Mountainscape

Hi everyone this is a new layout I have just completed and I thought I would post it here.

The spec for the tank

54L 60x30x30cm stripped out Juwel Reckord 60 tank
Eheim 2211 filter
3x24Watt T5s @ 8 hours per day
ADA Aquasoil amazonia
Mini landscape rocks

Plants and fish.

HC, Hemianthus callitrichoides ''Cuba''
Lampeye killifish

Fertiliser routine.

50% Water changes every 3-4 days and I dosed 2ml Tropica plant nutrition+ daily.
CO2 1 bubble per second via a 2kg fire extinguisher

I started this tank on the 15th of November and grew this out without a heater in the tank and then added the fish later.

Several of our sponsers products or goods were used in the making of this layout and I thank them for selling such good quality items.

Lampeyes - Wackers Long mile road

Hemianthus callitrichoides ''Cuba'' - Petstop Blanchardstown.

Excellent sand (exactly the right colour no washing etc) Aquatic village, brittas.



This was quite an easy layout in planting terms, a very achieveable effect if anyone wanted to try it out. You can even do this with the tank dry, yes, no water!!!

Zig, at this hour of the morning my vocabulary gets fairly limited, but I can still manage a WOW. That looks amazing. Photos like that make me want to do something simila so my New Years resolution will be to do a planted tank, that along with giving up smoking, spending less time on the forum, not making unplanned fish purchases etc…

The tank looks great as usual and it’s good to have the additional information.......
Can you tell me what type of sand was used as washing the sand can be a pain in the A**.

Tom.

Thanks folks!

All achieveable Daragh;)

Tom I will have to dig out the bag of sand, as far as I remember it just says Aquarium Sand on it, I know Darren, platy 252 has this in a couple of tanks as well, I have to say its excellent stuff, great colour and straight into the tank no washing needed at all, I think it cost ¬25 for a very large bag of it enough to cover a reasonably large tank, ask the lads up in AV, I would highly recommend it. I bought it mainly for the colour the no washing was a bonus. The large bag will do me for many different layouts.

Here's another 60cm layout that was just done previously to the \"mountainscape\" layout I just posted, its in the same tank and the spec is the same except in that tank I used PPS PRO dosing for the fertiliser routine.

The fish in this layout are young White cloud mountain minnows that I got from Aquatic village, they now happily populate a different larger tank that I have.

Unbelievable tanks.

Ever consider doing a planted tank book or calender?.... you've got Miss January and February right there!!!!!

AS always amazing

Wow Zig!

These tanks are amazing. The mountainscape looks \"fantabulous\" !!!!

Well done and keep us updated with more photographs !

Thank you.
Valerie

i wish I were you,

calender is a great idea!

Thanks Zig,

It just makes my life seem even more insignificant when I hear how easy you got the ingredients etc?I dont believe it would be easy to achieve something like this,you obviously work to such high standards it seems easy to you!!

That tank is absolutely amazing,it is like a living Michelangelo or a DaVinci.And people pay millions for them.

Thats it....Im taking the plunge into a small planted tank in the new year.

Zig,

Stunning mate, You're a genius!
One question, where do you source the rocks used in your aquascapes?

Kind regards
Seany

First class stuff as always zig. Truly inspiring.
Looks like i will have to scrap my mountainscape idea for my next tank or people will think i am copying you, again.
Keep up the excellent work.

Darren.

Thanks everyone sorry for not getting back to this a bit sooner than I thought, things happened, and I just have not been posting lately.


Peter OB wrote:

Unbelievable tanks.

Ever consider doing a planted tank book or calender?.... you've got Miss January and February right there!!!!!

Hey thanks man, I never considered that tbh, I better get working on the other ten months eh!!

ChrisM wrote:

Thanks Zig,

It just makes my life seem even more insignificant when I hear how easy you got the ingredients etc?I dont believe it would be easy to achieve something like this,you obviously work to such high standards it seems easy to you!!

That tank is absolutely amazing,it is like a living Michelangelo or a DaVinci.And people pay millions for them.

Thats it....Im taking the plunge into a small planted tank in the new year.

Hey thanks Chris, a small tank is the best way to go IMO to start off, just plan your design carefully, look closely at nature there is lots of inspiration there as well. Thankyou.

Seany wrote:

Zig,

Stunning mate, You're a genius!
One question, where do you source the rocks used in your aquascapes?

Kind regards
Seany

Thanks seany, I get the rocks online, they are called mini landscape rocks, you need to specify what you want (large ones small ones etc) when you order them, the rest is pot luck tbh of what you will recieve.

Here's the best and cheapest place to get them that I know of, if you want a variety don't order less than 10kgs or you are really wasteing your time IMO, postage is about ¬20 from these people.

www.aquaristic.net/shop.php/sid/0f9756e2...163840b1125.72668532

Have a look around where you live as well though you might find suitable material there for aquascaping.

Oh yeah btw I saw good rocks in Wackers longmile road on my last visit, those definitely would have been suitable for an aquascape IMHO.

platty252 wrote:

First class stuff as always zig. Truly inspiring.
Looks like i will have to scrap my mountainscape idea for my next tank or people will think i am copying you, again.
Keep up the excellent work.

Darren.

Darren go for it, lots of ways to skin a cat as they say or move rocks a round a tank.

Thanks Darren.

Zig i forgot to ask after a tank is up and running for a few months do you have problems with BBA low down on the plants, just above the roots.
I have this problem the last while. It's not bad and barely visible and i was just wondering if it could be from one of the ingredients in the ferts. IE phosphate, magnesium etc.

Darren.

platty252 wrote:

Zig i forgot to ask after a tank is up and running for a few months do you have problems with BBA low down on the plants, just above the roots.
I have this problem the last while. It's not bad and barely visible and i was just wondering if it could be from one of the ingredients in the ferts. IE phosphate, magnesium etc.

Darren.

Darren are you throttling down the flow on the filter for the CO2? I think this is what you are saying in the other CO2 thread by Pauly.

I think whats happening is that you are reducing the flow across the bottom section of the tank by doing this and this is why you are getting the bba specifically at the bottom stems of the plants, the CO2 probably isn't being distributed evenly throughout the tank, that would be my best guess.You need to undo the throttling and let the filter flow at full strength but still use the same diffusion method for the CO2. (up the filter intake)

Its a very unusual problem that the bba is so low down in the tank specifically on the lower stems, granted, you usually get bba on the substrate etc which is also low down, but when you have it there you usually have it everywhere, all over the tank equipment, on the glass etc.

bba is nearly always a CO2 related problem IME and hard to get rid of when you get it. You could always dose Easy carbo to get rid of it. Use a syringe and turn off the filter and squirt the recommended dose at the effected area of bba and this will kill it, just dose the normal amount daily or every day or every few days and eventually you will kill it off, go right up to the effected area with the syringe and gently release the contents at the bba, this is called spot treatment and is the best way IME.

If it were me I would dose easy carbo through a syringe to get rid of it. I have done this many times and it works, when you see bba just squirt the liquid carbon and this kills it off in a few days. Dosing the whole tank with Excel or easy carbo does not really work, spot treatment is best IMO.

long answer sorry about that:huh:

This is the stuff Im talking about, Seachem Excel is the same stuff but 3 times the price:S

www.aquaristic.net/shop.php/sid/5d370bf2...rbo//vid/manufac.410

The filter is an Eheim 2211. Tank volume is 8 gallons.
The flow is only slightly reduced. Even the Eleocharis acicularis is bent over with the flow. This is kept in check at about 16cm root to tip.
If i have the flow on full the Co2 gathers in the filter and gets released in spurts, with a lot been released after lights out(i'm still using a solenoid).
I find i have algae trouble when the Co2 is released like this.
The BBA is a lesser evil.
The funny thing is most of the algae grows directly in the flow.
Luckily it is barely noticeable and i can even leave it for a week with out having to pull any out. Even at that it is verry little.
Thats a great idea with the liquid carbon. I will start treating the tank tomorrow.
Without wrecking your head to much can i ask how this works? Or is it a case of it just work's?

Darren.

platty252 wrote:

The filter is an Eheim 2211. Tank volume is 8 gallons.
The flow is only slightly reduced. Even the Eleocharis acicularis is bent over with the flow. This is kept in check at about 16cm root to tip.
If i have the flow on full the Co2 gathers in the filter and gets released in spurts, with a lot been released after lights out(i'm still using a solenoid).
I find i have algae trouble when the Co2 is released like this.
The BBA is a lesser evil.
The funny thing is most of the algae grows directly in the flow.
Luckily it is barely noticeable and i can even leave it for a week with out having to pull any out. Even at that it is verry little.
Thats a great idea with the liquid carbon. I will start treating the tank tomorrow.
Without wrecking your head to much can i ask how this works? Or is it a case of it just work's?

Darren.

It definitely works alright. You can overdose the whole tank with it but I have found spot treatment more effective, it takes a little bit longer to get around to all the effected areas doing it this way (because you can only dose so much per day) The bba will go a white colour after a few days when its dead, either remove it or some livebearing fish will eat it and do the job for you at this stage.

From Wikipedia:

A polymerized isomer of glutaraldehyde trademarked as polycycloglutaracetal by Seachem Laboratories, Inc. is the active ingredient in a product called Flourish Excel, a fertilizer for aquatic plants. It is claimed that it provides a bioavailable source of carbon for higher plants that is not available to algae. Though not marketed as such due to federal regulations, the biocidal effect of glutaraldehyde kills most algae at concentrations of 0.5 - 5.0 ppm. These levels are not harmful to most aquatic fauna and flora. Adverse reactions have been observed by some aquarists at these concentrations in some aquatic mosses, liverworts, and vascular plants.

Easy Carbo is exactly the same stuff though and costs a lot less.

Cheers zig. Thats verry handy to know.
I had intended to start a new tank over Christmas but never got the time.
It could be another month now before i get a chance.
I keep going back and looking at your mountainscape. It's something else.

Darren.

amazing... im stumped.. where is the heater/filter?

arabesque wrote:

amazing... im stumped.. where is the heater/filter?

Thanks Mick, thats your sand in there;)

I just remove the equipment for the photo and it goes back in afterwards.

Hey Zig,

Cracking looking tanks. Can I ask where you sourced your ADA substrate from. The large bags where 30 dollars in San Francisco when I was there last month but I can only imagine that they might be a little bit more expensive and harder to source here? In your personal opinion, can you recommend any particular substrate that might be easier to source than the ADA stuff, but yet gives good results?

Thanks

Denis

Zig,
You mentioned that you used mini landscape rocks from aquaristic. You also said that you need to request sizes when ordering. What sizes did you use in the tanks that pictured in this thread? I have a rekord 96 that I plan to start a planted tank with, any suggestions on rock sizes?
The pictures look amazing and I hope to use them for inspiration.
The equipment has been removed for the photos. Is it hidden in any way when it is in the tank?

Derek

dclifford wrote:

Zig,
You mentioned that you used mini landscape rocks from aquaristic. You also said that you need to request sizes when ordering. What sizes did you use in the tanks that pictured in this thread? I have a rekord 96 that I plan to start a planted tank with, any suggestions on rock sizes?
The pictures look amazing and I hope to use them for inspiration.
The equipment has been removed for the photos. Is it hidden in any way when it is in the tank?

Derek

Hey Derek, the rocks I bought in batches from Aquaristic over a period of time, Im not sure how many I have in total but it must be quite a bit at this stage maybe 30kg in total, Id say there is about 15-20 kg in that Aquascape but a lot of it is buried under the substrate. If you dont say what you want they will more than likely only send you large rocks, so just say you want a mix, some large, some medium and some small. There is a little dialog box for suggestions when you make the order, thats where I make the request.

The equipment is not hidden when the tank runs normally, although you can use inline heaters etc to get equipment out of the tank.

They have Dragon stone rocks in Wackers long mile road ATM which I think are very good for an aquascape, I bought some today, they are another popular alternative to mini landscape rocks, heres a link to a tank done with the dragon stones, this is an Iwagumi type layout. The rocks in Wackers are exactly the same as this and a lot closer to home, you can do nice layouts with them. They had no plants in stock today though, they were expecting a delivery last friday which didnt show up just in case you made the trip over. Worth considering anyway, the size of rocks they had would work well in a 96l Juwel tank, you could work out a layout there and then in the shop before you buy them. With the rocks from Aquaristic its pretty hit and miss TBH as to what you will recieve.

www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aqu...ed-tank-journal.html

Zig,
Have you ever thought about adding some white to the tops of the rocks? It could make them look like they are snowcapped. Or is this going too far?

Jusrt saw you're tank in the latest PFK. Well Done.

Thanks Derek!

I thought about adding white sand alright, I might give it a go;)