# saintly's 60cm optiwhite



## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

maybe a little premature, but i've got the hardscape arranged. i now just need the plant order which will be on it's way in a few weeks. still undecided on that.

this is a follow on from ny previous scape which was called pastel shades, so i'll try to better this...



















the tank is 60 x 30 x 36
lights are to be upgraded to a suspended MH
substrate is Oliver knott nature soil
filter system will be a eheim 2180.

hardscpae is seryiou stone and borneo wood










to be updated soon

mark


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

I like the hardscape, now the hard part is preventing the planting from masking it too much....


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks for the feedback guys.

here's the newly made (homemade) lighting stand. i bought everything i needed from a hardware shop and assembled it myself



















the height is due to the fact I'm suspending a metal halide lamp.

dont be shy in responding


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## Mikeracing77 (May 15, 2009)

Very nice! What MH are you going to use?


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## catfishbi (Sep 4, 2008)

wow nice layout, great job man, can't wait to see when it finished


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

do you really need to make the light stand that high for a metal halide?
that looks like it's 4 feet above the tank....


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

hooha said:


> do you really need to make the light stand that high for a metal halide?
> that looks like it's 4 feet above the tank....


in all honesty hooha, i'm not sure how high it needs to be. i'm familiar with t5 tubes but MH is new to me.

when they arrive, i'll need to experiment with them. how high would they need to be on this tank considering its @ 36cm high?

cheers Mikeracing77, i'm using the arcadia series for mini pendant with 1 x 150wMH

thanks catfishbi, i too cant wait to get it planted. it's been like this for a few weeks now.

i have to drive 8 miles to my LFS display to get my enjoyment...this is the new set up that i've created for them


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Lovely hardscape! What kind of stones are those? You home built stand looks really good too! The clean line minimalist look really appeals to me. 

On your pic the LFS display tank above, I found my self wonder what kind of stone that was behind the driftwood... then I realized it was someones head ! Gives new meaning to the term "living aquascape"

Re: Pendant height - I have a similar pedant, the Aquamedic Oceanlight 150 watt. It hangs 30 cm above the tank and I get plenty of photosynthesis even in the foreground plants like HC.


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

honestly I couldn't tell you how high it needs to be with the MH, I would assum 12 inches would be a good starting point - looking at the light stand right now, it makes it seem like you're going to put a fixture that's 24 inches tall 12 inches above the tank under there


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

well, i've got my light fitted. and tremendous it is. it's such a lovely colour rendition. just like real sunlight entering the room.

i've ordered the plants so i should have them in a week or so. list to follow.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

plants ordered today from aquafleur....

all in pots...

HC x 3
diplis diandra x 4 
r rotundifolia x 6
ludwigia arcuata x 3
m umbrosum x 3
juncus repens x 2
Alternanthera reineckii x 2
e acicularis x 2
anubias bonsai x 4
tenellus x 4
crypt wendetii green x 2

i'll also add riccia stones

as you can see this is a stem heavy scape, but it gives me a chance to stretch my stem trimming fingers


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

well i received my plants today and planting has begun.

here's some of the plants. it was nice to have the option of taking loads of plants and returning what i didn't use.










HC foreground and anubias bonsai around the wood...










trimming e acicularis before planting...


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

planting










fully planted...










directly after filling with water...oliver knott substarte is so clean...



















i just now need to let it grow and groom it


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

and today...


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

after a full 24 hours things have settled down. this is the last shot for a while with no kit, the addition of ripples and clear water. i'll report back in a few weeks.



















many many thnaks for taking the time to read


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

dude, that looks great already, can't wait to see it grow in!


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks hooha,
well, i've added the shrimp. there are 10 in all. one is huge and i found that the others like to take a ride. they also clean him/her. see the pic.

also the other pic is of the pearling amd the Marsilea hirsuta. the shoot you see has grown in 4 days.

thanks for at least looking  no flash just yet.


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## Mikeracing77 (May 15, 2009)

Love the tank and the light stand. Great job.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

5 days in and things are good. everything is growing brilliantly.

this Marsilea hirsuta is a lovely plant. kinda like a butterfly ?.....

it's sprouting real well now.










the crypts are pearling too...


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

1 week old. the addition of 10 shrimp 6 neons 10 ottos and 3 pencil fish, bring about a sense of life within.

plant growth has been 100% positive. everything doing what it should 

a few pics.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

saintly's house party...bring your own food!


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Very lovely saintly! I like what you have done to fill out the middle ofscape around the driftwood. I have always struggled with that "dark zone" as the stems around it tend to cast a shadow. I have used a narrow leaf java fern like I have seen on some Amano scapes, but dark green leaves just did not work. Using the Anubias with its light green leaf was brilliant. Do you think the nana "petite" might work OK to?


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

That is a pritty amazing looking scape well done. Your photography is superb.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

Bunbuku said:


> Very lovely saintly! I like what you have done to fill out the middle ofscape around the driftwood. I have always struggled with that "dark zone" as the stems around it tend to cast a shadow. I have used a narrow leaf java fern like I have seen on some Amano scapes, but dark green leaves just did not work. Using the Anubias with its light green leaf was brilliant. Do you think the nana "petite" might work OK to?


thanks bunbuku.

i've always been challenged when it come to Anubias. i researched as much as possible, amanos work and i noticed in his 60cm tanks the choice always seemed to be a smaller variety of anubias.

Aquafleur over here in Europe, have an anubias which is labelled bonsai which looks identical to what amano uses, so I'm testing the water so to speak, and even after 9 days of submerged conditions the leaves are not infected with any type of algae what so ever....which i find strange as there emerged leaves. The rizome is now producing new leaves and i can see several showing.

another plant which has taken me by complete surprise is the Alternanthera reineckii 'Pink'...it's growing faster than the other stems  it's a new plant for me as are a lot of the others, but I'd of thought it was slow growing, but it's now due a trim already.

The new 150w MH lamp is proving its worth too. i was expecting algae if I'm honest but i've been rather strict in my regime and it seems to be paying off.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

arowanaman said:


> That is a pritty amazing looking scape well done. Your photography is superb.


WOW, jordan to get the nod from you means everything. your one of my favourite scapers, i drew inspiration from one of your tanks many months ago.

thanks for the vote of confidence re the photography. It's something I'm always looking to improve.
i just hope the forum is ready for a flood of images 

here's a couple more...



















check out my website for images in the galleries page

http://www.plantedbox.com/?page_id=185

it's under Autumn blush, actually does anyone know how i change the title of this thread?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

nice work, and really great, innovative photography. i wonder if you ahve specs on your picture-taking anywhere(?).


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> nice work, and really great, innovative photography. i wonder if you ahve specs on your picture-taking anywhere(?).


good question. 

Canon 5D
sigma 70-300mm (cheap version)
sigma 24-70mm
sigma 15-30mm

Flash 2 x bowens 200w heads and softbox.

everything i do is shot in RAW for absolute control over the image.

software, premium RAW shooter and Photoshop 7.0


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

thanks! i really need to get a handle on using RAW files. i probably need to invest in an external hard drive. every time that i have tried to work with them--and i still don't understand just what to do--they have quickly occupied too much of my computer memory.


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

saintly said:


> thanks bunbuku.
> 
> i've always been challenged when it come to Anubias. i researched as much as possible, amanos work and i noticed in his 60cm tanks the choice always seemed to be a smaller variety of anubias.
> 
> ...


The 150 watt MH is great. I have one over my ADA 60-P also. I noticed that you seem to have yours a lot higher above the tank. The plants directly the light tend to grow really well due to the hot spot effect. I will have to give the Anubias a try. I think if I had a sand foreground that might brighten up that dark spot too.


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## Fabac (Jul 2, 2006)

Beautiful! Your photos are great. Where are algae? There are no trace of algae in your aquariums.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

Thanks everyone, 

My right corner is going to be a challenge! I've got tennellus runners all over the place, the HC is doing what it should, the marsilea sprouting out and e acicularis spreading....pretty soon it's going to merge :? let it grow out?.....see what happens kinda a deal i guess!

Here's yesterday before trim....










and here's today after yesterdays trim...










the Alternanthera reineckii was trimmed 2 days before...it had reached the top :lol:

The left and right side stems should be due a haircut just after the weekend


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

That looks really sweet. Love the center arrangement.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thank you. i'm getting good new growth from the anubias.

heres the right hand corner...


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

looks very nice. great photography as usual. so are you going to just let the _Hemianthus_ and other stuff just fight it out?


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

hydrophyte, i think in the right corner, i'll let it all grow together and then trim to same height, and then let tenellus grow at will. rather than control it....much easier.

this coming weekend see's trimming of stems. previously I'd trimmed some of them. Alternanthera reineckii, eustralis stellata and r rotundifolia were the first to hit the surface, so they were trimmed one week ago and are now growing back.

a few images....the tank @ almost 3 weeks old!














































from 2 weeks old...


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

one last image...


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Great fish shots this time too. I really like that picture with the pencilfish--looks more like a painting, it suggests an old Victorian natural history painting.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks my friend  (i'll be in touch shortly)

ok, i've completed my first big trim....










and after,










and a couple more random images. thats me done until it grows in again.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

this is the last one  promise.

my fish choice....black phantom tetras.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

my pencil fish...
#


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Very lovely. I noticed you trimmed horizontally across the stems. I was wondering if is the first steps to eventually achieve a "mound" effect on either side of the centerpiece?


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## Leonard (Mar 4, 2007)

Great Photos and a very nice and clean scape. You have done a good work here


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## pminister (Jan 15, 2009)

looks great


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks everyone 

bunbuku, i've trimmed the stems straight to allow them to thicken up a little, maybe next trim or one after i will create shape. if I'm honest, i'm still unsure which stems will dominate, so as the "picture" becomes clear I'll trim tentatively.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

trying a new background colour for the final images...a little too soon.


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## Veloth (Jun 25, 2008)

The new color set everything off beautifully.


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## dafishydude (Jul 15, 2008)

saintly said:


> hydrophyte, i think in the right corner, i'll let it all grow together and then trim to same height, and then let tenellus grow at will. rather than control it....much easier.
> 
> this coming weekend see's trimming of stems. previously I'd trimmed some of them. Alternanthera reineckii, eustralis stellata and r rotundifolia were the first to hit the surface, so they were trimmed one week ago and are now growing back.
> 
> ...


How'd you get your Baby Tears so bunchy and tight? It looks fabulous. No matter what i do it always grows loosly and sporatically:frusty:. Thanks and gorgeous tank.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks you dafishydude.

well, i'm not really sure how it grows so compact. i do have 150w of MH lighting over a 60L...maybe this helps?.....

here's my latest image experimenting with light control....










excuse the lilley pipe top right corner


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## fishlover (Jan 2, 2007)

Wonderful. Just Amazing


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

Thanks fishlover 

here's one last image, the tanks 4 weeks old, so the HC not quite covered, almost


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

Time for an update,

a few things have happened, namely the disappearance of Alternanthera reineckii. the plant just didn't sit right within the scape. but in my defence this was only a practise tank!

so this is how it looked 1 week ago...



















it's not that it wasnt in great health, it was. i just didnt like it.

The trimming...



















and how it finally looks after a W/C. remember this is has been newly trimmed so theres no new crowns yet...you'll have to ignore the equipment too 










many thanks for reading


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## patodietz (May 18, 2009)

Great Balance and healthy tank.
Congrats from Chile


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## chester (Feb 22, 2005)

Personally, I think it looked great with reineckii. Now it is a bit to boring for me. It might turn out great of course


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## Veloth (Jun 25, 2008)

Healthy looking plants and a great layout.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks veloth.

it may be boring but at least it's healthy. 

i still have time in my favour so hopefully in a few weeks it should take on a more fluid look.


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## armedbiggiet (May 6, 2006)

Good looking layout, is that an ADA tank?


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## Veloth (Jun 25, 2008)

I wasn't implying that it was boring . I liked the tank before you trimmed it. Personally I like the tanks that have more of a jungle look, healthy and a tad overgrown. I'm lookinf forward to more updates as the tanks progresses.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

veloth, this comment wasn't from you  dont worry my friend. 

i think Chester found it boring, not you

the tank is not ADA but from same factory as ADA i think.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey that's looking great. I also miss the _Alternathera_, but perhaps it was a little bit too much red. I am sure that this will grow into an even more effective scape.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks devin,

actually, the Alternathera is making a come back as is the rotala. you see, before i trimmed them i tried to take them out by up rooting them, they wouldn't budge. so I cut them down to about 2/3 cm thinking they would die off....but no, they all had at least 1 set of nodes on and there ALL growing back. so if i get the timing right, the red shouldn't be too empowering. 

I'm quite brutal with stems, but this shows me how brutal you can be. there indestructible!


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

Looks really nice, I liked the red focal point too but it also looks good opened up into a valley. I'm sure it'll work better in a few weeks.

When I used to grow rosefolia I liked to use it as a midground accent sometimes, you don't see that too often. Maybe you can let it peek out a bit without overpowering the negative space you created.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks jaidexl. the red is making a return.

here's a couple more shots.



















i'm holding off full tanks shots due to the AGA.


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

Geez, nice depth of field, you really nailed those pencils, everything looks very 3D. Are you just using a wide aperture or did you have to doctor them up in PS to get them that nice?


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

it was all from the camera. i don't like too much ps work. maybe curves.

i know of a couple of people that use the clone tool,to put in fish etc... which IMO is WRONG! it would be a shame to see this in a competition.

i like the F2.8's even with off camera flash. it gives great depth, even in a tank 30 deep.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Nice work. I need to quiz you about picture-taking. I struggle with photography a lot and I really need to start getting some better pictures.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

quiz away devin


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## Ajroy03 (Feb 1, 2008)

saintly said:


> many thanks for reading


What Type of lily pipes do you have and what size are they??


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## talkingplant (Aug 19, 2009)

Wow. This is great.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

thanks talking point.

the lillys are cal aqua. there over sized for the tank but work brilliantly.

i've recently added an ADA NAM 150w lamp. i used an arcadia lamp rated @ 5400K compared to the ADA @8000k the difference is amazing.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

You're up bright and early this Sunday morning. I like this shot _in situ_.


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## saintly (Mar 22, 2009)

I'm up early most mornings devin  thanks my friend.


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