Trying something different

[Glenc]

You guys have inspired me once again. I set my original 10 gallon up again tonight. I really don't have room, but I made some! I have always loved the Amano style of tank, and am going to attempt it with this one. I hope to cover the entire substrate front to back with Either glosso or HC, probably HC because I have a good amount of it growing in my 20 gallon, I'll just swipe some from it. I am going to put some stem plants in the tank, just not sure where or what yet. Got to look and think on it. The tank is full, it's pretty cloudy now, when its clear and I have the ground cover in I will take more shots. Time to get out the tweezers!

 

[HiFi]

The rock arrangement looks natural.
The rolling carpet will look nice

 

[Jchillin]

You guys have inspired me once again.

Blaming others for your inability to control MTS is not going to help.

That being said, I will admit that one of the reasons this forum was created was to "tempt" members to go for the those types of scapes. (shhh, it'll be our little secret). FWIW, HC seems to be replacing glosso as a preferred carpet hand over fist. I can't wait to see your results.

 

[GlitcH]

Looks good Glenc..........I like the rock what kind and where did ya get it.

That type of rock really reminds me of the amano style.

 

[newfound77951]

Can't wait to see how this turns out....should be a great, relaxing tank to have on a desk when work gets you stressed out....

 

[czcz]

Very exciting, Glenc! Can't wait to see this one move forward.

 

[Glenc]

Thanks for all the encouragment! I got the rocks from BA. I believe they are granite. They cost me 10 bucks. It was worth it for me as I had a specific look in mind and they have tons to chose from. I got the CO2 and lights happening. I'm going to start with 36 watts of CF lighting. That may not be enough, I just love to add more light , we'll see how it goes! No fish or plants yet. It will probably take a couple of hours to get all the HC where I want it. The more you spread it the faster it fills out. I need to do this with no interruptions, that means when my kids are in bed! Here is the tank tonight, still a little cloudy, hope to get fish and HC in on Sunday.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Looking great. Love the rocks. Will be keeping an eye on your progress.....

 

[mr funktastic]

looking good but i guess this means i will be waiting a little longer for my HC lol i am glad u are setting up another tank, looking at your tanks always makes me hate mine and re arrange everything lol. i found HC in the big als in brampton but there tank was sooo infested with snails it scared me. what kind of treatment can u do to get rid of the snailsbefore putting the plant into your aquarium? i have heard of the bleach dip, but how is that done?? like 10 parts water to 1 part bleach? sorry to hijack your thread. i cant wait for updates. u should try a small peice of driftwood in the tank to creat alwost a cave effect then compltly cover it in javamoss. this always had the amano look to me. i love the way javamoss looks when it is compltly covering wood. if u need javamoss i could send ya some since mine has been going nuts and i need to get rid of some. it would be cheaper to mail it to you than for u to buy it from bigals lol they sell it for like $10 for a little container of it.

 

[Glenc]

Got the HC planted, that is a job and a half! You have to do it with tweezers as it's just to fine to hang onto by hand. Hopefully the effort will pay off and I'll have a nice carpet soon. Put a few stem plants in the back, only planning on keeping the Cyperus helferi in the back right corner permanently, the other plants are in there for now to keep algea in check until the HC gets established. I am going to put some other stem plants in, just not sure what yet. I think czcz is going to help me out there Put some bio media from my other tank in to help speed the cycle along, also put 5 Harlequin Rasboras in as well. Thanks for your suggestions mr funktastic, got to look at this one for a while to invision the final look. Hasn't come to me yet. I am going to send you some HC soon, if this tank goes as planned I should have lots for you.

 

[mr funktastic]

looking good as always. i cant wait to see it fill out. u said u used a bag and a half of eco right? but dont they only sell it in 20 pound bags? that seems like alot for a 10 gal. i hope it all goes good for u. maybe your tank will end up looking something like THIS. no matter how it turns out i am sure u will make it awesome.

 

[maxwell1295]

Wow, that looks great so far.....I'm looking forward seeing to a timeline.

 

[Glenc]

I bought 3 bags of eco for my 20 gallon, only needed 2and 1/2! I originally set this tank up a while back with 1 bag of eco. I would have thought one bag of eco would do a ten gallon to, but when I emtied it to start my 20 I was amazed at how root bound the tank was. The eco was packed with plant roots right down to the bottom glass, no room to spare. I didn't have that many plants in it at the time and it was only set up for a few months. Root bound planting media means eventually having unhealthy plants. That goes for any plant, aquatic or not. I put in the extra eco this time to give the plants a little more breathing room, and hopefully they will stay healthier long term. It's hard enough to balance ferts and light, don't need substrate problems to! The link you sent is what I'm trying to create, only mine won't be as good as that one!! I really like the carpet effect with the rocks but will add a few choice stem plants to the mix, don't want it to look to sterile. Timeline will be interesting to watch maxwell1295, I'm learning to! It will depend alot on how much light I can hit this tank with without running into algea problems. You can put as much light on your tank as you want, just set up a sleeping bag beside it to add ferts round the clock as they bottom out and you are all set! I will put as much light on this baby as I can reasonably maintain, higher the better for the carpet I think. I have lots of lights just waiting to be fired up! It has 36 watts of CF on it now, we'll see how that does. Thanks for the comments, will keep you posted.
Glen.

 

[rich311k]

Tank looks great can't wait to see it grow and fill in.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Looking good.....

 

[dskidmore]

So many people have been doing nice small tanks recently, I'm tempted to start one myself. The 75 gallon is fun, but there's more to experiment with in a collection of 10 gallons.

 

[Glenc]

Exactly, also way easier to fix if you do screw it up. 2 buckets of water and your 50% water change is done!

 

[czcz]

Extremely attractive. The rocks as midground and depth cue is an interesting contrast to your 20gal with H. corymbosa "compact" and such doing the same. Only a thought and you know how much I admire your layouts, and my lack of a good eye, but the flat stone on the left foreground just looks odd and jarring to me

 

[czcz]

Do you have a method or picture in mind when you assemble your layouts? Is it more intuitive than that? Do you have specific colors/textures/shapes in mind for the plants to compliment Cyperus helferi and the landscape? TIA

 

[Glenc]

You are such a polite dude czcz! Your right, that rock sucks!! I have been eyeballing this scape for a while now, something was bugging me about it. I think you just nailed it. That rock is to square for the scape, it detracts from the feel. Still want something in that space, only smaller and more triangular. You are a better scaper than you give yourself credit for!