Tank Tested: My 150G

August 3rd, 2018

I’m flattered to have some of my tanks featured on the Tank Tested YouTube channel. The first is my 150G Amazon inspired aquascape.




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33G Aquavas Aquascape

November 22nd, 2016

Here’s an updated shot of my recently rescaped Aquavas aquarium. This tank is the only tank that’s showcased in my home, in our living room, while the rest of them are consolidated in my fishroom.

33G Aquavas Aquascape

The goal of this aquascape is to prominent feature something of a twisted old tree, while keeping the rest of the scape fairly minimalist. I had previous done sand foregrounds in this tank, so I wanted to change it up with an Eleocharis ‘Mini’ foreground this time around.

Rescaped my Aquavas tank this weekend. Here's what it looked like before filling up.

You can see above how the hardscape and planting came together. I try to plant as densely as possible to help the scape mature more quickly. I also had the luxory of wood that was reused from a previous scape and already had lots of moss and Anubias ‘petite’ attached to it.

And how it looks filled up after two days....

Finally, above is what the scape looked like a day after planting. You can see that it’s already maturing a bit in a week or so by comparing to the first picture. Comments/critique welcome!

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New Aquascape in Aquavas Tank

January 26th, 2016

During my winter break I rescaped my Aquavas aquarium that previously been setup for over a year. Below is the new scape, utilizing lots of spiderwood and dragonstone. It’s a pretty simple scape in terms of plants, using mostly weeping moss, Anubias barteri var. nana, Hygrophila corymbosa ‘Angustifolia’, and some crypts.

IMG_0470

The old scape used pretty much the same plants, but had become very overgrown with moss and I was ready for a change.

Aquavas Aquascape

The biggest challenge in the new scape is the darker area created under the branches. I like the intrigue that this area creates, but it definitely makes it more difficult to photograph. The fish, just a few cardinal tetras, usually like to hang out there, however. I still need the Hygrophila to grow in more in the back left and perhaps get a bit more moss established on the wood. Comments/critiques welcome!

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120G Aquascape

December 10th, 2015

My 120G aquascape is growing in nicely! The wood has finally sunked after a couple of months, and the mounds are filling in the gaps between the various pieces of Rosewood. I’m happy with the jungle effect in this tank, with most of the species of plants intermixed throughout each other. I will need to be diligent to keep the Hygrophila pinnatifida from throwing out runners that consume everything, however.

120g - December 9, 2015

The Stuarogyne ‘Bihar’ is another plant that could easily take over the scape. I may pull it out, anyways, opting for more Ludwigia ‘Cuba,’ but I haven’t fully made that decision yet. Comments/critiques welcome!

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It’s a About Perspective…

September 9th, 2015

I did a photoshoot of my 33g this weekend. Normally, I pull out my go-to 24-70mm lens for the majority of my shots, but unfortunately, this weekend that lens was in the shop, necessitating that I experiment with some other options. In doing so, I was amazed at how the exact same aquascape can look radically different based on the focal length of the lens used to shoot it.

33G - 11mm

33G Aquascape – Photographed with 11mm lens

Take the first shot above as an example. This was start with a super wide-angle lens at just 11mm. Of all of the shots, I love how dramatic it makes the hill look, with so much depth it’s amazing. However, if you submitted this to an aquascaping contest, you’d likely get points knocked off for too much distortion. Just look at the silicon line on the back left — it’s not even remotely a straight line like it should be.

33G - 13mm

33G Aquascape – Photographed with 13mm lens

Dialing it back a bit only 2mm to 13mm makes a lot of difference. You can see the distortion is not quite so profound, albeit still present, and the warping of the hill itself is less so. Whether or not this is a good thing or not is up to you.

33G - 17mm

33G Aquascape – Photographed with 17mm lens

Now, jumping to 17mm the lines are much more natural but you still get a good amount of depth. Notice how there’s less and less reflection as the angle gets narrower. In the first shot, you get nearly the entire grouping of Rotala rotundifolia whereas as 17mm we only see the tops.

33G - 50mm

33G Aquascape – Photographed with 50mm lens

Finally, jumping all the way up to 50mm it almost looks like a totally different aquascape compared to the 11mm shot. There’s barely a foreground to speak of and the mound itself is compressed. The lack of depth is profound. This further demonstrates how important the photography aspect of aquascaping to ensure that you’re capturing the right version of the scape that you want to share with the world. I’d be very interested to hear what you’re personal favorite is of the photos above in the comment section.

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33G Aquascape – Rolling Along

August 31st, 2015

The 33G Aquascape continues to do well. Since my June update, I’ve added some Bucephalandra motleyana from Aquaflora, which I think add a nice alternative to the usually Anubias barterii var. nana that have been used for years in these kinds of scapes. The weeping moss is doing a nice job consuming the wood/rocks just enough to cover up the gaps.

33G Aquascape

I’ve reduced the amount of Riccia fluitans as it can kind of go crazy. I’m going back and forth between leaving a more erratic grouping of Rotala rotundifola like in the picture above, versus trimming it in a more manicured way. I kind of like the chaotic look. Your comments are invited!

 

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Video from INSIDE my 75G

August 7th, 2015

I was playing around with a GoPro this weekend, and took this short video from inside my 75G. I imagine this is what it would look like to swim in the tank.

75g From Fish's Perspective

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75G – Scape, Farm, Collectoritus…

July 20th, 2015

It’s been awhile since I’ve showed a picture of my 75G aquarium. I rescaped it back in April using the porous mossy rock (probably basalt) I’ve used for years. From the get-go, I kind of loved/hated the big rock for being too big, but you can’t deny it’s a presence in the scape. I decided to see if the presence would be softened a bit if the rock was partly obscured by Hygrophila pinnatifida.

75G - April 19, 2015

As you see, after a few months, the H. pinnatifida has totally overgrown the big rock. In addition, the other plants have exploded, and have really taken over the aquarium. From a aquascaping perspective, most of the definition of the original scape has been lost.

75g - June 19, 2015

That said, the plants are very healthy, and I’ve tended to throw in additional species of plants, more to farm them out. Going forward, if I want to rebalance the aquascape, I think I’ll have to remove the large rock altogether and rebuild the left side with smaller rocks. I’m disappointed that this Narrow Red Rubin Sword has grown in as kind of a mess. I was hoping for more vertically inclined leaves, but it’s just a cluster now. Regardless, with healthy plants and happy fish, it’s still one my favorite tanks to sit and admire this summer. Comments welcome!

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33G – Coming into Shape…

July 16th, 2015

I snapped another quick photo of my 33G aquarium this week, and wanted to share. As you can see, the Rotala rotundifolia is growing in, as are all of the other plants. The Riccia is staying put, although I’m not 100% sold on its placement. Ignore the moss ball in the upper-left — I’m just stashing a mound of weeping moss there temporarily. Comments welcome!

33G - June 13, 2015

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New Hardscape and Blended Moss

June 7th, 2015

This weekend I started to rescape my 33g aquarium. This is my Green Leaf Aquarium tank that’s exactly half of a standard 75g tank. So far, I’ve only completed the hardscape, that you can see below.

Hardscape in 33g

I use my camera phone to take pictures of the hardscape as I go. This allows me to very easily see if I like the positioning of the rocks/wood, and make adjustments on the fly. The GIF below shows a demonstration of how things changed as I moved along. Before I even started, I did a prototype on the floor in front of the tank to try and work out what kind of hardscape layout I would aim for.

20150605_210336-ANIMATION

You can see that I used a mixture of rosewood and ohko stone, sometimes referred to as dragonstone. I was inspired by many of the cliffs and elements on the U.S. West Coast at the Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks near Seattle, Washington. There, many trees grow out of amazing rock faces, and I was hoping to capture some element of that in this scape.

Shot of Mossy Hardscape

 

I’m also doing a dry start for this aquascape, which is something I do not usually do. I wanted to try George Farmer’s suggestion of blending moss with Greek yogurt and painting on the millions of tiny fronds that result.

Moss in a Blender

I got my wife’s permission to use the Vitamix to blend the moss, and the result was this soupy mixture below. I literally used a paintbrush to apply the moss to the wood. You can see the result of that in the close-up above.

Yogurt Moss Mixture

Now, the tank is sealed off with plastic wrap, and I’ll mist it each day for the next few weeks. With luck, the moss will begin to attach to the wood, and I’ll be able to continue with the full planting and filling of the tank. Comments welcome!

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