Comp_Nov09: Fell's Crag

[James Marshall]

Name: James

Tank Dimensions (Height/Width/Depth): 12 x 15 x 15cm

Aquascape Name: Fell's Crag

Hardscape/Materials used: Metamorphic rock, lava rock, Amazonia powder, Nile sand and Forest sand

Plants: HC, Stuarogyne Sp and Riccia

Fertilisation: 7 drops of Brighty K per day
4 drops of Florish excel per day
1/2 drop of Green Gain twice a week
1/2 drop of Phyton Git once a week

About the aquascape: The scape design was loosely based on the terrain around Scafell Pike in the lake district, thus the name Fell's Crag. The tank itself was chosen because I liked the thick glass base, I feel that when presented as a photo this gives the veiwer some clue as to the size of the container.
The cost of the setup was £16, this consists of a 6^ cube vase £9 and an Argos desk lamp £7. The set up was part of the rescape of my 20 litre. so the substrates and ferts are small quantities of what were bought for that, and the plants and hardscape came from the breakdown of the old 20 litre scape.

Initial setup pics:
Hardscape






3 hours after planting




Cheers,
James

 

[jonesy]

think this is the best one i have seen so far well done

 

[Stu Worrall]

lovely james, the Stuarogyne fits in really well in the back. Good job theres no shrimp in there to mes up the substrate! 😀

 

[James Marshall]

think this is the best one i have seen so far well done

Thanks Jonesy, that's compliment indeed 😀

lovely james, the Stuarogyne fits in really well in the back. Good job theres no shrimp in there to mes up the substrate! 😀

Cheers Stu, glad you mentioned the shrimp, i saw some tiny cherry shrimp in my local shop yesterday, and i was very tempted to get a couple

Cheers,
James

 

[James Marshall]

Just a bit more info about the project.
The tank was set up 3 weeks ago, which means it will be about 7 weeks old when the final contest photos are submitted. Whether this will be an advantage or disadvantage remains to be seen.
For the first week I dosed ferts as stated and did two 80% water changes a day. At the end of the 1st week the water i was changing was much less yellow in colour, so i dropped to one WC a day.
This was how the tank looked on day 8



All the plants were pearling nicely and I had seen a bit of growth from the HC and the Staurogyne. The Riccia, however, did not seem to be growing, so I increased the Flourish Excel to 8 drops a day. After a few days the riccia had started to loose it's colour, so i decreased to 5 drops of Excel and added 2 drops of ADA step 1 to the daily dosing regime. This seemed to do the trick, this is the tank on day 17



At the moment the tank is suffering from a little brown slime algae, which i hope will clear up quite quickly.

Cheers,
James

 

[Steve Smith]

Still looking great James 🙂

 

[James Marshall]

Hi folks, just a quick update.
The tank has been running for 4 weeks, and the plants are growing a bit faster now.
The brown slime algae is starting to clear up, although i did have to prune alot of staurogyne leaves that were covered in the stuff.
Here's the tank at 27 days



I hope the staurogyne does not require any more pruning as i am running out of leaves .

Cheers,
James

 

[Steve Smith]

Beautiful James! Really looking very good!

 

[Dan Crawford]

Lookin swish pal 😉

 

[James Marshall]

Thanks guys 😀 , much appreciated

Cheers,
James

 

[mattyc]

Verry nice tank, it looks so much bigger than it is!! 😀

 

[James Marshall]

Thanks Matty 😀
Creating a good sense of scale is always my primary goal. If the tank is still running after the contest I might replace the Staurogyne with some Glosso, to see if i can make the tank look bigger still.

Cheers,
James

 

[andyh]

James the tank looks stunning!

 

[James Marshall]

Thanks Andy 😀
I wish my plants were growing as fast as those in your pico tank

Cheers,
James

 

[TBRO]

I love the pearling on the riccia. Despite my previously posted hatred of riccia I think I must try it in my next Pico project. Great stuff, James

 

[James Marshall]

Well it's time for the final shots, and i'd like to say what an excellent experience this pico project has been.
The tank is about 8 weeks old now and has had several prunings, the plants are growing fast even the Staurogyne.

Final Photos










Cheers,
James

 

[andyh]

James

This is really first class!

The plants look so healthy

Great photography skills to

 

[TBRO]

I'm on my phone, just had to comment on this spotless, lush looking scape. Excellent. Tom

 

[Jase]

Immaculate!

 

[James Marshall]

Thank you guys 😀

Cheers,
James