My new scape

[fishbuger]

Hi was looking at my tank and it just didn't give me the feel one want so I tried my hand at rescaping it

The orginal was fairly nice at start but I kinda messed it up and it looked like this





After a day's work and 2 casualties I made it look like this



Water is a bit milky but its slowy clearing up. Can't get rid of the fine sand bits stuck to my mosses. This would technically be my first try and setting up a scape myself and hopefully things wll turn out fine : )

[z_z]

Wow, yin-yang substrate nice!!!

[YiDaLi]

I like the second one in the picture! Very nice set up!

[beetroot]

nice one! desert and oasis?

[hann]

Nice effort there. Like the clear separation of different substrate.

[fishbuger]

Thanks for the feedback guys! Had a lot of help from reading AQ and also ADA magazine that my friend lent me : ) Will do my best to keep the tank alive..and post updates of it progress

[Ernest Tan]

Hi your second pic is nice but where are all your fishes? got to becareful if you want to rescape again not to mix the sand and the soil! good try

[fishbuger]

Added whats left of my livestock......sigh the clump of java moss nearer the middle which I tied myslef and did not do a good job has browning but I see nice green "shoots" on parts that were better tied. Java moss on the left corner seem to be doing well : ) I see nice green "shoots" all over. Well at least something is not dying

Pic quality due to sucky camera and suckier user

[Aquaria One]

Nice! It looks like the moss is bubbleing in the picture! nice work!

[fishbuger]

Thanks for the positive feedback but I'm sorry and in fact a bit ashamed to say that my moss while they do look like bubbling in the earlier pics are not : ( It just that my fish food and sand bits got stuck in them : ( They are suppose to be floating type but the fliter pushes them down. I'm not sure how I can fix the problem but I did do something rather silly today and I feel I may have spoilt my scape : (

BEFOREAFTER

Things I did.....
1)Took the moss out to try and remove stuck fish food.
2)Added a "block" of taiwan moss".Its the clump in the middle
3)Shifted one nana to the the sand area

Damages that I know
1)The "floor" is not straight any more.The soil side is now rather uneven
2)There is alot of spill over to the sand side. Messy?

Any comments on which one look better?Wondering if I should redo everything all over again...but that would mean streesing the livestock again and new soil and sand cause I don't I can recover them without mixing them up : ( Or maybe I should leave things be?

[fishking]

Hey fishburger..your tank still looks nice. I like the two tone colour thingy. Maybe you can use some stick to push back some black sand and then use the white sand to cover up a bit if the black sand that dropped over.??

[blink_willie]

Your tank looks nice and has potential.I really like the separation of the different substrate.Hmm,you certainly could use a background.Black would be nice,in my opinion,

Cheers!

[luenny]

Nice tank. If you intend to keep your substrate separated, just remember not to put in any cories. They'll mess it all up.

[fishbuger]

Thanks again for comments I guess for the sake of the live stock I'll leave things for now. From what I've read here its very bad stress for them if I keep trying to "improve" the tank. Though I'll prolly take seniors advice and just get some more sand to cover the spillover and a background too. I got one question though. There is alot of food stuck in my moss any idae how to get rid of them? Shrimps?

[beetlejuice403]

Hey fishburger,

nice scape you have there... like the contrast between the 2 different substrate... Like to ask you, how do you seperate/prevent the 2 substrate from 'crossing over' to the other type's territory?? Noticed that some of the black substrate had crossed over to the sand's side... This is atually one of my main concerns also if I were to set up a similar scape like yours... Any experts here can share any tips on this? Thanks!

Regards

[fishbuger]

Hey fishburger,

nice scape you have there... like the contrast between the 2 different substrate... Like to ask you, how do you seperate/prevent the 2 substrate from 'crossing over' to the other type's territory?? Noticed that some of the black substrate had crossed over to the sand's side... This is atually one of my main concerns also if I were to set up a similar scape like yours... Any experts here can share any tips on this? Thanks!

Regards

Hi! Here what I did in steps.

1)I used thoes really thin but hard cardboard you find at stationary shops, cut to the length and I need and stuck a few pieces together so it could stand.
2)I made sure my substrate and sand were dry so the cardboard won't get soggy
3)I place the cardboard in the shape I wanted and in my case was a wavy line and then I put in weights at the "bends" to prevent the board from "bouncing" back
4)Once I was happy with the shape,added a thin layer of the substrate to one side, then the other.
5)Once there was enough thickness to hold the cardboard I took out weights slowly and press the substrate as flat and packed as I can.
6)Added another "layer" and same thing press and pack as much as I can.
7)Finally I added the last layer on the right before I slowly added the sand on the left. All the while ensuring there is enough cardboard sticking out for my fingers to pinch.
Lastly I very slowly lift out the the cardboard and add water very very slowly using thoes thin plastic tube and got what you see in my (before) picture : )

The spill over was beacause my hand got itchy and added another moss piece a couple of days later. All the accidental dropping and pushing the down into the "ground" cause the major spillover : ( If you just leave it alone it should be find unless you have cory : )

[fishbuger]

Sorta of a repeat post..left with 2 guppies now. Another one just simply died....appeared active and healthy all this while and then suddenly
Any ideas? Cause my plants and other fishes/shrimp all seem to be doing well and only the guppies have issues...dun understand why. And should I take this as a warning sign or something?

[nature beauty]

Hi Bro,

Another feedback that you might want to think about it that is the plant mass that you have is alittle on the down side this might cause algae to come into place very quickly if you are not doing something about it.

The scape i realised can be form through trimming hence you may need to let your plants grow first till they are long enough for you to do some cutting. Just think of hair and I think you will understand what i'm trying to say correct.

Hope this help. Don't give up !

[fishbuger]

Hi Bro,

Another feedback that you might want to think about it that is the plant mass that you have is alittle on the down side this might cause algae to come into place very quickly if you are not doing something about it.

The scape i realised can be form through trimming hence you may need to let your plants grow first till they are long enough for you to do some cutting. Just think of hair and I think you will understand what i'm trying to say correct.

Hope this help. Don't give up !

Thanks : ) The moss are growing...slowly but at least they are growing hehe meanwhile I'll keep monitering it closely and hope for the best : )

[fishbuger]

Thin "oil" flim on water surface....is it oil or bacteria??

Thanks spec at the mment
40x25x25
24 watt clip on light with 1 white and 1 blue tube (9hrs)
Ehiem liberty 1000 filter
2 x nana
1 x moss ball(spreaded out)
1 x taiwan moss on small dw
2 x java moss (1 on cocnt and one on lava rock)
1 x sae
2 x oto
3 x sakura shrimp
1 x guppy
10 x neon tetras