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Caveland

faizal

faizal

Member
Joined
1 Mar 2011
Messages
968
Location
Alor Setar , Malaysia
Hi :)
It's been quite awhile since I tried something. Work & family matters had taken most of my time.
I have been thinking of starting this journal for a very very long time now. Please bear with me because I think it's going to progress at a very slow pace.:oops:


This would be my first serious attempt at an aquascape so hang on to your seats & please feel free to fall off them, laughing your heads off.:wacky:


I was thinking of really easy plants like Various types of anubias, some mini java fern (which i successfully fried during my last attempt),crypts , java moss, bolbitis. Then some stems like red rotalas, hemianthus micranthemoides & staurogynes .

Two tubes of T8 lights with the reflectors removed from their casing.
The tank is about 56 Litres
Substrate: Aquasoil amazonia & some inert sand
CO2 with UP aqua inline atomizer

20130421_220036-1.jpg


20130421_215936.jpg


Planning on a sandy foreground that would hopefully lead into that cave at the left off centre. I wanted to maintain the "cliff" like drop from the rocks to the sandy area so I sort of siliconed some pebbles to the styrofoam & this was what I got.
20130417_221113.jpg


I don't know if this goes against the Nature Aquarium style :oops: :oops:
......but this is the finished product

20130513_233433.jpg


This is as far as I've got unfortunately. I am currently trying to get that big tree like drift wood on the left to sink. It's leaking so much tannins & i am afraid it might be awhile before I can put it in the tank.
Please let me know what you think.
 
Hi Faizal, pleased to see you back with the start of another journal :)
I really like the look of the hardscape, the sense of depth should be quite impressive with the use of the strong focal branch at the left and then a similar upright in the opposing right rear corner.
Nice idea to hide the polystyrene edge too!
Cheerio for now,
Ady.
 
Looks great faizal. I really like this. Your choice of plants sound perfect too. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

If your having trouble with the wood on the left maybe try using a little suction pad screwed into the wood??

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2
 
Thanks Tim,...:) I was afraid the polystyrene might not sink in well with the Nature aquarium theme at first but then I decided to just give it a try. I am glad you like it.

[quote="tim, post: 286190, member: 7829"....of topic is shoebs low tech still running ?? Good start mate.[/quote]
I am afraid not,..:oops: My youngest son Raean accidentally knocked the heavy " Big Boy T8 light casing"against the glass & it was cracked. We also moved out from that rented house late last year,...so never really got down to setting another tank for him. It was truly a shame though because it was doing very well.
 
Tim,..I actually wanted to name it something like "A walk in the forest" but my youngest said "Caveland !!!" "See daddy because there's a cave here ,...& here & here. Name it Caveland":)
 
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Alastair said:
Looks great faizal. I really like this. Your choice of plants sound perfect too. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
Click to expand...

Cheers Alastair:) :) Thanks mate. I hope it doesn't turn out ugly after planted. Most of my previous tanks ended up this way. I think that I need to really be careful with the leaf sizes in this tank. Its easy to end up with too big looking leaves i suppose.
 
Love the look of this faizal, and nice photography. This could be a real winner when planted. Nicely done.
 
Alastair said:
If your having trouble with the wood on the left maybe try using a little suction pad screwed into the wood??
Click to expand...

I think I might give that idea a go Alastair. That's a good one. i am just waiting for it to stop leeching tannin. It's been soaking for the last 10 days.
 
Ian Holdich said:
Love the look of this faizal, and nice photography. This could be a real winner when planted. Nicely done.
Click to expand...

Wow Ian,.....:) I wouldn't go that far yet,....I still need to get the plants done right.:banghead:Thank you for the encouragements guys. I am still taking pictures with my phone. Can't afford a nice camera yet.
 
faizal said:
Cheers Alastair:) :) Thanks mate. I hope it doesn't turn out ugly after planted. Most of my previous tanks ended up this way. I think that I need to really be careful with the leaf sizes in this tank. Its easy to end up with too big looking leaves i suppose.
Click to expand...

I think if you use the anubias nana petit etc it will give the illusion of a bigger scape and like you say then youll have no big leaves to over power it all.
Ive subscribed to this anyway
 
looks great, the lay out makes it look much bigger than 56L!!

What are your plans for livestock if any?
 
Alastair said:
I think if you use the anubias nana petit etc it will give the illusion of a bigger scape and like you say then youll have no big leaves to over power it all.
Ive subscribed to this anyway
Click to expand...

Thank you so much Alastair. I am overwhelmed to say the least. You are absolutely right. I am planning to use quite a bit of the nana petites in this one.This isn't fair because there's someone else worth mentioning who deserves a lot credit for this aquascape. There i was with a load of cool looking driftwoods & rocks. I had a basic idea in my mind. The idea was to create a nice cool looking forest clearing as Tim had mentioned earlier but i just didn't know how to put them all together in harmony so as to please the viewing eye until i came across Mike Appleby's thread on aquascaping tips. It was like everything was a blur then suddenly someone hands you a compass.
 
Nutty said:
looks great, the lay out makes it look much bigger than 56L!!

What are your plans for livestock if any?
Click to expand...
Cheers Nutty! !! Yeah it does, doesn't it?! Man i better plant things nicely or it's gonna be such a waste. lol!!

My most favourate fish is the gourami. I love the pearl gouramis but i don't think a pair of them would be too comfortable in this small tank. I keep reading how they need a lot of space to feel comfortable. I am not really sure what fishes i am going to keep. I definetely want some otocinclus & cherry red shrimps in this hopefully. I plan on taking small steps at a time with this tank. Going to enjoy the journey. Hoping it would turn out the way i see it in my mind. Never had such luck with my previous tanks. My son's non co2 tank was such a pleasant surprise. When we set it up we really didn't expect it to turn out the way it did. So one baby step at a time i guess.
 
faizal said:
Man i better plant things nicely or it's gonna be such a waste. lol!!
Click to expand...
reading from a couple of the other journals on here, the two most tricky bits are 1. setting the hardscape and 2. keeping the plants alive!
so from the sounds of it, with a good scape planting takes care of its self.

I quite like gourami too, good strong colours and have quite some personalities! which makes sense when they are part of the same family as Betta Splendens

enjoy!
Nutty
 
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