• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

opti-mike - new pic

Re: opti-mike

hi,

just a thought. Those bumps in the substrate may not really show up when it's fully grown in with moss. It will all come up with prunning and trimming. I do not have that many experience though.

When are you planting?

cheers,

GM
 
Re: opti-mike

gmartins said:
just a thought. Those bumps in the substrate may not really show up when it's fully grown in with moss. It will all come up with prunning and trimming. I do not have that many experience though.

When are you planting?
Click to expand...

You're probably right I've never be that successful with moss and never grown it. I hope it does grow that well that I can shape it.

Well i would love to plant it now but havent got any of the moss yet? still need weeping and a load of flame and xmas moss, may have to buy some from the GM.

I lost out on a filter - eheim 2074 which is what i had my heart set on. However im now thinking would i be mad trying to start with a simple sponge filter? 60l under 11w arcpod light?
 
Re: opti-mike

well I order some more substrate 3l but i still think it needs a little more but never mind.

I have now got a eheim 2171 brand new and was wondering weather i would have problems cycling the tank with just ADA and wood.? no light just filtration.
 
Re: opti-mike

only just see the ms paint idea, i think its going to look really different..in a good way 🙂

i think you NEED to have a black background, other wise the huge gaps will looks abit pants seeing cables ect out the back, also where are you sourcing the moss?your going to use a ton of it haha.
 
opti-mike

Yeah the layout with the moss is going to look quiet atmospheric which is what I want.
It's gonna take ages to get all the moss needed for me to do much with the carpet. Ive got some fontanus moss as well which is meant to be really slow growing! Only a bit.
So I've ordered some net, got some really thin nylon and im going to start growing them on some mesh. Westy said he will have a load of xmas moss for me on the 1st July. That will do most of the branches. I have some weeping now so I will tie that to the wood. Basically loads of moss still needed.
I'm going to get it going, cycle the tank for 4 weeks, then properly scape it weeks 4/5. I.e tie all moss around wood. if I get enough moss that is...... then shrimps week 6, 10 to start and hopefully loads to off load 🙂
Yeah background would look good in black, I'll probably do that last thing like icing on the cake. Should be too cluttered with wires from the back I'm having everything run down the side.
Thanks mate
 
Re: opti-mike

well I just went ahead and set up my tank. It looks very bare at the moment and I think i will for a long time.

initial problems: when i tested the tank with water I noticied my unit was sagging a bit (IKEA) and I live in an old building and the floors are all mad wonkey! In my 65cm tank the water level dipped 3.5 cm from one end to the other! so I took the unit apart, added some support struts to stop sagging, drilled pile wood to to bottom to level it out...took a while but water seem to be level...maybe a little off.

ok so when it was all done i cut the black matt to fit underneath to spreed the weight.

I then got all the moss I have and tied it to the wood. The fontanus moss I have just tied to mesh at the bottom...thanks laimyzaz for that🙂 westy thanks for the xmas moss still need more though. Stephanie if it ever turns up thanks for the flame🙂 I was spraying as i went along to keep it moist as tying it took for ever. But i think I did it pretty well so just gotta wait.

I will get some co2 rigged up at the weekend. Just had to start the cycle as I cant wait to drop in so shrimps🙂

THen I rigged up my new filter 2171. Its pretty prefect to be honest, looks alright not to big, cant even hear it unless right next to it, Really easy to set up took about 40mins tops. looking at it now those pipes are just discussing, will have to address that! so yeah very happy, and Im glad i dont have to hear the heater clicking on and off like the hydor does.

That was all last night. Water looks very discolored this morning I presume its the ADA and maybe the wood combined. It was crystal clear now looks a bit yellow/brown. Well not really bothered as this is going to be a slow burner.

dont know if I can stand the emptiness of it though, might have to put a java on the wood in the middle just to add some life and colour for the short term.
 
opti-mike

Ha I wish I did have something good to say. Moss has been tied and is growing stringy without co2 and just an 11w, when I can remember to turn it on.

Good news westy is sending me a shed Load of Xmas moss tomorrow so I need to get some metal mesh to cover the floor. All the other moss weeping and flame has started to sprout.

I ordered a light today, Arcadia 650mm 2 x24w that's really the finally piece of the puzzle then I can rig up the co2 and get things going.

Think it's been cycling a month now, so I'll give it another 2 weeks before i add shrimp. No test kits to test of nitrates and ammonia so gonna take my time.

Then I'm going to start adding 50/50 ro water and tap see if I can get my parameters right for the crs shrimp in the future.
 
Westy big up for the moss, there was loads but went heavy on the wood so in the end i was about 5cm2 short. But this got me thinking about the carpet. I want a bit more ruggedness instead of a flat bottom sloping substrate. I might go down to the beach and get some pebbles and cover them in moss as well! Westy !! Lol I'll wait a bit though no rush.

I was free from 4 onwards so I thought I'd cut the mesh and tie the moss. It took bloody ages! I used green net to cover it then stitched it together with fishing line. The first mesh was the best but then my patience ran out and my workmanship plumited🙁

img4983t.jpg


img4986e.jpg


img5010t.jpg


Still managed to cut the shapes so they are easily lifted out and once the moss growns through it should blend nicely to cover the joins.

As the substrate was churned up I did a 50/50 water change. It needed it anyway as the water is turning brown after only a day or so which I put down to the wood!

So after a long time messing around it has finally taken a bit of shape. I've used narrow leaf java just to see if it will grow. Id actually like it though. I'll be adding co2 when my luminaire turns up from charterhouse. Untill then I'm dosing aquarium plant food all in one 5ml twice a week under 11w. Oh and a bit pogo helfri just to get it back to life as it's melting in my nano!!!

Thanks everyone that's sent me moss every little it has helped 🙂
 
opti-mike

Haha glad it was put to good use mate cant believe how much I cut off plus I sent two portions to hoggie and one to twg! I'm going to buy some wood and tie my moss to that now instead of this big football size I have now lol.

Your tank is looking good mate did you not soak the wood first tho?
 
Re: opti-mike

God you must have had loads you weren't joking! some of it was so long, theirs one bit that i didn't trim and have just noticed is about 20cm long! As i said its in great heath so thanks for that mate.

no didnt soak the wood as i live in a flat. I kinda like the water a bit murky in a funny kinda way it looks really natural.

anyway heres a rubbish photo of how it looks after a hard days mossing!
img5007d.jpg
 
opti-mike

I have 15 sukura shrimp coming on tuesday so sat down and looked at the tank before they arrived and was not happy.
The moss meshes just looked naff and they didn't sit flush to the substrate. I have 4 Singapore fire shrimp added 2 days ago and they just hid underneath the mesh.
So I when back down to the beach and got some new pebbles, nice flat ones and put the moss on it then covered with net.
I also thought as I was doing this I might as well try a bit a syuri stone just under the cluster of branches see if it added anything. It did.
So now I have a little mound under the cluster of branches.
This all took about 8 hours over two days! Tying the moss to the pebbles was so boring, but putting them in and seeing it tank look better always helps. What a waste if time. I still have two or three to do but got way to bored so will finish off tomorrow. The mess approach took ages as well but just looked naff!
I've saved a few stems of my pogo. H from my nano that were melting. I've put them in to see if they grow and add a bit of colour around the mound. Also I'm after a low lying plant for the back so was thinking about so sturo..... Repens.
Obviously the substrate got churned up a bit so the moss on the wood looks as though it is dusty. I will do a water change tomorrow clean the filter quickly and just watch it mature.
I want to get some really small fish so was thinking maybe 20 chilli rasbora?
I'll post a picture tomorrow when it's all settled with clean water.
 
opti-mike

Right been down to the lfs and get 15 little chilli rasbora and a couple of ottos. They are all in now and seem happy. Really like the scale and depth they add to the tank.
I ve just cut the last bit of frosted plastic I had lying around and luckily it was a cm just in. So it's now backlit and looking the best it has since I had it🙂 just gotta keep the algae at bay now and pray my moss grows really well because it's covered in the stuff!
 
just had a bit of time to upload a photo with just the backlight on. Ill post one next week some time as the bulbs are pink and horrible.
tank1v.jpg
 
Cheers man, back light really makes a difference doesnt it. I tried a black towel but you couldn't see the wood that well.
I've ordered two new bulbs from lampspec today so will get a nice light shot when they arrive.
And as I right this just got an email saying my shrimps are in the post 🙂
 
Cheers westy, it's just an arcpod 11w I shoved behind the cabinet. Moss is growing a bit scraggy off the wood but have trimmed it a couple of times now and in parts it's sprouting little green buts which is pleasing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top