Revamping of 2 ft setup!

[aquanatix]

I've been hunting around for equipment for several months now,after months of neglect i've finally decided to tear down my 2+ year old tank setup and redo all 3 of my tanks. Went over to Polyart/C328 for a short walk after dinner and ended up with so much "accidental stuff"...haiz~Guess it's about time i complete my setup?Not too sure about the hardscape yet but i've been seeing quite a number of very stunning setups here so i'd thought maybe i could try a different one out for all 3 of my tanks? I remembered someone here saying best of both worlds,well...i'm going with best of 3 worlds! With that in mind,i had 2 black and a single white oyama background planned. For now i'm stuck with the bottom 2tanks,wanna start them soon so that i can transfer my flora and faunas out of the original tank. Will start updating my progress here as of today so stay tuned!Hope to hear some inputs on direction as I'm VERY spoilt for choices with all the possible scapes!All suggestions are welcome!

(what used to be my pride and joy) :


Side view (started with a single tiny stalk that was accidentally stuck in a bunch of other plants from C328,look at them now):


My room setup :


After a few hours of clearing up and attaching OYAMA (middle tank) :


Bottom tank :

[torque6]

About time for a new scape, nice and mature 2year thing. Looking forward to your next scape.

[aquanatix]

Yeah,high time i did it...Got so much equipment lying around that i feel like an "karang guni" man! Planning to go into a rockscape for the bottom tank but didn't see any rocks for sale over at both clementi LFS. Anywhere else i can get my hands on them?

[torque6]

You cannot find rocks at c328/polyart, have to head central to ADA biotope/midori or NA, i visited all 3 a couple of weeks back. NA has more stones, midori as well, might want to check with Thio if his granite stones are in. Seaview has a few boxes, but they didnt have the ones i was looking for.

[aquanatix]

Gotcha...will head over probably to NA or seaview to check them out.Hopefully can spot some nice DW as well?

[torque6]

ya, DW they have as well. But it may take awhile to get the "right" DW, take your time and choose.

[aquanatix]

Finally managed to get out a rough scape for my 1st tank.Still pretty unsure about look,everything is pretty much still "agar agar"?Have not found any driftwood, rocks etc...that are to my liking hence decided to reuse existing materials. Its now alittle too bare on the right,wonder what you guys think?

Flora used so far: Us fissidens, HG(Jap?), Glosso, spikey(peacock,christmast?) moss.
Flora leftover from previous tank: Red tiger lotus, APP, Blyxa japonica, spikey moss.
Next addition:???

Frontal shot:


Foreground:


Side:

[aquanatix]

Couldn't help myself just now and popped by C328 to take a look. Looking for suitable "pieces" to cover up my empty space. After a few hours of messing again with the scape,i came up with this. Assembled main piece with 3 individual pieces of DW with US Fissidens tied to the tips and Spikey moss tied to the remaining base. Was going for the wild and weathered look,hopefully will somehow achieve the effect when the japonica starts bushing and my glosso starts creeping? I also planted what looks very much like spring onions(needs verification)? in between small spaces to add to the abused look. Loads of grooves and hiding spaces were also created(not very visible from pictures except for closeup3) for future fauna,most likely my favorite pygmy cories? Hoping to get that "Emergence" scene during feeding time!Not sure if anyone got my drift.Something still seems to be missing,looks ordinary?Not sure what it is either...All comment welcome!

Top view:


Main piece:


Close up:


Close up2:


Close up3:


Side:


Another look:

[torque6]

Actually you have an eye for design and found your DW quite fast. I took months to get hold of my iwagumi rocks.

[aquanatix]

Thanks for the compliments bro! All it took was an "itchy backside" and a trip down to C328 to solve my problems! They had a new batch of DW and many of them were kinda branchy and tree like. I was actually spoilt for choices just now but settled for these instead. For the rocks they're the smooth surfaces ones you normally would find in ponds and such. It looked alittle weird hence buried alittle just to expose top. I was actually looking for iwagumi ones for my other tank but no luck whatsoever even over at NA and colourful. Now i have 5pots of HC hanging around,sigh~

[torque6]

Couple of places i have already visited with no avail. c328/polyart/qianhu/y618/aquastar/keong seng/colorful/pasir ris farmway otf, mainland etc/tampines KnK.. sigh it was a relieve when i finally got them.

ada biotope and midori brings in grey/granite texture rocks, but from a month back, Thio hasnt got a fresh box of granite stones in. Gone down to NA today, their grey rocks were all sold out as well.

[aquanatix]

That explains! Most places i went just didn't have it,so tempted to hunt for some at construction sites!The uncle at colourful told me grey was out and larva was in when i asked him if he had any! Mwahaha...hilarious i tell you!He did recommend me a bag of them,pretty good deal if you're into "orangy" larva rock? I couldn't picture my scape with it hence skipped the idea.Hopefully i'll get some when i visit the fish farms next week?

[torque6]

ya, richard recommended his orange rocks to me some time back as well, but Rock mentioned that for planted tanks, lava rocks were hardly used.

Wayne sham used a couple of lava rocks in his 25cm tank some time back. Can check them out.

http://www.cau-aqua.net/index.php?op...d=10&Itemid=38

[aquanatix]

He made it look good!Hmm...can consider it actually?

[torque6]

ya, it looks good for nanos. I was referencing his design but ive already started on iwagumi at that time and was missing a suitable driftwood lol.

Wayne does make it look fairly simple to setup. This is what i call real pro.

[aquanatix]

Just got back from Pasir Ris Farms,great trip though i came home empty handed! Whole loads of arrowanas and the occasional rare find? Saw lots of pretty good DW but skipped the price asking part due to the wet weather!All in all will continue hunting for my desired rocks for a possible iwagumi project on the next tank! So far my lawn is starting to sprout though abit curious due to length of time. Will update with more pictures soon.

[torque6]

hehehe, i came home empty handed on most occasions as well, I dont drive so i had to walk all the way in. Took like 40mins to and fro, damn tired

[aquanatix]

Been scouring farms for the past few days but no avail...Saw some nice ones at Qian Hu but they still weren't really what i was looking for?The hunt continues...

[torque6]

Natix,
sigh, you miss the thread on new rocks arriving at NA? Illumnae gone down yesterday and its all gone . ADA biotope uncle also say they were trying to get new rocks since chinese new year but i haven't seen them arrive too, probably too many ADA in stock right now lol.

hehehe, 1 word for rock hunting. Yuan.

[illumnae]

haha not all gone, a few pieces left but none that caught my eye nor were big enough for what i needed them for