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Flintstones

J@mes

Member
Joined
24 Apr 2018
Messages
175
Location
Surrey
Ok, I admit, I don’t have an aquarium. Yet.

The plan is a 60cm planted tank. It’s still early stages and there’s plenty to consider. As mentioned in my 1st thread I’m a total beginner.

I’ve accumulated a couple of bags of different size of grain tropica soil, some water treatment called easy-life easy start, the aquascaper fertiliser, Oase biomaster filter with heater & a Twinstar 600s.

At the moment I’m figuring out what is required to treat the water & how to do water changes, being in a ground floor flat and not having a lot of storage presents some challenges. I’ve read about dechlorinating tap water using products and about leaving the water to dechlorinate by itself, which sounds ideal. I was wondering if anyone uses a water butt & rain water, got to be an option?

My first idea (which I’ve sidelined) was to use local dirt/ silt, hardscape and flora & fauna. I’ve built a good collection of medium size flint stones and suchlike. I live a stones throw from a small tributary to the Thames called The Wey. It’s a good source of inspiration and potentially materials. I am also fond of the Basingstoke Canal, having worked a few seasons PT as a lock keeper, there’s a lovely chalk stream tributary in Odiham near the castle.

All that sounds great but for a total novice I figured I’d play safe and make my 1st time simpler & do it by numbers. Next purchase will be the tank & stand, either an ADA 60p which is probably put on a kitchen wall unit at floor level or the evolution aqua 600 aquascaper & their stand.
 
Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone uses a water butt & rain water, got to be an option?
I do, and have done since the 1970's without any problem. Have a look at <"If its yellow...">.
I’ve built a good collection of medium size flint stones and suchlike. I live a stones throw from a small tributary to the Thames called The Wey.
I'd definitely use them.

cheers Darrel
 
Some progress to this, got the equipment and started putting the hardscape together. Still going to use local flint.
18ec52bea281f89dbacbc66362eb7dc6.jpg
 
Thanks @Marc Davis I’ve been staring at it for over a month now working out how to do it justice. It’s good to see something other than dust in there. I’m planning on filling it in September, after some time away.
 
Thanks @Marc Davis I’ve been staring at it for over a month now working out how to do it justice. It’s good to see something other than dust in there. I’m planning on filling it in September, after some time away.
Dont worry about making it perfect. If you are new to scaping, it wont be.

I've rescaped my discus tank about 10 times in a year. Im only now happy with the set up and there are still things id like to change.

Just like anything, it takes lots of practice.
 
Little bit of progress update, had to move the modem to free up a socket, got some soil & hardscape in and arranged, some sand & gravel to add then the inevitable tinkering to do. Then plant shopping
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Really loving the brown colours in the hardscape. I would steer away from the uniform look of those perimeter stones if it were me though - perhaps arrange them in more of a curve than a 90 degree angle. Looking forward to progress on this!
 
Really loving the brown colours in the hardscape. I would steer away from the uniform look of those perimeter stones if it were me though - perhaps arrange them in more of a curve than a 90 degree angle. Looking forward to progress on this!

Thanks! I’m hoping the browns will set off the plants. I hear you about the unnatural look of the angle, it’ll get more organic looking with some fettling.
 
Nice!

I wouldn't mind a closeup of the pebbles with the gravel too?

What plants are you planning on using?
 
It shouldn't do... I might suggest though that you keep the peddles close to the stone then leave more bare sand near tank glass... I'll try and get a piccy from my tank tonight to show what I mean.
 
Looks great! Nice planting :D I found a bit of floating tropica too (just used it for the first time) - I think it just needs to water log and it will sink back down. You can use a piece of clear airline formed into a circle to make a safe zone for floaters. If you need to, anchor it with a bit of thread to any handy bit of equipment.

You could split the hairgrass into smaller sections and it will cover more area. You'll be surprised how fast it all grows in though!
 
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