10 pages in and we are finally starting to get somewhere...
About 2 days ago I read someone on UKAPS say that with scapes you need to go BOLD, and I thought that was great advice, so here we are!
Of course I couldn't wait to try the wood in the tank. As you can see it's too big atm, but I'm going to cut a bit off the right side so it does. Imagine it 95% underwater and a bit to the right. The angle might change too, once I can fit it in I'll play with that. I also bought some extra bits to make it look more rooty at the bottom, and a big horn-like bit with 4 different sized "horns" on it that I'm going to cut up and add where needed, I want to emphasise the right-to-left flow of the big piece with them, and they might stick out a bit too. I think I'll have to try to hang my light from the shelf above the tank now to get a bit more height. Ignore the soil and rock, that will all change when I actually set it all up. Can't wait to see the fish swimming through that hole in the middle ! !
Something I really loved was the bits of wood just emerging out of the tanks at Aquarium Gardens. They have moss and buces coming out and it looked so magical, so I want to have a few bits poking out to add a bit of that vibe. The buces were particularly amazing, there were loads of them flowering just above and below the water. Buce is beautiful in lowtech, but in a hightech WOW they are stunning, I want to grow quite a few on this hardscape. The buce along with the bolbitis add really great deep dark greens and blue-purples which add a lot of richness. Seeing those tanks, and the wood I have, I think I'm going to change up my plans for it a bit and take another look at the plant list. I still want to try a nice mix of stems, but I don't think they will be as much of a feature as I thought before, with a piece of wood like this I think a jungley vibe makes a lot of sense with lovely epiphytes. On a recent Green Aqua video I saw a plant called Crepidomanes cf. "Malabaricum", which would be perfect, I wonder if anyone has any in the UK in their tanks, cos it only seems to be sold in the EU.
Also seeing all the lights and the different colours they brought out at Aquarium Gardens was so interesting. Was astonished at how vibrant the tank with the ADA light was! I'm hoping one day I can get that light (secondhand!), or a similar one (what are the Chihiros lights like??), the greens were very deep and a bit blue, and the ludiwigia super red was.... SUPER red, with a deep pink that was mesmerising.
At Aquarium Gardens I met @George Farmer and had a lovely chat about my aquariums and my philosophy behind what I like to make (especially as a fashion designer), when this tank is set up and looking good he's going to film my tanks for that UKAPS video series he posted about a little while ago. Since I joined the hobby during covid I've only been able to talk a little bit here and there to other enthusiasts irl about aquariums, so it was great to talk about it all. I think I need more irl aquarium friends, atm whenever I meet someone I just go on and on about it, whoops! 😂 My poor parents and boyfriend have unwittingly heard loads about the hobby since I joined, cos I just wanna talk aquariums 24/7... Luckily my dad likes the hobby too (just took a few months of convincing), at AQ he bought the Aquarium Plant book by Christel which looks fantastic, it's got so much practical useful info.
IDK what it is about this hobby that makes me so obsessive, I'm glad you all are too otherwise I'd think I'd gone mad. 😅
About 2 days ago I read someone on UKAPS say that with scapes you need to go BOLD, and I thought that was great advice, so here we are!
Of course I couldn't wait to try the wood in the tank. As you can see it's too big atm, but I'm going to cut a bit off the right side so it does. Imagine it 95% underwater and a bit to the right. The angle might change too, once I can fit it in I'll play with that. I also bought some extra bits to make it look more rooty at the bottom, and a big horn-like bit with 4 different sized "horns" on it that I'm going to cut up and add where needed, I want to emphasise the right-to-left flow of the big piece with them, and they might stick out a bit too. I think I'll have to try to hang my light from the shelf above the tank now to get a bit more height. Ignore the soil and rock, that will all change when I actually set it all up. Can't wait to see the fish swimming through that hole in the middle ! !
Something I really loved was the bits of wood just emerging out of the tanks at Aquarium Gardens. They have moss and buces coming out and it looked so magical, so I want to have a few bits poking out to add a bit of that vibe. The buces were particularly amazing, there were loads of them flowering just above and below the water. Buce is beautiful in lowtech, but in a hightech WOW they are stunning, I want to grow quite a few on this hardscape. The buce along with the bolbitis add really great deep dark greens and blue-purples which add a lot of richness. Seeing those tanks, and the wood I have, I think I'm going to change up my plans for it a bit and take another look at the plant list. I still want to try a nice mix of stems, but I don't think they will be as much of a feature as I thought before, with a piece of wood like this I think a jungley vibe makes a lot of sense with lovely epiphytes. On a recent Green Aqua video I saw a plant called Crepidomanes cf. "Malabaricum", which would be perfect, I wonder if anyone has any in the UK in their tanks, cos it only seems to be sold in the EU.
Also seeing all the lights and the different colours they brought out at Aquarium Gardens was so interesting. Was astonished at how vibrant the tank with the ADA light was! I'm hoping one day I can get that light (secondhand!), or a similar one (what are the Chihiros lights like??), the greens were very deep and a bit blue, and the ludiwigia super red was.... SUPER red, with a deep pink that was mesmerising.
At Aquarium Gardens I met @George Farmer and had a lovely chat about my aquariums and my philosophy behind what I like to make (especially as a fashion designer), when this tank is set up and looking good he's going to film my tanks for that UKAPS video series he posted about a little while ago. Since I joined the hobby during covid I've only been able to talk a little bit here and there to other enthusiasts irl about aquariums, so it was great to talk about it all. I think I need more irl aquarium friends, atm whenever I meet someone I just go on and on about it, whoops! 😂 My poor parents and boyfriend have unwittingly heard loads about the hobby since I joined, cos I just wanna talk aquariums 24/7... Luckily my dad likes the hobby too (just took a few months of convincing), at AQ he bought the Aquarium Plant book by Christel which looks fantastic, it's got so much practical useful info.
IDK what it is about this hobby that makes me so obsessive, I'm glad you all are too otherwise I'd think I'd gone mad. 😅
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