New Decade, New Decadence...

[Geoffrey Rea]

I wonder if anybody has ever tried a triptych with aquaria?

Pretty much everyone actually. My personal favourite was James Starr-Marshall’s circa 2011.

Looking really good geoffrey they already compliment each other well but will look amazing when colours are closer matched.

Loving the jurnals thanks for sharing
Dean

Thanks @Deano3 will start concentrating on colouring up when everything hits the right height.

Looking very nice! I love slightly dark shaded area that starts under the Trident Fern and runs almost to the right end of the scape. It seems to provide added impact.

Hi @Vijay_06

There’s a ton of crypts planted at substrate level at startup. They should poke out of those shaded areas eventually and give a denser texture but
take a hit at the beginning without any cover/floaters. If you ever decide to have a big change up they’re already there as a base (e.g trading tall stems for tall crypts sp. like balansae or vallis for a more jungle look). Tank at startup:





Swamped for now:




Crypts are probably a couple of months off from showing up in the shaded areas.

Have you used Frodo stones in a scape with just RO water? I am wondering how much it increases the PH, GH and TDS by in a week or so. I have read some articles that state Frodo Stones are almost inert.

Yep, used Frodo with RO cut with tap before. With weekly water changes I’ve never noticed any increases but then again I’m not testing... because of the reset from weekly water changes.

 

[LondonDragon]

Pretty much everyone actually. My personal favourite was James Starr-Marshall’s circa 2011.

Those were awesome, I remember those at the Aqueous Art Movement that UKAPS members were part off and carrying the tanks up the stairs to the cars to send them back north! haha

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

Those were awesome, I remember those at the Aqueous Art Movement that UKAPS members were part off and carrying the tanks up the stairs to the cars to send them back north! haha

Wow... well jealous @LondonDragon bet that was a great event.

There seemed to be some real stand out figures 2010-2015.

 

[Jayefc1]

Wow that is coming along so nicely is the light green clumps at the base and up a little the mc did you glue it?

 

[CooKieS]

Mate, how are you keeping the sand so clean? I mean this white stuff is full of fish poo in a few hours 😀

 

[Vijay_06]

I am not sure if you have shared this before. How would you compare ONF with the Solar RGB in terms of color rendition? I have seen a few videos which show the ONF showcasing great colors on the plants and livestock, but have also read that it makes the Greens appear yellowish.


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[LondonDragon]

Wow... well jealous @LondonDragon bet that was a great event.
There seemed to be some real stand out figures 2010-2015.

Yeah was a great time back then, shame a lot of those are not longer around creating scapes, stuff they were doing back then would still be pretty impressive today! But some are still around and new people up and coming. I guess it comes a time when you have to think where do you go from a certain position, do you aim for competitions and become an established aquascaper or you call it a day, unfortunately some just go quite and leave the hobby! Also sometimes life just takes over 😉
I am happy to have a planted tank again and I am just aiming for something that I like and enjoy having in my living room, at the end of the day thats the value of it, if you want to take it up a notch then why not 🙂

Edit! did you see this video?

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

Wow that is coming along so nicely is the light green clumps at the base and up a little the mc did you glue it?

Mixed story @Jayefc1

They were clumps of mc tucked under single rocks at start up:



Tank is made out of scraps from other tanks in lockdown. MC had moss mixed in and the moss has done a lot of attaching in its stead. Something fluctuated in the tap water and then the clumps suffered a bout of hair algae. Then this slowed down the MC, but gave the moss an advantage so lots of attachment. Hair algae got sorted and the MC with moss has a nice interdependent relationship going on to keep it anchored... probably not the answer you wanted but no, there’s not much superglue involved in this tank.

Even the Fissidens is tufts left over after several months drying out that have sprung back to life.

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

Mate, how are you keeping the sand so clean? I mean this white stuff is full of fish poo in a few hours 😀

Fresh sand in last night @CooKieS

No magic here unfortunately. Only using white Hugo Kamashi as have run out of La Plata.

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

I am not sure if you have shared this before. How would you compare ONF with the Solar RGB in terms of color rendition? I have seen a few videos which show the ONF showcasing great colors on the plants and livestock, but have also read that it makes the Greens appear yellowish.

Basically yes the ONF appears more yellowish (or warmer), but then beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. The Solar RGB brings out the greens with more contrast between those tones but not so much the yellow in a scape.

I suppose my response is you can’t really compare colour rendition as a plus/minus scale as it’s highly subjective as to what people experience and enjoy.

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

Yeah was a great time back then, shame a lot of those are not longer around creating scapes, stuff they were doing back then would still be pretty impressive today! But some are still around and new people up and coming. I guess it comes a time when you have to think where do you go from a certain position, do you aim for competitions and become an established aquascaper or you call it a day, unfortunately some just go quite and leave the hobby! Also sometimes life just takes over 😉
I am happy to have a planted tank again and I am just aiming for something that I like and enjoy having in my living room, at the end of the day thats the value of it, if you want to take it up a notch then why not 🙂

Edit! did you see this video?

Sometimes being happy staring at your tank in the living room is all you’ll ever need in return for the effort expended.

Thank you for sharing that video @LondonDragon , I haven’t seen it before and it was nice to see 🙂

 

[Vijay_06]

Basically yes the ONF appears more yellowish (or warmer), but then beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. The Solar RGB brings out the greens with more contrast between those tones but not so much the yellow in a scape.

I suppose my response is you can’t really compare colour rendition as a plus/minus scale as it’s highly subjective as to what people experience and enjoy.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree that color rendition can be very subjective. I saw one Spanish comparison video between these two lights in YouTube. I don’t understand Spanish, but I got the same understanding on color rendition looking at the video. But unless these two lights are shown side by side like shown in that video, one might not even realize the differences in color rendition between these two top notch lights.


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[CooKieS]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree that color rendition can be very subjective. I saw one Spanish comparison video between these two lights in YouTube. I don’t understand Spanish, but I got the same understanding on color rendition looking at the video. But unless these two lights are shown side by side like shown in that video, one might not even realize the differences in color rendition between these two top notch lights.


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I got the vivid 2 from chihiros (near the same rendition as the Ada solar) and the onf flat one Nano+ on both tanks of my living room.

when compared side by side, the onf as an more yellowish tone and the chihiros is blueish green. Well, it’s all a matter of taste,I like both. The onf do looks more natural, the vivid just make all the colors pops. 😉

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

But unless these two lights are shown side by side like shown in that video, one might not even realize the differences in color rendition between these two top notch lights.

It has to be in person @Vijay_06 . This is two shots from yesterday of the same tank and lighting taken a few seconds apart on an iPhone 11 Pro:





See how much the white sand is playing havoc with the iPhones colour correction!

The second photo is more true to life but still isn’t accurate to what I subjectively see in person. I’m sure @CooKieS has the same experience photographing the Vivid 2 as well.

Have always advised people to find somewhere or someone (another UKAPS member or a place like Aquarium Gardens that runs different units side by side) so you can see the units you’re thinking of purchasing in person before shelling out. Photo/video is not reliable due to the image production and representation process altering what we see.

 

[Harry H]

@Geoffrey Rea, your tank causes a lot of tank envy in UKAPS! Seriously man, @Ady34 's 1500 and your 1200 are the best this year in my humble opinion...

 

[Melll]

It has to be in person @Vijay_06 . This is two shots from yesterday of the same tank and lighting taken a few seconds apart on an iPhone 11 Pro:

View attachment 152090

View attachment 152091

See how much the white sand is playing havoc with the iPhones colour correction!

The second photo is more true to life but still isn’t accurate to what I subjectively see in person. I’m sure @CooKieS has the same experience photographing the Vivid 2 as well.

Have always advised people to find somewhere or someone (another UKAPS member or a place like Aquarium Gardens that runs different units side by side) so you can see the units you’re thinking of purchasing in person before shelling out. Photo/video is not reliable due to the image production and representation process altering what we see.

This would look absolutely fantastic in my lounge. It is stunning.

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

@Geoffrey Rea, your tank causes a lot of tank envy in UKAPS! Seriously man, @Ady34 's 1500 and your 1200 are the best this year in my humble opinion...

Love all of @Ady34 ‘s and @CooKieS setups. They both set their aquariums in beautiful, aesthetically pleasing surroundings too... it just all looks so darn nice 😎

Kind words @Harry H but this setup has a long road ahead so we’ll see how it pans out. Stuff naturally happens that’s beyond anything I do. Fissidens travels and attaches to random rocks for example:



Looking forward to finding out where else it might colonise without intervention and where it’s happy.

The finished setup will hopefully be a bit more organic, there’s only the stems that require any work. However, the fish selection is really what has made this scape work. Need a video really, that doesn’t translate on a photo. But the Odessa’s are beautifully coloured up and happy:



The Green Neons are on show pretty much always (apart from when you want a photo 😂) and there’s sixty of them. Really cool when they school together for a bit then disperse again. Brings the scape to life.

 

[hypnogogia]

Interesting way of feeding them. How do you get the Petri dish to the bottom without losing food along the way? And how do you deal with crowding at the ‘dinner table’?

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

Interesting way of feeding them. How do you get the Petri dish to the bottom without losing food along the way? And how do you deal with crowding at the ‘dinner table’?

JBL Novo Fect tab, sticks to the glass.

It does encourage crowding as this is a heavily stocked tank. However, the dispersal from the ensuing excitement allows everyone a bit of food. Barbs make the mess by getting stuck in, Green Neons grab particles floating up, shrimp mop up any remaining food that lands which is almost never. All gone and a good go to food.

Do feed a variety to target feed throughout the week:



May only feed one species at a time; surface feeding for the Green Neons or large sinking pellets for the Odessa’s for example. Live food every now and then too to mix it up.

 

[ChrisD80]

Hi [mention]Geoffrey Rea [/mention] could I ask a question about your beautiful sand and how you keep it so pristine?

I am using sand (ADA Colorado) for the first time and therefore don’t really have experience. I currently have just two fish in my 300litre aquarium (1 mature harlequin Rasbora and 1 Otocinclus). Having been away for just 4 days I came back to the sand covered in a great deal of fish poo which is very unsightly. I also have a bad case of diatoms as you will see in the photo. I had vacuumed it just before I left.

I am so surprised that fish really poo so much! I can count well in excess of 50 separate faeces deposits, and the sand only covers part of the total floor area so there will be more on the aquasoil. If I were to extrapolate the amount produced by my two fish to your fully stocked aquarium I can’t imagine how you cope.

Any ideas, observations?

Many thanks
Chris





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