# large rock scape 90P



## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Here is another rescape of mine using 50lbs rocks. I wanted to do a tank this time around using just two large stones for the hard scape. here is the build and look of the tank as of date.




































here is what it looked like after completion.








now here is what it looks like after a month of grow time.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

I'm a sucker for big rock scapes so I really like it. Once the foreground grows in and a pic with those rummys going between the two rocks could be real nice!


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## BJRuttenberg (Sep 25, 2005)

WoW! Looks Amazing! I love the rocks. Where did you find them? Are they ADA? What kind are they?

I do wish you could shed a little more light on the face of the rock so they don't look so monolithic, so we could see their texture.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

what kinda lighting are you using?


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

I find these rocks in northern Montana and I ship them down to me in Arizona. I sell them too and have a good amount of them that are all hand picked by me to use in aquariums. The shots I have of the tanks posted here are shot without using my studio lighting because I wanted to try out my new lens for my camera ( 50mm canon 1.2L) But I will take some pictures soon using my lighting so you can see all the detail in the rocks soon!



BJRuttenberg said:


> WoW! Looks Amazing! I love the rocks. Where did you find them? Are they ADA? What kind are they?
> 
> I do wish you could shed a little more light on the face of the rock so they don't look so monolithic, so we could see their texture.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

I am using a Coralife aqua light pro 24" using one 150 watt HQI and two 65watt PC bulbs. The HQI is a ADA green 8,000K, and the PC's are 6,700K daylights.



doubleott05 said:


> what kinda lighting are you using?


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Here are some older shots of the tank like two weeks after completion the top one is my big golden rabbit snail and the bottom one is with using my studio lighting enjoy.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

nice. 

do you like your lighting arrangement? 
if not what would you change about it?

what ferts are you using?

Thanks


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

oh thoes are hella nice rocks too


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

holly cra#%^&*( lol, those are huge rocks!!! looks very nice, im jealous (happens a lot lately)


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

I could not ask for a better light...........unless I got an ADA grand solar but besides that this light is great!!!!



doubleott05 said:


> nice.
> 
> do you like your lighting arrangement?
> if not what would you change about it?
> ...


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## jeremy1 (May 6, 2007)

Once again, excellent layout and very unique look. Don't see too many scapes with large rocks as the center piece. What are you brushing on the rocks with the paint brush?

Cheers,
Jeremy


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

what ferts are you using?

i have the same light setup you do but its DIY. and for my CF im using 9325k but im about to change to 6700k


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

In this picture I am just brushing off the Aqua soil from the tops of rocks. But I use this brush to also apply hydrogen peroxide on the rocks to eradicate the algae that tries to take hold.



jeremy1 said:


> Once again, excellent layout and very unique look. Don't see too many scapes with large rocks as the center piece. What are you brushing on the rocks with the paint brush?
> 
> Cheers,
> Jeremy


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

I am using the Pfertz fertilizer line daily.



doubleott05 said:


> what ferts are you using?
> 
> i have the same light setup you do but its DIY. and for my CF im using 9325k but im about to change to 6700k


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

how do you like them.

im about 5 min away from ordering some new pferts


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

I like them allot I am friends with the owner of the company so that helps but really they do work quite well and I get great results from them. I also recommend there root tabs also but be sparing on them they are really strong.


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Did you put anything on the bottom? ie eggcrate ect? I always get nervous with that much weight in the tank.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

just got me some nitra zorb and my pfertz


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

I put a ADA Aquamat on the bottom before I put the tank on the stand and i was assured by ADA that I would have no problem using rocks of this size in the tank too. Amano uses rocks bigger than this in his tanks also.



bigstick120 said:


> Did you put anything on the bottom? ie eggcrate ect? I always get nervous with that much weight in the tank.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

There you go! you will be stoked 



doubleott05 said:


> just got me some nitra zorb and my pfertz


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

I took some newer pictures of the tank so you can see the rocks better. I used my studio lighting this time


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## boink (Nov 29, 2006)

Very nice. What is the foreground plant below the rummies? Not the elatine, to the left of it.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

boink said:


> Very nice. What is the foreground plant below the rummies? Not the elatine, to the left of it.


It is Limifolia mini it is a stem plant that stays very very short so you can use it in the front of your tank like this.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

What type of rocks are those? Do they raise GH/KH? Also, where can I see pics of what you are selling? I'm definitely interested


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

he got them from the mountains


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Zapins said:


> What type of rocks are those? Do they raise GH/KH? Also, where can I see pics of what you are selling? I'm definitely interested


sorry for the late reply. I do get them from northern montana, these are a type sedimentary stone but they are hard like granite. They do not seem to leach much in the water my R.O. water after I put the fertilizers in the water which is about 60 on my TDS meter goes up to 100 so that is pretty good, my tonina's are doing well in my tanks.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

i need to go to montana to get some rocks


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## xJaypex (Jul 22, 2009)

arowanaman said:


> sorry for the late reply. I do get them from northern montana, these are a type sedimentary stone but they are hard like granite. They do not seem to leach much in the water my R.O. water after I put the fertilizers in the water which is about 60 on my TDS meter goes up to 100 so that is pretty good, my tonina's are doing well in my tanks.


Thats good to hear! My toninas are melting due to lack of co2, if they don't survive by the time i set up a new tank for them, id probably end up getting some from you!

Tank is filling up very nicely!


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## Ahura-sama (Sep 5, 2008)

Those are really nice rocks, like seriously too nice to be eclipsed by the plant wall behind it. You should emphasize them more for that ancient woodland range look.

You need more of that rocks and so do I.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

I have just been lazy with the grooming of this tank but finally I took care of it today I cut the background all the way down and pulled out the Umbrossum and just planted some of the tops back. Once the growth levels out I will post up another shot.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

horray


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## kingken (Apr 18, 2010)

Is it safe to use rocks that heavy? I would really like to try that out in my 29, but I'm not sure if there are any extra safety precautions for such heavy rocks.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

you know i seem to remember a thread where a dude put like 100lbs of rocks in a ten gallon and himself on it and it held.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

It is totally safe to use heavy rocks in most any size of tank.... The only precautions I would take is make sure the tank is level, and your stand has a support across the whole bottom of the tank to help it withstand the extra pressure.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

yup.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

well here are some shots after i have groomed the background plants and they have filled in a little bit.























And here are some shots using a white background and and 600 watt studio light to bring out more of the detail in the tank.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

i think i like the black background way better. gives the tank a dark and mysterious look


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## Filtration Formation (May 23, 2010)

I agree black backround is best


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

here is an update on this tank, it has been kind of groomed but could use a little more. I moved the riccia to the top of the rocks because it was starting to get choaked out being on the ground for one but I also wanted to see what kind of moss on rock effect I could create with it too.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

man thoes are some really healthy looking plants yuo got there man.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

The Riccia is already over growing the rocks now and the plants are ready to be cut down in the background again but I wanted to post some pictures before I mow it down again!!!


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

That riccia looks pretty cool. Is it the mini variety?

Oh, nice rocks too


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

foofooree said:


> That riccia looks pretty cool. Is it the mini variety?
> 
> Oh, nice rocks too


Thanks for the reply  and yes it is Mini Riccia for some reason it is growing large on the tops of the rocks close to the light.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

that..... is frick frackin awsome growth. 

oh what brand of 6700k light bulbs are you using? coralife perhaps?

thanks


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

doubleott05 said:


> that..... is frick frackin awsome growth.
> 
> oh what brand of 6700k light bulbs are you using? coralife perhaps?
> 
> thanks


I am using sun paq I believe? I did not really pay to much attention to the brand on them this time.


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## gwclark (May 10, 2010)

I would have been terrified to use rocks that size (proportionally speaking) in my tank until I saw this thread. Not from a weight perspective, but I was afraid they would totally overpower anything else in the tank. This is beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for sharing.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

gwclark said:


> I would have been terrified to use rocks that size (proportionally speaking) in my tank until I saw this thread. Not from a weight perspective, but I was afraid they would totally overpower anything else in the tank. This is beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for sharing.


well I am glad I inspired you  post up pictures of your tank if you use large rocks in it so I can see what you have created.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Wow, great job- I'm jealous that you had a "team" of pals to help you set up in the earlier shots... I tried to get my boy friend to help with the CO2 set up and let's just say it took up a lot of my patience. ;-) 

So speaking of all the ferts, does anyone here use floating plants? I'm new to this style and I NEVER see floating plants in the tanks. Do they suck up too many ferts? Block out too much light? I'm keeping mine until I get CO2 going just to keep the nutrients in check (I'd rather things were slow growing for a week or two instead of an algae out break) but maybe after that point they aren't advantageous? 

Also, great rocks!


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Emily thanks for your compliments on my tank also.....

using floating plants in the initial setup of a planted tank is a good way to keep the extra nutrients under control also just the only problem with them is they tend to block out to much light to the plants under them killing them off that is why I don't ever use any lotuses in my tanks either. Getting your CO2 system up and running will also help keep the extra nutrients in check also because the plants will be able to ingest more of the nutrients when they have carbon to start the break down process.



Emily6 said:


> Wow, great job- I'm jealous that you had a "team" of pals to help you set up in the earlier shots... I tried to get my boy friend to help with the CO2 set up and let's just say it took up a lot of my patience. ;-)
> 
> So speaking of all the ferts, does anyone here use floating plants? I'm new to this style and I NEVER see floating plants in the tanks. Do they suck up too many ferts? Block out too much light? I'm keeping mine until I get CO2 going just to keep the nutrients in check (I'd rather things were slow growing for a week or two instead of an algae out break) but maybe after that point they aren't advantageous?
> 
> Also, great rocks!


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## wet (Nov 24, 2008)

The Java fern 'Trident' (?) in the right stone's shade looks extra cool. Love what you're doing with Riccia, the midground in front of the rocks, and the valley to the stems in the back.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Yes it is Trident fern on the right rock there was a little crack in the rock so I wedged a little root nodule into it and now it has gotten quite large.



wet said:


> The Java fern 'Trident' (?) in the right stone's shade looks extra cool. Love what you're doing with Riccia, the midground in front of the rocks, and the valley to the stems in the back.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Here is a little video I made of my 90P


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Here is a video of more of the front of the tank


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

cool videos. 
did you use a digital camera to do that?


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Yeah I have a canon 5D and you can do video's with it too, best of all you can use your expensive SLR lenses too


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

Here are some newer shots of the tank after it has been groomed, the first shot is before it was groomed and the rest are after being groomed so you can see what I did. Plus I have some pictures of my little Mini M mountain scape























Here is a right side shot of the tank and the left side shots























Now here are some shots on my ADA mini M next to my couch


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

what is your lighting schedule of your 90cm

and what kinda rock is in your mini M?


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

doubleott05 said:


> what is your lighting schedule of your 90cm
> 
> and what kinda rock is in your mini M?


I have three light timers running on the 90P just for the lighting and I have a fourth timer for the Co2. The first timer is the power compacts and they come on at 9AM and run till 3pm, The HQI comes on at 1PM and stays on till 10Pm, and finally the moon lights come on at 9:30 and stay on till 5AM. The Co2 comes on at 9:30 am and stays on till 8:30 at night.

The rocks in my mini M are the same kind as in the rest of my tanks which is the Montana rock I collect. The rounder ones are still the same kind of rock but just collected out of a river so they are smoother.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

nice. i gotta go to montana


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

Love the mini m. What kind of lily pipes are those on it? That is one of the smallest outflows that I've ever seen haha


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

foofooree said:


> Love the mini m. What kind of lily pipes are those on it? That is one of the smallest outflows that I've ever seen haha


They are a Ebay store brand they were only $40. for the set of in and out tubes 10mm diameters so I had to reduce the hose size coming out of my eheim ecco filter.


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

It is due for a major grooming but I think it still looks really cool all over grown and you can hardly even see the two giant rocks anymore.


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## oscarjamayaa (Dec 12, 2009)

Wow,,... Where are the rocks?
You realy need that grooming. I really like how you aqua. came out, and the light that you have look really cool.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

yikes man you need to tame the beast


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