[Mikeygmzmg]

After having my 90 gallon for a year and a half, I finally decided to tear down and start a new scape. When I originally set up my old tank, I didn't know how to achieve extra height and create the mountain range I wanted. I also rushed it and completed the hardscape in a day.

This time is much different! I have spent time researching egg crate, how to achieve depth and scale, tricks like gravel filled pantyhose, and even started creating some of my own mini mountain peaks out of the seiryu stone and concrete.

I have been working on this for a little over a week now and want to start sharing my progress. Lots of work to go (and another 200$ of stone to buy >.<) but it's on it's way. The tank will be filled with all types of exotic mosses and nothing else. Thinking of doing mini pelia, fissidens, java moss, christmas moss, mini christmas moss, and some flame moss.

I chose the name "Mountains of Colossa" because my old man and I have always loved this 50's monster movie called the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. The mountain ranges and stone structures in the movie were always fascinating to me so I wanted to try and emulate them.

 

[Parahnoyd]

Looking awesome so far! I'm excited to see how this will turn out.

 

[Doogy262]

Fantastic,that must have been a ton of work.Will the section of egg crate in the middle be covered with substrate and plants/Can't wait to see and maybe copy this on a smaller scale in a 40b I am re scaping.

 

[Mikeygmzmg]

Fantastic,that must have been a ton of work.Will the section of egg crate in the middle be covered with substrate and plants/Can't wait to see and maybe copy this on a smaller scale in a 40b I am re scaping.

Thank you Doogy! The middle sections will be covered with rock and bags of gravel. I'm brainstorming on a way to place a powerhead inside of the largest box of eggcrate so it keeps a flowing going undeneath the mountains and reduces the stagnant plant and fish matter.

 

[fusyperez]

Very nice


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[loach guy]

That's a fair penny's worth of Seiryu Stone. It will be cool to see how this turns out!

 

[bereninga]

This looks like you've spent a fortune and put in a lot of time already. Mosses would be a great choice as maintenance of any other sorts of plants could take hours/week.

Subbing to see how this story unfolds! Godspeed!

 

[theatermusic87]

If your looking for circulation under everything you could use a small pump hooked to some PVC pipe with s manifold on the end, look up reverse under gravel filters... Though my personal vote is to fill the space with something like lava rock that way you are less likely to have your substrate settle in over time and there is no space for fish to get stuck, unless your intentionallly making a cave

 

[Mikeygmzmg]

If your looking for circulation under everything you could use a small pump hooked to some PVC pipe with s manifold on the end, look up reverse under gravel filters... Though my personal vote is to fill the space with something like lava rock that way you are less likely to have your substrate settle in over time and there is no space for fish to get stuck, unless your intentionallly making a cave

Really like this idea. What if I did a combination of both lava rock and the under eggcrate/gravel pump?

Bump:

This looks like you've spent a fortune and put in a lot of time already. Mosses would be a great choice as maintenance of any other sorts of plants could take hours/week.

Subbing to see how this story unfolds! Godspeed!

Haha yes lots of money and time for sure. I have had to treat my wife to a lot of purses, shoes, sush dinners, etc. to even it all out.

Moss will definitely be my choice of plant for the tank, not just for maintenance but to make the scale of the tank look extremely large.

 

[Mikeygmzmg]

more rocks

Got some more rocks added last night. I'm using silicone for the larger ones and leaving some of the smaller ones loose. The smaller ones being loose will be good so that when I affix mosses to them, I can work with them easily by taking them in and out of the tank.

 

[Mikeygmzmg]

Finished up the hardscape over the weekend. Very happy with how it came out. Can't wait to start adding some mosses this week. Next up on the checklist is filter installations and my first rex grigg reactor! Then sand and water. I have 55 gallons of RO ready to pump in and the rest will be tap. I found that's the best combo for my water parameters.

 

[bereninga]

This tank looks f'n epic! Please glue those rocks VERY well because an avalanche would seriously be disastrous. Also, get a ton of mosses so you won't have to scrub so much rock. Can't wait to see this!

 

[Mikeygmzmg]

This tank looks f'n epic! Please glue those rocks VERY well because an avalanche would seriously be disastrous. Also, get a ton of mosses so you won't have to scrub so much rock. Can't wait to see this!

Most definitely! These babies are siliconed tight to all of the egg crate and bag supports at the bottom.

If I do it just right, I think I am going to be algae free on this scape and avoid rock scrubbing all together (famous last words).

 

[thejoe]

I like it! btw, great movie.

 

[Mikeygmzmg]

I like it! btw, great movie.

One of my all time favorites despite the old specail effects. Hoping this tank will take me to the land beyond beyond, from the world past hope and fear! lolllll

 

[Veritas]

wow. How many pounds of rock is that???


looks really good. congrats

 

[Mikeygmzmg]

wow. How many pounds of rock is that???


looks really good. congrats

Hey man, it's about 150 lbs total.. the small mountain peaks you see I made most of them with cement and seiryu stone. An LFS gave me the idea as they were selling them for $15 a piece.

 

[Acro]

This looks amazing!!!!!!
I've always wanted to do something like that, however I worry about cleaning. I just imagine that whole space under the rocks filling with mulm and/or going anaerobic and causing problems.
How do your overcome this, or is it even a worry?

 

[Mikeygmzmg]

This looks amazing!!!!!!
I've always wanted to do something like that, however I worry about cleaning. I just imagine that whole space under the rocks filling with mulm and/or going anaerobic and causing problems.
How do your overcome this, or is it even a worry?

I have a pump in the largest box of egg crate so that there is a "secret flow" going under the whole chasm Also, all egg crate is wrapped with plastic mesh sheets from "Michaels" craft store. It's fine enough to not let dead fish or large particles fall in between and large enough to let water flow through. I was going to go with pond liner, but didn't like the idea of stagnant water sitting under the mountains.

 

[Acro]

I have a pump in the largest box of egg crate so that there is a "secret flow" going under the whole chasm Also, all egg crate is wrapped with plastic mesh sheets from "Michaels" craft store. It's fine enough to not let dead fish or large particles fall in between and large enough to let water flow through. I was going to go with pond liner, but didn't like the idea of stagnant water sitting under the mountains.

Brilliant!!!!
High fives all around!!!!