Shopping list.

[Danielm]

Want to start purchasing next week and putting together a list of everything I will need. Have I forgotten anything which I will need for the initial set up and maintenance? I have tank, lights, filters media etc from marine set-up

Tropica soil substrate.
Aquascape materials (rock/wood)
Long planting tweezer
Long scissors
Water conditioner
Co2 kit
EA Aquascaper ferts
Water hosing (filling/ changes)

Plants!!! ( still not quite sure how to estimate the initial number of plants I will need...)

 

[alto]

I prefer Tropica Soil over ADA but check out the Green Machine Sales (immediately )

Plants? - depends on tank dimensions, hardscape, type of plants - species & pots vs tissue culture & supplier (some growers have rather more in each cup/pot/portion)

More information would help

 

[Danielm]

I prefer Tropica Soil over ADA but check out the Green Machine Sales (immediately )

Plants? - depends on tank dimensions, hardscape, type of plants - species & pots vs tissue culture & supplier (some growers have rather more in each cup/pot/portion)

More information would help

Dimensions are approx 90cm by 50cm.

Hardscape will be a mix of rock and likely redmoor wood.

Looking at the tank; in my head I see a heavily planted left hand side thinning down at an angle to a very bare right hand side .... reason for this is that one of the primary viewing angles is from the right hand side so want to create some depth from that perspective also....

If the tank was 45cm by 45cm and the whole thing was to be planted, what volume of plants would I need... I think that is probably a good estimate (assuming 1/4 of this is carpet)

 

[Danielm]

Napoleons tank journal pics are probably the closest I can see to what I have in mind ....hope it is not copyrighted !

 

[Danielm]

12 litres of Tropica soil
15kg of fine natural gravel
2 bottle of EA all in one fertiliser
1 CO2Art kit....

All en route from Aquarium Gardens

 

[alto]

I totally forgot to respond

Sounds a good list

 

[alto]

If the tank was 45cm by 45cm and the whole thing was to be planted, what volume of plants would I need... I think that is probably a good estimate (assuming 1/4 of this is carpet)

What plants are you thinking?
Maintenance schedule?
Lighting?
Dry start?

 

[Jayefc1]

All sounds good.

 

[Danielm]

What plants are you thinking?
Maintenance schedule?
Lighting?
Dry start?

Plan (loose term, as I am winging it )

Behind hard scape : Long stems at back with some short more ‘bushy’ plants (maybe with some reds just in front) coming forward

Crypts in and around wood, the going into a carpet...

Not sure what you exactly mean by maintenance. But will be dosing daily (using my Kamoer) - water change weekly (50%)

Lighting with be AI hydra LED’s - so fully customisable in terms of period and intensity at

Plan on wet start (as no idea on how to dry start, and got enough to remember!!)

 

[Danielm]

Here is an attempt to show what I have in my head....

From the front a heavily planted right hand side that banks up to the back left with rock and redmoor.... carpet (the green cross hatch down to a smaller piece of rock/wood and planting...

To the right of the blue line, will be natural gravel....

The second picture shows the main viewing angle... so trying to give the depth from the front right, to the back left of the tank...

 

[Danielm]

I feel like I own the forum an apology!

I rarely log on from a PC. Having done so, I have realised how pathetic my iphone artistry is... it looked so much better confined to the 5 inch smartphone screen...

 

[alto]

it looked so much better confined to the 5 inch smartphone screen...

I've noticed the same with my own (smartphone) stunning photos
- only to see these blurry scenes on the big screen

 

[alto]

I'd suggest using mainly just the single Hydra - play around with its positioning a bit to get the light falling evenly over the planting area - & use the second Hydra only for moonlight effect (or not at all)

Include the sand in your water change maintenance, shuffling it about to discourage algae, once tank is established sand shifting livestock (corydoras, shrimp etc) will often keep the sand looking nice
(If you look at the diorama tanks with gorgeous clean sand, it's not unlikely that the sand is replaced at intervals & before a big photo shoot)

Nice tank set up

For the sand area, you want some sort of "markers" for your eye to follow to help create that depth effect

Plant your "zones" (of different plants) in triangle shapes rather than blocks

Use some branches or plant lines to draw your eye from the sand area towards the far corner (or 2/3 of the way along the back wall) - once you've your hardscape, take time to play with this


Dry start is easy - as long as you're home to mist regularly
It's good way to grow in a carpet starting with fewer plants, once plants are well established with roots etc, tank is flooded; still needs more frequent water changes etc to start, and plants may melt a little or a lot, but usually recover well
If you've no other tank or source of media from an established tank, you can use this time to mature a filter (in a separate bin) & then add algae crew right from the start (of flooding)

Jurijs mit JS recently set up his 60P with this method, you can follow the progress on his FB page

 

[alto]

Tropica has excellent guides & plant handling videos on their website
- note the suggestion for auxilary plants, 1-2-Grow Heteranthera zosterfolia is my favourite, it's quite forgiving of CO2 & light & fertilizer levels & a very nice green

YouTube Plant Handling Video list

Plant pots etc to buy initially - rather depends on plant species & nursery (some branded pots contain rather more plants than others) - also your (im)patience level, eg you can break up a Cryptocoryne pot into several pieces & allow them to grow in, or plant densely from the start

I suggest choosing plants you like, rather than selecting a "bundle" (offered by some shops)

Much easier to suggest plant volumes once your hardscape is in, & you've a "short list" of your plants