[Liviu]

Hi,

This is my 3rd aquarium setup, the first 2 being just regular planted aquariums. With this 3rd setup I have tried to create a sort of aquascape.
First of all, the aquarium footprint is triangular, with the front glass curved. This prooved to be the biggest challenge: how to create a 3D aquascape on a triangular footprint aquarium? Well, I still have tried and this is what came out:

The initial setup was made on may 5th 2008. All the water and filters have been reused from the same aquarium in it's heavy random planted state (that why you will see fish in it from the beginning).

The setup is made out of:
- 190 liters (Juwel Trigon 190) triangular footprint aquarium
- JBL aquabasis plus as a fertilizing substrate
- 1-2 mm granulation inert sand as sterile substrate
- wood and rocks
- eheim 2226 external canister filter
- 3x28W + 1x24W Juwel Highlite tubes (T5HO)
- complete pressurized CO2 system
- complete Seachem liquid fertilizing line
- the plants have been changed along with the aquarium evollution but the most stable ones are:
---- microsorum pteropus 'Narrow'
---- anubias barteri var. nana
---- marsilea hirsuta
---- blyxa japonica,
---- hygrophila corymbosa "Compact",
---- eustralis stellata
---- limnophila aromatica
---- java moss
- fauna is composed out of:
---- ~30 paracheirodon innesi
---- 7 otocinclus vestitus
---- >100 red cherry
---- 6 dwarf crayfish (these will go away in couple of weeks, after the new aquarium that I've started one week ago will be stable)

Initially the setup didn't had a name. After a while I was thinking at "Luxury Garden". Now I'm confused .

Here are the photos in their chronological order (yy/mm/dd):

080511


080525


080601


080615


080629


080714


080727


080804


080824- with some side views to get an idea about the depth of the aquarium
....

To be continued !

 

[kiwik]

the driftwoods in the middle look awkward IMO, but maybe it'll come out nice when the moss fills in. the little bunch of hair-grass-looking plant in the middle of the marsilea is also a bit weird, but overall your plants are very healthy and clean. Your fishes and shrimps should be very happy.

 

[redstrat]

I really like the progression photos it really gives an interesting perspective on your tank. The way you're taking advantage of the corner tank to illustrate depth is very refreshing and inspiring. It looks as if there are many layers that spark interest. keep up the great work!!

 

[cpark188]

The layout is fascinating and many interesting effects are achieved with this corner tank. Beautiful planned and keep up your great work and thanks for sharing with us.

 

[inareverie85]

Lovely corner tank! Thank you for sharing

 

[Liviu]

Thank you all for your comments (and critics ). I'm looking around here and I realize I have so much more to learn about aquarium aesthetics.

The truth is that I've worked very hard to keep the aquarium healthy and clean and I still work on it every day to keep it that way. I have to trim a little the plants, to add RO water (I'm loosing about 5 liters each day because of the coolers) and to add liquid fertilizers.
I'm fighting some algae now and then but nothing too serious.

For the moment I'm very proud of my little nature corner and I hope I'll start soon also a second project (I still have to convince my wife to allow me to install another glass-box in our living ).

 

[Liviu]

Here is a small update. The photos are taken on September 21st.

Here is the regular view, 1 meter away from the tank:


And here is the view from the sofa, 2.5 meters away (the sides of the aquarium are acting like mirrors and the view is totally changed):

 

[orlando]

Great looking tank..How do you get your Hygro Kompact to stay so small?
I cant get to stay smaller then a basketball. It grows so fast and huge I found it difficult to keep up with..
But you make it look perfect!

 

[Liviu]

Well, I really can not answer that . It is just staying small. I'm pruning now and then the old leaves that are showing signs of regres but otherwise it is just staying low.

Theory one: Maybe I've got some sort of subspecies that is intended not to grow too tall.

And the second one: Having many plants species in the aquarium, maybe the Hygro compact are just "starving" among other plants.

I'm fertilising using estimative index and I'm changing weekly about 40% of the water.

 

[mcsinny99]

Great looking tank! I'd widen that "path" a little maybe, or not?
Wish mine looked that good

 

[Bunbuku]

Very nice tank. One question though when I click the link for your pictures, I get the large picture plus some peachy "surprises" at the top the the screen. BTW, the cherries (the invertebrate ones) look nice too.

 

[Liviu]

I saw also those "peachy surprises" one or two times .. maybe is the hosting sponsor .. I have no ideea. I'll change the hosting server, I really don't want any "surprises" to interfere with my photos .

About the invetebrates, I also have the dwarf crayfish I was telling I'll get rid of... well, yesterday I saw a bunch of small dwarf crayfish (about the size of an adult red cherry) ... is an invasion .

 

[foofooree]

I love it!

 

[Liviu]

Another update. I was yesterday to a friend to take 15 rasbora from him. Well, he had this nice umbrossum in his tank so I couldn't resisted and I've asked him for two pieces. He took out the whole plant and gave it to me. He said he's moving to a nanoreef so he doesn't needed anylonger .

Well, I had to arrange again the plants.. this is what came out:



I also took out the marsilea carpet in the middle because it was way too crouded. I've kept about 1/3 of it and planted it again.

 

[Liviu]

After a long absence, here I am again

Unfortunatelly, this scape no longer exist. The lamps replacement and the depletion of the substrate took me into another fight with algae and I decided to end its life ... this happened in january this year.

These are the photos taken during the last few months of this "luxury garden"

10.28.2008:


11.19.2008:


12.30.2008:


And the last one: 01.03.2009:


The end !
****************************************
RESET! REBOOT!
****************************************
A new begining:

DATSUZOKU - unworldliness; freedom from use of "compasses and rulers," freeedom from worldly attachments, bondage and restrictive laws. It involves transcendence from conventional usage.

This is the concept .. one friend of mine suggested a Japanese concept as a name for my new setup. I'm not sure if this is matching 100% what I'm trying to do here but for now I'm sticking to this name.

I'll skip the "how-to" part and I'll present the evolution of this new setup from day1:

01.18.2009:


01.22.2009:


02.09.2009:


02.24.2009:


03.01.2009:


03.19.2009:


Details:

Black and red petrified wood only as decorations, except the two artificial pieces that are helping the terraces to stay in place.
Dupla ground as substrate, except the left terrace which has a 2-3mm black inert substrate.
As a nutritive layer I've used Dupla Root.

Hardware:
- Substrate heater dennerle 20W
- Aquamedic CO2 system with external DYI reactor and PinPoint PH controller
- Tetra UV sterilizer
- Tetratec EX1200 external filter
- Light is ensured by 28W day, 28W colour, 28W nature, 24W day and 24W nature Juwel HighLite (T5HO)
- The plants list is quite long and I'll write it down after I'll decide what will stay in the aquarium (I'm still experimenting)
- Fauna: 140 microrasbora galaxy (will remain 100), some red cherry shrimps and 5 otto.

Fauna pictures:


I will update this diary as soon as I'll have something new.

 

[Liviu]

Small update (as the plants got bigger I had to rearrange a little):


Ans ome side views:


Any suggestions to improve the look?

 

[clearleaf]

I absolutely love this tank. The cliffs on the sides are wonderful, and make you wonder "what's it like around that corner?" which makes me think that the fish must enjoy exploring it. I definitely prefer the newer incarnation. For critique I have little. I prefer the swords to the crypts on the right (think I'm right in the plant identification. And perhaps if you had some lighter colored or more of that red petrified wood to place in the front instead of the blacker small rock, since its a foreground carpet area it is going to be very bright, so a brighter rock might look better. *shrug* but I love it.

 

[Liviu]

Thanks for your feedback. I'll get rid of some plants as soon as I'll actually know how I want this scape to look. Right now I'm just enjoying the plants that are growing so fast that I had to double the macro-nutrients addition.
As for the petrified wood, right now it is very hard to see which was red and which was black because all are tuning green . It is some sort of green algae which is growing only on the high iluminated rocks/wood. The red cherry shrimps and the ottos seems to like it very much.

In my struggle to create the "perfect view" in this scape I've moved again the plants a little and I've trimmed the didiplis.
It is hard to keep a nice view with so many plants species.

This is the current view:


And, this is the full list of plants that I have in there:
- Heteranthera zosterifolia
- Cyperus helferi
- Nesaea sp. red
- Myriophyllum mezianum
- Ammania gracilis
- Didiplis diandra
- Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'
- Blyxa japonica
- Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow'
- Anubias barteri var. nana
- Marsilea hirsuta
- Glossostigma elatinoides
- Flame moss
- Cryptocoryne crispatula
- Some acicularis species (please help - the most left one).

 

[Liviu]

Evolution update:

04.12.09


04.27.09:


05.11.09:


Yesterday (May 23rd) I've done a major redecoration. Marsilea disappeared from the scape and is being replaced by HC (it still needs to grow). I took out about 50% of the microsorium in the back and I've trimmed a little the other plants. I've also placed sone flame moss on some wood.
Now I'm looking at it and I'm trying how it will look in bout one or two months.

For the moment, this is the look: