The Stone Henge

[CPO]

13/12/2010

Holla!

I'm going to do a major rescape to my 1ft cube! I have an idea in mind but not very resourceful, thus could bros here help me out a little?

The Idea! <The Stone Henge>



The Problems!

Stones : I have no idea where to find such stones of these shapes. Is there any way I can sand the stones to the shape I like using some tools or anything? or any place have such stones for sales?

Carpet Grass : My tank is a very low tech one, thus only have a small 9w clip on light on about 6 hours/day, no CO2. Tank temp ranges from 25 to 27 max. I would like to achieve a smooth looking carpet grass probably the one found below. Please recommand me what kind of carpet grass would suit my tank spec.


Will appreciate your help alot in my new aquascape!

Will update my progress here as well!

Cheers!

[ScorpionX86]

bro i think you need strong lightings and good amount of co2 to grow foreground plants to a nice lawn like that .

[alvinchan80]

I think its very hard to get those rocks of such similar rectangular shape unless you slowly chip it til the shape?

as for the lawn as the last photo, i think its HC... you would need strong lighting with constant CO2 emission... my current HC is growing to be close to the photo...

[Jungle-mania]

Get wire and clay to make your rocks.

[CPO]

Hi bro, you mind to explain more about making these stones? I'm quite desperate to find them now....cheers!

[adam251]

I supposed if you're not that fussy about the stones being actually rectangular, perhaps can use those decorative stones used in gardening landscaping sold at plant nursery

[felix_fx2]

Can try asking at foreast floral

[CPO]

Thanks pal, I would try plant nursery, but are they like actually rectangular in shapes? And most importantly, I need them in small size as I'm only scaping a 1 ft cube tank. haaa.

[eviltrain]

the best is to use clay/cement like what bro. Jungle-mania suggest. since you are scaping a 1 feet cube, your clay/cement model might need to be tiny for the whole stonehedge layout.

[CPO]

the best is to use clay/cement like what bro. Jungle-mania suggest. since you are scaping a 1 feet cube, your clay/cement model might need to be tiny for the whole stonehedge layout.

Hi bro eviltrain, I think that is feasible esp when it comes to small models. Do you know how to do them? what I need etc? I can't really seem to find any articles online.

[eviltrain]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/8eed/

http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Sto.../dp/076242883X

..... you have not try hard enough.....

[stormhawk]

Don't think about using clay or cement. What you need is slate. You can cut them to size if you have the appropriate tools that can cut rocks. Landscaping stores or LFS that sell slate pieces may have the stones you require. Pleco keepers have such slate pieces made into caves cut to size by sellers in the USA. Attaching them together requires just aquarium-safe silicone, and slate being dark grey, fits your Stonehenge theme perfectly.

[CPO]

Don't think about using clay or cement. What you need is slate. You can cut them to size if you have the appropriate tools that can cut rocks. Landscaping stores or LFS that sell slate pieces may have the stones you require. Pleco keepers have such slate pieces made into caves cut to size by sellers in the USA. Attaching them together requires just aquarium-safe silicone, and slate being dark grey, fits your Stonehenge theme perfectly.

Yep! That was excatly what I want to do, but no idea where have these rocks. do you have any idea where carries them? haa

[limz_777]

if you are really into diy your own rocks , you can use styrofoam as your base , just cover it with cement , as for the cement use , maybe you might want to look into eddy planer 's thread in the vivarium section

[stormhawk]

Yep! That was excatly what I want to do, but no idea where have these rocks. do you have any idea where carries them? haa

I've seen them in the normal form at C328, but how to cut them, I am not sure. I think you need some power tools for that. Cut rocks can probably be purchased at a landscaping company, like I earlier mentioned. You need to do your own inquiries with these companies. In any event, the Stone Henge is not built of perfectly shaped rocks, so as long as you are able to do the dolmen formation (i.e. one rock lying horizontal supported by 2 others at a perpendicular angle) in some way. See this link for more inspiration:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalith

DIY-ing your own rocks is another option, but to get the exact color you want, may not beat using real slate instead.

Alternatively, I found this link while browsing at GEX's site:

http://www.gex-fp.co.jp/fish/catalog.../accessory.pdf

In that PDF, at the top there is this fake rock formation.

http://www.gex-fp.co.jp/fish/catalog.../accessory.pdf

From an earlier catalog in 2009, in page 2 there is another fake rock formation.

[CPO]

Thanks bro so much for all your input. I believe I will go for customised rocks. However, I'm afraid that these cemented rock would realease toxic to the water? I am keeping shrimps, definitely don't want to murder them... any non- toxic cements?

[Jungle-mania]

I have actually used clay for my setup before as I needed something to hold the sticks up, I had no issues with any release of toxins. I cannot comment on cement as I have not used it before, although I doubt there is any serious issues with it.

I used a toilet roll and wind wire around it to get the shape I needed, I think you would have to look around your house to find the shape you need.

The hard part here is to age the blocks to give it the ancient look. The closest I can find to doing it is this:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6367856_colo...tone-wall.html
No guarantees here, the closest I ever did was to use those blocks you find sold in plant nursery as a garden edge. If you have a angle cutter, I guess you can cut those blocks to dimensions and spray paint accordingly to have the rustic look.