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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

The shadows of Mordor

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16 Sep 2015 19:50 #1 by Lauris (Lauris)
As a great fan of Middle-earth stories and the mystery tales about the Land of Shadows,
Orcs, Trolls and mighty wizards, gained my inspiration and decided work trough it in my next project.

The tricky part will be the composition. The goal is to work towards "negative composition" with the
lines and forms. I wish I would have a little more space

So a little bit technical information:

Tank: Custom build 60x40x40 cm
Capacity: 90L
Cabinet: IKEA, 65x60x40 cm
Light: Radion XR15FW
CO2: Injected
CO2 dissolving: in-line atomizer +
APS 2L prefilter as reactor (on inlet)
Filtration: JBL e1501
Heater: Hydor 200w (external)
Pipework: Lilly pipe, Glass surface skimmer
Other: Twinstar nano

Soil system by ADA:
Amazonia soil, Amazonia powder new, Power sand, ADA Sawakock sand
Bacter100, Clear Super, Tourmaline BC, Penac-P, Penac-W
ADA Sarawak sand (ornamental)

Water Chemistry:
RO+JBL Aquadur, Tropica Specialised, EL Potassium, EL Ferro (if needed)

Hardscape:
Seiruy rock (approx 30kg's)
Dried bonsai

Plants: TBC
Live stock: TBC

And few photos.. sure things will change a bit, depending how well I will manage to squeeze in everything






Challenge for me now is to make both stones creating gap to make stand in the way
as in pictures. It means i may need to drill a holes on the bottom to join them with
supporting stones under. As I see no other way (no silicone or putty will hold the weight)
and in the same time I don't want to break them up with drilling. If any suggestions
please feel free to share

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16 Sep 2015 19:51 - 16 Sep 2015 19:52 #2 by Lauris (Lauris)

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Last edit: 16 Sep 2015 19:52 by Lauris (Lauris).

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16 Sep 2015 19:57 #3 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
What about eggcrate?

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16 Sep 2015 20:05 #4 by Lauris (Lauris)
hmm.. have no clue how to fit it in to keep invisible.

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16 Sep 2015 20:10 #5 by helix8008 (Tomas Novak)
This will be great addition to your collection!

Looking forward for more updates!

Tom

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16 Sep 2015 20:12 #6 by Lauris (Lauris)
Thanks, Tom!

I hope it will :)

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16 Sep 2015 23:13 #7 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Huge fan of Tolkien myself (the first fish I got when I moved into this house was a goldfish called Sméagol!), so the minute I saw the title I had high hopes for this 'scape. Have to say, it already looks really good :cool:

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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17 Sep 2015 09:09 #8 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Why not make yourself an epoxy rod (should dry clear) or use an acrylic rod like lads use in marine tanks for live rock? While it won't be completely invisible, I recon it's going to be the best of both worlds.... steady and secure while not being completely obvious!

Huge fan of Tolkien as well. .... and have been since first reading the hobbit at age 11 or 12

Wish I was creative enough to tackle something like this!!! Looking forward to results of finished product

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17 Sep 2015 09:45 #9 by Lauris (Lauris)

Huge fan of Tolkien myself (the first fish I got when I moved into this house was a goldfish called Sméagol!), so the minute I saw the title I had high hopes for this 'scape. Have to say, it already looks really good :cool:


I hope this will fit in nicely in tank. I wish I could have more space for bigger setup.. may be one day.. may be..

thanks

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17 Sep 2015 09:56 #10 by Lauris (Lauris)

Why not make yourself an epoxy rod (should dry clear) or use an acrylic rod like lads use in marine tanks for live rock? While it won't be completely invisible, I recon it's going to be the best of both worlds.... steady and secure while not being completely obvious!

Huge fan of Tolkien as well. .... and have been since first reading the hobbit at age 11 or 12

Wish I was creative enough to tackle something like this!!! Looking forward to results of finished product


the rock on left part of the Gap is nicely fixed with epoxy putty from Fluval. I must say it did exceptional job





The rock on right of the gap is tricky, as the center of weigh makes it fall.. I may try to do the job with same
putty, and test it before it gets flooded.. if not I might consider the drilling. The look of it does not concerns
if it will be fine with putty as I have a plan to paint all rocks over with yogurt and moss

thanks

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17 Sep 2015 10:30 #11 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Yogurt and moss? So does that mean you're going for a dry start?

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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17 Sep 2015 10:39 #12 by Lauris (Lauris)
yess. to achieve the look of mossy scape i need it. will be dry for first few weeks

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17 Sep 2015 11:25 #13 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
I'm settings terrestrial moss landscape in an old aquarium and planning on using a similar method.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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26 Sep 2015 09:17 #14 by Lauris (Lauris)
A very simple video of ADA bottom preperation.



ADA contents:
Penac-W, Penac-P, TourmalineBC, Power Sand, Bacter100, Clear Super

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26 Sep 2015 09:30 #15 by Lauris (Lauris)
It is time for an update, i guess..

Last Saturday finally decided to clean the tank, prepare it and hardscape it. The easiest part was to take everything apart,
move live stock and plants to temporary tank before I will decide what to do with all the contents..
So fresh start.. I was waiting for this moment a good while..


This time I decided to try complete soil system, so prepared goodies. Mainly all powders will last for another 2 scapes at least
so in the end it is not that bad..

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26 Sep 2015 09:31 #16 by Lauris (Lauris)
Bottom layer in.


Before adding soil tried to see how well I can manage to fit the gap. to get rocks together
Fluval SEA epoxy putty did a monster job. it is solid and looks like it does handle the weight pressure very well

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26 Sep 2015 09:31 #17 by Lauris (Lauris)
so the next part was the hardest for me. I'm not claiming master degree in composition, but tried to work
towards the goal aimed. had a lot of struggles with right side of the tank.. too close to foreground, too much detail,
too much attention.. was close to get rid of the tree..


I can't say I'm 100% happy now, but it is a little better after few days. pushing, adding, removing and moving things..
Decided to raise soil in background for a fair bit, so the tree is losing now against dark background, but I have a plan for
Elocharis sp.Mini. I think it might help once formed nicely in green carpet. could not say no to that little tree as it is a part
of the lot story. If in case it will not fit.. in the end.. it is not glued to rocks.. I can move it away any time

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26 Sep 2015 09:31 #18 by Lauris (Lauris)

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26 Sep 2015 09:32 #19 by Lauris (Lauris)
and few photos in detail..



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26 Sep 2015 09:32 - 26 Sep 2015 09:32 #20 by Lauris (Lauris)
Spent a good time reading trough one of the G.Farmers journal and decided to go the method of moss DSM
so today painted few areas with Fissidens (greek yogurt, moss and ro water). Interesting experience and definitely
it will be a challenge for me. Tomorrow I will paint more with Riccardia (i hope this will be a god choice for this project)



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Last edit: 26 Sep 2015 09:32 by Lauris (Lauris).

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26 Sep 2015 09:32 #21 by Lauris (Lauris)

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26 Sep 2015 09:33 - 26 Sep 2015 09:34 #22 by Lauris (Lauris)
sealed with cling film.. hopefully it will do. so far T in tank is +24/25 (I hope it is the right mark), Humidity 90%
Will observe how it will feel tomorrow. Just in case I have a heat mat, I thing I can install it in somehow to keep the T up and so humidity too
Light now is set to 13 hours with 1 hour ramp up and 1 hour ramp down.




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Last edit: 26 Sep 2015 09:34 by Lauris (Lauris).

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26 Sep 2015 09:46 #23 by Lauris (Lauris)
had an issue with keeping the right T and Humidity over 1st few days.
Did not want to mess with heating mat, to install it under tank etc..
so experiment successful. took my tiny back up heater out of attic
it has thermostat and all.. sealed the hole in back wall of the cabinet,
but with some space to exchange air.. and it worked well..

T from 19 (over night) and 22 over day went up to 20-21 over night (set it on timer)
and +24/25 over day. Humidity issues fixed. have now 90-95%.


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26 Sep 2015 18:01 #24 by helix8008 (Tomas Novak)
Great progress, it looks totally awesome!

Can't wait to see it with plants. Are you planning only green carpet or something higher in rear of tank too?

Tom

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26 Sep 2015 18:19 #25 by Lauris (Lauris)
thanks Tom.

No higher plants as they will change the shape of current layout what I don't want to happen

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26 Sep 2015 19:46 #26 by helix8008 (Tomas Novak)
I thought so, good choise.

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27 Sep 2015 10:56 - 27 Sep 2015 10:57 #27 by Aroshni (Lydia Olivera)
Can't wait to see how it develop. Pretty curious about that method with the yogurt, didn't know it could applied to aquaria. Where did you get that tree? looks great!
Last edit: 27 Sep 2015 10:57 by Aroshni (Lydia Olivera).

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04 Oct 2015 21:03 - 04 Oct 2015 21:23 #28 by Lauris (Lauris)
Another progres update here. Week 4.
Rocks painted with Riccardia are getting greener every day.
Places painted with Fisidens.. can't tell much. Looks pretty
dark'ish but when inspected closer - looks like it is attaching and
developing new growth, just very slow

Plants added: H. Araguaia, Marsilea hirsuta

Managing to keep humidity about 80-85% and T+23-25
Added two extra Lights (24w T5) for better results.

Hopefully next week my Elocharis sp.mini will arrive




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Last edit: 04 Oct 2015 21:23 by Lauris (Lauris).

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04 Oct 2015 21:04 #29 by Lauris (Lauris)

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04 Oct 2015 21:04 #30 by Lauris (Lauris)

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