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Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud

Tom, it looks amazing! Definately makes me want to go and buy a 90x30x90! :lol: The stand sounds interensting, do you have any pictures?
 
Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud

Cheers Brendan. No pics of the stand as yet, it's extremely basic - just stack up 3 or 4 pallets, MDF underneath to protect the floor and on top to hold the tank, then a black sheet (actually, duvet cover!) thrown over the top. Could easily clad it instead I guess. Very cheap, very strong, dismatles when you need to move.
 
Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud

Well, I'm off tomorrow on fieldwork until mid-April, so the tank gets its first test of zero maintenance soon (my flatmate will top the water up every now and again).

Tank inhabitants all seem happy and are busy reproducing (little do they know!), plants are mostly growing. Had a huge melt from the MM after it went in, around 80% of the leaves vanished, but it has since recovered and is putting out new ones, although it looks a little straggly still. Will probaly need rpelanting at some point but I'll let it do its thing for now.

Glosso is slowly but surely creeping across the bottom - I give it about 2 more years til I have a full carpet :lol:

The echinodorus has turned into a monster, it's putting out huge new leaves every few days. I may have to invest in some more when I get back.

All the lillies are flowering away and growing well, which is nice. Parlour palm continues to not die!

A couple of FTS for the record (excuse the mulm!) -

lcf7Sl.jpg


frs7rK.jpg
 
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Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud - New pics 06/03

Tom, this is a very inspirational tank, and for it a true find, as I am always interested on shallow tanks with emersed plants.

How did you get the Echinodorus to adapt to emersed? Did you had to mist it, or just placed it on the tank and hoped for the best?

Great tank, very nice indeed.
 
Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud - New pics 06/03

This is one of the most natural scapes I've ever seen :thumbup:
 
Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud - New pics 06/03

twg said:
This is one of the most natural scapes I've ever seen :thumbup:
I have to agree with this 100% would love to see a video of this tank.
 
Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud - New pics 06/03

ghostsword said:
Thanks Tom,

Where did you get the Echinodorus from? I would for sure like to have a go at trying this.. :)

Amazingly enough, it was from Java plants (from their motherplant selection). It was the wrong sort admittedly, and was late, but has turned into a monster so I've forgiven them!

LondonDragon said:
twg said:
This is one of the most natural scapes I've ever seen :thumbup:
I have to agree with this 100% would love to see a video of this tank.

Ta. Will try and get a video up when I get back in April.
 
Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud - New pics 06/03

Hurrah! Just got home after nearly 6 weeks and everything isn't dead :lol:

Flatmates decided to go on holiday so water level was down to about 5 inches, but everything bar the juncus repens seems to be alive (although one of the lillies is very wilted, hoping it's going to bounce back). No algae except for green dust on the glass. Emergent echinodorus is now over 2 feet tall!

Bajillions of little shrimp everywhere, microfauna seems to have done very well.

Pics tonight once I've had a bit of a tidy.
 
Tom's Bucket O' Mud - New pics 06/03

Tom
Can't wait to see the pics! Glad this trip away proved a reasonable success for the tank. That Echindorus has probably drank the 5 inches of water! :)
Gavin
 
Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud - New pics 06/03

Gfish said:
Tom
Can't wait to see the pics! Glad this trip away proved a reasonable success for the tank. That Echindorus has probably drank the 5 inches of water! :)
Gavin

bigmatt said:
This has become one of my "to watch" tanks while you've been away! Hope the fieldwork was fun and look forward to some pics soon!
Cheers
Matt

Pics tonight, I hope!

SteveUK said:
What an awesome setup! Is there any filtration on this, or anything moving the water around? Very interested in the setup of it :)

I do have a koralia wrapped in filter sponge moving water slowly, but I don't think it's necessary at all. Water was so low when I got back that I don't think the powerhead had been submerged for at least a week or so anyway.
 
Re: Tom's Bucket O' Mud - New pics 06/03

Well, here you go -

GV0mhE.jpg


A bit warts-and-all (excuse the plants I'm growing in on the right hand side). Lots of mulm collecting in the middle of the tank, which is looking a bit bare now. Need to give some thought to how to scape that bit. As you can see, the echinodorus is taller than anything else now and is only inches off the light. Might have to start trimming it, which would be a shame. I've straightened it up now, but it was casting a lot of shadow, mainly over the glosso, which is frankly a dead loss. Need to think of something to replace it with, I think.

Juncus repens has all but died, but everything else seems to be doing quite well. The staurogyne is spreading nicely and I wouldn't mind some more, but the lower leaves seem to be turning yellow - lack of light or nutrients do you think?

Microfauna doing well, shrimp have exploded nicely, and seems to be a good collection of arthropods, nematodes and other monsters. Fished out what appeared to be a 1.5" leech, christ knows where that came from!
 
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