First Journal - Pastures New - last pictures journal finished

[Mark Green]

Hi all,

It’s been a very long time coming, but at last a can start planning a new set up.


Any way to cut a very long story short I started aquascaping around 6 years ago; however things have been on hold for the last 2 years. I moved from cloudy Manchester too Israel because my wife was missing her home and family.

Now Israel is not the easiest place to find plants, Co2 suppliers etc. and the cost over in Israel is 2-3 times the cost in England . The only answer was to bring as much of my kit from England.
It’s taken a couple of trips back to the UK for me to finally have my lights - filter, in fact everything apart for the tank which I have managed to buy here.

So this is what I have so far:

Some specs
tank- 60x30x36
lighting - Arcadia Lighting system
filter - Tetra Tec Ex1200
substrate - Ada Amazonia
hardscape - Lava rock - Found in the fields where I live
pressurised C02
ferts - Dry ferts
Plants - found a contact over here who says he has the plants I need. Fingers crossed, should have these by next week.

Thx for reading

More pics to come

Mark

 

[Mark Green]

Started playing with the tank about a week ago, got so excited playing around the stones that a forgot to take any pictures of all the lay outs I tried (sorry).

These pictures are for the layout I’m thinking of using and looks the best so far. However I’m unsure about the right hand side so I have been playing around with this.

All advice welcome

1.

2.

3.

Sorry about the picture quality used my IPhone.

Planting list could be Hemianthus Callitrichoides"cuba" - Echinodorus tenellus - Eleocharisa acicularis - Glossostigma elatinoides - riccia fluitans - weeping moss.


Big problem will be the weather, in the summer it’s hot - very hot, now I’m not complaining as I’ve seen enough rain and cloud to last a life time, lived in the Manchester area for 38 years. If you live in the Manchester you know what I mean.

However my plant choice may suffer, so will have to run the air con in the summer , plus living in a hard water area may cause other problems.

 

[justin85]

Very nice, I like your rocks and placement.

 

[Nathaniel Whiteside]

Nice! I like the second one, that little rock at the top of the LH stone makes it look less mirrored and more natural

Nice to read about your commitment to your hobby, good luck with this!

 

[MARKCOUSINS]

Very good job with the rock placement this could turn out to be a nice tank really looking forward to see it planted bet you are too!Good luck with getting the plants you want and hope they are in good nick.Cheers mark

 

[Mark Green]

Nice! I like the second one, that little rock at the top of the LH stone makes it look less mirrored and more natural

This is why I like Ukaps

Moved a couple of stones around:

Its hard trying to get the right look....... Still not sure. I do like this but i feel something is missing

still not sure about planting

 

[LondonDragon]

Looking good so far most of those rocks will disappear once plants grow in though, anything other than HC and they will disappear even quicker

 

[Dewald Coetzer]

Nice looking rocks.

 

[jack-rythm]

hardscape - Lava rock - Found in the fields where I live

WOW this is cool, I wish I could get rock as nice as this near me! thats great news and definitely saved a few quid. Looks good man, looking forward to the planting.

 

[Mark Green]

Looking good so far

most of those rocks will disappear once plants grow in though, anything other than HC and they will disappear even quicker

I would like to use HC, I just have to hope the guy over here has the plants I want, should find out next week.
Otherwise I will be contacting Green Machine, do you thing 1-2 Grow will last in the post for a week or 2 ??

Nice looking rocks.

[/QUOTE]WOW this is cool, I wish I could get rock as nice as this near me! That’s great news and definitely saved a few quid. Looks good man, looking forward to the planting.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Guys, I spent many hours walking in the fields trying to find these, the funny thing was I had to keep explaining to the local owners that I was not trying to steal their crops

Shame they were onion fields

Cheers

Mark

 

[LondonDragon]

do you thing 1-2 Grow will last in the post for a week or 2 ??

Without light that long they will struggle.

 

[Ady34]

This is why I like Ukaps

Moved a couple of stones around:

Its hard trying to get the right look....... Still not sure. I do like this but i feel something is missing

still not sure about planting

Looks great and i too love the texture of the rocks. The last photo is very nice, and the lighting is also very moody
I think the thing you may feel is missing and what you may need to make it complete is a more dominant opposing stone to add tension to the scape. Each side of your scape has mostly directional rocks......ie on each side they all point the same way.....you need a larger one to go against the others.
I also think you could try moving the right most rear large rock to the left 3-4" to exaggerate or further create an illusion of a 'central' pathway. Perhaps add either one larger rock or a cluster of small rocks following a line from the foremost left rock base (nearest the centre of the tank) pointing right in a similar angle to those rocks on the right hand side of the tank crossing the central pathway for that bit of tension..if that makes sense? You could perhaps remove the left most rear rock which would allow for more planting up there, and use this bigger rock to create the tension in the foreground as suggested. I think that may work towards finding what you feel is missing.....but hey, that's just my opinion and none of those things may work or even appeal to you?
Keep trying until you have something that you are entirely happy with, that's the most important thing as you will be sat enjoying it hardscaping is great fun, but give yourself time to assess what you have done and what you think it needs for improvement.
I think there is the making if something really nice here!
Cheerio,
Ady

 

[Mark Green]

Looks great and i too love the texture of the rocks. The last photo is very nice, and the lighting is also very moody
I think the thing you may feel is missing and what you may need to make it complete is a more dominant opposing stone to add tension to the scape. Each side of your scape has mostly directional rocks......ie on each side they all point the same way.....you need a larger one to go against the others.
I also think you could try moving the right most rear large rock to the left 3-4" to exaggerate or further create an illusion of a 'central' pathway. Perhaps add either one larger rock or a cluster of small rocks following a line from the foremost left rock base (nearest the centre of the tank) pointing right in a similar angle to those rocks on the right hand side of the tank crossing the central pathway for that bit of tension..if that makes sense? You could perhaps remove the left most rear rock which would allow for more planting up there, and use this bigger rock to create the tension in the foreground as suggested. I think that may work towards finding what you feel is missing.....but hey, that's just my opinion and none of those things may work or even appeal to you?
Keep trying until you have something that you are entirely happy with, that's the most important thing as you will be sat enjoying it hardscaping is great fun, but give yourself time to assess what you have done and what you think it needs for improvement.
I think there is the making if something really nice here!
Cheerio,
Ady

Thx Ady,

Your right the scape is lacking tension and the stones are going in the same direction. I was blind and now i can see.
Moving the Large right hand stone 3-4" to the left should help with this and create the pathway i wanted. Will play around with stones and post pics of changes.


Top advice

Cheers

Mark

 

[Mark Green]

Been busy all weekend working 12 hour shifts, so not really had much time to play around in the tank. However this morning managed a new idea.

Just ordered the cabinet it will be in the ADA style, just hope it looks as good as the real thing.

 

[LondonDragon]

First it too flat! second one looks much nicer the top left rock could do with a little more height!

 

[Ady34]

Yeah the second one is really nice, I like it. Like Paulo says it could do with a little more height, but I think you could deceive the eye with some clever planting to draw the eye up
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[andyh]

Great journal so far

I am with the guys on this, you are going to need more height from the rocks as with some of you plants you have suggested they will very quickly hide the detail of your hardscape.

A

 

[Mark Green]

First it too flat! second one looks much nicer the top left rock could do with a little more height!

Yeah the second one is really nice, I like it. Like Paulo says it could do with a little more height

I am with the guys on this, you are going to need more height from the rocks as with some of you plants you have suggested they will very quickly hide the detail of your hardscape.

Thx Guys


Moved the stones up more, and this is the most height available to me with the stones I’m using, in fact some of them are laying on top of the substrate.
I can see an improvement slightly; it does seem too pop out at you a little more compared to the picture above.

The reflection on the right-hand side of the tank seems to add to the overall picture.

What do you think?

Cheers for looking

Mark

 

[cookie3985]

I agree with the height comments, the height you have generated in this layout is more attractive. The only downside is when you fill it you won't get that reflection.

 

[Mark Green]

Wow how time flies, been very busy with work so not really had time to update the progress in the tank.
So I finally managed to get some plants from someone over here, this was not an easy process.
Some of the plants I wanted, some others I did not.
Planting list - Hemianthus Callitrichoides"cuba" - - Eleocharisa acicularis (I think but not sure) - Glossostigma elatinoides - riccia fluitans – stringy moss plus some other plant in the back ground which I’m unsure about its name.
So filling with water on the first day I had no problems and the water came out clearish so was quite happy. Used a plastic bag in the tank when a filled it and this seemed to work a treat.

Day 1

Tank looks very empty