'Lava Negro'

[Alastair]

whilst my big tanks growing in and i get round to adding the rest of the plants to it, i thought id make a start on my spare 100 litre tank for a few crystal shrimp soon.

couldnt think of a title name but considering the scape uses black lava i thought id just use the spanish pronunciation as its name.


tank specs: 60x38x38cm

filtration: eheim liberty 2042

lighting: Fluval Aqualife & Plant Multi Spectrum Nano led.

Substrate: Tmc Nutrasoil Black

Hardscape: Various sizes of black lava rock given to me by a friend and Unipac Black Lava Rock.
a nice rooted piece of driftwood and a thin piece of redmoor

Plants: Low maintenance ferns, anubias and little moss.

just waiting for my eheim liberty so using a little fluval u1 just for now.
heres the tank before starting



im very interested to see how the fluval aqualife tile performs.
Out of the box it feels really well built and solid, and was very simple to put together. i just had to attach the fitting to the glass and attach the tile to the chrome light arm. its around 7800k but gives off a lovely color and even though its not meant to you can raise it giving a wider spread, although it looks great pushed down as it gives shade to the side of the scape. currently its up.

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/KineticUploader/up.html#



start of set up


just uploading some pics to flickr now 🙂

 

[Iain Sutherland]

sweet, as i said before mate love the idea of anubia and fern....but you know that its crying out for some compact buce's climbing up that rock work😉

Chili - Aquarium shrimps plants aquascaping London

cant wait to see it planted mate, the shrimp will be happy inverts no doubt.

 

[James O]

Very nice! The shrimp should really stand out from the substrate and rocks. Are you going to have a background - black maybe?

 

[Gary Nelson]

Looking great mate, the light looks a nice bit of kit.... Looking forward to seeing more of this 🙂

 

[darren636]

What's the light like ? Do you like the light? Light. Like. Light. Did it leave your wallet feeling light? I don't like light wallets. But I do like bright lights.

 

[tim]

Lovely layout Al, as Iain stated crying out for bucep's on that rock work, stunner in the making mate

 

[Deano3]

looks great Alastair love the hardscape and interested to see how the light performs

Dean

 

[Ian Holdich]

Nice hardscape mate!

 

[Alastair]

sweet, as i said before mate love the idea of anubia and fern....but you know that its crying out for some compact buce's climbing up that rock work

thanks mate, having just seen the link you posted, i think ill be buying some of that. thats a lovely variety. £11 pound for a plant though. best be worth it mate ha ha

Very nice! The shrimp should really stand out from the substrate and rocks. Are you going to have a background - black maybe?

cheers James, thats what im hoping for, the shrimp will contrast really well and plenty of caves and hiding places for them. background im really struggling to decide, i thought black but then seeing it full now i like the clear look, downside is i can see all the equipment.

Looking great mate, the light looks a nice bit of kit.... Looking forward to seeing more of this

Charz Gary mate, it came together really well. im pleased with this and the light really does look nice mate, colour it gives off is perfect and gives a lovely spread everywhere. theyll be updates on this as i add other bits to it, and the shrimp in a few weeks time when its finished giving off ammonia.

What's the light like ? Do you like the light? Light. Like. Light. Did it leave your wallet feeling light? I don't like light wallets. But I do like bright lights.

Lovely layout Al, as Iain stated crying out for bucep's on that rock work, stunner in the making mate

wallet didint feel much lighter and light is bright 😉. i must say yep i do like the light alot. if you had red plants this would really bring the colours out. it also has a night light mode which is a very soft faint blue.

looks great Alastair love the hardscape and interested to see how the light performs

Dean

Hiya Dean thanks mate. its planted and filled so will be able to see how the plants do under it.

Nice hardscape mate!

Hiya pal, thanks for the comments. id tried a few different layouts at first, almost went for a full wall across the back of lava but settled for this

 

[Alastair]

heres a few shots of it planted up and a phone pic of it filled. excuse the bag of stones on the wood but i found a floater when i came back home just before so had to wedge the wood back down.

DSC_0492 by Mr-T-, on Flickr

left side

DSC_0496 by Mr-T-, on Flickr

middle

DSC_0497 by Mr-T-, on Flickr

right side

DSC_0498 by Mr-T-, on Flickr


20131219_223613 by Mr-T-, on Flickr

and a filled shot - excuse the bubbles on the glass

Untitled by Mr-T-, on Flickr

 

[BigTom]

Great choice on the anubias, they really seem to suit those sorts of nooks and crannies.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

£11 pound for a plant though. best be worth it mate ha ha

sure you can work something out 🙂

i thought black but then seeing it full now i like the clear look, downside is i can see all the equipment.

white foam board would work quite well mate and fits with the liberty. If your feeling creating a bit of orange/yellow/blue spraypaint to get the shrimp in the mood baby...

Ive seen Amano rub mashed fissidens over lava rock prior to filling (like dry starting almost), some will float but a lot will take due to the little holes and looks pretty smart, would likely work with coral pelia or Cladophora would be interesting to see. Sorry for going on, just things i want to try but dont have enough tanks 😳

 

[Lindy]

Looking really nice! You seem to be able to do no wrong... .

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[James O]

cheers James, thats what im hoping for, the shrimp will contrast really well and plenty of caves and hiding places for them. background im really struggling to decide, i thought black but then seeing it full now i like the clear look, downside is i can see all the equipment.

How about some of that opaque plastic on the rear glass? Then a sheet of white card leaning against the plugs with a small gap between. That way you'd not be able to see the wall/card and could even backlight with a cheap led strip 🙂

Nice planting btw. Are those the narrow 'needle' leaf java ferns?

 

[Alastair]

Great choice on the anubias, they really seem to suit those sorts of nooks and crannies.

Cheers tom. They were a few old pots id had standing in the holding tank from the intial plant of the big tank.
I love the anubias petite mate. Wish tropica could do a mini variety of the petite too.

sure you can work something out 🙂


white foam board would work quite well mate and fits with the liberty. If your feeling creating a bit of orange/yellow/blue spraypaint to get the shrimp in the mood baby...

Ive seen Amano rub mashed fissidens over lava rock prior to filling (like dry starting almost), some will float but a lot will take due to the little holes and looks pretty smart, would likely work with coral pelia or Cladophora would be interesting to see. Sorry for going on, just things i want to try but dont have enough tanks 😳

Funny you mention that mate as george sent me some of his fissedens/riccia mix which I thought id stick in my mini shrimp tank. Its only under a 3w ikea led with no ferts no co2 and ia growing really well. Slow but very lush. I might get some and try and attach it to the lava somehow. The riccia pegged it but the fissedens is doing great.
Ive just got some cladaphora so might see if I could attach it to the base where the lava meets the substrate. Ill drain the tank down and give it a try this evening.

Looking really nice! You seem to be able to do no wrong... .

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Aww thanks lindy that's really kind of you. I might move the lower fern on the right though as when that takes off itll cover the gap between the two islands. 🙂

How about some of that opaque plastic on the rear glass? Then a sheet of white card leaning against the plugs with a small gap between. That way you'd not be able to see the wall/card and could even backlight with a cheap led strip 🙂

Nice planting btw. Are those the narrow 'needle' leaf java ferns?

Not a bad idea that james. The opaque wouldnt be too bad actually. Think ill get some ordered and see how it looks. The gap between the back of the tank and the plugs is really tight. Doesnt look it on the photos. Maybe a nice orange sunset look behind the tank.

Yes they're the narrow leaf java not needle leaf.

 

[Plunket]

Loving this one mate....crystal heaven 🙂

 

[Aron_Dip]

Looks wicked mate.. will make a great home for your shrimp

 

[steveno]

Looks great, looking forward to seeing shrimp in there...

 

[Ruke]

Looks very nice with a nice light set up

 

[roge21]

Looks very well