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
New aquascaping tank
sand will be the only possible source of any compaction as it gradualy sifts through the more open mediums this can be addressed by isolating the sand within your layout,i.e using your rock,wood or other decoration to keep the majority of the sand from spreading into other areas.
hope this is of some assistance in you coming to your final design.
regards
joe mc
I am only going to only be using a small amount of sand for visual purposes only, no plants will be planted in the sand.
sheag35 wrote:
I will be using CO2, I originally intended to go down the DIY CO2 route based on Cardnim's article but I have a very active cat that is always knocking into stuff and I'd fear that the solutions would end up being knocked all over the floor or even worse into the tank.Just thought i'd throw in my 2 cent worth, i currently use tetra substrate in 2 of my tanks as an experiment, one is just substrate, one just co2 injected and the third is substrate and co2, being honest the plants grow fantastically well in just the substrate alone or just with co2 by itself thing but the best results i've found is using both the plant growth is phenominal, i use the tetra co2 cannisters with the diffuser that came with it its a spray option each fill of the diffuser lasts approx 4 hrs. i find this handy as you dont have to worry about too much co2 in the tank at night and a lack of o2 due to it. i must admit i'm not religious about my sprays of co2 but the plants definately benefit from it and with the cannisters of co2 selling at €10 approx each it a cheap but good option for approx 1 months supply.
I am going to use a CO2 fire extinguisher to provide CO2 as these are the cheapest option, a 5kg cylinder should last me at least a year if not 2-3years
I always trim my plants when doing a water change in current tank, if I didn't my amazon sword and roseafolia would consume the tankDont know if this will help but hey i tried, oh yes may sound stupid to say this but don't forget to take dead leaves off plants and trim the roots to encourage new growth when planting
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. I'm looking forward to seeing this tank up and running. Any news on getting your stock yet? Lead me not into temptation, For I can find it myself!
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Yipe, it gives me flexibilty to try different lighting strategies.Thats a nice amount of light Darragh
No word yet, but I'm off for a few days holidays and I don't have all the equipment yet like the lily pipes, drop checkers, diffusors, etc so I don't mind at the moment, but hopefully they should be here in time for Easter weekend which will give me loads of time to prepare and setup the tankI'm looking forward to seeing this tank up and running. Any news on getting your stock yet?
I'll post up photos soon
Thanks
Darragh.
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FP = Focal Point
CH = Cyperus Helfrei
BA = Bacopa austruilus
HC = Hemianthus callitrichoides
LM = Lilaeopsis Mauritana
MP = Microsum Pteropus
UG = Utriculara graminfola
The theme of the layout will be ¨Mountain Path¨, the path will be formed with sand in an S shape bring the path from the foreground up the ¨Mountain¨ to the focal point object.
I am using 4 compositional elements, to bring the viewer to the same point each time, the elements are:
- Golden mean - focal point is golden mean line (rule of thirds)
- Leading line/S-Curve - Path to mountain top
- Right-sided composition - Mountain on right side of tank
- Negative space - left side only has carpet
Thoughts, ideas , suggestions ?
Darragh
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Military style planning here Darragh
Military style planning because I am military style bored looking at a glass box
, but I got a really beautiful piece of rock off Gavin in Wackers at the weekend, so I can make a start on my hardscape and throw out my original plan because the rock needs a left sided composition.I should have a photo of my hardscape up in the next day or 2
Darragh
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Waiting for delivery myself Darragh, although I only need a couple of things which I hope come in:huh:
Look forward to seeing this specimen rock, I believe its big.
darragh wrote:
zig wrote:
Military style planning here Darragh
Military style planning because I am military style bored looking at a glass box
I should have a photo of my hardscape up in the next day or 2
Darragh
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The rock you are talking about is it dragon rock? If so there was a box of it out the back that i rummaged through a couple of weeks ago
. The lads never put it out in the shop. If it is, it sounds like Darragh got the tall L shaped piece. Nice piece for a large tank. Please Log in to join the conversation.
This is my hardscape and substrate so far, I've alter my sand \"path\" as a \"mountain\" wouldn't fit in the tank.
With the hardscape almost complete, I think I have a clear image of what I want from this tank.
I've a few more shoots of the substrate and the hood which I'll put up later
Darragh
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This is the first layer of Aqua Grit going down.
As you can see I have placed a ruler in it to measure the depth of the layers.
The first layer will be used to structure the overall shape of the substrate.
For the first layer, I put down 1cm depth of Aqua grit at the front, rising up to 4-5cm where my centre piece will be placed and gradually sloping towards the back of the tank
The next layer to go down, is a 1cm layer of plant substrate, I am using the Tropica substrate.
Finally, I covered the Tropica substrate with 3-4cm depth of Aqua Grit.
I dug out a trench for the path, I am using an inert sand for this.
I poured in the sand and placed in the piece of rock.
I covered around the base of the rock with a bit more Aqua Grit, so that the rock looks like it is coming out of the substrate, rather than placed on top of it.
There was several hours spent wiring up the lights, this is wiring in the hood for the five bulbs
This is all 5 bulbs totalling 144 watts
This is the tank as it stands at the moment
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I love it! More Light More light,So that's 144 watts for 100l, that's 22 UK gallons which makes it roughly 6.2 watts per gallon. Then, when you take into account the displacement of water by the substrate and rock you are looking at the bones of 7 watts per gallon!!!! I am in AWE!
However and although I am always appreciative of over engineering, at the moment I am having a problem trying to get enough co2 into the tank for 4.6 watts per gallon. Have you thought about putting in an in-line co2 diffuser with your external filter. It might be an easier way of getting sufficient co2 into the water?
Lead me not into temptation, For I can find it myself!
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Finally got a few plants on Friday, so I made a start on the tank.
This is a shot of it this morning taken with a cameraphone
Darragh
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