# volcanic rocks with java



## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

I gathered some volcanic rocks and substrate which is made of volcanic rock particules. The tank will be a nonCO2 and low light tank. I want to use moss and fern.










I did some grouping first:










Afterwards I inserted the moss between the rocks



















Now I cannot decide where to place ferns (either M. pterepus or windelov). Suggestions are welcome.


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## oceanaqua (Oct 24, 2005)

on top of the 2nd smaller mountain?


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## Jdinh04 (Oct 7, 2004)

The tank looks great, I suggest placing the fern on the first mountain, bottom left.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Thanks for the suggestions. 

If I put the ferns on the top of any mountain the altitude difference between different groupings will be interrupted. But I will examine and see.

Placing them on the first mountian, bottom left, seems a better choice. I'll try but somehow I don't want to put any fern. I will place some more moss on the substrate but I don't know how they will react to intesitiy of light. I don't want them to grow vertical.

The grouping seems working. Two people used the terms "the first" and "the second mountain". I would appreciate any more comments.


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## nevada (Apr 3, 2005)

nice idea for the tank there. anyway, the tanks will looks better if you plant some other species of plants like crypto parva, wendittii few hairgrass here and there. glosso stigma will make the whole tanks looks much better and more natural ...

nice work n gd luck!

Edwin


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Edwin,
I have no experience with glosso and hairgrass. Do you think that they grow well in non CO2 and low light tanks?


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

you will be able to grow hairgrass in that situation..takes a while to take off but once it starts running, you're good to go.


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## brianclaw (May 17, 2005)

What about this idea...?








This way you'll leave two "pathways" that leads into the "mountains"... The foreground can be filled up with something other than hairgrass... It'll get too tall and you'll end up losing sight of the lower parts of the rocks... Maybe try Elatine Triandra instead?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Faruk... I really like your scape so far, it is unique looking.

I think placing the Java fern lower down on the rocks would look better than near the tops of the rocks. Brainclaw's suggestion looks good.

I agree I would not use Dwarf Hairgrass. It requires high light conditions and C02 to make a really nice thick carpet.

I just discovered this nice little foreground plant that works in low light. Here is a link... http://www.floridadriftwood.com/product.asp?3=850 I think it would look nice in your setup.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Thank you all and Brian for the encouraging comments. Marsilea minuta would be best. I wish I could find it here in Turkey. 

I added fern and some moss. I think I won't add more.


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## ja__ (Oct 14, 2005)

i think it was better without the ferns


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

While adding the moss I saw blue green algea among them. I don't think they grow in this tank. In case, I set up CO2 system but did not start to inject. If I see any development I will start.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

ja__ said:


> i think it was better without the ferns


I agree but wait some time to see how the moss will grow.


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

Personally i wouldn't go the marsilea route just because your tank is non-co2 injuected and low light. Marsilea already grows at a slow rate in co2 inject tanks with high light.. it would be ages if you want to cover that foreground..unless you get a lot of it to start with and plant really densely. 

Hairgrass works..i've done it tonnes of times in low light tanks...but it deos take a while...to cover up.. however i agree that it doesnt really suit the feel of the scape...

Elatine Triandra..would also probably work.. i think it suits the scape better..and when grown in these kinds of tanks..the leafage is smaller and nicer.


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## ja__ (Oct 14, 2005)

What about hemianthus callichtroides?


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

*HEMIANTHUS CALLITRICHOIDES* 
*Hardiness:* Moderate
*Light Needs:* High

Also it would be hard to find it here.


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## skylsdale (Jun 2, 2004)

I like it--and I'm glad that you chose not to put any ferns on top of the pinnacles. It would have been much too 'tree' looking, IMO.

I would just let things grow out and see what happens.


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## Jdinh04 (Oct 7, 2004)

I like how it is, you cannot judge the tank by how it looks after being planted. Let it have some time to grow and then conclude your thoughts about it.

Keep it coming, it looks great.


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## brianclaw (May 17, 2005)

Looking good... It's too bad that HC's hard to find there, it would look great in your tank. Granted it will grow much slower in low light conditions, but as long as you keep up with dosing the water column, it will do fine. What's that plant you have in the foreground? I can't quite make it out...


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## Tyrant (Oct 29, 2005)

It is looking very nice. 
I like the rock arrangement a lot, even though i don't care for vulcanic rock very much. 
The green nicely contrasts the brown/ blackish colour of the rock.


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## certan (Nov 22, 2005)

I think also _E. tenellus_ might be a good choice for the bottom of a low-tech tank.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

I guess so but they would hide the lower parts of the rocks. Moss does the same thing but it gives some more mysteriousness to the scene. 

A very small bunch of the plants in the foreground is Hygrophila. It was in my former aquascape. They were so little that I could not take them out.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Yesterday, after learning the deadline of the ADA contest I begun injecting CO2. I have also increased the quality and intensity of the lights. It took several days to make these changes. My son helped me a lot.


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## Rek (Jul 19, 2005)

very nice layout

there arent recents photo?


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

After the first day of new lights, when I came back home the aquarium was in all bubbles. I always like those photosynthetic output bubbles but this time java moss was flying with them.  I have to tie them.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

The tank is going pretty good. There seems to be great competition on the rocks nowadays. The moss growth on the rocks is going fast. On the naked areas of the rocks red and green spot algae appeared but as the moss extensions cover these areas algae growth is inhibited.


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## acbaldwin (Nov 3, 2005)

faruk, I *really* like the layout.
What kind of moss is that in your last pic? Not the java moss, but the kind growing very closely to the rock? Is ti just bad algae?


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Thanks.

I guess what you ask is green spot algae that we usally see on the anubias leaves. They are very decorative to my eyes as long as they stay on the rocks.


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## acbaldwin (Nov 3, 2005)

I've never seen GSA grown in so thick... But it looks good, gives an old mountain boulder look to the rock. Keep it up!


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## warr40 (Aug 16, 2005)

that looks really nice i like ur moss


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

I did my best while taking the photo but the photo does not display what I see in front of the tank.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

I took another one to neutralize the overexposure on rotala:


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

And I took this 7.5 meters away from the tank with the zoom.


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

Faruk..i think this tank looks amazing!!! although i do think you need to get rid of that rotala... its shifts me focus away and obstructs the flow of the tank.. The moss and rocks are jsut dazzling!! now all you need are some fish..


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## acbaldwin (Nov 3, 2005)

I think the layout you had earlier after you added the java fern was much better. IMO the extra java moss now looks like it was just piled everywhere kind of haphazardly and is a little much. it takes away from the mysterious effect that the tank had before. The current moss layout also takes away from the rock formation, which (for me) was a focal point. Anyways, I'm looking forward to this tank's progress, very good job.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Ranmasatome and acbaldwin,

Thank you for the comments. I need them.


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## ja__ (Oct 14, 2005)

wat a wonderful display it turned out beautiful thanks for the inspiration


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Thank you, Ja.

What was the thing that could give inspiration?


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## ja__ (Oct 14, 2005)

the moss works,the nice rocks,substrate and the aquascaping

Great job


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Thank you. In fact I am not happy with the biggest rock group on the left. Its shape is not congruent with the middle one on the right. So I am thinking to re-shape it. I will also trim the moss and make them thinner.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Here is the current view of the tank. I have been trimming the moss regularly, forming some paths, and trying to fill the paths with hair grass. I have now only 40 days left and it looks empty. I need fish for some movement. In fact there are at least 25 fish and hundreds of snails in the tank.


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## Urkevitz (Oct 26, 2004)

Great job, the moss looks really well manicured.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

It woudl look less empty, and slightly more balanced in my opinion, if the larger larger block in the back corner was moved more toward the center. Right now the whole composition looks crowded into the back corner. Do you think you could safely move it? It looks a little to verticel to me also, maybe just tipping it about 5-10 degrees to the right would help.

Try messign with your lighting and background color. If you had more light in the front to kill the shadows on the big mound, it woudl make it seem less hidden in the back. Usinga slightly shorted depth of focus for the photo and maybe a darker background would draw the comosition to the front of the tank visually and kill some of the empty feeling.

Beuatiful and impressive!

Don't be fooled by sticking a taller plant in the back right corner. I don't think that will help. Maybe try s little riccia mixed in with the hairgrass to add a different color and texture.

That being said, you have a very nice layout and I bet it will do well in the ADA


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Thank you for the useful suggestions.

I tried to move and reshape the big block but it was really hard and risky. Now I am also thinking to fill up the gaps among the three blocks with rocks. I'll do it on the picture with photoshop first.

Darkening the background is a good idea. At the beginning the background was black. I removed it because the color of the rocks with black background was not so good. Now the rocks are green so I can try the blue or black background.

Before taking the photo I trimmed the moss a little bit. To do that I pushed the light tubes to the back. While taking the photos I forgot to pull them to the front. I took them back, there are less but still dark sections.


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## PiranhaStein (Feb 10, 2006)

That looks awsome, only going to get better with time. Some Crystalwart would be nice in the front.


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## redFishblueFish (Feb 12, 2006)

This tank looks really amazing. I think it would look better if the lights were dimmed while you take the competition photo though - more of the look of a cloudy day on a mountain  . I also think a java fern _might_ look nice close to the tallest mountain, partially hidden behind one of the legs (don't know if that would work though).


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

redFishblueFish said:


> a java fern _might_ look nice close to the tallest mountain, partially hidden behind one of the legs (don't know if that would work though).


I was thinking the java fern from the beginning but long leaves kill the whole scene effect. I need one with very small leaves.



PiranhaStein said:


> Some Crystalwart would be nice in the front.


I don't know what this Crystalwart is. You mean riccia? I believe with its different green, riccia would add significant movement to the scene without disturbing the whole, as Dennis already mentioned. I'll look around to find some.


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## redFishblueFish (Feb 12, 2006)

I've seen (on the forum for trade/selling) some really small java fern that the sellers claim don't grow larger than 1-2 ". I don't know if that would actually work but it might look cool if it did. HEMIANTHUS CALLITRICHOIDES might look nice as a stunted shrubbery among the moss on a mountain side .


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

fgencoz said:


> I don't know what this Crystalwart is. You mean riccia?


Ricca & Crystalwart is one in the same.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Here is an update. After taking this pic I changed the shape of the biggest rock group and tried dark blue and black backgrounds. I will post the final picture to ADA. Thanks everybody for the suggestions.


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

Faruk..
I liked the tank better when it was a little less uniform. Right now the moss looks well trimed and well maintained which is a good thing.. however, it seems to have covered over the nooks and crannys that gave the scape depth and character. Seeing some parts of the rocks and not all moss also gave the scape a better feeling. When i saw your picture at post 41.. it reminded me of a path in the mountains of Nepal...where the hearders used to move thier livestock..

i thought the picuture in post 41 was pretty good, especially with the begginings of path creation on the right..which leads the eye into the tank..giving even more depth..and pulls attention away from the empty space. That picture coupled with fish swimming at about the 2/3 mark of the tank will look really good IMHO.


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## acbaldwin (Nov 3, 2005)

I agree with ranmasatome. The previous layout had much more character, although still missing a few things IMO. My best suggestion is more sprigs of hairgrass throughout the setup, and definitely add a good sized school of fish. Which ones, I can't really say...
Very beautiful moss, though.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

After sending the final photo I'll be more relax to change many things in the tank. When I look at the tank actually I see a great depth in front of my eyes but this depth is lost in the photo.

Thank you for the comments, ranmasatome and acbaldwin.


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

That's my best with a litle bit photoshop.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

That sure is some impressive moss growth! Though, I think it could use some other types of plants though I'm not really sure what would be a good compliment. Some crypts maybe . . .

Anyway I wanted to ask what if anything th lava rock does to your water chemistry. I was wanting to use lava rock in my next scape so . . . yeah


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

I am not sure but I think I will add some medium size brown crypts behind the rocks. Today I removed a lot of moss that covered the roads.

In another topic I examine a substrate made of crashed volcanic rocks and compare this substrate against Flourite. It seems that the volcanic rocks are quite inert.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/on-plant-physiology-and-emersed-culture/15205-hard-water-and-plant-growth.html


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## DubSack (Mar 20, 2006)

WOW!!...

Two thumbs up for originality. A beautiful piece of art. I wouldnt change a thing.


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