# At work..



## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

well.. decided to set up a temporary place for my plants so ...
being teh scaper and planted freak.. i just could let the chance pass for a chance to scape.. even if it is going to be a temporary tank..
i call this picture below :

At work..


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## holocron (Mar 12, 2006)

that's looking pretty cool. I wish we had driftwood around here that looked that nice.

what sort of plant life do you have in there?


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Very very nice ran man...


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Thanks Jess..

Plants i have are just left overs..
mostly.. elatine triandra, barclaya longifolia red, ludwigia sp. guinea, and assorted crypts.


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## kweenshaker (Mar 11, 2006)

i LOVE the wood!! I bet that setup will look pretty amazing once it grows out a little.


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Thanks.. thats actually 2 pieces of wood..i just put them together..


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## Plant Crazy (Mar 24, 2006)

Looking very nice, Ran! Really love the look of the wood. As Holocron has pointed out, it seems like there's a deficiency of nice branchy wood in TO pet stores.


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Thanks Stan..
Most of the wood we got comes from malaysia..and sometimes thailand.. i'm having trouble blancing one of the pieces in there but i'm going to stuff more ADA amazonia in there tomorrow..to stabalize it..


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## BriGGs81 (May 8, 2006)

That's quite nice. I love the pointness of the wood.. quite jelous. Must.. find.. nice.. wooddddddddddd


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Well... Heres an update of the tank.. Took a crappy photo today... more so because i was lazy to set up everything to take a good shot of the tank, besides i dont think i'm satisfied with the plant layout...i think the APP (thats the local name for Elatine triandra) is growing too wildly in the foreground...going to get some HC (Hemianthus callitrichoides) to substitute it..Also most certainly changing the fauna..
still have a lot of room for improvement..perhaps right now i can only say about 50% done..
anyway.. hope you guys enjoy it.. even though its pre-mature and hurried.


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## Plant Crazy (Mar 24, 2006)

Hey Ran,

That is such a sweet aquascape. I'm really getting jealous over those beautiful 'Amano' rocks. Your aquascapes really capture the nature aquarium concept nicely. You could turn your talent into a nice side-job, setting up aquascapes for businesses.


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Thanks PC, I'm still workin on it to take a good photo before tearing it down... perhaps more moss?? Hmm?? spiky moss should do well in there..

Amano rocks?? lol.. you know, these actually came off 2 pieces (that i broke to get smaller pieces) of the 12 larger pieces that i got, all for a TOTAL price of.. $30...nothing like those expensive amano rocks...
I was previously worried taht these cheap rocks weren't going to cut it..so your comment is much appreciated.
Doing this as a business is a whole different story.. it takes much much more than talent...if i had any to begin with even. I would much rather be hired under someone who already has a business....if that ever happens..lol.
thanks for the kind words..


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## chompy (Mar 24, 2006)

The tank looks great, don't be too hard on or you'll never be happy. I think when people deal planted tanks they get too excited and the tank gets cluttered. The simplicity of your tank is beautiful, your doing a great job.


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

chompy said:


> The tank looks great, don't be too hard on or you'll never be happy.


Tyler.. dont know about you but i'm always happy when i'm "too hard on"...lol..
Thanks for the kind words..


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

lol ran is always happy building and rebuilding his tanks ^^

Ran i would love to see more moss... :3


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

i'm getting to that... already have plans on what to do next and found a species of moss that will take well to warm waters!! so i promise a better tank the next photo..


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Just today i did some re-scaping on the plants.. Spent some time on friday and saturday getting my wanted plants.. and everything worked out today..
Even got a friend over to chat with me to make the process more bearable (he was really here to take the fishes off my hands) 

Anyway, took another crappy photo tonight.. just to give an idea of what it looks like now.. basically just removed the Elatine triandra and replaced with Rotala sp., Spikymoss, and HC. It definitely looks neater now..I can't wait for this to mature. Then can add my little red schooling fish!!! kekeke..









Excuse the crappy photo..:grin:

For the moss, had to custom cut a grid piece of wire meshing to shape, thereafter, tied moss to it... then placed the enitre thing at the back so you cant see it now. As for the HC i dug out a patch of soil so there was an indentation.. put the HC in the "hole", then covered over them TOTALLY with the soil that was removed.. After that.. just slowly "fan" above the substrate, using the water movement to remove excess soil. So teh covered parts are covered and the exposed parts are exposed.. Its like instant HC!!.. Now Grow Bitch..lol..


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Wow... I enjoy that a lot more. It really reminds me of the landscape around here at times..


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Thanks Jess..

Its been a week but i've been busy tinkering with this tank cos i see it everyday... its just a itchy finger disease i have..haha.. 
Managed to get some fishes today and made some rock changes.. i think it looks much better now..
Pictures are crappy but just here now to give a general idea...
So what you guys think??
















I'm considering a *VERY* light blue background, then taking the shot in high-key when its prime.. flash placed high up on background so that the top will appear white while the rest of the background will diffuse into the light blue colour..Any opinions?
sorry for the crappy pics.. just no motivation to take good pic when tank is not even ready..

By the way.. which picture you prefer?? the first or second one? its just fish positioning actually..i'm kinda mixed but am starting to waver towards the first photo.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I do like the new stones ran.. Adds a few more bumps and kinda brings your eye along.. Its nice.

I'am fond of the first picture as well.


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## Plant Crazy (Mar 24, 2006)

Love the tank. Beautiful as always. The blyxa is looking nice. I prefer the first pic with the fish positioning.


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

Thanks for the help guys.. i'll keep in mind the fish positioning for the final take.. 
you've all been very kind.


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## meow_mix450 (Mar 22, 2006)

HaHa Can you make that bigger so I can print that as a background haha, thats how good it is! Where did you do with the other plants that was taken out?

Meow


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

haha.. dont print it out yet.. its still under construction.. will take a really good photo when its done..

the other plants? you mean the elatine triandra? i sold 1/4 of them for about 2 bucks.. planted the other 1/4 in an outdoor tank and then kinda dumped the rest..lol..


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## ranmasatome (Mar 14, 2006)

So here are some quick pics for this week.. not too grown out yet but i just could not stop my itchy fingers..i shifted the Blyx and replanted some of the HC and did some re-trimmnig today. Its all starting to grow well...I can see new growth on lots of the plants.. i think from here on out.. the growth is going to shoot up...think in the next 2 or 3 weeks it should be ready for a good shot.. 

















Tried a white background today but i think i dont have enough fill flash to bring the background out into good colour... also didnt shoot in RAW so.. colour adjustment was a PITA..so got lazy and left it as what you see..haha..
Going to experiment a little more with back lighting shots these few weeks and changing background colour.
Again.. apologise for the crappy pics... better but still.. Bleh.. 

plant list..
Blyxa japonica
HC
Downoi
Marsilea sp.
Some red plant - i dont know what is.
Rotala sp.
Hygrophila sp. "araguia"
Hairgrass
Spiky moss
Some left over stands of Elatine triandra..


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

If you ever sell that log I'll pay anything... niiiice,...


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