Tonys 'Triassic Hollow' 420L - Now FOR SALE !

[Tony Swinney]

Unbelievable tank tony, it looks soooo natural, bet your fish bloody love living here.
Fancy coming round and doing my tank up? Haha.
Cheers
Darren

Thanks Darren, the "natural look' is down to the tank being 3 years old now, and plants have adapted and found their places, whilst new ones have filled the gaps. This tank is a relatively simple setup, with CO2 on 24/7 which has really helped stability, and Tropica ferts added once a week. I dont 'fight' any plants to make them survive in there, if they dont like it they come out, and if they do like it they stay 🙂

Immense Tony!
Great when an update springs from nowhere to remind us of a stunning tank.
I particularly love the photo of the chocolate gourami in the mini fern.
Maybe don't leave it so long next time 😉
Cheerio,
Ady

Thanks Ady, the choc gouramis are great, but bloody tricky to photograph ! I'll try to update more often, but then you'll not get that thrill when an update springs forth from the archives 😉

Just read through your journal again, such an evolution from initial planting, really stunning example of a successful long term scape. Bloody superb

Thanks alot Tim. I'd usually get bored with the hardscape after so long, but I still like this, and find different ways of planting it a nice way to work. It just evolves. Redoing the hardscape in this tank is a pain as its built into the wall, so replanting is good.

quality pics mate!
look foward to seeing you in London at the big tank project...i'll get the whiskey in this time.
ps, full bodied red wine! lol

Cheers mate, looking forward to seeing you in London town. Whiskey you say !?! Oh go on then 🙂 I knew you'd appreciate the wine analogy

I've been pruning and re-planting another tank today so may just start another journal tomorrow Two post in a week eh - I'm on a roll 🙂

Tony

 

[Ian Holdich]

It's finally full of water is it!

Get a journal up, I'm sure it's a winner!

 

[Tony Swinney]

Dont be daft Ian - that one is still dry ! It was just the 45P with the monster hair grass that I did yesterday.

Plants are due this week for the 100cm though, so that'll be three up and running again 🙂

Tony

 

[Iain Sutherland]

Plants are due this week for the 100cm though, so that'll be three up and running again 🙂
Tony

back to a life of water changes then Tony, will be good to see what you have done with the 100.

Really like this one, has a nice natural unsculpted look to it. Have the Altum numbers gone down or just hiding?

 

[Mr P]

this has been a fascinating read,it is beautiful.i like the way it has evolved,you have put a lot time and trouble into this project.how do the altums get on among themselves?have they paired up .once again ,brilliant.mrP.

 

[Tony Swinney]

back to a life of water changes then Tony, will be good to see what you have done with the 100. Really like this one, has a nice natural unsculpted look to it. Have the Altum numbers gone down or just hiding?

Hi Iain, the 100 is hardscaped now - nothing particularly groundbreaking, but something I've wanted to do for a while now. Its not a million miles from Asian Dreams actually ! I lost three altums a while back for no apparent reason, and then had fighting between the remaining four so have given two to a mate.

this has been a fascinating read,it is beautiful.i like the way it has evolved,you have put a lot time and trouble into this project.how do the altums get on among themselves?have they paired up .once again ,brilliant.mrP.

Thanks Mr P, its quite a pleasure looking back through the journal to see its evolution - it all seems a long time ago ! One day it'll get a full rescape !

Tony

 

[greenink]

This is an amazing tank. Am just about to build something pretty similar, as a 'hole in the wall', and would really appreciate any advice. If you were going to do it again, is there anything you'd change? Particularly:

- what height would you have above the tank?
- would you do the 'overflow' in the same way? Still at the back, or at the side?
- Do you definitely need front access?

Re: Tonsers 420L "Triassic Hollow" - Day6

The tank backing allowed me to install the overflow system, and the RO/HMA reservoir and top up pump is done and working on a timer. For now it pumps in 75L of fresh water every morning after the lights switch on (about 20% ) and the overflow lets the same amount run out. I know this is not an exact water change as some of the fresh water will run away too but I'll see how it goes. I might add a drain on a timer to one of the filter pipes and drain 20L away first, before adding the fresh.

Here's a couple of behind the scenes pics, as we all love to see the 'gubbins' 🙂

 

[Guest]

😱 Holy...!!!🙂

 

[Tony Swinney]

I haven't been around for a long time due to work / family commitments leaving very little time for 'scaling 🙁 Triassic Hollow is still going strong though, but ...

We've also just agreed to a sale of out house, so this tank is fall sale ! I'd prefer it to go to a ukaps member as a complete setup, and the price will be very sensible 😉

If anyone is interested please PM me, thanks.

Tony

 

[Tony Swinney]

The tank and all the plants are now listed for sale in the Sale - the tank is FREE 😉

 

[Keetchy]

The tank and all the plants are now listed for sale in the Sale - the tank is FREE 😉

Hey bud. Very very late response to your thread. Lol. I hope you managed to sell the tank and the house too.

Just got a quick question about your oxygen levels in the tank. I used to inject C02 into my discus tank but with discus being so sensitive to everything, they were gasping quite a lot at the surface of the water. I had to angle my filter outlet spouts up quite a lot to agitate the surface for oxygen. Now the problem with me doing this is the C02 was just getting spat right out to atmosphere.

How did you get the balance right between discus not suffocating and enough C02 being distributed around the tank for the plants?

 

[Guest]

Tony was last seen here May 2018, so I'm not too confident that you'll get an answer from him.

However, if it were my tank I'd inject just enough CO2 to turn the drop checker green, rather than lime green. Any CO2 fertilisation is better than none, and you will still achieve success if you choose "easy" plants, which are most likely to survive a Discus tank anyway. Take a look at the Easy Tropica range.

Good surface agitation is always going to be essential for gas exchange and oxygenation as is a surface free from biofilm; I'd also employ a surface skimmer and take the hit on the extra CO2 needed. The welfare of critters is paramount after all.

 

[Keetchy]

Tony was last seen here May 2018, so I'm not too confident that you'll get an answer from him.

However, if it were my tank I'd inject just enough CO2 to turn the drop checker green, rather than lime green. Any CO2 fertilisation is better than none, and you will still achieve success if you choose "easy" plants, which are most likely to survive a Discus tank anyway. Take a look at the Easy Tropica range.

Good surface agitation is always going to be essential for gas exchange and oxygenation as is a surface free from biofilm; I'd also employ a surface skimmer and take the hit on the extra CO2 needed. The welfare of critters is paramount after all.

Ah ok. Thought it was a low chance of him still being here but thought would ask anyway. Lol.

Thanks Tim. I need to get myself a skimmer as quote regularly I see a film forming on top of the surface. I feed beefheart to the tank so that'll be where the film is forming from. Because I dont like having bulky filters constantly sitting in the tank, will it be ok to just use the protein skimmer twice a week for an hour or so just before a WC?

 

[Guest]

I don't see why not. Also some folk use these instead of in tank skimmers/filters...

https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/the-aquascaper-glass-pipework-set-12mm-by-ea-2620-p.asp