20litre Nano scape 'COAST'

[ukplanter]

Hi to every one at aquatic quotient, I posted the following journal on a UK forum but thought you guys might like it too. I welcome all your comments

Im looking for some help with rock placement so figured this would be a good starting point -
Im currently waiting for a 20 inch (ish) opti white glass cube to arrive but being impatient I got tempted in the meantime to set up a little nano. For this project I will be using a supafish aqua 20 silver purchased from Maidenhead aquatics (UK retailer). I Use my local Maidenhead aquatics for all my fishkeeping items so you can pressume anything seen in this thread is from them .
The tank as the name suggest hold 20 litres and comes supplied with a nifty little internal filter and a 9 watt light.
Tank dimensions are 350mm x 235mm x 225mm.

Suafish aqua 20 Silver
I tend to buy rock and bogwood when I see nice peices even if I dont have immediate plans for it because you can never find what you want when you need it. Just recently ive managed to get hold of some nice rocks, This was all the incentive I needed to do another tank.

The rock needed a little attention and after a bit of persuasion with a hammer and a flat head screwdriver I had a number of smaller peices more suitable for the Aqua 20.
Substrate would be Red Sea Flora base. Ive used it before with good results and had a spare bag kicking around the garden. I may put a darker substrate, to tie in with the rocks, on top depending how the scape goes and how much I decide to plant. Im afraid I dont have any definite ideas yet for plants for now im just playing with rocks.
This is where I thougt you guys might be able to help! below are the results of an hour or so of playing with the hard scape I think the final photo is the prefered layout but I though I would get a second (third,fourth and so on) opinion.
Apologise for the quality of pics im no pro photographer im afraid -
Scape 1 - valley

I can see this scape with a light coloured sand path running through it
Scape 2 - 3 Rock triangle

A little less clutered with fewer rocks
Scape 3 - 3 Rock hillside

Thought maybe the smallest rock on the right might get lost when the plants grow
Scape 4 - Rock hillisde 2

The right hand rock has been replaced with a larger one.

So this is how the rocks are placed for now, I will try living with it for a few days and may decide to tweak it a bit. Would be great to get some feed back from some fellow Rock fans

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I decided to upgrade the lighting and have installed an 18 watt HP T5 light -

It wasnt too difficult to fit the new light and I think I managed quite a neat job
The new light unit fitted -

When I fired it up I was shocked ( and momentarily blinded) by the amount of light this little tube put out
Blinding -

I also managed to pick up a nice little pedestal type stand and using it back to front it provides a nice hiding place for the Co2 bottle.
Im much happier with the light level now.





This has kept me busy this evening so I havent really any more thoughts on the rock placement at the mo, Early days and am in no real rush to get it filled and planted. Im waiting for a glass diffuser too so I cant do much till I get that.
So far so good -


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Been giving the filtration some thought - I like the sound of these Eden type mini external filters, any one know much about them?
As for the aquascaping Ive had an idea about trying to create a coastal scape.
This would involve adding a beach of sand on the lower left section, I am also trying to figure a way to give the effect of the ocean down in the left hand front corner. Ive seen tanks On CAU website that use glass to give the water or pool effect. Perhaps a section of glass with a painted under side? I can picture mini pelia overlaping the sand over lapping the water . (maybe a little too ambitious?)
your thoughts?

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Been playing with the 'coastal idea' -

Im not great with paint etc - but you get the idea

So boredom got the better of me and I began by trying to create the Ocean in minature. I thought I would try painting the underside of a peice of glass Blue/Green, However I came across an aquascape by Gary Wu called Seashore. Gary used a reflective sheet to create his water with amazing effect. Although difficult to replicate what Gary has done as I am not a professional photographer the use of something reflective seemed better than something coloured or painted.
First step was to remove some substrate -

To create the water I took a peice of glass cut to size and wrapped it in tinfoil. This was the slid into position carefully trying not to move the rocks

It didnt look great at this stage and decided that it would look better if the surface was smoother. Have ordered adhesive chrome sheets (flea bay) Will try these for better effect.
However with the beach in I think its starting to take shape -

Im learning that photography makes the world of difference and Im sure with some clever lighting effects this could look OK.

Im sure that planting will help to soften the whole thing and it should look nice Once the substrate is covered all but the beach.
I will continue to tweak the hardscape until im happy.

Please feel free to comment.

Thanks

[oblivion]

i liked scapes 1 & 4 of your original choices

look forward to seeing how your project develops

[Jervis]

Nice and a tad ambitious to achieve such complex layout within a nano... look forward to more developments... from the look of it... you will surely be able to pull it through

[ukplanter]

i liked scapes 1 & 4 of your original choices

look forward to seeing how your project develops

I was tempted to go with scape 1 Lee but thought it was a bit busy for such a small tank.

Nice and a tad ambitious to achieve such complex layout within a nano... look forward to more developments... from the look of it... you will surely be able to pull it through

I know its perhaps a little too ambitious but im really enjoying the hard scaping. My biggest fear is blowing the scale with planting. Im considering using HC, mini pelia, pelia, fissidens.

Ive tried to add a little realism to the beach is the effect working?

appreciate your comments -

[Repz]

the hard scape looks amazing i love the way it looks
keep up the good work i hope everything will stay in place once its filled

[oblivion]

the hardscape looks magnificent!

so the sea effect was made using adhesive chrome on glass?
or is it still tinfoil?

and whats that you used to create the white surf effect?
cotton wool?

[Reforma]

It's very splendid layout, do keep us updated

[leeruisheng]

Impressive arrangement. Not filling any sand on the bare left?

[ukplanter]

the hardscape looks magnificent!

so the sea effect was made using adhesive chrome on glass?
or is it still tinfoil?

and whats that you used to create the white surf effect?
cotton wool?

Hi Lee,

Thanks for your comment

The sea effect is simply a peice of glass wrapped in tinfoil, it is a little crude in real life but in photograph it looks ok. Somehow I need to reflect some blue colour into the foil with lighting or tint?? Im working on this.

The white surf is simply cotton wool.

Leeruisheng
The left hand corner is intentionaly bare to represent the sea. Maybe it is not convincing enough yet?

Plants going in soon, I have some arriving today hopefully.

Thanks for reading

[fireblade]

i love the last photo... will the cotton wool create problem when filled with water?

[torque6]

Your hardscape looks amazing. the rock closest to the sand mimics a erroded barrier, looks exactly like the ones in most beaches, but one thing ive noticed is how you carefully place that stone right under the top soil creating this fantastic effect.

I will definitely be keeping tabs on this thread! Looking forward to your next progress.

[fireblade]

any updates on this wonderful setup?

[Panut]

Yearning to see the pictures!

[tcy81]

very impressive hard scape !

[torque6]

For a moment, i thought ukplanted posted some new pics in his thread.....

[ukplanter]

OOOps ! sorry guys update well over due, have taken some recent pics will update as soon as poss!

[fugu_88]

Looking forward to view your pics....

[ukplanter]

OK guys heres the latest pics -

[Panut]

All i can say is..

[the_r0ck]

Wow, I was waiting very eagerly when I saw your plans but now I am just stunned by the ingenuity.

Honestly perhaps you can cut back a little on the plant mass to give it an even more authentic beach feeling. Usually we don't see so thick clumps near the beach, well, at least not here.