Aquascape Maintenance Tutorial Guide- The Green Machine
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- The Art of Aquascaping Book now is available to download- www.thegreenmachineonline.com...
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Video Timings
00:00 Intro
In this video you will see the TGM team carrying out essential maintenance work on the aquascape titled 'Pebbles - In the footsteps of a giant' which was planted by pro aquascaper and founder of The Green Machine - James Findley, who dedicated this scope to the late aquascaping master Mr Takashi Amano.
This video covers the maintenance work which was done the day before the final grown-in footage was shot, in order to get the layout looking it's best. You can use the techniques covered in this video as a weekly maintenance regime or to prepare your aquascape for a special day, event or photo shoot. You can see the step by step creation of this aquascsape in another video.
00:48 Water Change
01:35 Gravel Cleaning
02:55 Dead Leaf Removal
03:23 Debris Removal
03:53 Aquarium Cleaning
05:00 Syphon
06:00 Gravel & Sand Adjustments
07:31 Sand Freshening
If some discolouration of the top layer of lighter sands has occurred, you may wish to add a thin layer of fresh sand of the same variety. This will brighten the look of the sandy area. Here you can see it being poured using a jug which allows for fairly accurate placement of the fresh layer of sand. Again, this should be spread into place using a sand flattener.
08:31 Stone & Rock Cleaning
If desired, stones and rocks can be brushed to remove green vegetative colouring caused by algae. Here a wire brush is used which is highly abrasive- and therefore very effective at removing algae buildup. Smaller stones may be removed from the aquarium to make this process easier and then replaced in their original locations. Larger stones may be too heavy or may damage the layout if removed, in this case they can be brushed while in position the aquarium.
09:35 Gravel Freshening
Fresh gravel may be sprinkled on top of older layers in order to brighten it up. You can see that some older pieces of gravel have developed a green layer of algae which makes them darker, less striking and arguably less aesthetically pleasing.
It is also an option to remove the top layer of gravel by hand, clean it and then replace it in the aquarium. This method would be easier in a smaller aquarium.
10:09
While carrying out maintenance you may spot things like stray pieces of plants which you can remove by hand.
The aquarium is now topped back up with water. At The Green Machine, Reverse Osmosis (abbreviated to 'R.O.') filtered water is used. R.O. purification removes any potentially toxic molecules which may be present in tap water.
10:29 Maintenance Finished
The maintenance is done the day before to allow time for the filter to clear any particles from the water, resulting in higher clarity. This is especially important for larger aquariums where a larger amount of water can result in a greater perceived cloudiness.
Now you can see the finished aquarium, it is much more striking than before the maintenance was carried out.
If you would like to see how this aquascape was created from scratch, we have a step by step video which has been available for some time. This video goes into detail about each stage of creating this huge supertank- including substrate, hardscape, plants and grown in shots.
The fish used are Danio, Zebra Danio, Siamensis Crossocheilus, Sphaerichthys osphromenoides (Chocolate gourami). Some Amano Shrimp also inhabit this micro eco-system.
Find many similar videos on our website at www.thegreenmachineonline.com
We also have many articles and photos of aquascapes, and a nature aquarium online store where you can get everything you need to create beautiful aquascapes like this one. including live aquatic plants, aquariums, stands, tools and more. - Навчання та стиль
this is one of the coolest things i've ever seen, i have this feeling overflowing me telling me i must do an aquascape myself!!!
I must say James, you do Awesome work!! Keep the videos coming ..
My new favorite youtube channel!
Your videos are amazing, thank you for sharing this! I can't wait for the next one!
I missed you guys, thanks again for a beautiful video. :)
When I win the Powerball I'm gonna fly these guys over to my new mansion and have them build their own masterpiece for me. Fantastic work and thanks for the detail on how you guys clean up!
Do it yourself, it is more satisfying.
Thanks TGM love all your videos. Hope there are more videos to be uploaded soon. Keep up the good work.
+Lord of Cows thanks! :)
Few videos but always excellent! Thank you for those tips!!
Oh! I was wondering just the other day how you guys clean your beautiful, heavily planted tanks! I have to say it is a bit comforting to see you do it almost exactly the same way I do with my little 50 l also heavily planted tank :) although I always seem to manage to dislodge my moss when cleaning it >:0 Thanks for the helpful video!
Will you be uploading any step-by-step videos of new aquariums James is working on? I very much enjoy those, I love how much information they have in them. Love your work, keep it up!
+Jake Moore Hi Jake, yes we will... we filmed the 'grown in' footage for one yesterday... so this will be published next.
Thanks for you videos, it's very amazing!
Good basic information, water change, clean substrate, plants and glass.....
You guys have very trusting fish.
This video makes me calm
Top class... thanks for sharing this useful info!
+Vijay Sivasankaren (Vijay Aquariums Chennai) We're glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to comment :)
I would love to see more update videos.
Thank you green machine....
amazing tank.....
TGM substrate supports being used as a hood as well. Very versatile stuff. Could probably use it for packing as well.
i live for the narration
Thank you for this guide and for your work. I have one question: given the fact that I have very hard water (KH 12, GH 16), can I get away with using only CO2 and not R/o water? If yes, which plant species should I avoid using? Thanks
Fantastic. wish you produced more regular content thou.
Kind of hard to regulate plant-growth and other variables that play into the final shootings.
Would love to see them do a small one off these, would love to make somthing like this one day
Thank you very much ! :-)
ola , primeiramente muito obrigado por compartilhar conhecimento ,
estou querendo montar ,aquário plantado , e to usando seus videos para criar espiração , oque você me aconselhava pra iniciar esse projeto ??
very useful.
love your vids and aquascapes you have inspired me to try to aquascape. im only 15 and alot of time and money goes into this hobby ive noticed :p
+Olav Øverland That's great! Check out all our videos as there is a lot of useful information packed into them, equally useful for beginners and pro's alike! :)
How often do you trim and replant stem plants? They always grow tall and the lower leaves die off and become bare. I've never really known how to keep stem plants long term besides buying new ones at intervals. Is there a way to keep them self-perpetuating for long term?
Do these aquascapes with fish need some sort of filtration system?
Can you hook it up to a home made water recycling system to keep it nearly maintenance-free?
It would also require minimal extra water supply.
I know this is one of your older videos, but what kind of lights are used on that tank? Also, what is the lighting schedule and color temperature?
I was wondering how do you go about feeding the fish and shrimp in your aquascapes?
TGM IS BACK!
+iSim0641 We are filming another display tank as we speak so that should be available fairly soon :)
the hype is real
it's very niceee
When you syphon the sand, do you have to add more eventually?
The fish are all, like, "Hey! He's taking our detritus! Someone stop him! How? We don't have hands and he's gigantic!" All joking aside, I want to thank everyone at The Green Machine so much for going to the time and trouble of producing and posting these videos. I find them helpful, informative and oddly relaxing. I would pay money for an album of the ambient music used in your videos. Have you considered selling that? Or are you able to? Do you have the music made in-house? Is it commissioned? Is it existing music you license for use in the videos?
+Skaolloaks thanks for your kind words. The music is all made by James Findley's son - Ewan Findley. Currently it's not available anywhere other than on our videos. Maybe we will release it in the future. We have had several requests for this :)
TheGreenMachineLtd That would be excellent! I'm a big fan of ambient, electronica and space music. I'd have to say the background music for the making of "Reciprocity" is my favorite.
Mike kirchmeier
Do you use pure ro for water changes?
What kind of filtration system is on this tank? Or is just a series of pumps using natural filtration?
Any advice for new aquascapers?? @thegreenmachine
wow!!
How come my vacuum tube keeps sucking everything up and block the water flow? Like all rocks and substrates are sucked up. Any special technique to prevent that?
Fabulous .
TGM always give amazing education on aquascape!
Question though , the sands and gravels do you soak it overnight before use ?
What about the ADA Amazon soil ?
Do you soak the soil for a day ?
+Kenneth Soh Hi Kenneth, we're glad you enjoyed this video. The sands used in this aquascape are from manufacturer Aqua Design Amano (ADA) and do not require soaking or washing before use. The gravel is our own TGM Graded Gravel and again doesn't require washing but it may remove some dust so one may choose to wash if they would prefer a clearer start to their layout... however any dust will be swiftly removed by a good filter. Likewise the ADA Aqua Soil does not require soaking before use.
+TheGreenMachineLtd Do advise ! Doesn't ADA aqua soil release ammonia into the water ? As i had livestocks in my aquarium i'm worried it might affect my livestocks ! Hahaha
Do you condition your RO water at all before adding it to the tank? I thought RO water was bad for planted tanks.
+Cj Carpenter we re-mineralise it straight after it's been added to the tank
+TheGreenMachineLtd I assume you guys are using Ada products for that. I would love to know which ones.
Ive heard of some people using heat pads underneath the tank to heat the soil for extra growth is this a thing? does TGM use this technique or is normal water heat fine?
This is an old idea that we do not recommend. It is not necessary for good plant growth- we do not use this in any of our layouts.
DO you feed these fish or do they feed on byproducts from the plants?
+Kyle Johnston We feed them
How big is this aquarium do you think?
more videos please friends
5:28 surprise shrimp :)
Can anyone tell me what those brown broad leaf plants?
3:54 Seems one of those magnetic scrubbers would make that scrub job much easier lol
using a steelwired brush , be sure it's 'hardsteelwired' no copper or zink maybe in the wire...these leave very tiny bits which can hurt your fish and will also oxidize which leaves a blue-ish color in the end...
Excuse me, but the fish look pretty hungry as there are trying to get the fresh gravel as you add it to the aquascape. Maybe you could feed them more often than you are currently doing? It might just be me but it looks like they are quite hungry. Thank you for any replies.
Haha! are you being serious? If so then uhhhhhhh no! Has nothing to do with them not being fed enough!
i was wondering if you guys had any tips on how to maintain Anubias clean of algae since there slow growing plants i always get some spot algae on them and hard to get rid of ..
I had the same problem, it seems anubias are prone to such a problem since they are slow growing and shade loving. I saw a vid on UA-cam which suggests a 3% hydrogen peroxide diluted in water, put into spray bottle, and sprayed it to the anubias, then just scrub the leaves using clean, soft wet cloth. I tried it, and it works quite good in my case.
Hi TGM. I was wondering how many watts of light per gallon should you have in a planted aquarium?
2-3 is preferred
+Akeem Mohammed watts per gallon is not a great rule, especially when you're looking at led's. look for par ratings on the light you want, and see how that matches up against you tank size and plants.
Is a self-sustaining aquarium possible ? (noob question certainly, i know)
That would be half an aquaponic system. I imagine you could set it up all in a single tank if you used your pumps to regulate flow right, but by the time you got it working you'd basically have an above-ground duck pond of around a million litres.
There exist some self-contained "biosphere" type novelties that include shrimp. The ecosystem is supposed to replenish itself naturally for a few years due to the exceptional balance of the organisms inside and their needs/waste products. I was skeptical about these products but have seen numerous reports of people keeping the shrimp alive for years, and I believe them.
Is there juat a single rainbow in there
Sand is the cleanest hardscape, dirt do not get throught. For only person at home, anything more than 600-800 liters is a lot of work... I knew the use new sand to lighten the bottom, good trick. I like green algae in rocks thought... this hobby is 40% experience 60% budget in my opinion.
Can there be a shark or bigger fish in the next video?
how do you keep your water clear
The Awperator replay the video. Or watch it.
Danios?
I'm surprised algae is such a problem with such a well planted tank. Maybe a few snails could take care of the dead leaves and algae films. Great video though, definitely useful for any planted tank.
+QuickQuips Algae is not really a problem... But cleaning the small amounts away will create a more striking composition with greater contrast between rock and plant colours.
That's one big a** tank!
Quick question what plant is he siphoning at about 2:43
+josh foster Micranthemum Monte Carlo www.thegreenmachineonline.com/shop/tropica-1-2-grow-micranthemum-monte-carlo/
+TheGreenMachineLtd thank you keep up the great work
Anyone Know If I Can Put Red Cherry Shrimp In A Tank With Guppies And A Small Bristlenose Catfish
Yes
Yes, however be mindful that bristle nose , can grow to 3-5 inches. And depending on your tank size, may not be a good idea for more then say one bristle nose in the same tank together. Have fun!
This is too much work. How much does it cost to hire someone to do this for me in southern CA?
Create a terrarium using an ADA 180P! IT WOULD-BE AWESOME
"dedicated to the late Takashi Amano" ... man... I have been away from fish keeping for awhile i guess !!!! did not realize he passed away.
why not get some sucker fish for the algea? 5 or six smallish ones would keep that tank spotless of algea.
I'm from the Fresh Fish Foundation, and what is this?!
There is plenty of royalty free good music out there...
What fish are those?
+Kent Bremner The fish used are Danio, Zebra Danio, Siamensis Crossocheilus, Sphaerichthys osphromenoides (Chocolate gourami). Some Amano Shrimp also inhabit this micro eco-system.
I haven't seen any beautiful videos lately. What happened is James ok.. Just wondering what happened...
Why is there no filter
I think im the only 15 year old who is so fascinated by aquascaping this is my dream job most people think that a young person like me probably dosnt have a clue about things like this but i know sow much and learn new techniques every time i watch one of your videos i already new how to syfen aquariums but i just wanted to say what i seid
joe ayers I'm 15 too and I find aquascaping so fascinating. I would love to do it, but I honestly dont have the money or supplies readily available lol. I think I'm obsessed with fish now wupps.
Ya i work for the money to do aquascaping but most of the mony comes from b-days and Christmas
Save your packet money then ! I'm sure at 15y.o you can start with low maintenance tank which is much cheaper =)
2:00 Am i hearing things or....?
Here. A little honesty. Rare thing on the internet;
So a planted tank always grows algae on the glass? And requires serious maintenance to look perfect? If a tank is setup properly there would be nothing to vacuum, nothing to scrape, no pebbles to clean. There will be no need for a big water changes. The tank would be very hard to throw off balance even if you tried.
Can a tank be left by itself for a month? 2 months, 3 months? Only top off? Overfeed or not feed at all? Run or stop the CO2 whenever you feel like it? Remove the external filter altogether? Increase the light or lower it?
Yes.
There is a way to properly establish a planted tank. But it does not sell chemicals, cool stainless steel tools, and does not make anyone a professional. And no, it is not a low light tank with a few simple plants. It is as close to an ecosystem as a glass box full of water can get - complete with its own seasons. As close to a real Natural Aquarium as it can be. Unlike what the Japanese made the world think is right.
Good luck. What you show is what people love.
This guy and David Attenborough should team up and put us to sleep with their lush voices.
Got a feeling this would cost a lot to maintain by professionals, I personally loves it but don’t think I could justify the spendings.
Om, video ne apik, tp musik e koyo uka2
Once a week O.o
You are not a true aquascaper if dont experience the taste of drink water from your tank @1:36 :D
aint nobody got time fo dat
nova123 true, no one perhaps no one has the time, yet, if your passionate about the hobby, you make time, in order to keep it alive. You put in the time to build it, might as well maintain it, right?
aaaaaaand thats why i don't own an aquarium...who the fuck has time to do this shit?
so... its a glorified fish tank?