Pro's/Con's of these dimensions

[danbayne]

@Firefly - After watching those "GreenMachine" vids, I have an idea to do like mini-islands in each third of the aquarium (since it is so wide). Sadly, it'll be all articifial...this time around. I am getting super excited and will indeed do a journal when I have all the planning pieces together.

Alternate ideas gladly welcomed!

[~firefly~]

Yes I've seen those videos...very inspiring aren't they? I like the three islands idea. I would visualise it as being built up at each end with an island at the back in the middle. As if you were standing on the outside of a bow in a river, if you see what I mean?

[danbayne]

Yes I've seen those videos...very inspiring aren't they? I like the three islands idea. I would visualise it as being built up at each end with an island at the back in the middle. As if you were standing on the outside of a bow in a river, if you see what I mean?

That's actually EXACTLY what I was thinking, no lie... The pen will be hard at work this weekend doing all the mockups and conceptualizing on paper... Did I mention I was excited about this??? lol...

[~firefly~]

Some ideas...









Although I find the grassy set ups impossible without CO2 injection.

[danbayne]

Pics 1,3 and 4 seem fiesable to me...IF I can get some artificial cover that looks realistic. I would probably lean more towards Pics 3 and 4, while adding a 3rd island. I saw some artificial grass on amazon that comes in like 3"x3" square packs. Hm, with all the surfce area I have to cover, I'll be broke before I even think of getting fish stocked :) Thank you very much for the inspirations.

[~firefly~]

I'm sure most people have seen this.



...and one year on.



A tiny trio version of this would be a hell of a lot of work (smaller scapes are always more difficult, I find), but it's an idea.

I'll stop now as I'm getting carried away

[danbayne]

Those are the 2 green machine vids I watched early this morning that inspired me to use the wider real estate to do mini-islands. Of course mine will be NOTHING like that (as I have no knowledge nor experience with live plants), however, the base ideologies will be incorporated in my little oddball tank :) I liked Mr Findley's usage of cardboard to keep the sand/gravel from getting out of his field of working. I saw some very nice techniques that I should employ.

[~firefly~]

If you're not going to do live plants then why not consider an interesting rock and branches hardscape? Stuffing in a few hardy plants - they will grow in a fill a few gaps no doubt. It's perfectly possible to do decent planted set-ups in a low-tech way.

[danbayne]

I guess I got scared away by all i've read about CO2 canisters and all the tech stuff to keep the plants alive that goes beyond my scope of knowledge. If I could add some hearty plants AND keep them alive AND keep my stock alive, that would be superb, hahah. My head is spinning with the vast array of idea I could employ in this tank. Looks like I'll be on AC all day reading up on all can find about live plants (again) and proper cycling methods....

[~firefly~]

Yeah, it can seem impenetrable when you see the high-tech set-ups. Take a look at talldutchie's biotope set-up. That's low-tech and looks very authentic.

I also have a couple of low tech planted tanks. No CO2, just a few fertilisers added every week. It takes longer for things to grow...but easier to manage.