60x40x40 90l first attempt at an aquascape

[caleb123]

Hi guys I'm a new member here. attempting my first aquascape and my first planted tank. currently waiting on my c02 diffuser and lily pipes


Equipment:

Tank: APS ultra clear 60cm 90l
Filter: Aquael UltraMax 2000
Lights: Chihiro's RGB A series 45 watt
Hardscape: red moor wood and Dark Mini Landscape Seiryu Stone
Substrate: Tropica aqua soil powder 9l
C02 set up: Aquario neo large, fire extinguisher 2kg and c02art regulator and solenoid
Clear 16/22mm hoses
Glass lily pipes with skimmer on the inflow (purchased from Aliexpress 16/22mm)
Frosted background got it from eBay

foreground: monte Carlo carpet
background stem plants: Rotala Wallichii, Rotala green, Rotala Vietnam H'rar still thinking what else to add
midground: so far all I've decided on is Pogostemon Helfreri


still messing about with my hardscape and will update soon

 

[Melll]

Hi and welcome to UKaps 🙂

Would love to see a photo of the setup.

 

[Wolf6]

Welcome, looking forward to seeing it! 🙂

 

[PARAGUAY]

Welcome 🙂 Looks like you've got it well planned

 

[caleb123]

Hey guys, thanks for the warm welcome

update: I've been playing around with my hardscape and so far this is what I have come up with. I also have two pieces of seiryu stone unused one quite big other a bit small. I want to break up the bigger piece but I don't know how to.🤔

.

 

[caleb123]

update: i ended up ordering tropica 1-2 grow plants from two different sites. one of them is porton aquatics and the other was aquaessentials. Porton aquatics seemed to have a good deal going on as they were doing 2 pots mix and match of tropic for £4. Its a shame they didnt have all the plants i was looking for otherwise i wouldve saved more ££. I ordered 6 monte carlo cups and 2 waliichi cups. They called me the following day to say that they dont think two of the monte carlo cups are up to standard but with some tlc they should recover. they ended up asking if i wanted to wait for their new stock or if i wanted the two cups for the price of one making the £2 a cup. I ended up taking their offer for the 2 sub par monte carlo cups. They just arrived now and there are 3 that look like they are in bad condition. Do you guys see any problems with them? Are they worth planting? Will they receover?

 

[CooKieS]

Honestly they are looking quite bad...wouldn’t use them

 

[Manrock]

They look pretty awful and would need lots of extra time to recover, I'd think. I'm just doing a rescape with Monte Carlo - got it from Aqua Essentials - excellent condition as always.

 

[Wolf6]

You could try then in a small seperate container with some soil, see if something sprouts, but I wouldnt put it in your tank as it is. I highly doubt its worth even trying, it will take a very long time if anything comes out of that slimey mess.

 

[PARAGUAY]

The idea of lab grown plants they have a great start grown in pristine condition What you got was pretty miserable Special offers on things like this ain't worth it l always had the best with sticking with our plant sponsors on here

 

[Jayefc1]

I wouldnt put any of them in my tanks your asking for a alge bloom with the plants being in such poor condition

 

[Cornelius]

Poor condition so don't use them

I had the same situation
So I've used the green parts to grow them emersed and went very well. Now I use new self propagated plants in new set-ups

 

[caleb123]

update: I ended up planting my tank but then changed the layout.

I first planted and scaped it like this. Rotala Green, Walichii and Hrar in the background and Monte Carlo in the foreground. There was also Pinnatafida on the wood however I ended up removing that piece of wood. This tank was planted on the 17th of august so its been around 3 weeks.


photo with my kitten on the day of planting


I then removed the piece of wood in the middle and took out two of the seiryu stones in front of the wood. the Monte Carlo was also removed from the back as I decided that I wanted to add some more plants in the background and mid-ground. The photo below shows 3 weeks of growth.




The Rotala Hrar and Green are pearling


Here is a close up of the Rotala Walichii


Here is part of the Monte carlo pearling



I also added a asta F20 nano light to bring out more of the reds in the Rotala Walichii and Hrar


I'm looking to order some more plants this week: Pogostemon Erectus, Pogostemon Helferi, Pogostemon Stellata, Alternanthera Reineckii Mini and Limnophila Hippuridoides.

 

[Driftless]

Nice Kitten!

And, tank as well.

 

[alto]

Did you end up using that melted MC?
(may have been heat damage during transport etc)

P stellata likes to grow big and have space, so I’d hesitate to use it in this size of tank, but if it’s a plant you love, go for it (I’d skip the L hippuridoides and keep the space for P stellata)

A R mini also has a large leaf for a smaller tank, but again don’t let that dissuade you from a plant that intrigues

I’d likely add some Anubias or Buce to the wood (at some point) - or moss if you’re patient with trimming (want to trim with a syphon in place to limit Moss Everywhere Syndrome)

 

[caleb123]

P stellata likes to grow big and have space, so I’d hesitate to use it in this size of tank, but if it’s a plant you love, go for it (I’d skip the L hippuridoides and keep the space for P stellata)

A R mini also has a large leaf for a smaller tank, but again don’t let that dissuade you from a plant that intrigues

I’d likely add some Anubias or Buce to the wood (at some point) - or moss if you’re patient with trimming (want to trim with a syphon in place to limit Moss Everywhere Syndrome)

Thanks for the advice il think about it.

Did you end up using that melted MC?
(may have been heat damage during transport etc)
.

two of them were too bad to use so i didnt. The other one which was a bit damaged i ended up using however i did not see it recover so i ripped it out

 

[Something Fishy]

Looking good!

I’ve got the Aquael Ultramax 2000 too and I was thinking of using floss in the prefilter.

Anybody tried this? As we do WC weekly anyway makes sense to me as the course sponge is almost never blocked but the floss at the bottom always clogs making the prefilter kinda pointless for aquascaping otherwise.


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[caleb123]

Looking good!

I’ve got the Aquael Ultramax 2000 too and I was thinking of using floss in the prefilter.

Anybody tried this? As we do WC weekly anyway makes sense to me as the course sponge is almost never blocked but the floss at the bottom always clogs making the prefilter kinda pointless for aquascaping otherwise.


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Hmm i havent tried filter floss but my filter is set up as follows:
Prefilter is 30ppi sponge
Bottom tray 30ppi and 40ppi sponge
Next tray purigen
The rest of the trays are filled with biological filter media (seachem matrix)

I left one tray empty and lightly filled the rest as i didnt want to restrict flow.

After a quick search i found this on ukaps about using filter floss in prefilter https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/filter-floss-in-pre-filter.52621/

Check out this thread and see if it helps

 

[Something Fishy]

Very light then - the sounds good! And Purigebnis always good and probably bette than floss - has to be recharged though which I’ve always found hard. Weeks of soaking still leaves some dark for me, even with thick bleach :/ little filter does help which maybe I need to sue lore and invest in something a bit better to recharge it with.

Honestly I’ve packed my filter and the flow seems fine still. I use a surface skinner anyway too so that adds more flow as well. I have iwagumi in this one and I’ve found if it’s too harsh flow the fish don’t relax or settle they get blown around my tanks too much, so I think my flow isn’t too bad! Plants seem to be responding well.

I just figured why did I buy this for convenience if water changes when currently it’s always the floss that clogs and the rest is fine for weeks, even sponges really.

Cheers


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[caleb123]

Very light then - the sounds good! And Purigebnis always good and probably bette than floss - has to be recharged though which I’ve always found hard. Weeks of soaking still leaves some dark for me, even with thick bleach :/ little filter does help which maybe I need to sue lore and invest in something a bit better to recharge it with.

Honestly I’ve packed my filter and the flow seems fine still. I use a surface skinner anyway too so that adds more flow as well. I have iwagumi in this one and I’ve found if it’s too harsh flow the fish don’t relax or settle they get blown around my tanks too much, so I think my flow isn’t too bad! Plants seem to be responding well.

I just figured why did I buy this for convenience if water changes when currently it’s always the floss that clogs and the rest is fine for weeks, even sponges really.

Cheers


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This is my first time using purigen but before i used it my water was crystal clear anyway.
With the filter floss i have no experience with it but a lot does get past the 30ppi prefilter sponge as when i rinsed the bottom tray sponges there was quite a bit of muck.

I dont have a surface skimmer. I positioned my lily pipes higher up so that there would be more surface agitation as to not allow for debris to settle at the surface

Also with the flow ive yet to add fish to my tank. I wanted to get everyhting established and plants doing well before i added any livestock. looking to get some shrimp and some other fish but havent quite decided yet. I will have to see how they react to the flow when i do finally get them.

If you do end up adding filter floss to the prefilter let me know how it goes as i may do the same and switch out the prefilter media more frequently if it works for you.