'The Full Monty' Has Left The Building last photos

[REDSTEVEO]

Wow...how stressful was that...I've only stuck one side of the backing on and it took me over an hour making sure all the bubbles were out...sweating a bit...think I need more than just a cup of tea to calm my nerves...[DOUBLEPOST=1406823026][/DOUBLEPOST]

Looks like a great set up.
I personally would go with a sand foreground, will look nice crisp and clean to match that impeccable white cabinet . You'll have to keep it that way though choose whichever you feel compliments the stone best
Cheerio
Ady

Yeah I'm leaning that way...it will give it a bit more perspective...just not sure what shape the section with the sand is going to be yet...

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Decided to switch the tele off and put some tunes on...David Gray's new album 'Mutineers'...Second piece of backing on in under twenty minutes...decided to stop pfaffing around...it worked...

 

[Alje]

Beer o'clock

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Beer...not me two pints and I'm out of the game...might have a slurp of Red Wine later...just put a massive pan of soup on for later...made enough to keep me going over the next three days...

Just opened the box with the Eheim 600T Filter in...its like something out of space...all the pipework is in place for both filters.

Just ploughing through the destructions for the filter...George Ezra playing in the background...

I'm taking photo's as I go along so some interesting bits to come...

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Back from work...time to start...



Backing on, Lights all sorted, Filters and pipework all done, Aquarium back against the wall and central I think...the missus will tell me when she gets back if it isn't...

So here is the pictorial description of what has been going on...started at...

1. Made myself a healthy snack...can't work on an empty stomach...



Look at the protein and carbs in that...


2. Soaked my Hornwood, as Jim said it sank straight away which is good...




3. Washed the rocks and laid them out in a tray...looking good so far...








4. Protected my wife's new dining room table and moved it to one side...






5. Laid out lots of stuff on it...





6. Got sidetracked and started messing about with the lights...wow they are bright...think I'm going to try two different tubes like the ones in the picture...trouble is they are too short so they will be going back...not sure if Eheim have made them an unusual length so I can only replace them with their tubes...








7. I am mega impressed with the quality of the design and the materials used...the reflectors are awesome...










8. Took some photos of the tank with the backing on...








9. More photos with the lights switched on...




10. Is that the time already...



I'm hungry again...time to make some soup, enough to last me three days ish...




11. Started prepping the filters, washing and filling the different media for them...I got my old Eheim Professional 2 Filter out of a cupboard in the garage...it was like meeting an old friend...






12. Took lot's of photos of the new filter...spent ages reading the destructions...









I am impressed again by the amount of media there is for the filter...



13. Using some Oase Bio Kick-start in both filters...it's German so it must be good...works well on my pond filters anyway...




14. Soups ready...time for a break...



15. Spent ages fitting the pipework and messing about with the filters...it was a bit of a struggle to get four lot's of 16/22mm pipework down the dry weir and through the hole...got it all in finally...then found out I couldn't get the plugs for the lights through the hole Doh! So I had to take the plugs off, push the wires through then refit the plugs...bit of a palarva but it's done now...








16. Look at the time...I think it's time for bed...



Bit of a mess...




17. Then I thought I'll just upload all my photos on to Photobucket and update the journal...Photos are taking ages to upload and I can't go to bed until they are all up so I can add them to the journal...why can't I just load them from my hard drive? Anyone got any tips on how to do this...


18. Still waiting yawn...01:44 hours


19. I'm feeling hungry again...


20. Photos done...Oooh it's late...never mind no work in the morning...I can have a lie in until about 7am...then get cracking with the substrate and the hardscape...

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Aaaarghhh...look at the time...time to get up...

Updates later...

 

[James D]

Almost there mate, the next step should be interesting!

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Tell me about it...quite excited but also a bit nervous...have to get it right this time...

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Well all I can say is that was quite an experience! The bad news is things didn't go as originally planned...no where near in fact...

It turns out the wood was too big and so were some of the stones, others were too small so I couldn't get the balance right between the two. So sadly the wood is going back tomorrow with some of the stones. I finished up with two bags of Amazonia Soil and one bag of Amazonia powder left over so that is going back, let's hope Jim's as good as his word I have got two small bags of Sarawak sand which I need to swap for La Planta sand also, the La Planta is a better contrast to the aqua soil and powder.

The good news is that there is water in the aquarium, both filters are up and running, the Co2 is connected and the lights are in position. All my substrate is in place with a 30cm high hillock interspersed with Mountain Stones to the left of the dry weir and a long slope going from left to right in front of the weir with more stones dotted about up to the edge of the sand. It looks sort of okay-ish, but it is definitely not what I had originally planned or imagined it to be. I have had to have a bit of a rethink on how this is going to look and will be looking for some smaller pieces of wood and revising my plant list slightly.

I also made a few schoolboy errors... I forgot to spray the top layer of Amazonia powder...so when I started filling the tank quite a lot floated to the surface so I finished up netting it and dropping it back in where it was needed...but by this time it was too late...it made a bit of a mess of my sand though so a bit of siphoning off to do tomorrow. I can see the sand is going to take some looking after...it's the first time I have worked with it and still not sure if I like it or not.

I am trying to stay positive and think it will look brilliant once the plants are in and they have softened the scape up a bit...

One thing I can say for definite, there is more to aquascaping than just throwing money at it, it is an art form and takes time and patience so hats off to all those brilliant scapers like Iain Sutherland out there...

That's it for now...pictures and update to follow...

Cheers.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Well in the cold light of a new day I have just been downstairs to check on everything...the good news is that tank has still got water in it Also the 30cm hillock is still in place and all the rocks are still where they are supposed to be...one other thing from yesterday I learned was you can never have too many substrate supports, it its a bit fiddly but worth the effort...

Water is pretty clear, no ferts added at this stage and no Co2 pumping in because I have not got any plants or livestock in it yet, and there won't be any for a while...just waiting for the expected Ammonia Spike and the huge water changes every few days until it stabilises.

Off to TGM later to take stuff back and order my plants for a few weeks time.

Waiting for the battery on my camera to charge before uploading more pictures...

 

[Iain Sutherland]

All sounding good, look forward to seeing some pics.

Your right about substrate supports.... Never too many!
Setting up the hardscape is soo important, it's well worth taking time, even weeks, adjust it a little each day until your happy and really think about how the flow will work, how easy it will be to maintain, how stable it will be long term etc.... Having a difficult layout just means maintenance is a chore and your less inclined to do it.
It is the foundation after all.
My first tanks were shockers and I hated cleaning them!

What are the plans for plant list?

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Redstevo, This is the method i use when setting up the hardscape Its a lot less trouble than doing it in the tank Just cut up a cardboard box to the size of your tank put some sand in off you go. When you have the hardscape the way you want it. Then take pics and replace the hardscape into the tank
One pic

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Cheers Iain, I will definitely try to take that advice on board!

Just got back from TGM and Jim was as good as his word, he gave me a full refund for everything I brought back that wasn't used, so thanks Jim I appreciate it very much.

I still can't post any pics just yet because I left my battery charger at TGM last week and the battery is totally flat at the moment, its on charge now so should be okay by tonight.

I took the huge pieces of Hornwood back and picked up some very nice small bits which will be much better suited and keep everything in the right perspective...If I had used the pieces I originally had there would be no space left for planting which kind of defeats the object...

Plant List so far is...

6 x pots of Micranthum Monte Carlo all around the hillock between the rock and wood.
6 x pots of Staurogyne running down the hillock from left to right and around the base of the hillock.
6 x pots of Mini / Dwarf Elocharis Acicularis along the front from left to right.
6 x pots of Alternanthera Reineckii around the centre.
1 x Hygrophilia Corymbosa XL to the right of the dry weir.
3 x pots of Hygrophilia Corymbosa compact in front the XL.
Lots of Fissidens Moss on the bit of wood.

When I get time I'll try and draw a plan and post it up...

Any comments or suggestions on alternative plants welcome...bearing in mind I am intending to put Blue Diamond discus in the setup...thanks...

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Well all in all its a been a bit of a weekend...sorry there has been no update or pics...I had the small matter of dealing with a !"£$%^g massive wasps nest the size of a very large beach ball up in the rafters in the garage. Got attacked on Friday night when I went in to the garage and switched the light on to look for something in a cupboard as you do First only one or two and I thought hmm that's unusual, two minute later I was sprinting 200 yards up the road to get away from them

So being a weekend I couldn't get hold of anyone to come and sort it out so I sort of did it myself-ish...so last night I zapped them with something from a local store which led to another sprint to the end of our road and back! This morning when I eventually plucked up the courage to open the garage door it was like something out of a horror movie. Needless to say it took me six hours to empty the garage and clean up the mess, zillions of dead wasps everywhere it was no fun I can tell you.

So showered and changed before going off to visit my grandson for a few hours..he's absolutely gorgeous

Here are the pictures that I couldn't upload earlier...

Some of the Amazonia substrates...





The Penac (P) and Penac (W)



Crushing up lots of bits of Lava Rock to help bolster up my hillock, I added layers of this and added Aquasoil mixed with the Powersand Special and filled in with Amazonia Powder as I went along, slotting in substrate supports where necessary...





Adding Penac (P) as I went...



This was the first thing in the tank...





Getting the base layer of Powersand in and working out how big an area I want for the planted area and where the Sarawak and La Plata sand is going to go...



This is a mix of Sarawak and La Plata sand...I am not convinced about the sandy area but my wife said she would like to see some area with sand in so I aim to try and please...but I have decided I like the La Plata sand better because it is brighter, not as red as the Sarawak...



Sand in place and a dusting of Penac (P) over the Powersand before adding the Amazonia Aquasoil...



This picture is deceptive because of the angle it was taken from...it looks like there is hardly any planting area and more sand but it isn't...



This is some of the rock and wood I planned to work with...but as already mentioned all the wood was too big and all of it went back to TGM for a full refund thanks to Jim...



Again another poor photograph from above this time...I only have a Canon Cybershot and photography is not my forte...you can see the powder is still dry...school boy error as mentioned earlier...



The tank is filled and looking rather dark...



Twenty four hours later mess all cleaned up...no one would know I'd been there...



Almost done...



Nice shiny Black smoked glass lids on...nice...





Got back tonight and switched one of the lights on to see what the water was like because it was pretty milky this morning, big bacteria bloom...its a bit clearer tonight...


The wood used here is Hornwood again but I used much smaller pieces this time and these positions are not the final positions...there will be some adjustments when the plants go in and I fix the Fissidens into place...



Thought I'd do a quick Ammonia check...through the roof as expected...completely off the scale in fact...5.0mg/l is a sort of dark green colour on the scale, this sample has gone a marine aqua blue but I was expecting this...almost would have been disappointed if it didn't happen...



So that's why the big water changes start over the next week or so..no plants or live stock going in until everything stabilises...

To sum up at this stage I'm sort of happy with it ish but somehow dissapointed that it didn't turn out how I had imagined it, I finished up working with what I had and sort of went with the flow..

'The Full Monty' it isn't...at least not yet...maybe once the plants are in...I might be looking for a name change...

More to come in the next few days...

More soup anyone...?

 

[Martin in Holland]

I like this photo way of story telling keep it up

 

[Edvet]

There will be spillage from the Amazonia on to the sand, do you have any plan to combat that? Rummaging fishes will toss it around, working and planting will disturb it. If your plan is to lock it with plants would there be any possibility to heighten the border between the Amazonia and the sand at least till the plants have grown in, alternatively i've seen people using a "rockwall" to separate the two.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Hi Edvet, I have used substrate supports cut into pieces which overlap each other between the Amazonia and the Sand I will be planting all along the border between the two substrates. I won't be adding any fish until the plants are established and the border is indistinguishable, but I do take your point about the inevitability of the Amazonia creeping on to the sand.

If it becomes too much of a pain I will remove the sand and add more ADA Powersand, Amazonia soil and plant it instead, which I would rather have done in the first place, but I thought I would try it...[DOUBLEPOST=1407146873][/DOUBLEPOST]

I like this photo way of story telling keep it up

Martin,

Glad you like it...it is hard work but it is also fun

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Hi all,

I had an interesting conversation with a guy named Ryan from Charterhouse Aquatics. We were talking about the Eheim Daylight 54 Watt tubes that came with the Eheim Incpiria 400 litre aquarium. I bought the optional additional light unit so I have four of these over the aquarium. They are a very crisp sharp white and I thought they would have a very high kelvin rating, but apparently they are only 6500k. The length of these tubes shows as 1149mm and I thought that maybe only Eheim provide these but this isn't the case.

Ryan told me about the Guisemann Aqua-flora 54 watt T5 tubes which are the same length. I am thinking of either buying two of these or two of the Eheim Plant Gro tubes which are only 4500k rating. I want a variation in the lighting with a more red and blue spectrum for highlighting the green of the plants (when I get them) and the Blue Diamond Discus fish.

Any thoughts...?

 

[James O]

Well the kelvin rating doesn't tell you much about the spectrum of light the tubes produce. You'd need to see a full nm colour breakdown for each tube.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Yes I know, but if the kelvin rating had been 10,000 or even 12,000 this was what I used to have when I kept marines and far too strong for plants in a freshwater tank..