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Stu's 120x45x45 tank sponsored by Tropica

Stu Worrall

Stu Worrall

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UKAPS Team
Joined
7 Sep 2008
Messages
2,005
Location
Flintshire, North Wales
New tank time! Ive been after a 120cm tank for a while and while I wanted a 50cm deep tank I couldnt quite find anyone out there making decent custom rimless optiwhites so when Dave Spencer kindly mentioned he was selling his I snapped it up.

After quite enjoying my last dragon stone tank in 2012 I was quite looking forward to using it again but it is very hard to work with as Ive taken about 2 weeks of constant changing to get me to planting!

For the tank Tropica kindly sent some of their new soil to test so Ill be giving that a go to compare it to ADA aquasoil. First impressions are very good!


Hardscape: Dragon Stone, Manzanita Wood
Co2: Pressurised via diffuser into co2 reactor
Lighting: 2 x Kessil A360w Tuna Sun
Filtration: Eheim 2078 Cal Aqua Inlet, ADA P2 Lily x2, Do-Aqua 17mm inlet. Eheim 350t for flow and heating (none of that hydor heater crap!)
Heating: Eheim 350t
Substrate: Tropica Aqua Soil (Powder and normal), Tropica Plant Substrate, Carbon and polystyrene so the stone doesnt break the tank!
Ferts: Tropica Plant growth Premium and Normal
Critters: Red Cherry Shrimp, TBC


Note, the plants, soil and ferts in here have been kindly sponsored by Tropica so big thanks to them for this and supporting our hobby and UKAPS. This also means there are a few test plants to go in there.


Plants
tbc

Blank tank
16433629146_d7b5b4f988_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

Soil ready to go in
15837107064_4057c3377d_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

Foam and poly to protect the glass
16459632775_e933263b69_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

Tropica plant substrate (You dont technically need this with the new soil but I thought I'd try it with as I have on previous ada aquasoil scapes.)
16273732837_d4ee2f7905_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

Cardboard to separate the soil and sand
16273393319_9f226b8f25_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

Aquasoil in
16457893481_f558f5af38_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

16433629726_cff79c6972_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

15837107464_699735019a_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

16273733117_36a443e34d_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

16272201690_b0e1d4f4f6_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

16458693332_0e29473f43_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

16433629276_6a186b67d6_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

This will have a lot more detail later as a scree slope is going in.
16458692932_de44efa4af_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

Main layout with more detail to follow

16459632565_c19f4d1185_o.jpg120x45x45cm Aquascape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr

more to follow...
 
Terrific! How much ohko do you have left? For my next scape I'm just going to use crushed rock instead of sand. My lfs gave me a bag of 'worthless' rock fragments/powder.

btw, what does it mean to be sponsored? Does Tropica give you everything for keeps? Is the tank in your home or at a shop? Who decides when to tear it down? Thanks.
 
Whoa! No wonder you spent so long time for layout. so much space and so much possibilities. Great tank size. It's hard to judge how many space left behind the rocks? Do you plan to plant there anything? I have a feeling that would be a great iwagumi-style layout without high stem plants at the back. But will see!
 
Looking great Stu, good to have another journal from you :thumbup:
 
Dantrasy said:
Terrific! How much ohko do you have left? For my next scape I'm just going to use crushed rock instead of sand. My lfs gave me a bag of 'worthless' rock fragments/powder.

btw, what does it mean to be sponsored? Does Tropica give you everything for keeps? Is the tank in your home or at a shop? Who decides when to tear it down? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Thanks Dantrasy. How much have I got left? About two rocks!!! I think Ive used about 80-90kg in there as I had to re-do some of the rock work to make it more secure underneath so a lot is buried.

Re the sponsorship Tropica set up a program a couple of years ago to have a freelance aquascaping team from around Europe. There are many members and we work for them to set up tanks and photograph and video them for their website or displays. A lot of us were very fortunate to have a couple of days training at the factory in Denmark a couple of years back along with a tour of their facility which is top knotch!

Theyve also kindly sponsored some of us to take part in this years Art of Planted Aquarium competition in Hanover next week. Myself, Dan, Antoni and Eduard will be going across this Thursday to take part and a thread will be posted about it soon. 🙂

Martin in China said:
Has a great Jurasic feel to it...
Click to expand...
yup, much like my 2012 tank 🙂
Alexander Belchenko said:
Whoa! No wonder you spent so long time for layout. so much space and so much possibilities. Great tank size. It's hard to judge how many space left behind the rocks? Do you plan to plant there anything? I have a feeling that would be a great iwagumi-style layout without high stem plants at the back. But will see!
Click to expand...
Thanks Alexander. Im in two minds about the stems as I also have triend ferns to go into the gaps but cut very short. Ill try the stems at the back and if they dont work I can always take them out. Theres about 3 inches gap at the back.

Ady34 said:
Looking great Stu, good to have another journal from you :thumbup:
Click to expand...
1stgolf said:
I'm amazed what a great scape.
Click to expand...
Troi said:
Looking forward to seeing where this is going...
Click to expand...
Cheers All. Its good to be back Ady 😉

This is likely to be the final hardscape. Any constructive criticism is welcome as it always nice to see it form someone elses perspective. The front will be hairgrass and HC with bigger plants as you get into the tank. lots of mosses and stems in the background which will hide some of the vertical bits of wood.

16274579339_3524d08ea0_o.jpg120x45x45cm aquascape - final hardscape by Stu Worrall Photography, on Flickr
 
Hi Stu

Loving the scape so far. I see that you are using 2 x Kessil A360w Tuna Sun i see these lights are becoming more popular have you used them before? How do you find them? Im sure if i keep watching this journal ill find out.

Jonny
 
I think it's great, yes dragon stone is a pig as I've found out recently using it for the first time, beautiful stone though.it reminds me of some outaspace sifi background. Are you fully decided on the two paths mate?
 
Stunning work Stu, looking forward to another great scape 🙂
 
Thanks all and sorry for my lack of reply. After my last post I managed to get a real nasty sick bug that's torn its way through our house this week leaving a trail of destruction! The tank will be planted when u get back from Hanover
 
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