# The Green Corner (planted on page 2)



## Dominik_K (2 May 2017)

Hi,

yesterday I started ordering the first pieces for my next scape. The Lighting I planned on using is going out of production (at least I think so), which made me start a bit faster than I thought I would.

As I promised within my introduction thread, here is my journal coming with that project.

This tank by the member Million of UKAPS inspired me and I will try something similar. Here is what I came up with so far. But since the light is the only thing I ordered at the moment, everything else is still flexible:

_Equipment_
*Tank: *80 x 40 x 40 rimless float glass custommade tank.
*Filter:* Either Eden 522, JBL e901 or Tetra EX 800 Plus
*Light:* Chihiros 80 cm (50 Watts / up to 7.200 Lumens, dimmable in seven levels)
*CO2:* 500 gr. pressurized System (inherited from my current tank)
*Stand:* Aquatlantis Fusion 80 Stand.

_Hardscape & Substrate_
*Substrate: *Environment Soil, Lavagranulate (to save some Soil), white or ocher sand
*Hardscape: *Basalt Rock (approx. 25 kg), Redmore Wood (got some nice pieces in my storage room)

_Plants_
*On the woods: *
Microsorum pteropus, either 'Trident' or 'Narrow' (three pots)
Hygrophila pinnatifida (one 8.5 cm In Vitro cup)
Anubias barteri var. nana 'Petite' (three pots)

*Around the woods:*
Staurogyne Repens (one 8.5 cm In Vitro cup)
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini' (one In Vitro cup, either 5.5 or 8.5 cm)

*Front Area: *
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (three 8.5 In Vitro cups)
*
Behind the woods:*
Vallisneria nana 'Tiger' (two pots)

Since the tank needs about four to six weeks to be built, I expect this project to take a little bit longer. But that's a perfect match for a students wallet.

That's it so far, hope you stay tuned for the next updates, that while come as soon as i get new pieces 

Best Regards
Dominik


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## Madhav (2 May 2017)

Go for jbl or eden, I wouldnt buy tetra any more, build quality deteriorated drastically.... flow valves are soooo fragile and broke into two pieces when I tried to slide the tubing.

Sent from my HUAWEI GRA-UL00 using Tapatalk


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## Dominik_K (2 May 2017)

Thanks for sharing your opinion. The JBL one is pretty much my favorite one. The Eden looks like an awesome budget product, but I am not sure how well it is built.

Best Regards


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## Dominik_K (2 May 2017)

Hi,

arriving at home, I took a picture of the woods I have available. Those were the first steps I took, to aquire the hardscape needed for the new project.




 

Best Regards and have a nice day
Dominik


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## MrHidley (2 May 2017)

I have a Tetra EX1200 on my 60p and i've found it superb, doesn't invalidate other peoples experiences, just offering my opinion.


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## Dominik_K (3 May 2017)

Hi,

thanks for sharing your experience. Your post supports some things Madhav mentioned in post #2. If a Tetra EX1200 is needed for a 60p, I should not use a EX800 for a tank with twice the volume  This helped me a lot.

Best Regards
Dominik


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## imak (3 May 2017)

I've had a e901 in a 80x40x40 tank, it will not be enough also. You would be better with the e1501 or a pro 3/4 250 or 350. I currently use a 350 and I'm very pleased. 

Enviado do meu HUAWEI GRA-L09 através de Tapatalk


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## Dominik_K (3 May 2017)

Hi,

thanks you very much. Did poor flow lead to the issue or was it a matter of something else? And are you using the 350 on full power currently?


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## imak (3 May 2017)

Well, I actually used 2 filters, the jbl running an ista inline reactor, and an ecco pro 300 with inline heater. The  jbl wasn't capable of lifting the dirt out of the moss on the opposite side of the outflow. Even with the reactor, it made almost half the lph than the ecco pro with the same reactor. So I ditched it. Both cleaned, the ecco pro made about 600 lph, the jbl 400 or less. I've made the test with 2 jbl from a friend of mine and the values were about the same. 
Another thing I didn't like was the hose connections, I've always had a hard time for them not to leak some drops. 

My 350 is on full power but I've had to put a blau lilly pipe, with the eheim tubbing the plants directly in front of the outflow were being lifted from the substrate.


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## Dominik_K (6 May 2017)

Thanks for your reply  gives me a great insight on what your problems were. Currently still thinking about this topic, since the Eheim pro 350 is pretty expensive for a student, but lets see what solution I can realize. Maybe I can find something second hand.

Yesterday my lighting system arrived. It looks pretty solid and I am really glad that there is a dimmer attached to it. It puts out tons of light.


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## Dominik_K (18 May 2017)

Had a boring morning and did a little sketch. Not what I planned so far, but I like it. Please note: I am not an artist and I even do not have reasonable colored pencils or blank paper. Just a black, red and green pen  in comination with a college block


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## Dominik_K (27 May 2017)

Hi,

yesterday I had a little bit of progress: Stand and stones arrived. So I assembled the stand and tuned some things to the better. Still some things to do, but I need to get further parts.

At the end, I did a first hardcape layout on a bit of styrofoam


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## McCarthy (27 May 2017)

Dominik_K said:


> Hi,
> 
> yesterday I had a little bit of progress: Stand and stones arrived. So I assembled the stand and tuned some things to the better. Still some things to do, but I need to get further parts.
> 
> At the end, I did a first hardcape layout on a bit of styrofoam




That stand looks like mine, just in white. 

Do you have more and larger stones or is that all?

That scape is close to your drawing.


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## Nigel95 (27 May 2017)

Hardscape looking promising already!


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## Smells Fishy (27 May 2017)

Nice cabinet full of interesting stuff. I have 2 tetra ex800's and they both developed problems soon after buying them, the one I'm using now it's flow is not what it should be. It's quite compared to my sunsun but the sunsun will match your cabinet.


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## Dominik_K (27 May 2017)

Hi,



McCarthy said:


> Do you have more and larger stones or is that all?



Sadly I don't have bigger ones. But there is a lot more in this size. Since I have a tight budget, everythings needs to be a bit cheaper leading to a package of 18 kg diabas stone for the price of 6 €  (with a lot of luck). Next week I will visit my LFS and see if I can get some bigger pieces of a similar looking stone for a good price. 

And as you said, I am trying to achieve something like the drawing.



Nigel95 said:


> Hardscape looking promising already!



Thank you very much! gave my best with what I had 



Smells Fishy said:


> Nice cabinet full of interesting stuff. I have 2 tetra ex800's and they both developed problems soon after buying them, the one I'm using now it's flow is not what it should be. It's quite compared to my sunsun but the sunsun will match your cabinet.



Thanks for your experiences. In the meanwhile, I switched over to hydor (professional 350). This filter does even more flow than the eheim pro4 350 and is as quiet as the eheim. The only issue is some leaking if you take off the hoses. But that is no problem. Every canister I use is placed in a box in case of some missfunctions. So the leaking will just run into this box, thats fine


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## Dominik_K (28 May 2017)

Tried to play around with the hardscape yesterday evening and today morning.
Those are the results. I will gather them here to chose the right one when the tank arrives


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## Daveslaney (28 May 2017)

Looking real nice so far.
I likedthe hardscape you did in the previous post better. The greater hight to the rockwork gave a better sence of depth to the layout IMHO. Sometime less is more.
With your proposed planting layout it will look great.


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## Dominik_K (28 May 2017)

Thanks for your response  I tend to use the first one so far too, but I want to try as many as possible till my tank arrives in about a week


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## CooKieS (28 May 2017)

Hi,

I agree, first one is the best yet.

But with an tank this size, I would try something more original and natural looking than this 'Island style'.

Little inspiration pic for you, that scape seems compatible with your rocks/woods/plants 





Cheers, enjoy hardscaping


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## Dominik_K (28 May 2017)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I will be trying this out within the next few days. Not sure if my woods support something like that, but it is worth the try


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## Dominik_K (29 May 2017)

Oh man, @CooKieS you are driving me crazy  I love the layout you mentioned, tried something similar, but my woods just dont fit that perfecty (see one of the attachments). Maybe it looks better if I lift the right part via substrate like five centimeters. Visited the LFS today, but nothing worth mentioning available there...

And then I did some mor hardscapes


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## Dominik_K (30 May 2017)

Hell, I spam this thread with layouts, but I think I made the inspiration of Cookie a bit better than the last try 

Digged out my old PS CS3 to give it some brushes and make a planted illusion. Maybe a bit to much, but the impression is what counts


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## CooKieS (30 May 2017)

Well done mate! 

Right Island looks perfect to me, Wood placement on the left Island can be improved by twisting some into the right direction.

Then you can work on 'the path' (focal point ) in the middle, where you can add small branches, stone and détails.

Have fun


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## Dominik_K (30 May 2017)

Thanks for your comment  you push me to levels i did not think about so far. The little branches are a great idea, I guess I need to visit a LFS the next days to get something i can chop into pieces. Have you any suggestions how to stop those little pieces from floating? The big pieces will be held down by rocks tied to them from beneth (the layout is already designed that way), but I do not have a clue for the small ones.

Little rocks are planned from the beginning, but I want to wait till the important stones are set so I can crush the left ones (hope a hammer will do the trick  ).


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## CooKieS (30 May 2017)

You're welcome!

To secure the woods I use those (tied to one big rock in the bottom):





And for the smaller ones and the branches I use gel glue like this one ;





Easy, cheap and effective.


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## Dominik_K (31 May 2017)

Thanks for your tips  have both here, so no further expenses on my side. I added some small branches I had left over and crushed some stones. That was not as easy as I thought


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## Dominik_K (7 Jun 2017)

Hi,

yesterday my tank arrived. I was a bit overeager and took the layout apart without taking pictures from all sides... no chance to get this together again 

So I tried it all over again, have the nearly same woods, but different rocks. I like the result 
The Path looks a bit smaller, but the overall rocks are a bit better in my opinion.

The details will be added once Sand and Soil are inside the tank.


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## Dominik_K (13 Jun 2017)

Hi,

last saturday I finished the tank  had no time so I write this down a bit late.

*Final plant list:*
Microsorum pteropus 'Trident'
Anubias barteri var. nana "Petite"
Vesicularia "Christmas Moss"
Rotala sp. "Colorata"
Eleocharis pusilla (parvula)
Bucephalandra sp. "Mini Needle Leaf"
Bucephalandra sp. "Deep Purple"
Bucephalandra sp. "Maia"
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Cryptocoryne Wendtii 'Green'
Cryptocoryne walkeri 'Hobbit'
Juncus repens

And now, the picture:


 

I am so excited about seeing that growing in. I like the layout really much. Doing waterchanges of about 30 % every other day.


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## CooKieS (13 Jun 2017)

Well done man! Let the nature do the job now


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## Dominik_K (14 Jun 2017)

Thank you  You contributed a lot to this tank and I am thankfull for that!

Natures already starts to do the job  while most plants will need a while to settle in the new environment, the rotalas in the background are already starting to grow a bit.

I will try to keep this updated at least every other week to have a great journal for you guys and myself


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## doylecolmdoyle (14 Jun 2017)

Good stuff, when the background plants grow and add some height it will look great


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## Dominik_K (18 Jun 2017)

Trimmed my little tank today. It will be taken down soon. Here is just a pic of my first scape. I am pretty happy with the way it developed, even if the montecarlo on the left seems to be in bad shape.


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## Dominik_K (24 Jun 2017)

Today my new tank got two weeks old. Since the NO2-Peak happend in the first weak (bacterial supplements worked well for me) i stocked the tank with two zebra nerites on wednesday and added another three today. All of them seem to be fine, even if the two of the three new ones are climbing to the top, which the two others did as well. None of them left the tank, so I think it's fine.

On the plant size there did not happen much. Some Buces and Crypts are melting but thats nothing special to new tanks. The hairgrass starts to produce some sideshoots, but really slowly.  The Rotalas grow like crazy, but they are not visible from the front so far. Think with the next update in about two weeks they will be visible. So everything went well so far.

I lowered the water level quiet a bit to give the snails room for being above the water line. They seem to love it as far as my researches go.

Here is a new picture for you guys, as I promised.


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## Dominik_K (9 Jul 2017)

Today I trimmed back the Rotalas in the background. Futher I had a lot of algae outbreak going through: hairalgae, diatoms, bga and some more. Removed as much as I could. Did not syphon as much of the diatoms, since they reappear in the first weeks anyway  . Here is a picture before and after the trim.


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## Dominik_K (24 Jul 2017)

Hi guys,

I just want to give you a short update in form of text. I am a bit short in time currently due to semester exams of my last semester before I will do my BA-Thesis, which is why I am pretty rare at the moment and propably for the next two to three weeks.

At the moment this tank is running extremly well. After I introduced the fish from my old tank they wiped out about 80% of the algae. Whats left is a bit of BGA (you really need to search for it) and a lot of green sand, most likely due to GDA. But even those 20% are getting better day by day.

Whats currently living inside the tank is the following:
- 12 Ember Tetras
- 6 Otocinclus
- 6 Amano Shrimp
- about 15 Red Cherry Shrimp
- 8 Nerite Snails

On the plant side, there is everything fine. Some of the Crypts melted completly but thats okay for me, since anything else is growing like crazy. I am really surprised by this. It seems that one does not need that much light (currently level 4/7 for my Chihiros fixture). One of my Buces even started to flower for about a day or two (was away as it started).

The only thing that went completly wrong, was the take down of my old tank... I think I lost about 5 to 10 RCS which drove me crazy on that day. I accidently lost control of a huge piece of dragon stone while taking it out... Some gas off their fish, others feed them wrong and I simply crash the shrimp... something has to go wrong for any hobbyist I guess...
Every other living animal inside the tank is doing fine. I even noticed an increased activity on both, the ember tetras and the otos. Those two seem to really love the new tank, being more active as in the other tank before.

So, that was more text than I inteded to do. Further pictures will come in about two weeks or so 

Have a nice day.


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## Dominik_K (5 Aug 2017)

Hi,

it's almost a month ago since i posted the last picture and while I thought the tank didn't change much, the pictures show an other impression.

Last week I added 15 Glue Neons (P. Simulans) and while they were pretty shy for the first seven days, they seem pretty happy now.

In Germany we say: "a picture tells more than 1.000 words". With that in mind:





Some work has to be done (trimming, removing the loose substrate here and there and so on). But overall, I am pretty happy, regarding that I had no more time than dosing, feeding and a water change for the last four weeks.


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## leetaylor (5 Aug 2017)

Whats the red plant? I could use some red in my tank to contrast the green


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## alto (5 Aug 2017)

Dominik_K said:


> simply crash the shrimp


Commiserations on this 
Usually they're quick enough to get out of the way, poor guys


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## Dominik_K (6 Aug 2017)

leetaylor said:


> Whats the red plant? I could use some red in my tank to contrast the green



That's Alternanthera Reineckii Mini. This plant is really easy to care, enough light and ferts given. I really love it.



alto said:


> Commiserations on this
> Usually they're quick enough to get out of the way, poor guys



Thank you. Yeah, depends on the size of stone... That went pretty bad.


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## Dominik_K (21 Aug 2017)

Hi guys,

I promised to keep you up2date every other week and I will try my best. But sadly, the current state of the tank does not show a lot of changes. Plants are just growing and getting trimmed.

But as we are now two months into this tank, I start thinking about changes I would like an things that are disturbing my joy. The latter is what I would like to address the most  Some of them are:

1. my shrimp don't care about me enjoying a plain sand area. They constantly move everything that's not white to the forground and I think they are giggling while watching me remove the mess every week 
_I was thinking to adress this by adding a complete carpete of dwarf hairgrass to the tank. It grows well inside and looks awesome. Maybe this would please we. And if not, plants can be remove without any problems.
Also I think I would mix the carpet with some other plants, maybe Randalisma rostratum, Cryptocoryne Parva or something else. I am pretty open for any suggestions here.
_
2. I love green. And I simply miss some of it inside of that tank. Sure, anything grows awesome, but is it enough for me?
_This would be solved through the things said before._

3. I enjoy the right side of the tank due to the awesome reineckii mini. But for me, there is something missing on the left one.
_More red would be too mucht I think. But some stems of Staurogyne Repens would give a similar shape and maybe they could give a great transition on the right side of the aquarium.
_
Those are just some thoughts of myself about the tank. Maybe I will realize them, maybe not. I think this will be dependend on my own wishes for change and the grade of satisfaction with the tank over the course of the next weeks. Thats one part of this hobby, that I really enjoy. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a perfectly planned tank, it's more of a journey to happiness 

This was some other kind of update, no images, just thoughts, but I hope thats appealing as well.

Have a nice day and enjoy your tanks.


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## Dominik_K (12 Jan 2018)

Hi folks,

I did not update this thread for a long time and I would like to appologize for that. I was short on time for some weeks and afterwards, I forgot about it to be honest. But today, I would like to show you a new picture.

The plants are growing awesome. That leads to my biggest problem with the layout in its current form: I underestimated how big a java fern can get. It got pretty big and covered nearly all of my hardscape. I still enjoy the tank, but I have learned a lot for my next try 

Further, i rescaped the foreground with Glosso and I split up the Reineckii Mini. I also removed the Rotalas in the Background, because I did not like their visuals in this tank. I planted some Hygrophila Pinnatifida in the Background before Christmas, but because they were In Vitro, they are still just about 5 - 6 cm heigh.

All in all, I am pretty happy with the tank at the moment, except the java fern. But I am trimming it back every week and it's getting a bit smaller each time. Maybe I will soon see my hardscape again.




 

Best Regards
Dominik


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## alto (12 Jan 2018)

It's always great to see updates, even if it's been while 

Tank looks grand

I agree on the Microsorum - there are some "dwarf" varieties available (shouldn't be too difficult to source in Germany)


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## Dominik_K (26 Mar 2018)

Hi,

since I started a thread to rescape this tank, it will not stand very long anymore. So here is a last picture of it. As always, my picture quality is down to my smartphone camera =)



 
Sadly the Glosso in the middle of the foreground did not fully recover from its last trim, but since I will take the tank down today, I don't have the extra 1 - 2 days.


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## CooKieS (26 Mar 2018)

Nice jungle!


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## doylecolmdoyle (26 Mar 2018)

I think it ended up looking really good! Should be proud, lots of lush nice plants!


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## Dominik_K (26 Mar 2018)

Thank you guys =) I am really happy with the way it developped. And the layout fullfilled its purpose on point: I wanted to learn to grow different plants and I did so. Now it is the time to move on to something, that is more reliant on hardscape =)


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## Mikeba (26 Mar 2018)

Really love how this scape turned out, well done!


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