So this is my scape inspired by Mots rock filled tanks (thanks Mot)
Need some feedback before I finalize and fill. My challenge will be that this will be a low tech tank. The "canyons" will be filled with Mr. Aqua substrate with worm casts underneath. The rest of the tank will be sand.
Dosing with excel and some ferts, no CO2.
Plants will be anubias on the rock and some christmas moss. In the canyons, I will plant monte carlo on the left side and downoi on the right with some stem plants such as Ludwigia and Wisteria in the back. All these I have grown at low tech but the groundcover will be challenging in this larger tank. The rock face will be softened when I attach anubias nana and christmas moss at various spots.
Added substrate. Looks messy but will stay that way as I do DSM. The slight slope of the Mr. Aqua aquasoil is maintained by stone chips placed upright. The same is done at the "mouth" of the canyon to keep the sand away from the soil with slanted stone chips and to keep snails from spreading it around. Planting starts tomorrow. Micranthemum monte carlo and pogostemon helferi in the front and stem plants at the back. Nothing much to be planted in the sand. Anubias nana and some fern on the rocks and possibly Buces later.
Planted Monte carlo and the Downoi. Probably give it two weeks before I flood. This will likely be the last update till the tank is established given the overhwhelming response to this thread.
That's a really cool aquascape. Good job diversifying the three rock piles' proportions, heights and angles to the front of the tank. I like how the big pile on the left is at a sharper angle.
What kind of fish do you plan to keep? It would be cool to keep something (shrimp, otos, etc.) that will cling to and interact with the rock wall face, IMO.
Although I am not a fan of straight 'cut' rocks, I have to admit you joined them very well. Your aquarium manages to show some dinamism despite the straight lines. Once grown in, I think there will be alot of cool angles to observe the tank.
Maybe the harder lines will be broken once the anubias and mosses are growing . Keep us posted.
The otos will sure have alot of cleaning surface to cover.
The lines and sharp edges will be broken up by anubias stuck into the crevices. Also some java fern. My only concern about using mosses is that I feel they tend to collect a lot of dirt. Any thought s on whether mini pellia will grow without CO2?
That's a great tank size. I know it may be overdone, but an aquascape like that would look great with a big group of active, tight-schooling fish like rummynose tetras darting around and behind the rock work.
Barbs would be cool, too, although fish selection is limited if shrimps will be stocked. My rice fish and sparkling gouramis killed off all of the red cherry shrimp in my 10 gallon.
I like the setup a lot can't wait to see how it is when grown in with plants. How do you find the dsm to be working out for you I plant on doing dsm with my next tank- any advice?
I have done DSM once before but with a nano 7.5 gallon tank. Grew a beautiful lawn of monte carlo plus downoi at low tech. Used a similar substrate of Eco-complete and Mr. Aqua Aquasoil mixed together. Here i used flora max instead of eco-complete because of trouble getting the substrate locally. The plants might look haggard early on as they transition to emersed but usually come back growing new shoots. I keep the openings covered in plastic to conserve moisture and allow the tank to air out for a few hours each day. Spray water once or twice a day depending on how things look.
First time trying this with a bigger tank though and I already switched off one of the current satellite plus strips as I think it might be too much light for DSM and may be drying out the plants. We'll see.
Expect this to take another few weeks but so far its day 3 of DSM and everything looks good.
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