Saintly's 240L 'savannah dreaming' scape finished

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 22 days

cheers fellas. 🙂

The neons are great. I'm considering, at a later date, to add some cardinals too. would they shoal together?

I'm on the hunt for a some other fish too. to compliment the blue of the neons

 

[peti44]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 22 days

It looks amazing. May I ask something? How can you do that?
I can't even decide which tank of yours is the most beautiful, but maybe this is. Will you go to any competitions with it?

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 22 days

It looks amazing.

Thanks my friend 😀

How can you do that?

My scaping is 'painting by numbers' peti.

I look, look and then some more looking at Amano tanks. For me, copying is the greatest way of learning. I look at Aquajournals and other sources of the great man's work and just see where he's placed plants etc.

At times, when I see some of his tanks, it does make me think of giving up!

Will you go to any competitions with it?

If things go to plan, yes. The last year or so has seen me doing so many tanks away from home and not being able to look after them properly. I want this to get my full attention

most of the plants in the tank are stationary plants apart from HC (which is controllable) i've put some Sagittaria teres which could cause me problems, with its adventurous nature.

you can just see here it's runners reaching the front.



The vallis in the back, I'll allow to do what it wants 8)

 

[LondonDragon]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 22 days

Amazing work Mark, everytime I look at the thread it just gets better 🙂
Great growth and everything looks so healthy 🙂

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 22 days

Amazing work Mark, everytime I look at the thread it just gets better 🙂
Great growth and everything looks so healthy 🙂

cheers matey 😀

The tank is now 4 weeks old today.

I'm trying to stay away from full tank shots for a bit

This shot shows the HC doing good after it's trim. There are still gaps, nooks and crannies to be taken over by the moss etc, so please look beyond that.

the stems were closed because this was taken after lights went out.

I didn't go to town on the image, using just 1 flash.

Tank @ 4 weeks

 

[Dan Crawford]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

Thats looking lovely Mark.

 

[viktorlantos]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

now that's a decent growth. well done mate 😀

 

[Becca]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

Looks great, I really like it! Looks very natural 😀

Becca

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

Thats looking lovely Mark.

cheers Dan 🙂

Looks great, I really like it! Looks very natural 😀

Becca

Thanks Becca 🙂

now that's a decent growth. well done mate 😀

cheers Viktor. Actually, The growth is a concern to me now.

The HC has responded too well to a trim. Even the stuff to the right has recovered and should fill in the gaps to the right within a week or 2. I'm aware this is a great thing, but i's wanted the tank to be hassle free to some degree.

The rotala is rampant too. Would HC last several months without replanting?

This is 4 weeks old and I'm wondering whether i've made the right choice with HC in the foreground.

 

[George Farmer]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

Just keep pruning back the HC. It's what I'm doing with my glosso every week. If conditions are good (which I'm certain they are) then it will keep coming back just fine for a long time; probably many months.

I guess the question is; are you patient enough to keep it going via pruning etc. until the remaining plants all reach the level you require to complete your end goal...? 😉

This is my favourite shot in the journal so far. Superb.

[/quote]

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

Thanks George. The reassurance is great, i must say

I'll be seeing this one through....longer than 3 months at least 😀

The Image you mention, was one of a few with flash. To be honest it's no where near ready for these kind of shots, but it was worth practising.

here's one problem I'll encounter later on....a great scratch! (left of middle)

 

[John Starkey]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

Looking lovely as usual Mark,how did the big scratch get there mate .

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

how did the big scratch get there mate .

A bit of gravel trapped in the magnet glass cleaner. I did it ages ago, but when setting the tank up, I forgot to spin the tank around (opti-white all around) and use the other side 😵

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

The tank's not quite 5 weeks old, but is due a major trim of the stems. The right side has recovered after moving equipment around to allow light to reach it. I also reckon the rotala is stopping much needed co2 to the area, even though everything is pearling that side.

I've moved the power head, remove the plastic lilly pipe from the out let, which has improved things no end

The HM is leggy, but a bout of trimming should put that right.I'll flatten the HC too.

Here's before the trim, and when I get chance i may show the after trim pic.

Over all, I'm happy. I reckon I can see the shapes forming from the stem positioning. Theres still a long way to go though.

 

[Nelson]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

some growth there .looking great,as usual 😀 .
will the rotala go red or is it a green one.

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

some growth there

I've opted out of the 'extra' lighting. 8)

will the rotala go red or is it a green one.

it's rotundifolia, but after trimming, it goes red in the end. I wish I knew the secret of 'red from the start' :?

personally I don't believe in low KNO3 theory.

 

[Jur4ik]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

what type T5 bulbs do you use?
I have heard people achieve awesome reddish plants with some 10.000k bulbs

 

[bogwood]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

Thanks George. The reassurance is great, i must say

I'll be seeing this one through....longer than 3 months at least 😀

The Image you mention, was one of a few with flash. To be honest it's no where near ready for these kind of shots, but it was worth practising.

here's one problem I'll encounter later on....a great scratch! (left of middle)

What a fabulous picture, it looks so natural.

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

What a fabulous picture, it looks so natural.

thanks bogwood. I'm really excited about future 'photo shoots' recently, i've been practising with different angles, lenses, lighting set ups to try and achieve the best shot for 6 months down the road. 😀

what type T5 bulbs do you use?
I have heard people achieve awesome reddish plants with some 10.000k bulbs

8000K, jur4ik. IME though, K doesn't always help with the redness. Maybe it's the strain (correct spelling?) of rotala?

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Saintly's 'savannah dreaming' @ 4 weeks

As promised, here's after a trim.The HC will be done next week.

ignore the W/B setting!

The water is cloudy after all the maintenance.

i've done a Vid to.