My First Aquascape

[Cookster]

Damn dude' date=' that new light looks sexy as, very cool indeed :encouragement:[/quote']I am very happy with how it looks Squiggle ... the question now is 'will it grow my plants as well as the fluros have"?Thank you torface... I was a bit unsure whether the bulky timber housing I built for it would spoil the sleekness of the LEDs, but I think it sort of suits the whole look with the tank :)

[K9932]

I just read through this again. This scape really is mind blowing!!!

[Michelle]

very nice tank!!

[Cookster]

Thanks Michelle. :)

[ineke]

Hi Ian have you got some tank updates please would love to see how it is going:encouragement:

[Squiggle]

+1 how's the tank going? :encouragement:

[Cookster]

Hi guys and gals,

Been a while since my last visit...

So time for an update of the scape.

It is now 9 months since the beginning of Shrimp Paradise and also the start of my aqua-scaping journey.

The tank has had some nasty issues with hair algae and the occasional BBA ... So much so that I had to remove pretty much all of the moss and discard it due to infestation of Hair Algae

It began growing in amongst the hair grass carpet and pretty much any thing it could get a hold of. I still have a bit of trouble with it but I drag a toothbrush around and in between the plants often and I am slowly winning.

The tooth brush works a treat to drag it off the plants. The soil has begun to lose its nutrient load now, and so I have finally started adding ferts to this tank. I always thought that they would be harmful to the shrimp, but it turns out that

they are fine with it. Using EI dosing regime of Micro and Macro nutrients .. and the tank is coming back to life. The hair grass carpet that was looking a bit poorly since last trim is sprouting new shoots the algae is decreasing and the moss is regrowing.

These two photos show tank in full glory in August ... and recently in November showing the obvious lack of moss.

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I am very pleased and proud to say that this scape won 2nd Place in a recent Aquascaping contest held here in Oz.

This is the photo spread that wowed the judges. :triumphant:

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I have a couple of new scapes up and running now also, with my 4x2x2 in hard scape layout stage.

Stems - Started September 2013

The Steps - Flooded 29/11/2013 after a 5 week dry start for the HC carpet.

No Name as yet .. still in hard scape layout stage

Cheers Ian

[Squiggle]

Looks amazing dude, very well done & congrats on the second place, stunning job dude! :victorious:

[Cookster]

Thanks Squiggle, feeling pretty chuffed :encouragement:

The aqua scaping bug has bitten hard ... shrimp population has grown also ;)