Itchy Fingers again..:)

[ranmasatome]

So its been ages since i scaped something and tonight i broke that habit.
started at 9pm and just ended at 5.30am... think i'm going to knock out (zzZzzZ) first and post pics later.. Still gotta work today.

But just wanted to say,... feels great!

[tinydot]

looking forward to see the pics!

[d2sign]

picture not up yet? waiting waiting...

[ranmasatome]

Aiyo...paiseh..
I took one yesterday with my hp but the quality is..err... really bad..haha..
i'll take one with a real camera soon.

[ranmasatome]

Ok.. ran down and turned on the lights and took a preliminary shot...



Of course... things aren't done.. this is just a rough idea..
Things still to be done.
1) plant my back ground plants
2) get some sort of back ground
3) remove unused wood from scape
4) tidy the sand
5) naturalise the entire scape (i think it looks just too manicured right now)

well.. we'll see how it goes.. hope the BBA stays away...haiz.. i worrying liao..haha..

here is just tank only shot

[Alvin Koh]

Wow, the depth from the varying wood sizes is amazing.

[genes]

Wow!!! Its finally up! and its A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! Did you tie anything to the balls/rocks that lay around the forest and the path? The green artificial thingy that defines the path will be removed after your scape is finalized right?

[Wackytpt]

Look good bro.

Love the wood placement.

What are the plants in there?

[TKS7011]

Awsome! The arrangement of branch gave a lot of prospective! The 'satay' sticks are there for marking purpose? Not part of the scape right?
What are the tank's dimensions?

[madnugget]

amazing amazing amazing!! maybe u could try attaching mini riccia to the green thingy that runs along the path so it look like a small hedge when matured?

[doppelbanddwarf]

Wow! I guess all of us can't wait to see the final scape.

[ranmasatome]

Thanks everyone!! glad you all enjoy it. i maybe am too critical on my own scape..something about it still makes me want to tinker with it.

Some info since i think the picture doesn't tell it all.

I started working on this tank from 9pm and it took me 7hrs to set it up. why?

1) The soil as you can see is holding itself up without any big rocks to act as a barrier. How? Terracing.

What is Terracing? well, i coined this myself..haha.. actually this tank is sort of an experiment for ideas. 3 things i'm testing with this tank, but i'll explain the other 2 later.

Terracing is simply how i can try to hold up the soil without big rocks. i didn't take any pictures but at the start when building up the tank, apart form the ada aquasoil, i also bought medium sized pebbles. These were about 50mm in diameter each. I bought a whole bag so i sorted them all out and picked the ones that were especially flat.

I figured soil could probably hold itself up but only up to a certain angle. So to minimise the angle internally in the soil. i used the pebbles while setting up.
First, i laid about 4-5cm of the soil down. Then i laid 2 lines of pebbles, right across the tank, from one end to the other, such that they look like coins standing on the edge right before you spin them. Then i filled the soil up over the pebbles and laid a second set of pebbles but this time only the top row was created. This top row was created behind the original top row that is now covered. This was carried on until i reaced the desired height that i wanted for the back. So that the horizon would move up to meet the eyes. I just hope that now, it would work... if not all my pebbles would be seen..hahahaha..

Other things i'm testing - those green things you see. and the straight wood design.

[Verminator]

Ingenious. I love the straight wood idea, it gives a fantastic sense of depth! I've seen something similar inwhich the scaper (i forget who) used bamboo sticks and twisted a variant of moss down the length of them. This tank is going to great when complete. I know its early days, but have you thought about what fauna you might use? I get the feeling with this tank less would be more, if you know what i mean?

[ranmasatome]

To Answer some of your questions, i'll post about the green things today.

Those green balls are actually lava rocks. i've placed some fissidens on them so that they will look like fissiden balls when they grow out.



The green long thing on the path are actually Wire mesh. I had initially wanted to use rocks and tie christmas moss to the rocks and then use these rocks as borders to seperate the path and the rest of the soil. However, that was just too tedious and i didn't want to spend another 3-4 hrs just tying moss on rocks. So i took out abou 8-10 wire meshes i bought last year and started bending them to shape.. (You got it right MadNugget!!)
The ones closest to the glass are bent wider and the ones furthest from the front glass are the thinnest. This would be in line with our perspective.

All in all i had 4 different sizes of meshes, that i bent to shape and laid with christmas moss and then laid them according to the path shape, so that they would form a uniform hedge that gets smaller as it goes further away.

Hope it works..


As of now.. all the front UG has melted... haiz.. need to get more foreground plants. i'll mention plant choice once i get all the plants planted.

[enhanzed]

one word....beautiful


wish i had half the creativity u have

[genes]

I think once the christmas moss grows out of the mesh, you will have to find ways to break it up if not the path will look very unnatural compared with the rest of the scape. Tying with rocks of varying sizes and littering them around the path would have created a more natural look

[ranmasatome]

Yes yes... you probably hit the nail on the head. That is probably what is bothering me.. the "straightness" of the sides of the path...

I also think its just simply unnatural.. and quite yucks...haiz..
However, i'm hoping the moss would stretch out onto the path thereby creating irregularity in how the path looks now. You think that'll work??
i guess if it doesn't i can always pop in a few rocks. Lets see how it turns out.

[ranmasatome]

I know its early days, but have you thought about what fauna you might use? I get the feeling with this tank less would be more, if you know what i mean?

Thanks Verminator for the compliments, lets see if everything works out..haha.. might be a disaster if it doesn't.

Anyway, haven't thought about the fauna yet..

Any suggestions?

what you mean less is more?

[fireblade]

nice and interesting scape... refreshing to look at too..

make me think of doing fire movement in LCK during army days..

stand up run count 2 seconds prone done again ..

[ranmasatome]

Thanks Fireblade, Arty Arty Arty!!!! lol...

Anyway, some got some question on the equipment so i'll reply here with pics.



Lights - Gisesmann with ADA bulb 150W - 3hrs (within the original 8hrs)
2x 24watts T5HO - 8hrs.
Total Lighting hours = 8hrs.
Will increase this later.

Substrate - ADA amazonia and ADA amazonia II. Amazonia is lowest layer - 36kgs
Sand - SUDO bottom sand - 10kgs

Plant list later.

Ferts - 30ppm No3, 20ppm K, 1.5ppm Po4. ADA green gain, ECA and phyton git occasionally.

Tank size 90cm x45cm x45cm.



Co2 - Dupla regulator at 3.5bps for 8.5hrs.
CalAquaLabs - Co2 measurement thingy and diffuser.
ADA grey parts set - Thanks Celticfish!
Artica chiller 1/10 - 30-40mins kick in, 1hr stagnant.
Eheim 2028 attached to a prefilter.

Thats it.. whew... a mouthful..haha..