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60cm Optiwhite - A New Dawn

Dan Walter

Member
Joined
18 Mar 2009
Messages
166
Location
Salisbury, Wiltshire
After spending the last year or so researching, learning, maintaining, enjoying and generally playing about with my 60x30x30cm tank, I decided to purchase an optiwhite aquarium.

This tank and cabinet came from ukaps member, John Starkey who kindly let me take the luminaire when I bought the tank with an agreement to pay for this at a later date. Top boy! ;)
60x40x45cm (108L) optiwhite, ADA style cabinet, Arcadia OT2 luminaire 4x24w.
Cheers for your generosity, John. :thumbup:
photo-36.jpg


Although most aquascapes, including many on here impress me, my main inspiration came from an aquascape by Luis Moniz. His attention to detail is fantastic and his blog is well worth a read. There is even a step by step guide documenting this particular aquascape which I might have read a few times….
http://akuatic.blogspot.com/search/labe ... yle%20130L

This picture really caught my eye so im loosely basing my current aquascape on this..
FullshotDNAtank.jpg


Back to my tank..

With the tank, cabinet and lights sorted it was time to update a few other peripherals…
I picked up an Eheim 2028 from my LFS as an ex-display. I figured that the flow rate of 1050Lph should be adequate enough for my 108L tank. If I need any assistance with flow then I do have a Koralia Nano that I can add.
What with the substrate and hardscape I think I may be near 10 x turnover.

Next up came new CO2 glassware, clear filter tubing, new inlet/outlet, media, tools, Hydor external heater, Columbo Flora Grow substrate, Unipac Zambezi sand, easycarbo etc.

Anyway…

I took a day off from work to start the hardscaping and here’s how I got on..

I started by making a substrate/gravel separator
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Then I added Zambezi sand for my foreground, which looks like this close up
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In it goes, just under 2 small bags did the trick
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In went the Columbo. I used 10L to get a steady rise to the back.
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At this point I started to panic as it was time to remove the divider… I imagined the whole lot mixing together and it being GAME OVER……Break time, day off, no hurry.
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All good though…
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From the side, showing the steady rise
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Substrate base - DONE. Next up it’s hardscape. I played with rock formation for hours the night before and kind of settled on something like this. For the record, my wife now thinks I talk to rocks.
P1040566.jpg



I then had to remove the wood from my current set up and basically tear down my current tank and transport fish to there holiday home while the new tank gets the treatment.
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]

Now I’ve got wood to play with! This is a piece of Sumatran driftwood that I’ve used for over a year in my old tank and I just haven’t seen any bits of wood locally that interest me really so im using it in this set up. After some fettling I settled on something similar to this.
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Next up, get it in the tank. Once the rocks were in place I added another 5L of Columbo to even things up. This was the first go but I just wasn’t happy with the wood placement.
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P1040592.jpg

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I thought the wood was positioned to far to the right so had a play and came up with this.
P1040615.jpg


It stayed like this for a week but then the rocks spoke to me and needed some arrangement. So tonight I have settled on this… I think I’ll go with this one as im starting to get a picture of how it will look planted up.
P1040689.jpg


I've probably some fettling left to do but something similar to this is set in stone. For plants im planning on small amounts of Glosso for between rocks, some E-Parvula for the front of the substrate, rotala's for the back, some cyperus helferi in the centre behind the wood and something in the mid ground to hide the bottom of the rotalas but im unsure what and it's holding up my plant order! Some E-tenellus perhaps?? Oh, also some needle/narrow leaf java in and around the rocks/wood base.

Anyone care to make any suggestions?

Cheers
Dan
 
Cheers Chris, The wood has quite a long base so it's not really an option... It might work if i dig it right in the substrate.. I'll give it a go though... watch this space. ;)
 
Final pic gets my choice Dan,its going to look good when planted up, just try to plant as heavily as poss to avoid any major algae issues,good luck mate.
 
nelson said:
yeah,i think it looks better that way.

I think you may be right... ;)

john starkey said:
Final pic gets my choice Dan,its going to look good when planted up, just try to plant as heavily as poss to avoid any major algae issues,good luck mate.

Yeah i think that could be the one. Im making sure that there are plenty of fast growing stems from the off so fingers crossed i'll be ok... Cheers John
 
The last one works best for me, I'd like more wood myself.
I love the tank, your scape has so much more depth than mine despite being 5cm narrower, really great job!
 
LondonDragon said:
Last photo looks good Dan, looking forward to seeing this planted :)
Could do with a couple more roots upwards though to make it a little busier.

Cheers LD, I would like some more to be honest but i havent seen anything similiar in the LFS. I might see if I can find a bit this weekend. :)


Garuf said:
The last one works best for me, I'd like more wood myself.
I love the tank, your scape has so much more depth than mine despite being 5cm narrower, really great job!

Cheers G, im liking the size of the tank too but surely having an extra 5mm would be a benefit?

SteveUK said:
Great looking scape so far :) This will be one to watch!

Cheers Steve! :thumbup:
 
Dan Walter said:
Cheers LD, I would like some more to be honest but i havent seen anything similiar in the LFS. I might see if I can find a bit this weekend. :)
As long they are roots and match what you have you can always cut single branches and attach to your existing piece ;)
 
It does and it doesn't Dan. I'm finding it hard to give a good balance between forground and back ground, every time you move the hardscape you have too much of one. Great work, keep it up!
 
Garuf said:
I'm finding it hard to give a good balance between forground and back ground, every time you move the hardscape you have too much of one.

i'd give my right arm for front to back depth. A huge foreground would be bliss.
 
john starkey said:
its going to look good when planted up, just try to plant as heavily as poss to avoid any major algae issues,

Being very much a beginner I've just read this thread and am intrigued by John's comment. I'm sure asking this shows my ignorance but why does planting heavily avoid algae issues?

Turning the wood round changes the overall look of the tank quite dramatically, I like it

Becca
 
saintly said:
i'd give my right arm for front to back depth. A huge foreground would be bliss.

I like it, I chose the tank specifically for that reason, even with the 10cm of sandforeground I plan I have room for 20cm of midground and 15cm of background planting, it's liberating to have so much space.

Dan, do you have any ideas on planting? the scape you've referenced is one of the ones I used for inspiration too, it'd be interesting to compare.
 
LondonDragon said:
As long they are roots and match what you have you can always cut single branches and attach to your existing piece ;)
I would be there for hours trying to position extra branches! :lol: If I see any interesting bits this weekend then the saw might come out. How would I go about attaching the branches, glue?

JamesM said:
Loving the hardscape Dan, gonna keep an eye on this one.

Cheers James :thumbup: and cheers for the great Plantedbox customer service ;)

saintly said:
i'd give my right arm for front to back depth. A huge foreground would be bliss.

Foreground was a big part of this scape for me. I wanted the foreground gravel and rocks to still be visible even after heavy plant growth a few months on. Time will tell I guess :crazy:

Becca said:
why does planting heavily avoid algae issues?Becca

Cheers Becca :) I think heavy planting from the off ensures that the plants use any excess nutrients (?) rather than the algae using them.. I may and probably am wrong here as I too am a beginner. Anyone care to correct me?

Garuf said:
Dan, do you have any ideas on planting? the scape you've referenced is one of the ones I used for inspiration too, it'd be interesting to compare.

G, I was more interested in the foreground/rock work combo. For me it just works in the Luis Moniz scape.

Planting - I plan to add stems for the background, some cyperus helferi in the middle back, small amounts of glosso in between rocks, some e-parvula dotted about and some grass like mid ground plants but im not sure which.. Needle leaf ferns around the wood and some mosses on the branches and maybe some of the smaller stones. Im really stuck on a mid ground plant that will cover the bottom of the stems.. Possibly Blyxia?

Any ideas anyone?
 
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