Big Matt's 54l Rescape - be gentle with me!

[bigmatt]

Hello all,
I've got wood! And it's got moss on it! (Subtitle for this thread "Carry on Inject my Fertiliser" )
This journal will chart the development of my 54l (2x1x1) from the first tank i ever owned, that has remained fairly untouched since, to a planted masterpiece that will make you all gasp with wonder. Or possibly not
The tank is a Hagen Elite, which is a fairly standard tank of these dimensions. Sadly it has black silicon but the silver trim round the bottom, whilst not to the taste of many i'm sure, does have the added bonus of hiding some of the substrate, and i feel it actually gives the tank cleaner lines, and can always be photoshopped out for the international competitions ...
I've removed the original hood and replaced it with a 36w PL overtank luminaire (a bargain at £25 inc. p&P from a guy in Sunderland- PM me for details if req.), and finally replaced the original Elite Stingray filter with an external. The Stingray was very, very efficient - maintained Nitrate at 0 despite being hugely overstocked when my platy population went through the roof, and i'd happily use it again in a fish house tank - but was always a bit of an ugly lump of plastic in the tank in our front room. The external is an Eheim 2234 (an Aquarist CLassifieds bargain!) and has done wonders for plant growth by itself just by increasing flow.
The scaping plans stem from seeing so many beautiful tanks both here and on the PFK website. I'm not naturally an artistic bloke but i saw a piece of driftwood in my LFS and started drawing my plans up around this. The plan goes like this ...
A pathway design with bed of hairgrass left and right with paths disappearing betwixt 'em off towards the rear right hand corner, interpsersed with red ambulia (Rotala Wallichii) to give colouring and (hopefully) give depth and height to the tank. The centrepiece will then be a piece of driftwood dressed with Java Moss, Riccia and Java fern. This will then form an archway across the "path". Substrate will be JBL AquaBasis topped with play sand and then (well boiled) birch leaves on top, with dwarf hairgrass blending the forground with the mid/background.
In the absence of pressurised CO2 (will have to wait until funds allow) i'm dosing with AE Design Aqua Carbo and TPN+ (presently 1ml of each but i think i'll have to up both with the new light)
Livestock will be Harlequin Rasboras and Pygmy Corydoras, and i might shift my Snowball Shrimp poulation into this tank if you think they'd do well ...?
I'd love your opinions on all of this - hopefully remove acouple of steps in the learning process!
Cheers
Matt

 

[sanj]

I've got wood! And it's got moss on it! (Subtitle for this thread "Carry on Inject my Fertiliser" )

I have no idea what you are inferring... just make sure the fertilizer is of the NPK, trace element variety.

I think often black silicone is better than clear, it often discolours over time anyway, where as black stays black. When i first started out i used my own diy co2 injection using yeast and sugar in an empty coke bottle, works pretty well for small tanks. Look forward to seeing this develop

 

[bigmatt]

Cheers Sanj!
Whilst the missus and little 'un are away for a couple of days at the in-laws i've remodelled the substrate. Didn't really want to this before plants arrived (on order from Java Plants - should be here early next week - big whoop!) but my wife tends to work on my days off (we both do shifts) and i look after our daughter, so time really is at a premium. I therefore wanted to be able to take my time emptying and cleaning the tank thorougly, then getting the substrate right. No pics as of yet as the camera is away with my wife!
Couple of things i'd like different views on having done this -
- Plan is a "path" type set up with path running from r to l (tank sits on r side of fireplace so path in this orientation for viewing), open sand foreground, two planted beds of hairgrass (blended with Dwarf Hairgrass in the foreground)interspersed with Rotallia Wallichi to give colour. Beds will overlap with the left bed being 2/3rd tank width, but this means that, for the beds to overlap, the right bed will be 1/2 the tank width, and i'm a bit concerned that this might ruin the aesthetics of the tank. I guess i could just very gently blend the dwarfHG with the tallHG so only the tallHG occupies a 1/3rd? Any thoughts?
- I've got a great piece of driftwood that i've covered with Java Moss, Riccia and Java Fern (looks ace - i'm really pleased with it). This forms an arch that i want the path to disappear under. Again, this presents the problem that the wood will sit bang in the middle of the tank. I'm not 100%sure this will pose a problem as i think the lines of the wood will be softened by the moss and the planting around it, but again i'd appreciate any thoughts

Last thing...now i've got the substrate in ... i'm thinking about changingit! I've gone for built up bank on the l and r (higher on r) with "valley" forming the pathway. I'm thinking maybe some rocks to really build up the banks, but i guess i'm a bit scared of too much hardscape!
Cheers
Matt

 

[bigmatt]

Latest update - tank is blacked out for 72hrs due to the unwelcome arrival of cyanobacteria!
After a lot of researching and some input from ceg4048 i reckon this is down to too much light/too little nutrient/too little plant biomass . I'm pretty happy with the plant layout but think i might add some more planting just to give a "bolder" greenness to the tank and increase the biomass. I have some elodea and vallis that i can bring over from my other tank, so think i might use that. I'll also be massively upping my TPN dosing! THinking about moving to EI once i've got my head around it and i have enough cash to try and beat the algae
Also ... (bold fanfare!)...i'm moving to pressurised CO2! Big whoop! Got FE + reg (cheers Fats - it's ace) both at a bit of a bargain so as soon as next months paycheck is in i'll be getting the rest of the bits. For those who are interested it only works out at a couple of quid more expensive to get the "bits" (tubing etc) from AE than from eBay! I might just need to do a bit of fettling to produce a spacer to fit between FE and reg as the build of both means the gauges need disconnecting to screw the reg on. Not a massive problem as i think i'll be changing FE less than once every six months but still a bit of a pain.
Just got to work out when to hide the cylinder behind the sofa so my wife doesn't see!
Thanks folks - all thoughts appreciated! Some pics WILL be forthcoming as soon as the covers come off!
Matt

 

[bigmatt]

Well it's been a while, but here are some pics

Original bit of hardscape that inspired the rescape
Then planted round it with Rotala Wallachi and Eleocharis Parvula. I then had the dreaded BGA outbreak, but a lot of good advice, 72hr complete blackout and massively upping TPN+ to 5mls daily has apparently fixed it completely!
It never really worked for me - no flow to the scape, always looked unfinished. The i visited my local MA and spent £30 on bloomin' rocks! They're rocks for god's sake! Having said that, they are very pretty rocks!
So, one bad case of "'Scapers Itch" later, a completely new scape. Comandeered a piece of Sumatran Driftwood froma nother tank and completely shifted things round

Not the best pic i'm afraid! I love this layout - really pleased with the rockwork on the right at the base of the wood, and the way the pieces of wood complement each other. I'm planning to plant some Blyxa round the base of the wood on the right, and obvioulsy i'm hoping the Dwarf Hairgrass will carpet out.
The biggest problem is that a shady spot is created in the front left corner due to the wood, but i'm leaving it at the minute to see how the planting develops there, as the natural light may be enough in this area. Flow is also slightly disrupted but again i'm seeing how things develop as i can't presently see a solution to the problem. !
All comments gratefullyreceived!
Matt

 

[bigmatt]

It's been a while -i'd still appreciate any thoughts on the scape! As i've lived with the tank i've realised that the driftwood is a bit thick and heavy for the tank. Ideally i'd like to replace it with a similar shaped piece of Manzanita but, since that would mean a massive amount of disruption in the tank, i think it's a bad idea for now.
I've just added 18 Mosquito Rasbora (that's what they were labelled as - not sure it's correct but def a microrasbora species) which are great - can see me using lots of them in the three nano tanks i'll shortly have! (just waiting on two of Garufs Acrylic cubes) My wife foolishly said "You can do whatever you want with your fish in the garage" - think she might have a bit of a shock when they all get running!
Got some BBA rearing it's ugly head at the mo. My plan is to replace the Eheim 2234 - which is a lovely filter but seems to lack some guts - with a FLuval 303 that i've got lying around in the garage to see if the increased flow will help resolve the problem (coupled with some liquid carbon)
Alos thinking about some Hydrocotyle in the left front corner - need some bolder green accent to brighten up against the wood.
Shifting to EI as well - busy times!
Cheers folks
Matt