Nano aquascape - "Crystal Canyon"

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Rastaman

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Nov 22, 2014
Messages
184
Location
Europe, Croatia
Dimensions:27x20x20cm or 11x8x8" (10 liters) - Optiwhite
Lighting: Chihiros C-Series C301 14W
Filtration: Eden 501 (sponge, ceramic rings, Purolite)
CO2: Pressurised 1bps thru glass/ceramic diffuser
Substrate: ADA Aquasoil Amazonia, Quartz sand
Hardscape: Glimmer wood rocks
Fertilization: PPS pro, Easy carbo
Water parameters: Temp. 23°C, pH 6.5, KH 3, GH 6, TDS 180
Plants: Fissidens sp. 'Philippines', Fissidens sp. 'Khao sok', Fissidens sp. 'Vietnam', Riccardia graeffei, Anubias sp. 'Pangolino', Crepidomanes sp. 'Calicut', Rotala sp. 'Wayanad', Rotala macrandra 'Mini Butterfly', Rotala sp.'Needle leaf', Hottonia palustris, Hemianthus sp. 'Amano pearl grass'
Fish/shrimps: Crystal Red shrimps, Ramshorn snails


Building a hardscape

Here are some photos of creating process;

First I have made scapebox of styrofoam boards. Hardscape base is egg crate panel cutted to the size - about 2-3mm smaller than inner dimensions of the tank:
CrystalCanyon1.jpg


Cutting stones:


CrystalCanyon1a.jpg



All pieces are glued with epoxy putty to the egg crate. This way you can have permanent design without worry to move something when doing maintenance. Also, you can see there are smaller stones glued to the main boulders - I wanted some texture and character on the these quite flat surface stones:


CrystalCanyon1b.jpg


Next step - making canyon bottom (with creek). First I needed a base for gluing smaller stones. Piece of plastic net cutted down to fit:


CrystalCanyon2.jpg


And glued with super glue to the egg crate:


CrystalCanyon2a.jpg



Then I cut out piece of paper to act as creek:


CrystalCanyon3.jpg



Now when I have a vision how it will look like it is time to make a shore - gluing stones next to the paper. A little bit of grinding to fit better:


CrystalCanyon4.jpg



CrystalCanyon5.jpg



CrystalCanyon6a.jpg



And here it is, almost finished hardscape from the top...


CrystalCanyon7a.jpg



Next step is moss application by yogurt method.


CrystalCanyonDSM.jpg



Now at least 2 weeks of DSM and then flooding.

The tank is flooded!

Day 1:


CrystalCanyonDay1.jpg



Day 60:​

Added 40-50 CRS. Everything growing slowly especially Fissidens. CO2 is at 10-15ppm (needed to decreased it due to shrimps).​



crystal%2Bcanyon%2B25.10.2018a..jpg



Day 80:


Stem plants at the back needs trimming.


CrystalCanyonDay80ab.jpg



After trimming:


CrystalCanyonDay82c.jpg
 
wow how did i miss this? that is an amazing tank. very nice use of the rocks. i give you a 10/10:shocked!:(y)
 
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