beginner's collection

[bonjovi]

hello all,
im 20yo from indonesia, have been keeping fish for 14 years and start doing aquascaping since the beginning of last year...
i didnt understand anything about planted tank until i saw one of mr.amano's tanks and it was really inspiring...
i currently doing my bachelor degree in melbourne australia...
anyway, straight to the point... here are what ive done since early 2008...

my very first planted tank, a 2fter iwagumi




second planted tank, a 1.5ft tank



another iwagumi... rescape the old 2fter into this



those are all i have atm to show...
i have two tanks running atm, but due to competition rule, i cant publish pictures of those tanks....
thanks for visiting the thread... comments are more than welcome =)

[MonoBarrientos]

Hi and welcome!
your tanks are spectacular,
good sense of equilibrium !!!
"begginer"?

Congratulations
Saludos!!
Gmo

[Jur4ik]

welcome to ASW
nice tanks some tech info would be great

[Guillermo]

The 3rd layout is awesome, I like those stones surrounded by healthy and lush HC carpet.

Regards

[bonjovi]

woops.... sorry, i forgot to mention the spec

first tank
tank: cheapo aquarworld 2fter
lighting: 2x32w GLO T5 2ft fitting
heater: aqua one 55w
filter: cheapo hang on filter
substrate: JBL aquabasis + ADA amazonia
co2: diy sometimes, too lazy to recharge. mostly no co2, just excel once in 2-3days
fertilizers: seachem flourish, iron, potassium, trace
flora: hairgrass, riccia, HC
fauna: oto + cardinal tetra

second tank
tank: aqua one horizon 45
lighting: 3x8w T5
heater: aqua one 25w
filter: cheapo hang on filter
substrate: ADA amazonia + artificial bright colour sand
co2: diy sometimes, too lazy to recharge. mostly no co2, just excel once in 2-3days
fertilizers: seachem flourish, iron, potassium, trace
flora: rotala green, peacock moss, bolbitis, crypto, anubias nana petite and 2 more unknown stem plants + unwanted u.gibba
fauna: red cherry shrimp, ember tetra

third tank
tank: cheapo aquarworld 2fter
lighting: 2x32w GLO T5 2ft fitting
heater: aqua one 55w
filter: cheapo hang on filter
substrate: ADA amazonia II + used sobstrate from previous setup
co2: diy sometimes, too lazy to recharge. mostly no co2, just excel once in 2-3days
fertilizers: seachem flourish, iron, potassium, trace
flora: HC
fauna: oto + cardinal tetra

thanx for the compliments =)

[Anupam]

Very nice - you have the eye.

[bonjovi]

just a quick update...
this is my CRS tank, a 1.5ft iwagumi...

spec:
title: de vrede
aquarium: aqua one horizon 45
lighting: 3x8w T5
filter: aqua one hang on wall
heater: aqua one
substrate: ADA amazonia I + II
flora: UG and HC
fauna: CRS, RCS, otto
fertilizers: seachem trace, iron, potassium, flourish

day 1

week 1

week 3

week 5

2 months 3 weeks (27/04/09)


comments are more than welcome... enjoy =)

[Shadow]

the main rock is unique, though I don't like it. It remind me of pig head . Would it look better if you chop off the ear?

[tirtha1979]

Bonjovi.... suggest you to change the title. These are not beginners tank. You are a master buddy!! Awesome works.

@Robert.... let the ear be there. It's looking unique.

[bgangler]

Great scapes, as the songs of Bon Jovi
Lovely and definitely not a beginners work!

Regards

[Jur4ik]

some detail shot of hc mixing up with ug would be nice.
I have plated a nano with hc & ug my self only one week old.

[bonjovi]

robert: wow, i didnt realize until you say that... lol it does look like pig jumping over the fence lol... the biggest rock is a group of few small rocks, i will take a pic of it without the ear after school

tirtha: nahhhh... im still very new to aquascaping mate, ive done 3 planted tank and 2 are still running so the total of 5 tanks... still considered new

bgangler: thanx mate =)

juraik: sure, i will take some pics of this tank after school... =) stay tuned...

[bonjovi]

as promised... some pictures... sorry for low quality photography....

19/05/09


without ear


HC + UG




shrimp





hope u like it... enjoy =)

[tirtha1979]

Did you knock the ear off or photoshopped it??? Now it's looking like a cow. What ever it is, the tank is looking superb.

And thats a very good growth of UG. Any secret or tips, will you like to share with us?

[Jur4ik]

Yes look very healthy, does the UG already stack in the back?
I´ve planted UG in front of HC, but have a huge slope so hope it will mix um nicely

[bonjovi]

no, i took off the small rock, thats not photoshopped as i said the big rock is a group of few small rocks hehehe...
tips? plants in this tank are not growing well, they are growing very very slowly...
its probably due to the light is too small... it takes 3months to cover the whole tank, believe it or not, my second iwagumi tank, only took 6weeks to cover the whole tank...
let me give u a pic of the first day

day one

about 4-5weeks, dose excel every day



i dont really dose proper amount of ferts (especially flourish), i always underdose... i had thread algae all over my tank when i dose proper amount of flourish... =(
anyway, here's my dosing, all only approx amount
flourish: around 1/5 of actual dose... every WC
excel: proper or double dose (underdose 1/3 proper amount for shrimp tank) every second day
iron: around 1/4 of proper amount every WC
trace: 1/2 of proper amount twice a week
potassium: 1/3 every WC
i found out that the nutrition form aquasoil itself is already good enough...
even if i dont dose any ferts, plants are still growing like banana, as long as i keep dosing excel...
another tip is install UV sterilizer for the first 2weeks... this will help u avoid green water and several algae problem...

yes mate, UG already stack at the back. i just sold some portions from the back of big rock... UG is still quite pricey here in aus

[tirtha1979]

BonJovi... thats a super fast growth of HC I have ever seen. Can you please share water params (pH, kH, gH), water temparature for this tank?

And for the first one, I must say that a superb finishing,. I never thought that the big stone is a stack of smaller one.

[bonjovi]

Originally Posted by tirtha1979

BonJovi... thats a super fast growth of HC I have ever seen. Can you please share water params (pH, kH, gH), water temparature for this tank?

And for the first one, I must say that a superb finishing,. I never thought that the big stone is a stack of smaller one.

sorry tirtha, never tested the water... i only use the test kit after the second week when i wanna buy the fish. should be pretty normal water parameter though.

anyway, just a teaser of my ADA entry... this was last month... =)

yesterday i took some pics for the competition, but somehow i cant get the best result. its like the actual tank looks better than in pic =(

[Leonard]

Nice tanks you have there

[Jur4ik]

it is often that tanks in person look better then on pics ..