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From reef to aquascape

Rich Jackson said:
That’s not what I used as it’s too small and really expensive .


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The size is smaller (which is fine) and it's cheaper in larger quantities, the OP's tank is quite large so will need a fair amount.
 
Depends on how much height you want but pro shrimp do 10L bags of lava rock for less than £10. It’s fairly chunky stuff so you may want to bag it or cover it before adding your soil layer but it goes a long way and will allow plenty of water movement through the bottom layer.
 
I think I’m going to building at least 10 cm at the back.

I’m pretty much going for something like this. So it’s figuring out the most effective and cost effective way of building up height in the tank


efe5605c29a1d895b9b3de8b346001c1.jpg


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Hi
BBQ lava is good,so is alfagrog or just nip in at local B&Q or garden centre and pick some inert gravel intended for driveways and such.
I used to get some bonsai growing media from kaizen bonsai (crushed lava,moler clay ...)too in the past but don't know their recent prices.
Regards Konstantin
 
Beautiful hardscape but Josh Sim so what else would we expect! 😊

He is definitely one of the artists that have inspired me to try my hand.

You will note that in his scape, in places the substrate height is at least half of the tank height which helps to create all that depth.

If you are looking at building up 10cm and then adding soil on top, that larger lava rock I’ve mentioned would be fine I think.

The image below is around 10” high (at highest point) at substrate level on the right. The tank is 2ft front to back. The larger rocks are sitting on mesh bags of lava rock with substrate over them to help the rocks sit better and adjust into position and there are places with 6” of just lava rock building height before the soil layer is added. If you want to play with height and perspective like the Josh Sim scape, I would definitely recommend investing in a few bags of this stuff. It will definitely help to keep your costs down.

DB519BA2-9F49-457A-B77A-07DFFC064488.jpeg372620E5-0066-4480-9D91-6E37E73DE7C3.jpeg

Unfortunately I didn’t take many pics during build but you can see some of the lava rock in mesh bags in the middle of this pic. More height was added after this was taken.
CB0A407B-01C6-4E86-A0C9-838DFAE990FE.jpeg

His scapes are hardscape heavy so you’ll likely spend a good bit on rock and wood. 😊
 

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KirstyF said:
Beautiful hardscape but Josh Sim so what else would we expect!

He is definitely one of the artists that have inspired me to try my hand.

You will note that in his scape, in places the substrate height is at least half of the tank height which helps to create all that depth.

If you are looking at building up 10cm and then adding soil on top, that larger lava rock I’ve mentioned would be fine I think.

The image below is around 10” high (at highest point) at substrate level on the right. The tank is 2ft front to back. The larger rocks are sitting on mesh bags of lava rock with substrate over them to help the rocks sit better and adjust into position and there are places with 6” of just lava rock building height before the soil layer is added. If you want to play with height and perspective like the Josh Sim scape, I would definitely recommend investing in a few bags of this stuff. It will definitely help to keep your costs down.

View attachment 181911View attachment 181912

Unfortunately I didn’t take many pics during build but you can see some of the lava rock in mesh bags in the middle of this pic. More height was added after this was taken.
View attachment 181919

His scapes are hardscape heavy so you’ll likely spend a good bit on rock and wood.
Click to expand...

I really like your scape! And yeah josh sim is what has inspired me to give it a go. Fortunately I have quite a lot of cash to dump into this as I’m selling my 3 ai hydra 32, skimmer and sold all the corals for over £1000 and about £500 for the rock and fish. So certainly can be a bit more selective with a detailed build.
I’ll check out that lava rock stuff. Do you recommend putting it in the mesh bags? Where can I find these?


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I’ve actually got the plant list that he used in the Congo tank so was thinking of cloning the plants as I’ve no idea what the plant species are yet.

This is the list. I need to look into each one but I’m wondering if there are any fast growing stems to help the tank get started in amongst the list..?

AQUATIC PLANTS: 18x Vesicularia dubyana Christmas moss, 5x Eleocharis acicularis mini TC, 4x Microsorum pteropus 'Trident', 30x Eleocharis parvula, 5x Potamogeton gayi, 10x Hygrophila pinnatifida, 6x Cryptocoryne parva, 9x Vesicularia ferriei Weeping moss, 2x Bolbitis heudelotii, 4x Cyperus helferi, 2x Hydrocotyle verticillata, 10x Cryptocoryne Wendtii Hellgrün


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I think I’m going to build the tank a little closer to his green aqua workshop build. I notice in the list above for his real Congo he doesn’t use anubis and the green aqua version does.


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chsound said:
I really like your scape! And yeah josh sim is what has inspired me to give it a go. Fortunately I have quite a lot of cash to dump into this as I’m selling my 3 ai hydra 32, skimmer and sold all the corals for over £1000 and about £500 for the rock and fish. So certainly can be a bit more selective with a detailed build.
I’ll check out that lava rock stuff. Do you recommend putting it in the mesh bags? Where can I find these?


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I found the bags invaluable as it meant I could keep fiddling with the design, adding and removing height etc. and if loose that would have been a bit of a ‘mare. The bags also contain and hold on to the lava rock so it doesn’t keep falling down your slopes as you play with things. I personally then found you still needed a bit of soil under your scaping rocks (on top of the lava rock) to allow you to tilt things around and get your rocks nice and stable, as the larger lava pieces don’t shift as freely as perhaps smaller pieces would.
Got my mesh bags from eBay or Amazon as I recall but can’t seem to find the details.
I might even have a few spares knocking around. I’ll take a look when I get back home. I’m away for a few days at the mo.

I’ve got hygrophila polysperma and difformis, amongst others but would suggest anything fast growing as sacrificial stems. You can remove them later if you don’t like them but they will help the tank to get going and stabilised. You may find some folks on the forum will be happy to send some out and I can also likely offer some cuttings to get you going, if you put out a shout when ur ready.

Floaters are a good idea too. 😊

If your not a plantsperson (yet 😉) then maybe stick with easier to grow choices wherever possible. You can always swap some out later when you’ve found your feet. (I’m for sure, still finding mine)
 
If you want to pack out the substrate then Tesco cat litter is just a few £s a bag, you can lay a base and fill net bags to stack up the back.
If you need more then Pets at Home sell the same moler clay for £12 for a huge sack full.
 
KirstyF said:
I found the bags invaluable as it meant I could keep fiddling with the design, adding and removing height etc. and if loose that would have been a bit of a ‘mare. The bags also contain and hold on to the lava rock so it doesn’t keep falling down your slopes as you play with things. I personally then found you still needed a bit of soil under your scaping rocks (on top of the lava rock) to allow you to tilt things around and get your rocks nice and stable, as the larger lava pieces don’t shift as freely as perhaps smaller pieces would.
Got my mesh bags from eBay or Amazon as I recall but can’t seem to find the details.
I might even have a few spares knocking around. I’ll take a look when I get back home. I’m away for a few days at the mo.

I’ve got hygrophila polysperma and difformis, amongst others but would suggest anything fast growing as sacrificial stems. You can remove them later if you don’t like them but they will help the tank to get going and stabilised. You may find some folks on the forum will be happy to send some out and I can also likely offer some cuttings to get you going, if you put out a shout when ur ready.

Floaters are a good idea too.

If your not a plantsperson (yet ) then maybe stick with easier to grow choices wherever possible. You can always swap some out later when you’ve found your feet. (I’m for sure, still finding mine)
Click to expand...

That’s really useful to know regarding a little soil down for adjustments of rocks etc, I’ll try get some bags for sure.

I’d love to take you up on the stem cuttings when I’m at that stage, think I’m going to start building my hard scape this weekend but I haven’t sold my reef lights yet so will be a while before planting.

I was considering floating plants but because it’s a sumped tank the floating plants will just pull into the weir and block it so unless I create a guard I’m going to hold off on them for the time being.


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foxfish said:
If you want to pack out the substrate then Tesco cat litter is just a few £s a bag, you can lay a base and fill net bags to stack up the back.
If you need more then Pets at Home sell the same moler clay for £12 for a huge sack full.
Click to expand...

That stuff can be used? That could be potentially a good option…


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Hi
Not sure if Tesco still do the product but at P@H this is the one you want.
Its NON clumping moler clay product.
Untitleddesign-2020-09-24T114834.857_500x.png
I use it as cheap substrate alternative in my 100l ish tank.
Regards Konstantin
 
Yes you can use it all right, in fact it was very much in vogue only 10 years ago.
There are several threads on the forum but basically the only issue is washing the stuff as it has a lot of dust mixed in
What I do is half fill a five gallon bucket with the litter and use the garden hose to swirl the gains around while the bucket overflows. That method works very well indeed….
A popular method to bank up would be to make up small nylon bags of washed litter, woman's tights are a popular material to use.
 
Wow, nice I think that may save me some money for sure! Is it as effective as lava rock and gravel for aeration?


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Konsa said:
Hi
Not sure if Tesco still do the product but at P@H this is the one you want.
Its NON clumping moler clay product.
View attachment 182374
I use it as cheap substrate alternative in my 100l ish tank.
Regards Konstantin
Click to expand...
Sorry to jump in but I was also looking for a cheap way to build up a back layer.
I had a look on pets at home but I couldn't see this particular one? Also I've read that after some time this stuff turns to mush. Have you any experience with that?
Regards
 
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