# A former aquascape



## Thibault (Dec 2, 2004)

Hi everybody, I've been reading the forum a lot but I have not participated for a very long time, I'll try to do better this time :biggrin:!

I've created two aquascapes since my last participation. I'll present the former one in this thread and the recent scape in an other thread.

-Volume 54 liters (60x30x30 cm)
-Lightning : 2 x 24 W t5 (1x 9000 K, 1x 15000 k JBL)
-filter : red sea Nano filter (15 gallons per hours/60 liters per hours)
-CO2 : DIY reactor
-fertilizing : at this time I couldn't find KH2PO4, KNO3 etc... so I used a classic POKON NPK for geranium (NPK 6.4.7. + micos, one ml/week)

For this aquascape I wanted to create some small islands around a big one.

First step, creation of the main island:



















Second step, three small islands and plants are added :










Third step, a very white sand was added to creat contrast :










Then I added some riccia and hydrocotyle verticillata










The result few weeks later :



















After few months I decided to change the white sand for riccia :










The problem I met with this scape is that the microsorium was realy to big for the size of the tank. That's why I deceided to create a new aquascape last year... but I keep the island idea for the day I'll have a mutch bigger tank .


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## Martin (Mar 27, 2005)

I like!!!!


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## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

that is awesome!!!!!!!!


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## Little (Oct 18, 2005)

Superbe!


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## Kookaburra (May 11, 2006)

Little said:


> Superbe!


Que dire de plus 

I really like the fisrt version, particulary the hydrocotyle verticillata in the "islands" ... Great idea


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## black_lung (Dec 19, 2006)

I really like the first version, the layout looks stunning. I've never actually actually seen anything quite like it, but it works well!


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## duzzy (Feb 9, 2008)

Great scape, really great.....


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## Jeff.:P:. (Nov 20, 2007)

The first initial scape was excellent, great contrast and depth.


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## Thibault (Dec 2, 2004)

Thanks everybody for the comments !


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## Jareardy (Feb 14, 2008)

Looks great but I've heard a lot of people complain about the white sand as to how hard it is to keep clean. Do you have any suggestions for this?


** edit **

Oops saw you got rid of it, nvm.


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

This is a really beautiful layout - with the Riccia and without. There's so much interest!


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Very nice - the islands give it a different sort of feel than the average tank. I must admit that it was better without the riccia, but I can certainly understand why you did it. White sand can be hard to keep looking good.


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## Thibault (Dec 2, 2004)

Actually I didn't remove the sand because I had a hard time keeping it clean. I just wanted to try a 100 % planted tank. 

To keep the riccia not growing like crazy was much harder than keeping the sand white.The riccia was a "just for fun" version, very hard to keep on control. I totally reshaped the scape after a month.

As for the white sand, it was one of my concerns when set up the tank, especially because the sand was very white and thin, it looked almost like white flour. In fact I think that I've been lucky in my choice. I had a lot of shrimps and snails in the tank and I think that, because of the very thin shape of the sand, it was very easy to clean for them. So the thiner the cleaner ? Maybe it's the way to go


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

I like both versions. I think keeping the Riccia trimmed would take more time than "sweeping" the sand.

Very imaginative.


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