# One Year of 'Scaping



## AquaMatt (14 Apr 2011)

After reading various PFK's and having had tanks for years that mainly concentrated on fish I decided to take the plunge.
Here are the results, as it's only been about a year now I would really appreciate any advice, criticism or even praise if you're feeling especially generous as it is always nice to have a different/more experienced view point.
The following 'scapes are either completed or at their last stage before they where taken down.





























Cheers,
Matt


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## bigmatt (15 Apr 2011)

You certainly seem to be able to grow plants! They're all really nice - i esp. like the last one.  Any chance of some tank stats, plant lists etc?
Cheers
Matt


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## Steve Smith (15 Apr 2011)

Welcome Matt   Great to see progression over a year.


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## AquaMatt (15 Apr 2011)

Thanks guys!

All the tanks where lit by one of 2 different 20w halogen desk lamps, apart from the Dymax in the middle which was lit by the supplied led arm light.





The first tank had a basic fertiliser regime of some Tropica all in one thing I think and it was dosed daily with 1/2 ml of easycarbo with a 1/4 volume water change every third day and no filtration, heating or livestock, it ran for about 3 weeks before I moved everything into the second tank. I used Java fern, Java moss and some terrestrial long leafed plant. 





This tank was filtered by an Eheim external, 2213 I think, and that was dosed with the same fertiliser and also easycarbo and it ran for about a month, just over that in the end I think. I kept it at room temps of about 18-21 celsius and everything seemed to do okay, I had my first major algae breakout after a holiday but I managed to recover it and that's what you see there. I used Java fern, Java moss and a long grass like plant, very soft leaves. 





This tank used some bits left over from my last tank and the rest went into my main 'fish' tank. it was dosed as before and was kept unheated but with less temperature swing over the day due to the cool running LED light. It ran for just over 3 weeks and growth was VERY slow. I used Java fern, java moss and a long grass like plant, very soft leaves.





This tank used mostly new plants and ran for about 5 days as a holding tank whilst I got time to clean out my other tank ready for my last scape before disappearing off to uni. unheated, unfiltered, not dosed, just an exercise in layout really.I used HM, java fern, java moss, Rotala wallichi and crypts.





This tank was my last before I went off to uni and it was kept lit by a 20w halogen desk lamp, sand substrate as before and dosed with the same as before including easycarbo. No livestock or heating and it ran for about two weeks with slow but reasonably steady growth. as before it was a mix of HM, java fern, java moss, Rotala wallichi and crypts.





This was my first Uni tank and it only ran for about 2 weeks before I changed it to it's final scape. 20w halogen desk lamp, easycarbo, macro and micro ferts and no livestock or heating. I used HM, HC, Java moss, Rotala wallichi and crypts. I also used yeast based CO2 that I distributed using an ADA glass tube that was bent and positioned underneath the filter outlet.





This was my last scape, I used HM, HC, Java moss, Rotala wallichi and crypts. I dosed with macro and micro and I also used yeast based CO2 that I distributed using an ADA glass tube that was bent and positioned underneath the filter outlet. It ran for just over a month and The growth was vast I had to trim it far more often than I was used to.

I hope this gives you guys a rough look at what happened and what I did to each tank.

Cheers,
Matt


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## Ekennaj (15 Apr 2011)

Nice tank what is the size of it? 
I'm liking this scape the most 

 Nice lines ^_^


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## AquaMatt (15 Apr 2011)

Thanks! It's a clearseal with roughly mini m dimensions.


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## Gfish (15 Apr 2011)

Lovely looking tanks! I have to ask though, what is the longest period you have had a tank set up and running?

Gavin


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## AquaMatt (15 Apr 2011)

Just over a month, probably a month and a half, when I come home after exams I'm hoping to set one up and run it for a long time, up to a year probably. That's the next skill to learn, keeping things stable in the long run.


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## Gfish (15 Apr 2011)

Much more of a challenge than the initial setup which is after all, always going to be down to your own personal taste. 
I can see you love the Aquascaping though so with this passion you should find it easy to persist with everything going forward and create stable longterm scapes that move and evolve with time.

All good stuff! Keep it coming 

Cheers


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## AquaMatt (15 Apr 2011)

I look forward to the challenge, thank you for your kind words.

I shall keep you all posted when I set up my next aquascape, I want to do a long term evolving layout with my Dymax esque acrylic nano using slow and fast growing plants with high lights, CO2 and ferts. Should be an interesting one!

Will be posting a picture heavy journal within the next month or two when Uni allows me the time to set it all up.


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