.

Very talanted guy. You do have your eye on the ball with your scaping and photography.

When do  you expect to take over from George at PFK  ( Only Kidding George )

 

Mark


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## Mark Evans (13 Mar 2009)

Mark Green said:
			
		

> Wow  Thats a great picture.
> 
> Very talanted guy. You do have your eye on the ball with your scaping and photography.
> 
> When do you expect to take over from George at PFK  ( Only Kidding George )



many thanks mark, but I'm a little way off George  8) but i do think, we scape in our own ways. George certainly has an individual look, that's for sure.



			
				Mark Green said:
			
		

> You do have your eye on the ball



it's becoming an obsession now, and it really does take most of my free time. even when i retire to bed, my mind is constantly thinking about how to scape the next tank, quite scary really.

i just wished i'd discovered this hobby sooner, better late than never i suppose.


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## Mark Evans (20 Mar 2009)

after a trim of the stems. i'm leaving the front and will shape when the riccia has taken over completely. kinda in the style of amano.

just need the stems to really bush out now.

i'm not ripping it down now, as mum loves it  :? .....i need to rescape it mum! 

see my little lad ready to dive in?....


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## samc (20 Mar 2009)

your boys gonna be a lil amano    wounder when he'll do his first scape

tank looks a little overgrown but i quite like, it looks natural


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## Mark Evans (20 Mar 2009)

samc said:
			
		

> tank looks a little overgrown but i quite like, it looks natural



it is, i was planning on ripping it down, so left it. mum didnt want it ripping down, so i'm back on trimming duty. i'll just give the foreground a real unnatural shape   

if it were mine, i'd of ended it's life an age ago.


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## Thomas McMillan (20 Mar 2009)

I like the overgrown look, should look good once you've got the scissors out though! Do the Guppies come out much?


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## Mark Evans (21 Mar 2009)

Thomas McMillan said:
			
		

> Do the Guppies come out much?



they went in the first week of running. know one liked them


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## Mark Evans (21 Mar 2009)

heres the blyxa with a flower head, theres a couple of stems showing this....right in the center.





and a little otto...


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## George Farmer (21 Mar 2009)

Nowt wrong with fancy guppies!!


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## TDI-line (21 Mar 2009)

Looking lovely Mark.

I still can't see that flower..


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## Mark Evans (21 Mar 2009)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> I still can't see that flower..
> Looking lovely Mark.
> 
> I still can't see that flower..



its the bud dan. in the middle on a stork.

i knew i should of circled it   



			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> Nowt wrong with fancy guppies!!



i like them, mum didnt. well she did then she didnt....


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## Mark Evans (21 Mar 2009)

here you go TDI....


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## George Farmer (21 Mar 2009)

I used to get them all the time.  I never considered them as flowers, and figured they were just new plants on the end of runners...  

Please let us know if they bloom, Mark.


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## Mark Evans (21 Mar 2009)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> I used to get them all the time. I never considered them as flowers, and figured they were just new plants on the end of runners...



thats what i thought, but aaron kindly put me on to the thread that ceg had. his were flowers and looked identical. you did actually reply to that thread saying something similar   

i never considered the "runners" theory as its a stem plant. it is a strange thing i must admit.


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## George Farmer (21 Mar 2009)

saintly said:
			
		

> George Farmer said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm getting old!  Thanks mate.


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## Steve Smith (21 Mar 2009)

I was reading an article the other day about how to try to induce flowering in aquatic plants.  It suggested altering photo periods to either longer or shorter and even water temp (depending on whether the plant would flower in winter/summer in it's natural habitat) to induce it's seasonal change.

Flowers in the aquarium...


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## TDI-line (21 Mar 2009)

saintly said:
			
		

> here you go TDI....



Thanks Mark.

It's so much clearer now.


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## Mark Evans (21 Mar 2009)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> I'm getting old!



dont say that!... i'm 2 years older than you   



			
				SteveUK said:
			
		

> . It suggested altering photo periods to either longer or shorter and even water temp



food for thought....


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## TDI-line (21 Mar 2009)

Hey Mark, i read this one plant geek about blyxa aubertti...

This plant seems to have a slight sensitivity to Flourish Excel. While it does not "melt" like some others, the color changes slightly and it seems to stress the plant enough to cause it to send out flowers.


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## aaronnorth (22 Mar 2009)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> Hey Mark, i read this one plant geek about blyxa aubertti...
> 
> This plant seems to have a slight sensitivity to Flourish Excel. While it does not "melt" like some others, the color changes slightly and it seems to stress the plant enough to cause it to send out flowers.



I wonder if the stress can cause it to change colour to bronze which nobody has discovered yet (i dont think).


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## Mark Evans (10 Apr 2009)

goodbye pastel shades, hello new scape   i've got all the plants for it!


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## George Farmer (10 Apr 2009)

Looks good, Mark! 

Is it an SE Asian blackwater biotope after the silt has been disturbed?!


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## Mark Evans (10 Apr 2009)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> Is it an SE Asian blackwater biotope after the silt has been disturbed?!



you got it bud!   i'm getting good at this scapin lark, the microsorum front left?.....cool dont ya think?....

the little blob, directly below the intake is a ram!


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## George Farmer (10 Apr 2009)

Seriously though, I look forward to seeing what the current UK's most prolific aquascaper will create next...

How many 'scapes is this now in 12 months? 

There's nothing like a blank canvas eh?


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## TDI-line (10 Apr 2009)

Don't you just love that shade of aquasoil.


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## Mark Evans (10 Apr 2009)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> Seriously though, I look forward to seeing what the current UK's most prolific aquascaper will create next...



no pressure then?....TBH, it's a trial an error scape next, but then this was trial and error to some degree. i've bought crypts and grass. re using stems (which i couldn't believe how much i pulled out   )

i need to discover what certain crypts do, such as bullosa?a couple of other varieties, which i cant remeber....moss on wood, sand foreground etc....


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## samc (10 Apr 2009)

look foward to seeing what you will do next   

always love your scapes


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## George Farmer (10 Apr 2009)

saintly said:
			
		

> i need to discover what certain crypts do...


That's the million dollar question.  In my limited experience with crypts (I've grown 12-14 species now), a lot of varities grow very differently depending on set-up i.e. light, water chemistry, nutrients, substrate etc.

I like their unpredictability but, of course, for a 'tight' 'scape, it presents potential frustrations.


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## Mark Evans (10 Apr 2009)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> I like their unpredictability but, of course, for a 'tight' 'scape, it presents potential frustrations.



it's the length of time for them to grow that kills me. although in the miracle mire, they did eventually grew rampantly. every time i look at NA books 1-3 it amazes me that amano has grown sooo many varities of plants crypts included and has managed to put them into a wonderful order within a scape....20 years ago! the man must of forced time somehow  :?: 

so before those books, he's grown them to experiment, then experimented with them in a scape....then, finally starts to really show where they should be in a scape! the mans a genius i think


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## jay (12 Apr 2009)

saintly said:
			
		

> ...the mans a genius i think



Agreed


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## Mark Evans (12 Apr 2009)

i've just finished scapin.

nice and simple for mum to take of. wood is similar to the last lot.

just a teaser shot, you can see it in 3 months


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## aaronnorth (12 Apr 2009)

3months is the teaser lol.
looks like it is going to be another saintly classic  Have you used Oliver Knott substrate again?


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## Mark Evans (12 Apr 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> looks like it is going to be another saintly classic  Have you used Oliver Knott substrate again?



yeah, i've also used the original substrate too. 

maybe in a few weeks i'll take some images.


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## Mark Evans (12 Apr 2009)

superglue and anubias is the future! thanks supercoloey!


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## Thomas McMillan (12 Apr 2009)

saintly said:
			
		

> superglue and anubias is the future! thanks supercoloey!



I still don't get how you superglue Anubias to wood...

So, you want to superglue the Anubias flat onto a piece of bogwood, right? Do you just dab a bit inbetween the roots and then slap it on?

Oh, and this looks like another promising scape from what I can see! It's great that your mum loves to look after a tank, that's more than I can say for mine!


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## samc (12 Apr 2009)

looks good AGAIN    on the pic it looks really green too. is this a bit of a trial for your next big tank at MA


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## Mark Evans (12 Apr 2009)

samc said:
			
		

> looks good AGAIN  on the pic it looks really green too. is this a bit of a trial for your next big tank at MA



thanks sam,it's not really a trial run for the MA scape. i kinda know what to happen with that one. it's just a chance to try one or 2 crypts out, see how plants mix together, practice trimming stems in the back....trial and error stuff.



			
				Thomas McMillan said:
			
		

> I still don't get how you superglue Anubias to wood...



i wasn't sure, i just trimmed the roots down, put glue on stone and stuck it. Job done   so  much easier.


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## Steve Smith (14 Apr 2009)

Looks like a good start mate   No mosses this time?


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