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Nature aquarium dragon wood

S

Sprayman60

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2022
Messages
164
Location
East midlands
Hello

This aquascape was inspired by palovs workshop at aquarium Gardens using dragon Wood.

No Fish at the moment but I have Galaxy rasboras and pygmy Cory's going in here

Clean up crew:
Amano shrimp
Red crystal shrimp
Otocinculus catfish
Nerite snails


Tank: Dennerle 70L scapers tank white glass
Filter: Eheim 350 4+
Glass lily pipe
glass intake
Skimmer: Oase 350 skimmer
Substrate: ADA amazonia ver 2 & ADA La Plate sand
Wood: Dragon woods
Rocks: Elderly stone & black lava rock
Light: Twinstar 450SA
Fertiliser: 2hr aquarist APT 3 complete 2ml per day (2 squirts)
Plants
Crytocoryne x purpurea
Anubias pangolino
Anubias mini coin
Bucephrlandra kedagang
Eleocharis acicularis mini
Lileaopsis brasiliensis
Crytocoryne pava
Blyxa japonica
Rotala Hra
Rotala yao yoi
Rotala green
Ludwigia palustris red
Fissidens fontanus moss
Myriophyllum guyana
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Red

I would like the get my hands on some riccardia chamedryfolia in vitro pots!!

I wanted a strong hardcase for this tank. So I've gone for dragon wood and elderly borders.

My previous scape was heavily stem planted with monte Carlo carpet and gnarled manzinita wood which is quite thin. Once it was grown it I could see that the hardscape was important and one of the lessons I learned. All the problems I faced in the last tank were things I'll take into this one.

I started with adding the soil in a steep slope to the background and played around with the wood but it took me ages 🤣 when you see a good hardcase I can see how hard it is to put things in a position and get the to stay lol

Eventually with a bit of superglue and patience I got a large piece of black lava rock behind the wood to hold it up and glued it together, after the first 2 pieces it was a lot easier!

I've gone for a V shape composition and was easy to create with this wood.

The last piece was the hardest piece in the front right corner, I didn't know where to put it was hard to get It in position but I feel like the hardscape would of had the same impact without it. Its point out towards you and adds depth.

The elderly stone was another first for me and once the sand was in looked great.
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The water is still abit cloudy but all is looking well.
 
Dennerle River stones added today for extra details. I hope it might help with soil coming forward aswell. Might add more but for now I'll see how it goes.
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Before:
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After:
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I've started dosing searchem stability which hopefully should speed up the process of cycling the tank. The filter was already running on the previous tank.

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Not all plants are visible from the front angle yet so heres some of them
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The only plant which looks to have melted away is the blyxa japonica, hopefully it makes a comeback but it's not doing well now
 
Thanks I'm looking forward to it! Most the plants look like it's given them a boost that I've took from the old scape.

Is there any benefit from the seachem?
 
Sprayman60 said:
Thanks I'm looking forward to it! Most the plants look like it's given them a boost that I've took from the old scape.

Is there any benefit from the seachem?
Click to expand...
In the context of the planted tank, the short answer is no... We've had some pretty far reaching discussions here on the topic. - @dw1305 will be able to provide more recent links I believe.

Cheers,
Michael
 
MichaelJ said:
In the context of the planted tank, the short answer is no... We've had some pretty far reaching discussions here on the topic. - @dw1305 will be able to provide more recent links I believe.

Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Yes thanks

It will be interesting to read 👍

I knew the workshop I watched added bacteria that went into the Substrate/ soil but I'd be interested to know more about this
 
alnitak said:
Very nice scape !
For blyxia, maybe wait and see, mines did melt a little bit then recovered easy. 👍🏻
Click to expand...
Thanks 👌 I'm hoping that's the case although I'd say out of all the pots of plants, it didn't look great from the beginning! I had to clean them all down but we will see. Hopefully the bottom of the stems is enough to keep them going
 
Learning from my old scape I've paid more attention to c02 distribution.
For now week 1 I have the lights running at 60% dosing 2ml of APT 3 which the plants seem more than happy and they are growing faster than I was expecting. Water changes every other day so far.

Does anyone know if the c02 is too high, does it affect filtration/bactera/media? I heard this on a video I watched because of the PH levels being lol if this is the case could it be a cause for BBA?

I don't have the problem with this setup but I had a battle with BBA is the old setup especially when cleaning out the filter.

This Time i have less C02 and by the drop checker it seems to be plenty and it doesnt look too much to the eye either comparing to before. Its more of a fine mist with good circulation so it staying in the water longer. The filter isn't on full flow yet either until plants are rooted. I also have the skimmer In the dead spot rear right corner which blows downwards.

I have similar with my other 2 better tanks they have very minimal flow, just enough to break up the c02 before it goes out the top of the water and push it back down, the plants pearl all day and seems to spread around just enough
 
Hi all,
MichaelJ said:
I am going scoop Darrel here and just point you to one of his posts of today... 🙂
Click to expand...
Sprayman60 said:
I knew the workshop I watched added bacteria that went into the Substrate/ soil but I'd be interested to know more about this
Click to expand...
You don't need a bacterial supplement, although <"Secret Ingredient Soup"> would probably be useful. This was what Ryan Newton said in <"Correspondence with Dr Ryan Newton - School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee">:
....... In some lab tests we found that adding previous material from a running biofilter could reduce ammonia oxidation start-up time from 2-3 weeks to 2-3 days. We also tested a commercial product of nitrifiers & it did decrease the time to ammonia oxidation start-up. It was slower than our biofilter material transfer, but much quicker than doing nothing. However, the microbes present in the system from the commercial product disappeared over a few weeks and were replaced by those more common to our system. So, it seems some products could help “jump-start” the process, but it will be a lot less predictable and ultimately may not determine what microbe succeed in the long run......
Click to expand...
Even by bacterial supplement standards <"Stability"> is a strange one, partially because the blurb for it is incredibly cryptic, even by <"Seachem's standards">. It is also apparently good for both marine and freshwater environments, which must be a bit of a stretch.
......Stability® is formulated specifically for the aquarium and contains a synergistic blend of aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria which facilitate the breakdown of waste organics, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate........The bacteria used in competing products are inherently unstable. The conditions necessary for their growth and development fall into a very narrow range of temperatures, pH, organic loads, etc. When any of these parameters are not strictly within the proper range, the bacterial culture quickly crashes and dies. Stability® is not limited this way. The necessary conditions for the growth of Stability's™ bacteria strains encompass a very broad range. When other bacteria begin to die off (usually from high organic loads caused by the undetected death of an organism), Stability™ simply becomes more effective.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
I really enjoyed "<"The bacteria employed by Stability® ">are non-sulfur fixing <"and will not produce toxic hydrogen sulfide."> Which is true, but <" just a total red herring">.

cheers Darrel
 
Last edited:
dw1305 said:
Hi all,


You don't need a bacterial supplement, although <"Secret Ingredient Soup"> would probably be useful. This was what Ryan Newton said in <"Correspondence with Dr Ryan Newton - School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee">:

Even by bacterial supplement standards <"Stability"> is a strange one, partially because the blurb for it is incredibly cryptic, even by <"Seachem's standards">. It is also apparently good for both marine and freshwater environments, which must be a bit of a stretch.

I really enjoyed "<"The bacteria employed by Stability® ">are non-sulfur fixing <"and will not produce toxic"> hydrogen sulfide." Which is true, but <" just a total red herring">.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...
I will remember that one for the future then thanks! I thought it was to help speed up the process and add bacteria within the 1st week of a new setup
 
As good as it looked and was getting going. I noticed a lot of BBA from the old setup in the rota last in the background so I decided to pull them out and cut all the healthy tops and replant. A minor setback for growth but I'd rather that then have to deal with it later

Only day 6, feels like its been 2 weeks 😂

Going to put more fissidens moss in on the next waterchange probably tomorrow.

Ive got 2 portions of riccardia chamedryfolia coming next week and 2 portions of bucephelandra needle mini leaf and i think that will be it for planta now. Theres nore than enough there just needs to get established
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Everything but the blyxa is off to a good start! I've not actually checked it lol there's that many in there I've forgot

Bucephelandra mini needle leaf added and riccardia chamedryfolia added. I did position it different but it took away from the focal point. There is fissidens moss in there aswell so a few weeks amd im sure that will be looking better

any advice on separting the soil from the sand? It doesnt actually come forward ive just droped it on the sand and now im struggling to move it.

Hopefully all the new additions won't be over kill. Lights on at 75% for 8 hours a day and still 2ml apt 3 per day
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