I've had this tank lying around for some time trying to decide what to do with it. Up to now its been a holding tank and an emersed setup. I broke down on saturday and set it up for another scape. Its all just practice right now anyway.
I used some granite I had lying around. Its the same stuff thats in the 20 long so it'll look much better after it gets some age on it.
Started with the intention of doing a stone dominated scape that takes the majority of the tank volume up while hoping to get some terraces in there between the stone to grow UG in to spill over the rock work. The cave dead center just came about as I tried to make the pile o rock look natural. Nothing about the layout screams golden ratio.. oh well. Its got a lot of growing to do.
Tank:
Standard AGA 10 gallon
2x24W T5HO current fixture
Used aquasoil I... the kind that breaks down if you look at it wrong
pressurized CO2 through a glass diffuser
Plants:
Eleocharis 'belem' in the foreground
Utricularia Graminifolia on the hill and between rocks
Baby staurogyne 'porto velho' in the back right
Mass of fern + anubias came from a chunk of driftwood in my 40
Thanks for the comments. I think a few weeks of growing is going to change the appearance greatly. Hopefully at that point it'll look a little less contrived and even more natural, especially after the rocks lose that "new" look.
Once that happens I may ditch the anubias and ferns to try to scale things back a bit so it looks larger.
Sapphoqueen: I have no idea what a wall frog is... care to share?
Your water is amazingly clear. i had to look over to your CO2 diffuser to see if it was actually filled or not.
I would normally say the rocks and bg plants are too big for the tank but for your setup, I think it creates a very "intimate" feeling for lack of a better term. Great job.
ZTM: Its heavy. No thoughts for any life outside of plants at the moment as it may be a short lived tank depending on how it grows in.
Trackhazard: I think it took over an hour to fill it. Mainly because as I was planting and spritzing I noticed that pieces of soil were already breaking down into the brick dust deal. So much for "deals" on used soil heh. Thanks for the comments. Looking at the tank in reality the stone is right up to the front glass with only a small section for plants up front. Trying something a little different.
I snapped a few pics of the tank this afternoon to update the thread a little.
Not too much to post about. The tank is settling in fairly well. Getting a little hair algae that I always get when starting new scapes so no surprise there, should be gone in a week or two.
Eleocharis 'belem' is starting to carpet up well in the front. UG in the rock cracks is showing a little progress but lagging behind a bit. The baby staurogyne 'porto velho' on the right is taking the biggest hit at the moment doing a good job of melting away. If it doesn't bounce back soon I'll just pull it and replace the whole bank on the right with more hairgrass.
Quick update. Sorry for the dark pic, I lost the pink freshwater bulb in my fixture so its only running 1x24 right now. :-/
Tank is doing well. Minimal algae so far. UG is slowly stating to get going between the rocks and the staurogyne 'porto velho' finally decided to wake up on the right side.
The rocks are starting to get that nice grown in patina now. A few more weeks and it will look much more mature.
That tank soooo needs a pair of Apistos! That cave would be perfect for them. I've got a pair of A. cacatuoides breeding in a 16 gal, and they have been hands down the most interesting and enjoyable fish I've ever kept. GET SOME!
Took a few images this afternoon while trying to catch the blue tigers out for some pictures. Things are progressing well with the tank. I've removed the Utricularia between the rocks all together. The growth just wasn't uniform enough. This will be replaced with Fissidens Fontanus moss. This should contrast well to the bright green of the foreground carpet as well.
The fern/anubias have been removed from the background and replaced with plain rotala sp 'green'. Just got its first mowing on thursday.
Otherwise just chugging along. The odd colored rocks in there are temporary cultures of mini-pellia that are going in the 40 re-scape tomorrow.
Can't wait to get a few assassin snails to help get the pond snails back in check... including manual removal of course.
Now THAT looks awesome! Your eleocharis lawn really filled in good... it's a nice bright contrast for the darker rock work. I agree on the fissidens, that will work out much better for the location... can't wait to see how that fills in... too bad it's such a slow grower, don't want to have to wait that long! This should end up being a long-term sustainable and easy care tank.
Are you using one of those mini canisters for filtration? Let me know what you think of it, I've been looking at them...
bb: With this much light and the CO2 cranked you'll be very surprised how fast a nice patch of fissidens will grow. Filtration is a used fluval 105 on this tank that I bought through the s&s here. I packed the last basket full with some very fine micro filtration pads to slow down the flow a little. Guess that explains the high water polish and clarity.
I'm just glad I got the OE blue tigers in for it. My wife was already asking what kind of fish I was going to put in there for her!
Someone asked what type of light that is and I figured I'd pop it in here. Its a current 30" 2x24W t5ho. It hangs over on either edge but the bulb length is only 24" so it works out well and doesn't spill a ton of light around the tank.
The Rotala has grown back up and will take a few more heavy trims to get it to bush out more like I want. The staurogyne 'porto velho' is now the largest leaved plant in the tank and I'm trying to decide if I want to keep it or try something with a similar growth pattern but smaller leaves.
Algae wise things are ok. I have some BBA tufts on the rocks now from a little co2 level bouncing that happened when I added a large foam filter to the intake. It should stabilize soon and I'll kill off whats there with some excel. If it keeps growing I might try to let it cover the face of the rock. :O
OEBTs are doing well and maturing. These are stock from DK via someone who bought them from her a while back. Still patiently waiting to see some berry action. I went a little crazy with the pics... these little buggers have by far become my favorite shrimps. The orange eyes just make them so alien looking. Here are some images of the tanks inhabitants.
This is one of the best 10g scapes I've ever seen, great strong hardscape for sure. The plants are also placed very well to work with the stone. Great job.
This is one of the best 10g scapes I've ever seen, great strong hardscape for sure. The plants are also placed very well to work with the stone. Great job.
Andrew the comment is much appreciated. Its nice to feel like I'm actually starting to learn scaping. Still a long ways to go.
Any thoughts on the 'porto velho' on the right leaves being too large? Trying to think what other smaller leaved clustering type semi-low growing plant I could put there if I did get rid of it.
Starting to learn? Your tanks have been looking great for quite a while so I'd say you know what you're doing.
I like the porto velho as it lessens the blow of the heavily planted left side and helps keep the eye focused on the center of the tank rather than the left.
:icon_redf thanks dj. Much appreciated. I do have a tiny bit of P stellatus 'narrow leaf' (sp?) in the rear-middle but its not coming in as well as I'd hoped.
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