# The Journal of a Complete Beginner! [50 gallons - Now with WATER!]



## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Hello all!

My name is Gary Hudston and I am not new to fishkeeping by any means. I used to breed fancy guppies and, more recently, bettas (which I intend to return to eventually) and have kept several community aquariums and one pair of oscars in the past.

However, I have never kept a planted aquarium beyond sticking in a few live plants and hoping for the best (then experiencing the worst ).

So once again, I find myself a complete and utter beginner in yet another facet of the hobby which I find myself strangely enthralled with.

Having found myself living in a new, aquarium-less house I figure it's time to get stuck in. I have, sitting right next to me on a (very sturdy, reinforced) desk a brand spanking new Aqua One Evo 100 with 2x39w T5 lights in the hood, which I bought from Chiltern Aquatics for a very reasonable £170!

And... that's about it I'm afraid. It's sitting there, completely empty apart from the filter tubes and heater, which I put in for no reason other than to ease my impatience. I have several bags of Flourite Black Sand and one bag of regular Flourite Black (they didn't have enough of the sand) on order, should be arriving in the next couple of days. Going shopping for some rocks/wood in the next few days aswell; after all that arrives then I'll take some pictures for you all.

As for plans, I'm not totally sure what plants/fish will be going in there just yet. But I'm planning to grow some HC (and/or perhaps some others?) emmersed for awhile, as it will probably be a month or two until I can afford CO2 and other essentials. Once there's water in there and it's all cycled I'll start out with some cherry shrimp, which are the only thing I've settled on so far. As for fish, I'm not so sure. I've got a bit of a list going, but the more I try to research and narrow it down, the more I find to add to the list.

Oh well, that's for later anyway! Wish me luck and I'll update with some pictures when I have something to take pictures of!

*Current State*
*







*​


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

I wish ya luck!!


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*Adventures in Flourite*

My search for hardscape was fruitless. I scoured every aquatics centre in the area and found nothing of use. There was some nice wood in my favourite shop which was reasonably priced, but it just wasn't the sort of thing that I want for this scape. Looks like I may have to resort to ordering.

Aquaessentials has some good ones as far as I've seen, I'm quite fond of the "knife stone". Has anyone ordered their rocks and wood online before? I'm uncertain how much to order; it's all well and good charging per kg, but I have no point of reference for how large a 2kg rock is.

It's not all hopeless, though. My flourite arrived this afternoon and it took me the best part of the evening to rinse it all and put it in the tank! There is one bag of regular flourite piled up at the back where most of the bigger plants are going to go, and three bags of flourite sand on top of that to keep the corydoras happy.










As far as I'm concerned, it has something in it now so it's officially an aquarium; as opposed to a big glass box. I'm quite pleased with how it looks too, can't wait until I get some suitable hardscape and start growing some HC in there.

It wasn't all fun and games though. I heard beforehand that flourite can be fairly messy, which it was, but the sand was absolutely filthy. There is usually a reasonable amount of dust removed from aquarium gravel when you rinse it, and it took a fair while before the water began to clear up whilst rinsing the flourite; the sand, however, turned the water a dark brown/black colour until I had rinsed it about 4-5 times and continued to heavily cloud the water for a long time afterwards. Eventually I gave up at "slightly cloudy", rather than the "crystal clear" that I usually strive for.

I rinsed the substrate in my bath, as it is absolutely freezing outside and using the hosepipe in the garden would probably result in frostbite; and I need my fingers to maintain the plants! So when I was done washing the gravel, I left the filthy water to drain whilst I filled up the tank.

I returned to find this:










The water had drained, and left behind what looked like a ton of excess sand. I was terrified that I had somehow washed away tons of my expensive substrate but I soon realised that this was just a very visual example of how much dust there is in flourite sand.










It was closer to mud than sand and in parts that had completely dried off only a very fine dust remained. This was obviously what had clouded the water so much but I was truely astonished at just how much of it there was. I was tempted to put it into the tank but when I tested it in some water it was so light that it just dispersed.

Managed to clean it before my other half got too annoyed, luckily. Though I think I've been banished out in the cold for any future attempts to wash any substrate... :icon_roll​


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## lilhelper (Nov 24, 2008)

I am truly excited for this tank! Keep us posted!


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*Incoming Hardscape*

A very minor update for today. I've just placed an order for 20kg of Seiryu Stone and two pieces of Redmoor Wood. Will be interesting to see how this works out as all of the Individual pieces that I liked had been sold, so instead I opted to let the store hand pick it for me and left them a description of what I was after.

Hopefully it will be what I'm looking for, worst comes to worst I'll just take a hack saw and some aquarium sealant to it!


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*Parcelforce. Parcelforce! PARCELFORCE!!!*

I was hoping to have something more to show by today. I had ordered my rocks and wood with express delivery via "parcelforce 24" which I believed would arrive yesturday, so I stayed in waiting for it.

Apparantly not. Parcelforce DO deliver on saturday; but only if you pay them an extra £12.

My thoughts in video form!
(warning: slight language)

Nevermind. It just means that I have to hope it turns up tomorrow when someone is around at home; then I'll have some pictures of the hardscape and possibly the very first stages of a HC carpet!​


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I can't wait to see the hardscape.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night!*

Well, the hardscape arrived today.

I think I'm going to both love and hate this planted aquascape thing. Buying rocks and wood blindly means that I have no idea what I'm going to get, making any prior planning null and void.

That being said, I love everything that arrived. The rocks are beautiful and the wood is almost precisely what I asked for, but not quite; which I'll explain later.

Here's some pictures of what came in the boxes:

*This is the lot. 
6" craft knife for comparison.*










*A (terrible) close up of the wood.









I got a laugh when I took this photo.
Reminds me of an easter island head!









*All of it is wonderful. The problem, however, is that it's almost trying to not fit in with my plans on purpose. The larger piece of wood is the perfect mirror image of what I wanted and will not fit in my tank in the way that I want it to on the side of the tank that it's supposed to go into. This won't do, as the tank will be viewed from the front and the left hand side; so I must keep that side clear so that people entering my room can see the fish, not a branch.

Looks like I will have to think on my feet with this one and try to do something a bit different.

The larger piece of wood looks spectacular when held upsidedown as if it were a tree root coming down into the water, and I have even toyed with the idea of placing the smaller root underneath the larger one creating a single, larger root; my only issue with that idea is that I need to raise it up slightly to hide the unsightly top part of the wood where it has been cut away. I may have to create a pile of rocks to do this so that I do have a root just dangling into the water. I fear that my lack of substrate is going to be my biggest enemy here.

That's one option. I do quite like how these rocks look when piled up together, though; it's quite impressive.

I will keep playing around with them and see how it goes. Does anyone have any links to aquascapes with "tree roots" like I'm talking about, or any advice on artificially raising a hill or a mound of rocks? (I'm thinking of putting something hollow inside them, or adding some caves (flowerpots?) and hiding them with rocks, gravel and moss; perhaps.)

If you have any other ideas, please do let me know. I'm off to arrange and rearrange rocks like a man possessed now. I'll check back from time to time and post pictures of anything that I come up with.​


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Those are some nice looking hardscape pieces! I have to agree that lack of substrate might give you some headaches. It always seems that you could have a bit more for sloping or covering up/burying portions of the rocks. 

Can't wait to see what you come up with! 

Cheers.


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## brion0 (Sep 28, 2008)

Cant wait to se what you come up with.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*Couldn't See the Wood for the Trees*

*It looks like some sort of creature.*











Not bad for a first try, I don't think. But what do _you_ think?

What I think is that I am _really _exhausted; this aquascaping stuff is hard work!

The only part that I'm not really pleased with is the top of the wood, but from most viewing angles it's barely noticeable and I think that I'll be able to cover it up with some sort of floating plant or moss. Speaking of which, I have 4 pots of HC to sort out before they die on me!​


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

looks good, (a lot better than my first attempt) but it's a little hard to tell what's going on in there. a brighter photo might be nice.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*A Little Brighter*

Here it is a bit brighter. Sorry for the poor pics; I need to have a good tidy up in here before I can do some proper photography. You can see the rocks a BIT better in this, but the lower rocks are still hard to distinguish because they're mostly coated in flourite at the minute.

You can see the beginnings of a HC carpet in the bottom left. Just 99 million more tiny leaves to go! :eek5:​









More pics to come soon!​


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*Maybe I Have Green Fingers Afterall?*

It's a bit delayed, but here is the update that I promised. Hopefully you'll be able to get a better feel for my scape from this.

I set about planting my HC carpet almost as soon as I had settled on the scape as the plants had been delayed in the post and were starting to get a bit dry while they were sat on my desk.

*HC planting takes forever.









*Took me about an hour and a half to cover the area that I wanted. I mist the tank at least once per day or whenever it's starting to look a bit dry. I'm trying to make sure that there is plenty of water to keep the roots nice and wet, without leaving any pools on the surface for other things to grow in. So far everything seems nice and green and I'm pretty sure that I'm starting to see something happening.

*Here is the carpet today.









*The carpet is (hopefully) going to cover most of the front of the tank, highlighting some of the half buried rocks in the process and giving me a starting point for the rest of the tank. I'm still undecided as to what plants to put elsewhere in the tank and am open to suggestions; I have moderate lighting and will have CO2 by the time I fill the tank.

Here are some more shots of the carpet. Please let me know what you think of the scape.

*From Above.









I'm still amazed how tiny this plant is.









A close up of some of the HC









And an attempt at getting artistic!









*That's it for now. Will keep you posted on the carpets growth and any other updates; I expect to get my CO2 within the next couple of weeks and my birthday is coming up so I anticipate some more plants to share with you too! 

Let me know what you think!​


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## naturalwonders (Dec 24, 2008)

Hey, nice scape. If you can maintain the slopes of the substrate and have the HC grow out, it will look awesome once things fill in. For some reasons, this scape gives me a feeling of a scene from Lord of the Rings?!:icon_surp I really like it. Perhaps it's the wood you got it there. Does it....move...or talk...??!!!:icon_eek:


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

From a low angle where you can see the top of the wood it really does look like some sort of fantasy creature...

This is what it first reminded me of:


















It was a complete accident whilst trying for a "tree root" feel, but I'm really liking the strange fantasy vibe that I'm getting from the scape. Hopefully I can improve on it with plants without losing the overall feel of it.

Luckily, the substrate isn't really as sloped as it looks. The slopes are mostly half buried rocks or stacked rocks underneath the wood; it slopes up towards the back slightly and moreso on the right hand side of the tank, but not to any extreme that might be flattened out by the water or fish.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I like this. I'm a beginner to and your start was 100000x better than mine lol.


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## vtkid (Jan 5, 2009)

Once the HC fills in and it is filled with water it will look incredible!!!
I have also just started this hobby and I am not so good but 
it is fun to see the tank thrive.
good luck.


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## naturalwonders (Dec 24, 2008)

that's a wicked fantasy creature, hahahaaha, now you got that image stuck in my head and this wood thing, lol. Can't wait to see things fill out. 
BTW, what lighting are you using? does it look a bit....too dark?


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

It seems to me all of those beautiful rocks you have are hidden beneath the wood.
Did you try any other scape ideas? Those rocks IMO are too nice to hide.


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

naturalwonders said:


> this scape gives me a feeling of a scene from Lord of the Rings?!:icon_surp I really like it. Perhaps it's the wood you got it there. Does it....move...or talk...??!!!:icon_eek:


LOL! that was an incredibly epic comment. this is a sweet tank! youve definitely done a lot better than my first tank, i started mine a whole year ago now and it doesnt look that cool!


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

It does come off as a bit dark in the photos, but I think that's my photography more than anything. I have 2x39w T5HO bulbs on the tank, it looks MUCH better in person than it does in the pictures unfortuantely; I'll try to play about with my camera a bit more and see if I can't get some more true to life shots.

As for the rocks, yeah; it is a shame to hide them. It's not very obvious in the photos because of how dark they are coming out, but the rocks are stacked quite high and the bottom two layers are nearly completely caked in flourite which I just cannot get off while the tank is empty. The nicest rocks are to the front and top of the pile; stacked up so that you can see them and the wood is on top of them with some of the roots feeding through the cracks. It looks better than it does in the pictures, but if it doesn't look better once the flourite is washed off by the tank water, like I think it will, then I might move some things around a bit.


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## naturalwonders (Dec 24, 2008)

I think if you can get the HC to fill out the bottom as a carpet, then have some smaller plants like moss or anubia petite attached to the wood at random places, this will give the whole scape a very very unique look of space and time. The wood will look aged and seem like it's still crawling out of the ground. Keep the HC low so you can still see the rocks. That would totally be awesome. (Sorry, it's the wood, it's messing with my mind, again...:icon_eek.....:bounce:


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

That's pretty much what I had in mind. I wanted to have some mosses growing on the wood, specifically at the top to hide where the wood has been cut, but I don't want to cover the wood up if at all possible so smaller plants would be better.

I'm thinking of having some plants, likely anubias and so on, growing on or around the rocks and then some taller plants in the background; but I haven't got a clue what plants I'm going to put there yet. I may put some dwarf hair grass in there for a little bit of variation in texture on the carpet but I'll have to wait and see!

Any plant suggestions would be greatly appreciated; choosing the plants for this tank has me a bit stumped!


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## naturalwonders (Dec 24, 2008)

hahaahaha, if you were close I would totally give you a mass of dwarf hair grass and whatever moss you like. I got tons of those. I'm totally subcribed to this thread.


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## aquaticmaniac (Nov 10, 2007)

GHudston, when you make it to 1st place in the ADA contest and the AGA contest, remember that I voted for this thread. lmao

First...attempt? Those are two words I cannot believe when looking at this. VERY good job and way better than my first attempt.

Serious note: What kind of wood is that?


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Wow, at this rate I'm not going to be able to fit my ego out of the door! Thanks everyone, but hold off on the praise until I manage to grow something in it!

It's Redmoor Wood. I got it from aquaessentials.co.uk, they're very good and will actually pay attention if you leave a comment describing what you're after!


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## aquaticmaniac (Nov 10, 2007)

I was actually looking at the redmoor earlier on there. Wonder if I can find something similar...*ponders*

Cheers and good luck


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I have been keeping an eye on my HC and it seems to be doing fine, it's still nice and green and there is even a tiny amount of growth on some of the plants.

But I have been thinking about my scape a lot and I may move some things around a bit. My main concern is that I haven't really left very much space to plant very much (apart from Ferns, Anubias and Moss on the rocks/wood). Much of the substrate will be covered with HC, and the remaining areas mostly have rocks on them; I have an area behind the hardscape, running around the edges that varies from about 1-3" of plain open substrate for planting in and I'm starting to think that this might not be enough.

Any thoughts?

I'm going to try and do some mock-ups in photoshop in the next couple of days to show you. But let me know what you think; I don't want to lose the feel of the scape that I have now, but I do feel that it could be improved a bit.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*Dissecting the Beast*

Continuing on from my last comment, I've really been thinking about my scape.

Here is a quick mock up of it from a birds eye view, the grey is a pile of various rocks, the orange/brown is the wood which is mostly raised above the substrate and the green specks represent the HC in it's current position.










As you can see, the rocks almost entirely cover the substrate. This concerns me, particularly around the back side of the scape as I want to have some tall plants as a backdrop. I had always planned to cover the wood and rocks with anubias and moss but I'm starting to think that I may not have any room for anything else.

As a point of reference incase you have any ideas that might help me to fix this, here is a image which illustrates how I constructed the scape from three separate pieces of redmoor wood.








​ 
The wood itself cannot be any lower than it is now, and part of the reason for the collosal pile of rocks was to raise the wood up to hide the top part. Likewise, the topmost piece of wood is almost completely flat along it's rear, so I can't turn it around without losing the natural appearance of the piece.

I feel that this issue has come primarily from bad habits formed from keeping un-planted aquariums and land hermit crab habitats (crabitats?) in that I've not taken into consideration the space needed for plants. What do you all think? would I be able to get very much in there or would it either be too dense and die off or too sparse and look awful?​


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

I personally think that scape looks good, but it does take up half your tank and so you can hardley grow any plants...I would redo it so it takes up less space


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## Roser (Jan 13, 2008)

IMO, you should stick with the scape you have. It may be harder to work with, but you can always switch it up later if it doesn't work out. I'd avoid covering up the scape too much, but I'd try to grow plants in between rocks and possibly some anubias or similar plants growing over the rocks, but leaving most of the hardscape exposed and bare.

Not all planted tanks have to be jam packed with plants to look good. I once saw a hardscape I really really liked, but the creator filled the tank so full of plants you could barely see it (it still looked good - but it's a much different look).


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*If At First You Don't Succeed...*

Taking on board some comments from you guys and some concerns of my own, I had a go at rescaping the tank this afternoon.

*ver 2.0









*I think that I managed to retain the appeal of the original scape whilst adding much more options for planting.

New additons are as follows:


Significantly more open substrate around the back of the hardscape and underneath the wood.
Pile of rocks replaced by a raised portion of substrate held up by the...
Wall of Rocks, added to the front of the scape which will hold some small Anubias.
More of a feature made of the left side of the scape with a small selection of my favourite rocks.
Substrate is sloped up to the raised area under the wood.
The HC still covers much of the front part oft he scape, but I intend to add some dwarf hair grass around the rocks and some other foreground plants aswell. The wood is going to be covered with moss and small anubias and I hope to have a lot of tall background plants to hide the equipment. All I need to do now, really, is decide what other plants to get and pick a nice specimin plant or two to act as my focal point.

Your opinions are greatly appreciated and have been extremely useful up to this point. So, what do you think?

EDIT: If you think planting HC is tedious, try unplanting it.​


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## cwilson (Dec 29, 2008)

nice setup! im totally jealous of your driftwood 

but ive got to confess when i first saw that sea creature on page two, at first glance i saw the water splash and though 'whats all over the glass?' man i need to go to bed.

but regardless, nice job so far


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## naturalwonders (Dec 24, 2008)

I think you did a great job with the scape. To me, the key for this is to choose small and compact plants which will make your scape look large. I will save some time to do a digital image of what I mean your scape could be with plants options and all. LOL, sorry if I get too carried away :hihi: I know this your work, not mine. Again, it's the wood you got. Awesome piece. I think you should not try to cover the part on top where it's cut. Leave it exposed a bit, it will look "damaged, aged, experieced and wise"..lol...:icon_cool


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## John_Auberry (Nov 2, 2008)

My wife would whig out so bad if I did that in our bath tub........like you dont even now how bad it would be at my house. :angryfire


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## amano101 (Dec 21, 2008)

thank god i'm not married yet, lol. don't get me wrong, i love my girlfriend, but there are just some things (washing substrate in the bathtub) that i want to be stupid about and not get yelled at.

i love this scape! i also hope that driftwood doesn't get too covered up by plants.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I don't intend to cover it all up with plants; This stuff was too expensive and looks too nice for it to be totally engulfed by plants. But I do want to hide some of the equipment if I can Most of the space will be taken up by low, forground plants; I just wanted a bit more space for something other than HC! I'll try and have a go at illustrating what I mean in Photoshop if I get a chance.

I look forward to what you come up with naturalwonders. Don't worry about feeling like you're jumping the gun with my scape; the main thing that worries me about this planted tank business is that I have no idea about how plants will grow and what they will end up looking like. I'm an artist by nature, so arranging rocks and wood in a way that looks nice isn't so hard; but "painting" with something that grows? That's going to take some experimenting before I get it right, any advice or examples are GREATLY appreciated!


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

In the rock pile you could put various sp. of Anubias and Java Ferns as tehy could grow through the cracks in the rocks. Looks great though.

Craig


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## malaybiswas (Nov 2, 2008)

I would second the java fern/anubias idea. Infact, IMO your hardscape will pop more with broad leaved plants than fine leaved stem plants. Since you have a nice HC carpet on the move I would suggest a combination of java fern, anubias and crypts in the mid ground between the rocks and the BW. On the left rear some vals will add some depth.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Absolutely. I really love Anubias, they are the main reason for having the rock pile in the first place. 

I hadn't thought of vals before you mentioned it but I think that you might be on to something there. I've put them on my list to consider!

Selecting plants is so difficult, I'm incredibly indecisive and there are just so many nice ones to choose from!


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## aquaticmaniac (Nov 10, 2007)

It's only been 3 days, but...update?


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Nothing more to report just yet I'm afraid. The HC is doing well and at least appears to be growing, it's difficult to tell when you inspect it several times a day!

As it's my birthday on friday, I'm being taken on a trip to "the goldfish bowl" in oxford with some spending money. I'm hoping to get some more plants and things while I'm there, though it all depends on what I can grow emmersed. If I'm being honest, I'm starting to get impatient and, as I will probably get pressurised CO2 this weekend aswell, I may fill the tank sooner than I had planned. We'll see how it goes!

I will try and do a mock-up of the tank tonight if I get the chance as, for the first time in two weeks, I have no work to do!

EDIT: Does anyone know where I can get a significant amount of Fissidens Fontanus in the UK? I LOVE the look of this moss and would love to use it on the wood in my scape, but it's proving to be hard to find. I have some other mosses in mind for the job too, but I'd like fissidens if I can get some.


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

check out aquatic magic. I had gotten a smaller version of the Fissidens from them. They ship well as the package was in shipment for over 20 days and I only suffered atmost 10% loss of plants. Actually if you send me some fish specifically Oryzias 'Neon Green" I'll get you a ton of Fissidens Font.

Craig


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Thanks, Aquatic Magic looks like it's going to be the place I'll get it from. I quite like the Star Moss aswell but I know nothing about it, might be worth looking into.

Can't say I've seen that fish before, but I'm reading that a few people have found them in their LFS here in the UK. I'd keep an eye out and try to get some for you, but I haven't the foggiest how I would actually send you some if I got them. When I used to breed bettas, shipping fish to and from the US was nigh on impossible for various reasons.


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

Star Moss isn't an aquatic moss it will die off 99% of the time under water.

Craig


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## Ozymandias (Jan 17, 2008)

looks vary good and once the HC grows out and you get a school of fish in there it will look better


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Craigthor said:


> Star Moss isn't an aquatic moss it will die off 99% of the time under water.
> 
> Craig


Alrighty, I'll give that a miss then!


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*Rome Wasn't Built in a Day*

I've had a go at planning out my scape in photoshop. Bear in mind that the colours of the plants, aswell as the general scale of some plants (such as the anubias) are likely to be horribly innacurate. I'm going to go over and adjust the colours to be lifelike when I'm happy with the general layout and I can't really be expected to know what these plants will look like in my tank having never grown them or seen them in person before.








​ 
You'll probably notice that the entire background is missing. That's because I have absolutely no idea what to put there. That's where I'm hoping that some of you will be able to help. I want the background to be completely full of plants, likely almost reaching the surface on both ends but dipping down somewhere about 1/3 of the way across from the left of the tank. I really want the right hand side of the tank behind the wood to be completely full of plants so that my wood doesn't look so much like it's sitting there in the middle of the tank, rather that it is emerging from the plants making it appear as though it is a small piece of a much larger tree.

I've toyed with having bushy stem plants, tons of vals and similar plants, and everything inbetween and I just can't decide! Which isn't helped by the fact that I don't know the names of most plants, so if I get an image in my head of what plants I would like you can guarantee that I won't be able to find it!

Any suggestions (preferably with examples!) would be greatly appreciated!

I'll just give you a run down of what I have here already incase there is any confusion.

In the foreground there is obviously the HC carpet, along with some dwarf hair grass surrounding the rocks. The wood is covered in (hopefully) fissidens fontanus and various anubias (I may add java ferns also). The midground, at the minute, has Blyxa Japonica. This may not stay as I'm only basing this on a number of pictures that I've seen on the internet and I don't really know very much about the plant.

I have two places where I would like to place a feature plant of sorts, there is a space in the rocks between the two blyxa on the left and there is a large gap in the wood behind the large, leftmost branch which could accomodate an interesting plant. I'm not entirely sure what to use here, but for the plant on the right I can imagine a fairly large plant with broad leaves. If that's the case then the plant on the left will have to be more of a "mid ground" sized plant.

I'm officially stuck now, so please, inspire me!

EDIT: I am probably going to get rid of the dwarf hair grass and just have the HC carpet. Possibility for the feature plant by the wood is a Tiger lotus or Red Tiger Lotus; still unsure though.


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## naturalwonders (Dec 24, 2008)

hey, that's a very fine job you did with the animated tank. You are so good. :thumbsup: You beat me to that. :icon_wink
That's exactly what I had in mind for you. You can use some kind of stem plants to grow behind the wood and have them fall over the shoulder from behind (some hygro or rotala would do).


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*A Glimpse of What is to Come?*

*Here is the finished mock up!*








​
I got a bit carried away with the background, which is composed of unidentified stem and leafy plants. I have some ideas of what plants that I will put in the background, but it was just too time consuming to represent them in this illustration. The final tank may have more or less plants in the background in different places, and the ratio of stem/leafy plants may be different too. This is just mainly to give an impression of what I'm thinking of for my final scape (and as an excuse to practice my illustration skills too!)

The reddish plant on the right is supposed to be a red tiger lotus, but I may replace it with a different plant of a simialr hight. The red plant on the left was put in there on the spur of the moment, I don't think that I can have a plant as red as that with my lighting but it essentially represents a miscellaneous specimen plant that I haven't yet decided on to add a bit of interest to the background.

I may still add some more anubias, possibly replacing some of my other plants with larger anubias species, and I may still add some java fern to the wood to fill in the gap that I have underneath the roots, again, that was too time consuming to draw!

I've removed the hair grass also, I much prefer just having the HC in contrast with the tall bacground. Though I may add one or two shorter foreground plants towards the sides if I find some that I like.

The important thing for me with this scape, as it is my first scape, is to pack in as many different varieties of plant as I can without making the tank look overly busy. I've never grown aquatic plants before and I'd like to get some experience with a large number of species so that I'm better prepared in the future; it also helps me to overcome my indecisiveness!

As I said, this is just an impression of the final tank and will likely look slightly different to this. In truth I just wanted to see if I was capable of painting a mock up of my scape onto a photograph, and I had a lot of fun doing it. If my tank looks half as lush as that in real life then I will be very satisfied with it!

Let me know what you think, and don't hesitate to send me ideas or suggest any plants to me!


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

that's like 100 stems back there. look out!

i like the mock up. nice contrast. i can't wait to see how this tank progresses.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Yeah, like I said; the plants aren't exactly to scale. I almost certainly won't have that many stems in there! We'll see how it goes when I start shopping for plants!


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Very nice tank!!!! Love the driftwood!!!

Any idea when you'll have plants yet? It's not even my tank and i'm excited to see what plants will be in it!

It's gonna be very fun to watch as this tank progresse.

Good luck to you!

Cindy


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

awesome photoshop skills!!! what brush did you use for those stems??


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Well, it's my 21st birthday today and so tomorrow, as a celebration/gift, I'm being set loose in what looks to be a really nice aquatics store (The Goldfish Bowl in oxford) with some money to get things like CO2, plants and other things that I desparately need! I'm going to order ferts tonight which should arrive on monday and, with any luck, I'll be fully able to plant my tank next week. The only thing stopping me is my emmersed HC carpet, it's growth is REALLY starting to take off, so I'm not sure that I want to fill it up just yet.

Though I do have more incentive to get it filled up as one of my birthday gifts was 2 tiny crystal red shrimp which are currently living in a small quarantine tank, which I luckily had set up in time! It's not ideal living arrangements by any means, but it'll hold them until I can get the 50 gal set up for them.

As for the mock up, the stems were done with a brush from this brush set: http://concept-on-mac.deviantart.com/art/My-Brushes-6-88472214. I just played around with the brush settings and color dynamics until it looked vaguely like some stem plants that I've seen; the HC was done with a different brush from this set too. I'm most proud of the moss though, that was the first time I'd ever tried making my own brush and I think it turned out pretty nice.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

the moss is nice, but the stems in the back are amazing!
thats some good imaging!
did you use a mouse, or do you have a pen pad?


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

:fish:*HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!*:fish:

I can't wait to hear and see what you get!!! Very exciting! Have fun!

My birthday is Sunday! Hope your having a great day!

lol

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I have a pen tablet to do my graphics with, I would rip my hair out if I had to do this stuff with a mouse! I'm glad that this mock up has gone over so well, I did it for fun and to get some practice and I didn't really expect to get so many nice compliments over it, so thank you for that!

And thank you Cindy, I'll be away until late Sunday night, so happy birthday in advance for sunday!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Happy Birthday! January babies are always the greatest! :fish:

I really like your plans for this tank; I'm looking forward to seeing them all come together. :thumbsup:


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

What an awesome mock up!


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Thanks for the Happy Birthday Gary!! 

Hope you had fun shopping!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

As it turns out, the goldfish bowl was a lovely shop but it was a bit pricey; and as a result I only bought a new thermometer and a drop checker!

I'm going to order my CO2 kit and plants today so hopefully I'll have them by the end of the week!


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Oh no! Sorry that store wasn't very affordable! That stinks doesn't it?

Not much longer though and you can plant your tank! Do we get a hint as to what you ordered?

Take care!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Well, I have my CO2 ordered now along with all the accessories that I need for it; so that should be here soon.

As for plants:

The most pricey of all the plants were the Anubias Nana, which I bought 10 of. Although it was followed closely by the Fissidens Fontanus which I was only able to source though ebay; I bought 5 2"x2" squares of it for £6 each... daylight robbery to be honest, and I will likely STILL need more to cover my wood in the way that I want to.

Everything else was fairly cheap though so I had a bit of a spree. In the end I bought:

Rotala Rotundifolia
Rotala Macrandra
Hygrophilia Polysperma
Hygrophila Corymbosa ''Stricta''
Nymphea Maculata
Java Fern
Anubias Nana
Fissidens Fontanus

I've ordered some dry ferts too, so I should be all set once all of this arrives. I'm quite nervous about my plants, if I'm honest. I think that I've picked out a nice variety, but I have zero experience with aquarium plants other than the cheap ones that you find in big chain pet stores (which have all died within a week). I just know that this is going to take a lot of experimenting (and quite a bit of wasted money) before I get it right!

The only thing that I didn't get was some Blyxa Japonica, but that's primarily because I ran out of money; and I still went over budget when I added on the shipping costs!


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Good for you getting everything ordered!! Can't wait to see more pics as the tank progresses!!

Keep us posted!

Take care!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

CO2 arrived today. I was out and it was left safely with my neighbour who is bizarrely named, according to the slip I was given, "Mrs. Moss". What an amazing coincidence it would have been if it had been my delivery of Fissidens Fontanus that had been left with her! 

I have "set up" the system already, by which I mean I have put it all together and put it safely under the tank. I don't yet have a diffusor other than the big ugly plastic thing that came with the kit, and I need to go and buy a wrench to tighten up all the connections before I even DARE to turn this thing on. I know what I'm doing with it, but I'm so frightened of fiddling with a pressurised gas cylinder that anyone would have thought I was defusing a bomb while I was setting the thing up.

I'm going to order a diffuser that doubles as a bubble counter, as the counter that came with the kit is as ugly as the diffusor; and I can't for the life of me get it to stand upright with the fairly rigid CO2 tubing attached to it. I even tried using double sided sticky pads that are rated for outdoor use and it still came loose!

Next on the agenda: SHRIMP! I'm going to get some cherry shrimp to get a colony going before I get any fish; shrimp are fun enough to watch for the time being anyway. With any luck, the two crystal red shrimp that I got for my birthday are a male and a female and I might get some babies from them; it would be REALLY nice if I didn't have to buy some more at £12 per shrimp.

I swear, I haven't ever had a hobby that cost me this much money. Can't say I've ever gotten this much enjoyment out of an aquarium before it even had any water in it, either!

I'll get some pics of the CO2 set up tomorrow, when I'm tightening it up ready to fire it up for the first time. Here's hoping that I'll still have my arms so that I can type the post!


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Wow. This is seriously your first attempt at planted tanks? That scape is amazing! My first planted tank looked like the Jolly Green Giant took a dump on a land mine lol.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

LOL! Nice analogy.

Thanks for the great comments! I'm glad everyone likes the scape, I'm REALLY enjoying this whole process. I've always been a creative/"arty" person and I have always been fascinated with fish; never had I considered combining the two in this way! 

As it turns out, this planted tank was just what I needed to get back into fishkeeping; because it lets me get creative aswell as giving the fish a more natural environment. It's win-win.

...unless you're my wallet.


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## intermision (Nov 7, 2005)

Looks good so far, It's a lot better than my first attempt.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I got my wrench, tightened the regulator up and took the cylinder outside to fire it up. I still have my arms, so it must have worked!

I'm expecting my ferts, my diffuser and some cherry shrimp in the post tomorrow, so I'll get back to you when everything is where it should be!


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*Just Add Water!*

So I hooked up my CO2 yesturday!










And with CO2 comes the most vital ingredient to my aquascape: WATER!










You'll notice that water proved to be disasterous for my scape because, as expected, my redmoor wood floats! I have wedged up down using the rim of the tank until it soaks up enough water to sink back down to where I want it; I may weight it down when it comes to plant to the tank.










I also set up my bubble counter. It only has tank water in it at the minute, because I have no 4dKH until later this week. It's innacurate, but not as innacurate as no bubble counter! Ignore the thermometer; this pic was taken just after I realised that my new heater is far more efficient than I had realised and had heated the tank up about 2-3 degrees higher than the thermostat had been set. I love this bubble counter, it may not be as fancy as the glass ones that everyone seems to have, but it's so tiny and discreet that it doesn't make any difference; it has a white background for an accurate colour reading and it cost me next to nothing.










And finally, some pictures of the new residents!

This is one of the two crystal red shrimp that I got for my birthday, I really need to get some more of these beauties. I'm also thinking about getting some crystal black shrimp too but I'm unsure about cross breeding. I've read in some places that they'll just produce half black offspring and half red, but I've also read that I'll end up with dull brown "wild type" shrimp. Anyone have any experience with this?​









And here is one of the brightest of the 10 cherry shrimp that arrived yesturday morning. The shipping was anything but stressful for them, they are SO active; constantly foraging and "dusting" the loose sand off of the rocks in the foreground as they go. So much fun to watch.








​ 
Also, as a word of warning to anyone starting up who doesn't want to repeat my mistakes. Get a working bubble counter before you turn on you CO2 at all. Having no prior experience with CO2, I turned it on and saw a stream of bubbles from my diffuser like I've seen on the internet and assumed that it was working. Later that night the bubble counter was as yellow as it could possibly get and doing some tests I figured out that I had upwards of 70ppm of CO2 in the tank! After doing some research I figured out that I needed to fill the diffuser with water using a syringe before I could see any bubbles in the spiral. When I did that I found out that I had more bubbles per second than I could possibly count; I've adjusted it to less than 1 per second until I get a 4dKH water in the drop checker. Thank god I was smart enough to mess with the tank first, before putting the shrimp in today! The filter didn't seem to like it though; it was periodically making a bizarre noise like there was air trapped in it, before ejecting a stream of bubbles into the tank. Now that the CO2 levels are behaving it seems to have calmed down and is back to it's usual quiet self.

I should have all of my plants by friday, except for the fissidens fontanus which is from ebay; meaning that it could turn up anytime between now and next year! Will let you know how that goes!​


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## brion0 (Sep 28, 2008)

For your first tank, its comming along nice, looking forward to plants.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Looks good Gary!!!

Cant wait till the plants are in! Is it cycled yet!! I bet your very excited!

lol

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I believe it is cycled now. Quite amazingly, really. What research I did before setting this up told me that the dry start method allows the substrate to cycle before the tank is even filled up. I'm doing daily tests, just to be sure, and I have zero ammonia and nitrites, and almost no nitrates of which to speak of; so evidently that must be true. Still, I won't be fillingt he tank up with fish right away. Going to take my time, just to be on the safe side! 

I was a bit concerned about putting the shrimp into the tank so soon, but I figured that it would be better for them than the tiny tank that I was using to quarantine them. They coloured right up after only a day of being in the tank and they never stop forgaing; they're so fascinating to watch, but more importantly, they look much healthier and happier!

I was hoping to get my plants tomorrow, but I've just checked and they stillh aven't been shipped out. Not sure what exactly is taking so long; they emailed me last week saying that they didn't have neough stock to fill my order and they'd ship it out on monday when they got a new shipment in. No such luck apparantly. Some of my background plants aren't arriving until about friday and my moss could be in one of any mysterious locations throughout europe at this stage. The shrimp that I got for my birthday had a single strand of java moss in the bag with them, if the fissidens takes as long as I think it's going to then it might be faster to just strap that one strand to the wood and wait for it to fill out!

Ah well, excitement and delays don't mix well apaprantly! I cannot wait to get some plants into this tank!


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Well, that's my first blunder out of the way at least.

I planted up my tank today, took a long time to do and I'm quite impressed without how it turned out. But I've noticed my shrimp acting very strangely. I've only seen 3 or 4 and they are all either swimming or sitting near the surface of the water.

Some idiot forgot to wash the plants before putting them into the tank. One crystal red shrimp has died already and most of the cherries are either missing in action or not looking particularly happy...

I am SO annoyed at myself; they were so healthy just before I planted the tank. I'm going to attempt a large water change and see if that makes any difference in saving the rest. It's the only thing that I can think of doing.


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## Tamelesstgr (Jan 11, 2008)

I subscribed to this thread. I am in love with that wood scape you have going on. Nice job!


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Right, so I've fished out 6 of the 10 cherry shrimp. 4 cherry shrimp and the single remaining crystal red shrimp are still MIA in the tank; I cannot for the life of me figure out where they are but it doesn't look good for them if I'm honest.

The ones in the bucket are inactive, some are on their sides or upsidedown, presumably dead. Just goes to show, really, you can do as much research as you want but there'll almost always be smething that you have to learn for yourself, the hard way.

I'm totally devastated at the loss of my shrimp, but my concern has now turned to my tank. I now really need your advice more than ever in regards to this problem. As I have fouled my tank with pesticides, how is it best to get rid of them? I absolutely adored watching my shrimps foraging away on the rocks, so there is no chance that I will be having a planted tank without them; but I will not put any more shrimps into the water until I am certain that it is safe for them.

Should I perform a total water change or several partial ones? Will the activated carbon in my filter remove the toxins and if so, how fast?

I really hope that someone can help me as I am now too paranoid to do anything to my tank at all!

I really wanted to share my plants with you all today as I'm really proud of my tank, but obviously the wellbeing of the tanks inhabitants has been a much larger priority!


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

where did the plants come from. If you disturbed the tank it could cause water quality issues. Most shrimp keepers here would recommend atleast 60 days before adding the shrimp.

Its a good rule to follow even though not all do me included.

Craig


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

I'd deffinately do some water changes like a 50% or maybe even more if you like today andmaybe even tomorrow and then smaller water changes for a few more days and keep checking water parimeters. I'm not really sure how many changes you should do and hope somebody had more advice for you as i'm deffinately no expert but I don't see where water changes could hurt. Maybe add a fish after the water changes and keep an eye on the parimeters for awhile before adding or getting more shrimp. 

I had been very lazy when it came to wc's and about a week of wc's doing the first two wc'sone day and then the very next day and then every other day got my water back to normal paramiters again.

So sorry for your shrimp loss! No fun at all huh? Do you have any shrimp left? You can actually have quite a few in a small tank and your crs had done ok where they were before so maybe see about putting all that are alive in there for the time being.

Would love to see some pics when your up to it!

Good luck to you!!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I got the plants from plantsalive.co.uk, they have a good reputation. I did consider that it may have been me stirring up the substrate that did it, or perhaps some injuries from moving things around; but after a good long internet serach I've found a ton of stories about people adding some plants like anubias which had been grown emmersed before they were purchased, and their shrimp were acting like mine (swimming about like lunatics and then suddenly stopping and drifting in the current/on the bottom of the tank.)

My guess is that plants which are grown emmersed tend to have pesticides added in the same way that most terrestrial plants do; to keep the bugs and snails away.

The shrimp that I've been able to rescue are currently living in a bucket. I've managed to save 8 cherries, though two of them died overnight; the others have calmed down, so I'll keep an eye on them. Two of the ones that I rescued were only found this morning (they're really good at hiding!), one was swimming about in a panic like the rest were, but one was just wandering about on the bottom like nothing was wrong; so I'm not sure what to think really.

Two cherries and one crystal red are still unaccounted for; I may never find them at this rate. But as long as I have SOME survivors from this, then I won't feel so bad; I just felt terrible when they all started to die last night as I knew that they were perfectly happy and healthy just prior to adding the plants and that it must have been something that I did to kill them off.

I have more plants coming, so I wont be putting anything in until after I've added those and THEN given the tank enough time to get rid of any toxins. I'll be watching the water parameters closely, but I'm certain that that wasn't the issue as they are what they should be as I mentioned before. Will do plenty of water changes also, hopefully I can sort this quickly so the shrimp can have their home back; I'm sure they can't be too happy in an almost bare tank.

Will try to post some pictures later today or tomorrow.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Just a quick update, there are 8 live shrimp in the bucket; meaning that the two which were completely lifeless have woken up. They are all huddled on the bottom of the bucket apart from one, who is clinging to the side and his little claws are busy working away; so that's a good sign.

It does worry me that the Crystal Red Shrimp which died may have just been unconcious; but I'm pretty sure that he wasn't. I took him out by hand and he remained completely motionless even as I carried him out of the water; he was missing a claw too, which was odd.

There may still be some hope in all of this; it's just a shame that I lost my crystal red, he was gorgeous; but then again,t hey are known for being extremely sensitive. I think that when I eventually reintroduce shrimp, I will get a breeding net and submerge a test subject in that to guage his/her reaction to the water; letting me fish the shrimp out quickly if it goes wrong. The most damage from this was caused because I simply couldn't find ANY shrimp until they tried to make a break for the surface.

The shrimp aren't exactly active, but they're certainly looking better. Fingers crossed.

Ironically, if the deaths were caused by pesticides, it obviously didn't work on it's intended target. There's a few snails happily crawling on the tank glass as we speak.

EDIT: the rotala rotundifolia which I got was an incredibly deep purple-red at the tip. Since last night it's grown some green leaves at the very top; if it is going to remain green in my tank (which I wouldn't mind) will the existing red part eventually turn green or will I have green-red-green plants until I trim them?

EDIT2: Some shrimp have been seen to eat some food that I put in the bucket. A very good sign, I'd say.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

^ if it grows green in your tank(the rotala), the bottoms will be red/brown(the red will probably fade) and the tops will green. my bottoms are green and top are pink when they grow up towards the light.

-planted pics?


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

A slight update for all of you. No pics as yet, I do have some but I can't for the life of me remember where I left the cable for my camera. I'll try to get some up soon.

Unfortunately, they will be fairly redundant in a few days. I have changed half of the water a few times now and each time I have placed one shrimp in the tank and watched it very closely. No luck, they get into the tank, wander around for a few moments until they realise that they are submerged in tainted water and then swim around like their backsides are on fire; at which point I rescue them and put them back safely in the filtered bucket.

So all that is left for me to do is remove ALL plants, drain the water completely and start over.

I've also run into a few other issues with the tank aswell. As I feared, the substrate is too shallow and as a result my plants just will not stay down no matter what I do; and if I get them to stay down, they will eventually float free before they have a chance to root themselves in. So I have ordered 3 more bags of flourite and I'm going to mix them in with my existing substrate when I drain the tank. (meaning that I'm going to have to uproot and replant my lovely HC carpet!) This will likely mean that I will do some shifting about of my aquascape too; see if I can't get a nice slope going or something.

The other thing is possibly the most tragic, the wood not only floats (I am aware that this will happen until I soak it for awhile) but has started to grow a thick white slime all over it which is not only making my water cloudly and nasty, but is starting to make my tank start to smell. As the tank sits right next to me for most of my day, I'm going to have to remove the wood until which time as I can find someway to soak it outside of the tank. It's all very disappointing because it means a total rescape if I want my tank up and running soon, and the wood seems to be the most popular part of this scape!

The plants, apart from the HC, will be put into a plastic tub until I can figure out which plants are fouling my water and how to make them shrimp safe before I put them back.

So it looks like it's all change. It's been a massive blow to me, in all honesty. Feels like all the winds just been let out of my sails. But I've come too far now to turn back, and I intned to keep going until I get this thing right.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Well one good thing about the slime is if you do a search about slime on driftwood or something similar you'll find that that can happen and will usually just go away on it's own.

Would your wood fit into the dish washer without soap of course? That might help steralize it. I'm just hoping what ever was in the water didn't soak into the wood. Or scrub it and soak it in a bath tub with hot water.

I'm sorry things aren't working out as planned for you!

Could you do a gentle scrub on the plants and maybe a bleach dip to maybe make them safer for when you re do the tank? Not sure all plants will tolerate a bleach dip so maybe someone else can help and offer more suggestions for you.

Don't give up!!!

Take care Gary and thanks for the update!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I'm afraid that we don't have a dishwasher. I've bought a plastic container that is going to hold the plants until I redo the tank. I'm hoping that the wood will fit in here to soak aswell, so that I can keep it outside of the house until the slime goes away and until I decide what to do with it.

I'm going to repeatedly rinse the plants for awhile, and test them in another container with one or two test shrimp to see if they are safe before I risk fouling my water again. I'm near certain that that anubias are the culprit; so I may just leave them out of the tank for now, just to be on the safe side.

I am also quite astonished at how well the rotala rotundifolia are growing in my tank, been in there for about a week now and most of them have grown a good 2 inches or so. Does anyone know how long I need to let them grow before I can cut off the tips and replant? I MUCH prefer them now that they're grown in nice and green and want to be rid of the bright red mid sections as soon as possible!


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## cruiser99 (Dec 29, 2008)

You might want to consider that the water poisoning came from the driftwood and not the plants and that the symptoms showed up when you added the plants are just a coincidence.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I doubt that it's the driftwood, as the shrimp were in the tank with the wood, quite happily, for most of a week. Then they all started dying off within two hours of putting the plants in. If that's a coincidence then it's certainly a HUGE one.

But I will take it into consideration and test the wood if I intend to use it again, just incase. Even if it wasn't the wood, I need to be sure that some of the contaminant didn't seep into it in the time that it's been in the tank.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

You could take the driftwood to the car wash and power wash the slime off! Or at home if you have a power washer.

Take care!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I'll just give it a good scrub, it comes off easily enough. It seems to be growing out of the wood though, it is starting out from any part where the wood is broken or cut and spreading from there.

I may just have to wait until it has run it's course, though I'm in two minds about using it at all. We'll see what happens when I get my extra substrate. I'm thinking about trying to go for a scape using just rocks and get some slopes covered in HC, which absolutely loves my tank now that there is water in it. My only worry is getting some fissidens into the scape. I have the moss now, currently sitting in a breeding trap so that it won't dry out, but without the wood it is without a home unless I opt to tie to the rocks instead; which may be an option. We'll see!

EDIT: I find it incredibly difficult to believe that I can't keep shrimp alive in an aquarium, but they are absolutely thriving in a 12 litre bucket.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Just wondering ha ya were diong? How's the tank and driftwood coming along?

Hopefull things are better! Are the shrimp still in the bucket?

Good luck!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Very quick update.

The tank has been completely redone and looks so much better for it. The shrimp are back in the tank and doing well, at least one is berried; which was a nice surprise!

The reason that I haven't updated in so long is due to a completely meltdown of my computer. I had to replace some (very expensive...) parts but it seems to be working now, which is good. Once I've got it set up again properly I'll send you all some pictures.

I'm going to need some advice on plants for my scape, as it's a bit bare right now and I'm going to need to put in some more heavy plant cover for my shrimp to give them a fighting chance at breeding with fish in the tank. But I don't want to spoil the scape!


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Fish? Aw come on, out with it! So glad the shrimp are doing good and you even have a berried one! Java moss is great cover!

Good for you!

Sorry about the computer though! That's a pain i'm sure!

Cant wait for the real update and the pics too!

Take care!

Cindy


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

It's been awhile so I was wondering how thing were going? 

Hoping all is well and that things are coming along for you!

Take care!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Hi!

Sorry for the long absence! The PC seems to be working again now so I'll get an update with some pics up later tonight.

Things are going great, save for some problems with algae. I got some fish at the weekend, finally:

7 Celestial pearl Danios
9 Corydoras Habrosus (SO adorable)
5 Sparkling Gouramis
2 Otocinclus (will be getting some more soon, the store only had 2 left)

Going to be late for university now, so I'll post more when I get home!


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## sykogngsta (Apr 12, 2008)

I was thinking of the same fish stocking for my 20 long tank! Except for C. pygmaeus instead of habrosus.

Also you have a really nice setup! I really likevthat price of driftwood


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

*New Hotness!*

Drumroll please!!!

*New Tank!









*A complete overhaul of the tank resulting in this strange "mountain-scape" which is, as you probably see, coated in green and brown algae; it's just everywhere!

You may also be able to help me with a rather irritating problem! My Fissidens Fontanus seems to be growing without any "leaves", resulting in these hideous hairy strands, rather than the nice fluffy moss that I had hoped for.

Here's a picture:










I'll try to get some pictures of the inhabitants later on, I took a lot but not a single one of them was in focus and my patience ran out. Unfortuantely, since I bought the fish I've lost quite a few. Half of the Celestial Pearl Danios have now died (5 left out of the 10 that I bought), I've lost two of the corys leaving me with 7 (heartbreaking, because I love them so much.) and I've lost one sparkling gourami with another one looking like it's on it's way out (floating still at the top, unable to swim normally.)

Not really sure what is going on to be honest, I've checked and rechecked the parameters, the CO2 levels are absolutely fine, the fish were floated for several hours and then slowly acclimated as usual and seemed to be fine (save for the celestial pearl danios, two of which were looking ill when I got them home. Causing me to put them into my quarantine tank separately from the others.) Save for the sparkling gourami which is ill now, I haven't seen a single sick fish in my tank until I have found them dead; very strange, but i suppose it happens sometimes. Unfortuantely I am too far away from the store I purchased them from to do anything about it.

More updates to come, any advice on the algae, the fish or the irritating moss problem would be much appreciated. Aswell as any opinions on the scape; it's very much missing something at the moment and may go through further changes before I am happy!​


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Have lost the gourami and three more pearl danios overnight. The gourami was definately very ill last night but the danios were all looking perfectly healthy and active, displaying bright colours. I don't understand what is going on, really. Very disheartening.


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

I haven't had any more losses since the last update so I can only assume that they were sick before I bought them and the stress of the trip and their new home must have finished them off.

I am going to try to sort the algae and then make some slight adjustments to the scape to include more tall plant cover; the gouramis are picking on the shrimp a little bit and I want to give them more hiding spaces.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

I'm really wondering how this tank is doing? 

I do hope you haven't given up?

Take care!

Cindy


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## GHudston (Jan 6, 2009)

Definitely haven't given up, just had university and other more pressing things get in the way.

The tank is still going and still needs some work. I've got a couple of months without much to do and I'm going to focus on my tank again because it's in "limbo" at the minute without very many fish and an overgrown layout that I'm not really very pleased with. Not brilliant when it lives on my desk as my "inspiration".

Should have something more productive in the next couple of weeks. I've got a couple of ideas so we'll see how I get on. I'll get it how I want it eventually, I've sure!

On an unrelated note, ignore any advice given to you about Malaysian Trumpet Snails staying buried during the day and being barely noticeable. I got about 10 of the buggers to mix up my substrate and now there has to be a hundred of so of the damn things all over everything at all times. It's a bloody nightmare! With any luck I'll get rid of them when I redo the scape.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

So glad to hear from you!!!

I can't to see what the tank looks like and expecially to hear about your new ideas!!!

Good luck with school!!!!

lol

Cindy


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Beautiful scape, i'm jealous!


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Just checking in to see if there's anything new with your tank!

take care!

Cindy


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## PJtree23 (Feb 4, 2009)

Hey,

I read through your journal and appreciate the nice work you have done!

My only question is about dosing.

What is dosing schedule like?

PJ


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