Well work has been incredibly busy the last few days hence the lack of updates... no progress to update you on.
I was never quite happy with the rock layout in my previous post... it just didn't look natural. But today I started having a play with the wood I had been soaking... I thought this would be a quick thing whilst I changed the water it was in and then I would put the wood back in to soak over xmas. I found though that by working with the rock and wood together I could create a much more natural feel by intertwining the wood and rock together rather than treating them as two separate things. I also got more height out of the rocks (with the help of a little polystyrene) which had also been playing on my mind.
I've ended up with the image below for one side of the tank. This took hours of playing to achieve this look and to do so without using up most of the rock on this one side, so I hope it comes across in the photo!!
There's loads of nooks and crannies, not just ones suitable for anubias, but ones which will work for other plants too as aquasoil will reach them, so im really pleased.
The left side of the tank is currently just the spare rocks I didn't use layed out in a similar way to my previous post for the time being. The wood I'll be using here will be the stuff currently in the 64 litre tank, so that will have to wait for another day.
Tomorrow I'm going to put some planting substrate in behind the rocks on the right hand side. Ive ended up going with JBL Manado. Not particularly nutrient rich, but high CEC, low weight, inexpensive and fine grain size with no problems for barbelled fish etc. I've had some in a glass of water for a few days and tested it and there is also no ammonia release to contend with. I'll be putting some Tetra Initial Sticks in with it to provide some nutrients. First though i need to cut away as much polystyrene as i can or it will just float when I add water and destroy my hard work. There will no doubt be some hoovering to do after that, it's messy stuff!
I'll also be adding the sand to the right side of tank tomorrow. I can deal with any cloudiness through water changes. Again ive tested the sand I've bought in a glass of water and its surprisingly undusty so not causing much cloudiness at all. Doing the layout on the left side later on will not be inhibited by a bit of spare sand in the area.. and besides I'm too eager to sit on my hands anyway!!
After all this, and a couple of photos, I will put about half the wood back in to soak. The rest is tied in with rocks so will remain, else I'll have to undo all my hard work again. The wood didn't leach much tannins from the initial soak so hopefully having one unsoaked piece wont cause too many problems further down the line. It also cant float when the tank is filled due to the aforementioned rocks.
I'm glad this is the last weekend before Xmas as I feel like I'm already starting to rush things a bit so the festivities will be a welcome distraction. I'm staying strong and not putting any water in the tank till after Xmas when there will be more time to look after the fish which will inevitably follow and their water quality.