Re-scaped the tank in anticipation of driftwood add. *pics*

[7Enigma]

Hello everyone,

So after a year in the hobby I decided it was time to get rid of the HUGE ceramic pot/cave I've had in the tank and go with a more natural scape. So today I ripped out the old pot (much to the chagrin of my BN pleco), moved some of my plants around, and am waiting until my driftwood is adequately treated.

The wood has been soaking to remove tannins and loosen the bark for about a month now, and is just starting to barely color the water. The bark is still stuck on really well, but I'm hoping a good boiling will make it easier to remove.

Once that's ready I'll be taking bunches of the christmas moss (the huge blob in the bottom right corner) and make it look like moss on a tree, and I'll take some Riccia I have in my QT tank and add that to the tips (sort of like leaves), and finally I have 2 or 3 small lace java fernlets that I'll put on the big tips like flowers. In my mind it sounds cool, but we'll have to wait and see how it actually turns out. Tomorrow I'm going to start the boiling and hopefully before the end of the week I'll have the wood in the tank.

So here's some before and after shots and comments are very welcome:

Before:

After:

One cool thing I did was took my moneywort that was previously held on the pot and took 3-4 strings of it and weighed it down with a rock. This causes a ladder-like effect which is difficult to see exactly in the pic (1st one shows this better), but its 3-dimensional where it starts about mid-tank, and at the top is near the back giving the tank a bit more depth.

I didn't want to scape the substrate yet since it would kick up a good bit of crud, and between my BN pleco and cory tends to level itself almost overnight!

It's funny. I am always throwing out plant clippings due to having too many in the tank, but now it looks sparse! I'll have to take some of my clippings from the QT tank and place them in the main once I sort out where to keep the christmas moss until its ready for driftwood "tree" decoration.

 

[locorosa]

WOW! Very nice. I think taking the pot out was a good idea as I like the idea of natural better. Can't wait to see the driftwood in there...more pics soon, I hope!

 

[7Enigma]

Here's a (rather bad) pic of the wood piece. As you can see most of the bark is still on it, but it does rest completely on the bottom on its own. I chose (read: cut it down) specifically because it looks to me somewhat like a small tree that I can attach living plants too (moss around the trunk and Riccia and java fernlets on the arms). I'm still skeptical on whether I can position it in the substrate without needing a base, but I'll wait until its ready for addition to the tank before I mess around with that:

 

[jbarr]

That's a neat piece, I've been looking for branchy specimens not unlike that. Whered you get it?

 

[7Enigma]

That's a neat piece, I've been looking for branchy specimens not unlike that. Whered you get it?

I cut it down at my parents house. They live on a hill in SE PA that is almost bog/marsh-like and there are tons of odd-shaped vines and small trees. I had originally planned on using vines until I found out they tend to rot out as the composition of the vine is much different than a hardwood. I'm hoping the one I cut will behave similar to a hardwood and not rot in the tank (its been soaking for a month so far so good).

I've been meaning to spend another hour or so wandering around to see if I can find anything else unique, but its been rather cold recently and I haven't been over to my parents in a while.

 

[Zagz]

That looks really good, it will look fantastic with the driftwood in place. I'd love to find some pieces like that for Pepper (my parrott).

 

[Mosaic]

I like it even without the driftwood. It reminds me of a public aquarium exhibit, for some reason. I think it's the scale of all the plant species together. Will look even better with the driftwood in, I'm sure.

 

[LandGhoti]

Very nice tank! It's just itching for that driftwood now. I love the plant blueprint too.

(Umm, if that is sparse, then my tank must be totally minimalist. 8O )

 

[7Enigma]

Very nice tank! It's just itching for that driftwood now. I love the plant blueprint too.

(Umm, if that is sparse, then my tank must be totally minimalist. 8O )

For reference, this was my tank during the summer after I neglected to trim it for a bit. I couldn't even see the middle of the tank!

 

[gu2high]

Your pictures are excellent. You can buy driftwood from ebay. I bought a Malaysian Driftwood and boiled it for half hour and it was ready for use - almost no tannins. It is a sinking hardwood with a hollow hole in the trunk for fish to hide.

 

[7Enigma]

Thank you. And just as an aside for those looking to take good tank shots I recommend a tripod (to keep the picture in focus), keep the room lights off, and don't use a flash. If you're using a digital camera many times its better to manually focus on the middle of the tank because a lot of times the camera is fooled and focuses on the front glass which makes the tank slightly out of focus.