Looking forward to following along. Looks like a great setup for shrimp though definitely wouldn't try to pair them with a betta.

 

Glad to hear it! Yeah haven't thought too much about livestock, other than shrimps being really fun to observe! I've also wanted to have a betta at some point. Or perhaps some smaller schooling fish, neon tetras or so. Anyways I'll make sure the species are compatible before putting them in together of course.

 

Definitely following this one, looks great.

 

A small school of longfin rice fish would be pretty majestic for such an island. Black ones might be better though.

 

A small school of longfin rice fish would be pretty majestic for such an island. Black ones might be better though.

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That's an awesome suggestion, definitely considering them!

Definitely following this one, looks great.

Cheers bud, appreciate it

 

Looking great! CPD school would look good and get along with shrimp well.

 

Thanks mate! Yes CPD's are lovely, had them in a previous tank, might go that route again but always fun to try something new too.

 

Paid a visit to my LFS tonight - picked up a handful of mangrove roots, all the size of roughly a palm which is perfect for my scape. Unfortunately they didn't have too much in the way of plants, for example only one Anubias species (one of the large ones unfortunately) so no plants today. I'll probably look to ordering plants online instead, I've sent a few emails to see how the online shops manages the -10C or colder we're expecting next week. Also picked up a bag of blasting sand from the local hardware store, it's a trade secret that it doubles as aquarium sand and much cheaper at that.

This is where I landed after playing around for about an hour. Quite happy with this, now I should rinse everything, remove the cardboard and put it all back. Any comments, suggestions or critique is welcome as always!

 

Let me know your thoughts on this alternative placement of the wood - is it more organic, natural? Bear in mind I intend to place a java fern where the three stones and wood piece intersect. That area will also be filled with aquasoil, whereas the front will be beach sand (represented by the cardboard).

I've plugged in the backlight as you can see - gives a hint of colour, lights are very dimmed here for balance and to allow the camera to catch the light properly.

Plants are ordered and will hopefully be shipped early next week and arrive in time before Christmas. Bill of Materials looks as follows:

Additionally Hygrophila pinnatifida och Microsorum pteropus petit have been ordered from a private grower as the store didn't have them in stock. Hopefully this should make for a good Jurassic experience!

Thinking about giving the dry start method a go. Budget friendly but also giving plenty of time for the moss to attach to the wood seems like a huge benefit. Plus it's fun to try a new discourse in the hobby.

 

It’s going to look amazing of course, but I personally preferred the original hardscape. I imagined it with lots of fine detail rocks at the base on the substrate and plants that gave a rocky mountain scene keeping the scale intact.

Just personal preference really, that’s the beauty of aquascapes, your vision of the end product is what matters.

Looking forward to seeing how you plant it!

 

I see what you mean, the first hardscape I threw together with what I already had and was amazed myself by how good it looked in it's raw format. Nevertheless, with this scape I wanted to stray away from the Iwagumi-style layout using only rocks and go for a nature scape incorporating wood as well. I could of course do my own take on Iwagumi, using only rocks but a multitude of plants resulting in a hybrid style, perhaps I'll go down that route in the future. Seeing how I enjoy planning and executing the scapes themselves, more than having a "finished" aquarium, it's not unlikely I'll redo this in 3-6 months, especially since I only have the one tank.

Fine-detailed rocks will be added to the substrate, and will try and maintain a good sense of scale. Thanks, appreciate constructive discussions around scaping and layout.

 

Sounds awesome and I look forward to following along.

 

I'll be away for most of two weeks over the holidays and the plan was to plant the aquarium the coming few days and let the dry-start method get going before that. However the bulk of my plant order was not shipped yesterday as the store was too afraid of the forecast for really cold weather at the end of this week and will wait until next week. I'm not in a hurry really but it would've been nice to get it all started before Christmas.

I did receive another plant delivery today though, a private seller who shipped it yesterday. Hygrophila pinnatifida och Microsorum pteropus petit was in the package, as well as a Christmas gift; some Hygrophila pinnatifida 'Uttara Kannada', which to my understanding will have slightly longer and more reddish leaves. Fun!

As I don't want to moisten the aquarium before all the plants have arrived so I've put the plants in plastic bags for now, giving them an individual dry-start until all the plants are here and I'll seal off the whole tank. A quick phone picture, sorry for potato quality.

 

The sand added

Aquasoil added and blocked off with filter cotton

Plants added

Sealed off

 

Any updates on this tank @Hujeta ?