SnookusFish's new aquascape thread

I think its time for me to make this thread.
Its not exactly what the title says, its a long story, I will summarise.
14 long years ago when I was still only saying my first words my dad got a fish tank for his birthday. When he was younger his dad had a planted tank with guppies and angels and a red tailed shark and a few other common fish and my dad looked after the tank so he always wanted his own and finally got one at the age of 40. Well, i recently got into the hobby almost a year ago now and have my own planted tank and realise that my dads tank just isn't up to scratch, any visitors to the house will see it so its got to look good! Anyway, my grandfathers tank was planted with plants like cabomba and hornwort so my dad thinks plants like that are a nuisance, he likes low maintenance. He has tried many plants over the years but the only ones that have survived have been java moss and an anubias, he always planted java ferns in the substrate and buried the crowns of swords. Anyway! After a lot of perseverance I have convinced him to rescape!
Here is what the tank looks like now


As you can see, very bare, no hardscape, except the fake coral which has to go (my mum got that) but! The fish are nice and anubias does well in the tank so I know plants can survive in there. Some of you may know I make youtube videos and I would like to film some of the fish in this tank but its not nice filming when the tank looks like this...
So! Here is my plan


That is just a rough sketch, it won't be exactly like that but thats an idea of the layout.
So far we have bought a piece of wood that I will use in that little wall. I'm just waiting for the rain to stop so I can go out and look for the rest of the hardscape, smooth dark river rocks. For plants we can get 4 for £12 at a lfs. Im going to do an amazon sword, a large anubias and java ferns, maybe vals, its very low light, any other recommendations are welcome. I also have a planted tank so I can give him a few of my plants too.
I will update this as soon as i get the rocks and ask you for help on the hardscape layout.
Thanks for reading!

 

Wow, it's fantastic to see young aquarists in the hobby! It's a common misconception that Hamsters and Hermit Crabs are for kids, whereas reptiles and aquariums are for adults, but that's not at all true! In fact I started keeping, raising, and rescuing fish at the age of 8! In fact my very first Betta was a rescue...from my brother. I now run a rescue, foster, and rehabilitation center for Bettas and nano aquaria which is not yet licensed but should be at the end of this pandemic! And though I don't prefer tall tanks or ones with strange shapes, I think your idea will be fantastic! Just shove as many live plants in there as possible, making sure you have a nutrient-rich substrate, and this tank will turn out stunning! I wish you luck throughout this pandemic, and especially within the hobby!

 

Nice plan, I think it'll look fantastic! I'll be following for updates

 

Got stones! Collecting them was a ... traumatic experience.... but all worth it! I have narrowed them down to a small group of nice sized stones and the go really well with the wood. I will try get the layout done tonight so I can buy the plants and finish the build tomorrow

 

Layout 1, should I try another?

 

View attachment 739143
Layout 1, should I try another?

View attachment 739143
Layout 1, should I try another?

I like that one.

 

Layout 2

 

View attachment 739144
Layout 2

1st one is better IMO

 

I like 2 lol

 

I like 2 better too
I decided on it

 

I like 2 better too
I decided on it
View attachment 739160

it looks different now :/ haha

 

it looks different now :/ haha

Serious... camera angle, i mean hardscape doesnt really matter tbh in terms of the whole plan

 

lol, im just kidding with you. it looks great man!

 

Nice thread. I like the potential you have for your build. This is just my .02 but if your doing the rock pile and DW i would put the piece of DW in the middle standing up and wrap the rocks around them.

 

Nice thread. I like the potential you have for your build. This is just my .02 but if your doing the rock pile and DW i would put the piece of DW in the middle standing up and wrap the rocks around them.

I know it makes sense to do that i actually did something similar in a layout


But im trying to stick with the original plan of a little wall and all the height coming from the plants. I may be doing the scape tomorrow so thats exciting!

 

I know it makes sense to do that i actually did something similar in a layout
View attachment 739171
But im trying to stick with the original plan of a little wall and all the height coming from the plants. I may be doing the scape tomorrow so thats exciting!

Don't get me wrong i like your designs. I was only suggesting thagt setup so it'll give the Hex tank a bit more height but once the plants fill in you will be good to go. What is the current stocking?

 

Don't get me wrong i like your designs. I was only suggesting thagt setup so it'll give the Hex tank a bit more height but once the plants fill in you will be good to go. What is the current stocking?

Yep! Hoping the amazon sword will take care of that. The stock is a bit messy... so we have
1 opaline gourami
Gardneri killifish trio
10 neons
8 glowlight danios
4 black phantoms
A bn pleco
5 amano shrimp

 

Yep! Hoping the amazon sword will take care of that. The stock is a bit messy... so we have
1 opaline gourami
Gardneri killifish trio
10 neons
8 glowlight danios
4 black phantoms
A bn pleco
5 amano shrimp

Wait how big is this tank again?

 

Wait how big is this tank again?

36 gallons

 

36 gallons

Scratching the limits with a high tank.

 

It actually has a surprisingly large footprint. Its only 16" tall and the footprint is 3024cm² or 468 square inches. For comparison a 20 long tank has a footprint of 353 square inches.
Unless my maths is wrong...

 

It actually has a surprisingly large footprint. Its only 16" tall and the footprint is 3024cm² or 468 square inches. For comparison a 20 long tank has a footprint of 353 square inches.
Unless my maths is wrong...

Erm... I'm not familiar with inch. Took me almost a year here to get halfway secure with gallons. I would need all dimensions of the tank to check your calculation.

In any case, the relation between hight and surface area is definitely to consider when stocking. Not only for Oxygen but also for swimming room. Most fish have greater mobility horizontally than vertically.

 

Erm... I'm not familiar with inch. Took me almost a year here to get halfway secure with gallons. I would need all dimensions of the tank to check your calculation.

In any case, the relation between hight and surface area is definitely to consider when stocking. Not only for Oxygen but also for swimming room. Most fish have greater mobility horizontally than vertically.

Haha I'm european too. These are the dimensions of the base in cm. It is an octagon.

 

Got the plants and root tabs today is the day!

 

Better?

 

View attachment 739446
Better?

Definitely.

 

I like that one. That's the one I would go with. I'm not very good at aquascaping though, I just chuck stuff in and rearrange till it isn't ugly, so my suggestions on aquascaping probably aren't the best lol

 

I'm really happy with it

 

It looks awesome!! Excellent job my friend!!

 

I am finally starting, just barely, to get used to metric. If I see the centimeters for a tank, I can picture it.
Celsius too. Although I still find Fahrenheit far more useful.

 

I am finally starting, just barely, to get used to metric. If I see the centimeters for a tank, I can picture it.
Celsius too. Although I still find Fahrenheit far more useful.

Lol I'm Canadian and we use a pretty weird mix of metric and imperial. I prefer inches, gallons, and Fahrenheit for the most part but I'm all about those kilometers lol

 

Fish are loving it

 

Fish are loving it

I feel like it could use some carpeting plants.

 

the full thing!

 

Big water change today and glass cleaned, plants all doing well so far, some new growth from java ferns and anubia, now trying to see if I can change it from flourescent to LED lighting.

 

Big water change today and glass cleaned, plants all doing well so far, some new growth from java ferns and anubia, now trying to see if I can change it from flourescent to LED lighting.

Good scape, but TBH the pipes in the middle look terrible.

 

Good scape, but TBH the pipes in the middle look terrible.

Ok ill just not have a filter then

 

Ok ill just not have a filter then

That sounds like a great solution! lol

 

Good scape, but TBH the pipes in the middle look terrible.

They do. But that can be fixed without removing them.
Main problem: The whole scape is too small for the tank.
You have half the tank just empty open space. Just for the wellbeing of the fish I would quadruple the amount of plants and put in more driftwood.
Also, do I spot one single cardinal among the neons?

 

They do. But that can be fixed without removing them.
Main problem: The whole scape is too small for the tank.
You have half the tank just empty open space. Just for the wellbeing of the fish I would quadruple the amount of plants and put in more driftwood.
Also, do I spot one single cardinal among the neons?

Its my dads tank so I've done this on purpose to keep it easy to maintain, if I could have more plants in there I would, my tank is full of plants. And yes you do spot 1 single cardinal.