Well, I went Brazilian. My first attempt anyway.
I’m starting this journal at day 2 already, suffice to say I was a bit too busy to share it prior to this evening. So forgive the delayed update and my not sharing the planning stages, I’m a rookie with scapes so it was a hot mess of planning 🙃
I’ve had fun with a mostly plant-only tank, minimal hardscape, and lots of stems. It was time for a change so these school holidays I gutted the tank and am giving a Brazilian style scape a try. I’m excited and scared at the same time 🫣
![Image]()
I kept my substrate, didn’t touch the filter, and kept the healthiest top portions of all my plants. All fishies and shrimp (lord I had a lot of shrimp I didn’t know about) went into buckets with air pumps and I got to work.
The first hurdle was my inlet - due to my top bracing it cannot sit over the lip in many places… actually it can only sit on the back corners, and a steep sloping back for this style of aquascape was going to be a problem.
Cue my improvised inlet barrier to create a safe zone.
![Image]()
Look, it might become an issue with debris collecting on the right lower side, but I can access that area easiest via siphon so I’ll see how it goes.
I used foam blocks and 16kg of scoria to create some height and piled my substrate on top. Sorry I didn’t take more pics during the build!
![Image]()
All stones are rough black lava rock. That was a mission to find! I ended up sourcing it from The Tech Den and was happy with what I got. It’s very light and I discovered some peices need gluing, future Jekk’s problem.
Once the rocks were laid out I added some WIO decorative substrate and planted. I haven’t added the WIO sand yet but intend to once I’ve marinaded on the look for a bit, it’ll help soften the other substate a bit too. I filled it up before planting and siphoned it all out again as I had made a mess with the substrate
![Image]()
Plant list!
Alternanthera reineckii ‘mini’
Bucephalandra ‘dark lamandau’
Eleocharis accicularis
Fissidens fontanus
Heteranthera zosterifolia (new)
Hygrophila corymbosa compacta
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Limnophila hippuridoides
Limnophila sessiliflora
Lobelia cardinalis mini
Ludwigia palustris ‘super red’
Ludwigia sphaerocarpa
Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo'
Pogostomon erectus
Rotala Indica bonsai
Rotala rotundifolia
Staurogyne repens
Equipment:
Chihiros WRGB Pro Slim & Fluval Plant 3.0
Sunsun HW-304A canister filter
Cerges style co2 reactor
Milwaukee ph monitor
Ferts
Leaving this the same as previous, EI levels dosed dry. Front loaded macros after 70% wc with a top up PO4 midway in the week, micros made into a bottle dosed 3x per week
Numbers:
KNO3 - 1.55g = 5ppm
K - 5.5g = 20ppm when including other K sources as well
PO4 - 2g = 7ppm
All above after WC
PO4 - 817mg = 3ppm Wednesday
Fe - 0.5g = 0.16ppm 3x per week
Weekly NPK 5:20:10
I’ve used the above strategy for a while with good results, the plants want for nothing and the slight nitrate limitation helps with the colour of the limno hippuridoides. Macro levels never fluctuate with front loading after WC and this means plants grow steady through the whole week not just towards the end of the week.
This is what it looks like tonight
![Image]()
![Image]()
I’ll tweak it a fair bit over the coming weeks no doubt, some planned plant and rock rearrangements to do as well but I thought I’d let them settle a bit first. Once they grow in and I make some tweaks I think it’ll be not bad!
Thanks as always for stopping by, any critiques welcome.
I’m starting this journal at day 2 already, suffice to say I was a bit too busy to share it prior to this evening. So forgive the delayed update and my not sharing the planning stages, I’m a rookie with scapes so it was a hot mess of planning 🙃
I’ve had fun with a mostly plant-only tank, minimal hardscape, and lots of stems. It was time for a change so these school holidays I gutted the tank and am giving a Brazilian style scape a try. I’m excited and scared at the same time 🫣
I kept my substrate, didn’t touch the filter, and kept the healthiest top portions of all my plants. All fishies and shrimp (lord I had a lot of shrimp I didn’t know about) went into buckets with air pumps and I got to work.
The first hurdle was my inlet - due to my top bracing it cannot sit over the lip in many places… actually it can only sit on the back corners, and a steep sloping back for this style of aquascape was going to be a problem.
Cue my improvised inlet barrier to create a safe zone.
Look, it might become an issue with debris collecting on the right lower side, but I can access that area easiest via siphon so I’ll see how it goes.
I used foam blocks and 16kg of scoria to create some height and piled my substrate on top. Sorry I didn’t take more pics during the build!
All stones are rough black lava rock. That was a mission to find! I ended up sourcing it from The Tech Den and was happy with what I got. It’s very light and I discovered some peices need gluing, future Jekk’s problem.
Once the rocks were laid out I added some WIO decorative substrate and planted. I haven’t added the WIO sand yet but intend to once I’ve marinaded on the look for a bit, it’ll help soften the other substate a bit too. I filled it up before planting and siphoned it all out again as I had made a mess with the substrate
Plant list!
Alternanthera reineckii ‘mini’
Bucephalandra ‘dark lamandau’
Eleocharis accicularis
Fissidens fontanus
Heteranthera zosterifolia (new)
Hygrophila corymbosa compacta
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Limnophila hippuridoides
Limnophila sessiliflora
Lobelia cardinalis mini
Ludwigia palustris ‘super red’
Ludwigia sphaerocarpa
Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo'
Pogostomon erectus
Rotala Indica bonsai
Rotala rotundifolia
Staurogyne repens
Equipment:
Chihiros WRGB Pro Slim & Fluval Plant 3.0
Sunsun HW-304A canister filter
Cerges style co2 reactor
Milwaukee ph monitor
Ferts
Leaving this the same as previous, EI levels dosed dry. Front loaded macros after 70% wc with a top up PO4 midway in the week, micros made into a bottle dosed 3x per week
Numbers:
KNO3 - 1.55g = 5ppm
K - 5.5g = 20ppm when including other K sources as well
PO4 - 2g = 7ppm
All above after WC
PO4 - 817mg = 3ppm Wednesday
Fe - 0.5g = 0.16ppm 3x per week
Weekly NPK 5:20:10
I’ve used the above strategy for a while with good results, the plants want for nothing and the slight nitrate limitation helps with the colour of the limno hippuridoides. Macro levels never fluctuate with front loading after WC and this means plants grow steady through the whole week not just towards the end of the week.
This is what it looks like tonight
I’ll tweak it a fair bit over the coming weeks no doubt, some planned plant and rock rearrangements to do as well but I thought I’d let them settle a bit first. Once they grow in and I make some tweaks I think it’ll be not bad!
Thanks as always for stopping by, any critiques welcome.
