First attempt at aquascaping - took long enough

[Aronnie]

 

[Aronnie]

To get to this point has taken me about 5 months. Pretty much everything I learned was from UKAPS and a colleague at work so thanks!

The tank has been running for about a week now and fingers crossed no algae etc. have appeared.

 

[Worshiper]

Looks really nice Aronnie!.. may be you can give more details of your set up?
I really like the rock layout.

I too have been learning a lot from UKAPS members! All have been brilliant on this forum wrt help, advice etc.
Someday I will have to courage to put my aquarium pics up too.😉

Great job on your set up! Will look even better in a couple of days when that plants start growing.

 

[ADA]

Looks great, using ADA substrate by any chance?

 

[Aronnie]

Thanks Worshiper and ADA. My set up is as below -

Tank: 90x50x45 (deal from aquariums-manufacturing Ltd)
Stand: DIY ADA stand (UKAPS)
Filter: Eheim 2217 (for Co2) + JBL e701 (currently in my old tank with my fish as waiting for the ammonia levels to decrease)
Powerhead: Tunze Turbelle Nanostream
CO2: Co2 Art Dual Stage Regulator and solenoid with inline diffuser and a 3KG pub cylinder
Light: Allpondsolutions 2 bulb T5 light hung on a B&Q chrome pole and bracket with steel wire
Substrate- ADA Amazonia (4bags of the stuff!!!!)
Hardscape -Baltic rock and redmoor wood
EI Dosing daily

Currently doing 50% water changes to get the Ammonia levels down but just does not seem to shift!

 

[tim]

Looks great, especially good for a first attempt , any chance of a pic of the Baltic rock up close I'm considering using it in a new scape and some idea of the colour/textures would be most helpful.

 

[ADA]

It will take a little while, norm about 3 weeks, I knew you were using Amazonia as my water has the same brown tinge everyday lol

 

[Aronnie]

Ha hopefully one day the brown tinge will disappear...

Tim - thanks, taken a few shots below.

 

[Aronnie]

Tim - one without water and plants

 

[tim]

Thanks Aronnie, love the texture of the rocks, they do seem to differ in colour though, lovely scape, please keep us updated 🙂

 

[Phil Edwards]

Awesome first aquascape! What a credit to your patience and motivation and the UKAPS folks

 

[Aronnie]

Thanks, really appreciate it! All seems to be ok - no algea outbreaks etc! Fingers crossed.

 

[tim]

Any update on how this went mate ?

 

[Aronnie]

Well.... started ok but ended up hating my rock placement and did not enjoy having to be careful when doing tank maintenance due to the substrate releasing ammonia! Stuck with it for a number of months but felt that I wasn't really getting the hang of Co2. Once my Co2 ran out, i decided to remove it. The image below shows the tank with Co2.


Once I removed the Co2, I started to buy more low tech plants to see how well they would grow. In the meantime, I started to think about carrying out a rescape and bought a whole load of bogwood to attach plants to. The image below shows the tank with a number of low tech plants and wood which will be used on my new scape.

My plan is to rescape the tank this coming Sunday. I am going for course sand to the bottom which I can disturb without the worry of releasing ammonia into the tank. I am going to try and do a low tech jungle scape with a number of ferns, amazon swords and anubias. Once i am happy with the scape, I would be tempted to start Co2 again as it would be a shame not too. Patience is key I hope.

 

[cookie.dou]

Once the ammonia has been exhausted, you don't really have to worry too much about disturbing the cycle. That's never been the issue for me anyway - I think one of the selling points of Amazonia is to be a substrate that you can do a fishless cycle with. It's nutrient rich so it releases a ton of ammonia, but that also means your filter will be absolutely ready when the cycle is complete. Patience is definitely key!

 

[tim]

Thanks for the update Aronnie, hopefully you'll continue this thread or start a new journal for the rescape