Reveru's Second Tank

[icemanken85]

Thanks, I have managed to find the way of doing it....

[reveru]

End of week 2:

[ranmasatome]

Hey.. its looks like its on its way to lushness heaven! wahahaha!

Can't see that rock anymore and the wood behind also covered liao.

Try using rocks or wood at the edge of your path to break the straight line path.

[bryan]

Appearance-wise, lily pipes look nicer in the tank. Other than that, not much use.

Lily pipes when installed properly, will creat a small vortex on the surface which breaks up the protein layer. Therefore you don't need a skimmer. I remember seeing a youtube demo before.

[johannes]

Hey bro, i think your water level s too high, it should be just below the upper part of the lily output to create the vortex to dissolve the surface film. that's what i noticed at Midori. you can actually adjust the water level accordingly and see at which height the vortex will be created optimally.

[fireblade]

find that the horizontal wood a bit eye sore.. :P
maybe let it stand? also the slope like not enough...

[reveru]

ranmasatome: thanks, i will post up the pics weekly and hopefully it does grow out lushly. as for the boundary between substrate and sand, i'm hoping that when the plants grow out, they will naturally obscure the distinct line.

bryan + johannes: thanks for the info. i do know that lily pipes create vortex that can keep the protein film away. my point was actually that lily pipes are not strictly necessary in a tank because a protein skimmer is likely to be cheaper anyway. as for the water level, i realised that the flow rate also matters. for example, in this tank, even though the lily pipe outlet is approx 1 inch below water surface, the surface scum is still being swirled downwards by the vortex. i'm running 800l/hr in this 2 ft currently. compared to my 600/hr in my other 2 ft, this vortex is much stronger.

fireblade: thanks for your feedback. hopefully the flora will obscure and soften some of the harsh lines of the horizontal wood and make it seem less stark. as for the slope, somehow it looks ok in real life but on the photo seems flatter.

[blue33]

The soil behind is abit low, let the plant grow some more, can always use the plant to trim and shape the scape.

[reveru]

Day 40:



Bolbitis Heudelotti seems to be melting still. Not sure what's wrong.

[Shadow]

Nice, look wild. I like the way glosso mix, look natural. You might want to make E.vivipara thicker a bit.

[Javanus]

Scape is beautiful. I like the wild grassy look. Where did you source for the E. vivipara?

[reveru]

Thanks Robert. I was quite surprised by the way the glosso spread. They grew onto the driftwood and rocks and anchored themselves quite nicely. As for the vivipara, I keep having to trim it because of the plantlets at the end. Trying to make them grow thicker, but will take time.

Hi Javanus, I bought the Vivipara online from Mizu World (do a google, sure to find them). You don't have to buy online though, can buy from LFS, quite common. I bought online cos I needed all my plants on the setup day.

[Aquanoob]

Reveru, very nice scape. It really makes me want to do a re-scape to my 2ft tank which I keep delaying.
Can I check what is the water temperature in your tank and how do you maintain that temperature? thanks.

[Shadow]

What I did for vivipara, cut them short when first plant. After a while almost all those cut part grow plantlets and let it grow long reaching the surface. That will make it thicker. Occasionally need to selectively trim the plantlets to make sure not too thick or too thin.

[barmby]

Kaoz! Reveru scape tank way better than I first started the hobby

[ndy06]

Wow, can't wait to see the plant cover all the wood surface.
Keep update.

[reveru]

Aquanoob: Thanks for your kind words. My tank temp is kept at 25 degree C by a Hailea HC-150A. I don't think that chiller is absolutely necessary for a planted tank, but since my tank is quite near a window with sun, it can get quite warm. Thus I added a chiller to this setup instead of using fan. Do re-scape your 2 feet! Although the setup work is quite tiring, I think when you see the plants grow it is quite rewarding. I could help out if you want!

Shadow: Thanks for the tip! Will keep that in mind if I use vivipara in my next scape(s). Meanwhile, I'll just try to trim it gradually to see if I can coax it to grow thicker.

barmby: You are too generous with your words! Like what was said in my other tank's thread, as long as the plants grow well, the scape will naturally look nice! So I feel more like a farmer than an artist... tell you a secret, the path of sand is inspired by a certain someone's "The Wilderness and Forest"!

ndy06: A bit busy but I will update it periodically. Thanks for visiting!

[reveru]

Day 62:

Just recovered from a tough fight with cladophora algae. Very hardy stuff and pretty difficult to remove. Not sure if it will return.

[Aquanoob]

Reveru, this is an even nicer mature scape. Take some pictures (without the pipings and tubes) for next year's IAPLC, so that you will have a few scape picture to choose from.

[barmby]

Cools. Is it a trend now that glosso must grow upwards? I have noticed it in Shadow's tank.

btw, Reveru, how is your placement in this year IAPLC?