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Green Pekoe Pond - 40 litres

I'm going to see if letting a mini java fern from my old goldfish's tank will grow nicely out of the water. It started life as a plantlet saved from his salad bar (there wasn't a plant in existence he didn't scoff - java moss used to be a favourite), it grew under the hood of a Rio 125 right next to the bulb. Humidity used to be high at night but dryish in the day. The damage to the leaves was while it was under the hood and no further drying out has happened in its new location. Have to wait and see if it works being exposed a little more but I'm guessing the local humidity at the surface will be above normal.
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This tank is amazing. Mr Teapot,..congratulations on a lovely scape. I think you are a natural when it comes to planted tanks. Truly an amazing first attempt. looking forward to seeing this progress nicely.:)
 
Thanks Faizal, it means tons to me that the UKAPS members like my little tank. I don't know about a natural... If I can keep my plants alive I'll be heading in the right direction - have you seen some of real natural ability of the plant growers on this site - absolute geniuses.

As for my tank, in my mind I wanted the rocks to look more massive as though they extended down into a bedrock, I thought I could get this look by tilting the horizontal grain and keeping both stones texture running along the same plane - like when you see rock protruding out of the grass on a coast path.

With the wood, I wanted the impression as though it had lived with its rocks, kind of hugging them and the soil round its roots had been eroded away over a long time (I like it when you see this with bonsai trees). I tried the wood element with a big 'trunk' in the middle but it seemed too massive against the rock... like it was overpowering the two stones rather than visa versa so I ended up keeping it open so you can see through to the back glass.


I don't know the ins and outs of composing a proper scape and I just tried to make it look as natural as possible - personally I think it needs a bit of space towards the left with a little bit of rock poking up out of the HC but I can't really start adding 15cm more onto the side of my tank!
 
Bandersnatch said:
That's a really nice tank to look at Teapot.
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Thanks Bandersnatch!

No dramas to report on my little tank after my first week on UKAPS - only a few little things such as a surface film developing after I've slowed down the water changes to every other day. The Rotala is bouncing back after its haircut and producing some nice submerged leaves on the new growth. The Micromanthemum umbrosum is growing like a weed and I can see myself having to trim it twice a week when it gets established. I also have some new leaves on the anubias, crypts and hairgrass.

Now I've come to the end of the second week of flooding I've started to reduce the CO2 injection to a more sustainable level. So far there's no sign of complaint from the plants but I'm keeping a close eye on them for the slightest sign of distress.

… and… no algae yet (fingers are being kept crossed)

Here's a quick picture of progress.
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Hi,
The tank has changed a bit... I think I'm on version 2.0.1? Had a bit of a restart just before Christmas. It's been such a great learning experience so far. I'm really surprised how delicate you have to be with the changes - a little change will hake a massive positive or negative influence on the tanks health. I'm getting better at reading the tanks mood- like when it gets a greasy film on the surface gives me a few days notice of something bad about to happen.

BIG update in a while but here's a quick preview:
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Hi everyone - the big update a promised.



This was a restart of the original layout. Started before Christmas... wish I'd kept pictures of version 1.1.3 - it turned into a horrible mess! The main aim of this tank was to concentrate on growing some plants healthily... making a nice scape would have to take a back seat.

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Week 6: Tank flooded (50% light, 1 bps CO2)
Week 8: Ludwigia starts to lose lower leaves
Week 9: Some plants start to show signs of melting - HC and Staurogyne
Week 10: Brown diatom bloom starts on HC near melting plants and soon spreads across tank
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Week 11: Lots of cheap plants from ebay added to increase plant mass to see if it has any effect on the diatoms. CO2 increased to 2bps
Week 12: The diatoms don't seem to spread to new leaves. Small patch of green thread algae appears in HC - removed with tweezers.
Week 15: Changed fertiliser brand to APF all in one. Diatoms reducing fast
Week 16: Diatoms nearly all gone
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Week 17: Added some new wood - maybe add some more... can you ever have too much? First inhabitants added - red ramshorn snails.
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tim said:
Looking lovely mate, keep the updates coming.
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Thanks Tim. I've really started to enjoy my little tank. Been quite a journey to get it to 2.0.3. I'm looking forward to finding some nice cherry shrimps to go with the snails.... maybe one day, some little fish?

Loving your new tree scape!
 
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It's looking absolutely lovely Mr Teapot:) . The plants are looking very healthy Very matured looking too now. I hope you will be getting a bigger tank soon & share the experience with us ;)
 
Greenfinger2 said:
Congrats on Fantastic Aquascape
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faizal said:
It's looking absolutely lovely Mr Teapot
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Four50 said:
Peach of a set-up
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Thanks guys. I'm trying out reverse aquascaping! Grow your plants first and then try and slowly make it look pretty. Hopefully I'll end up with something cool at the end of it but as long as I'm learning how to grow the plants, I'm happy at the moment.

I'm toying with the idea of another echinodorus in the back right corner. Something that's going to grow out of the water. Also moss up the wood a bit.
 
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