The basic hardscape element here.

I'm not doing anything without my tea!

But good news is Tommy,

you get to choose your own music!

[Balazs] Because you're gonna be the main star of this video!

Oh yeah!

I can't even choose my own T-shirt, so...

It's gonna be a work in progress the whole day,

so we should leave it up,

and then people can't see, what I'm doing.

Yeah, just hide the hardscape!

[Tommy] Until it's finished.

Ahh!

[Balazs] What did you do to Dave Chow's tank?

[Tommy] It wasn't the idea behind it!

[Balazs] Sorry Dave!

[Balazs] So shall we go to see,

what kind of hardscape you did?

[Tommy] Yes, I've prepared it,

so this is not gonna stay empty for long now!

Let's go!

[Tommy] Let's go!

He didn't say the most important thing!

Oh!

Welcome to the beautiful world of aquascaping!

So what are we doing here, Tommy?

So after quite a while,

I'm gonna build a new tank finally, in the showroom.

This is gonna be a 120P,

inspired by one of my old tanks.

Actually it was my best rank, hundred-thirty-something, which is...

That's great! Congratulations!

You're a great Iwagumi scaper.

We're using the Frodo stones,

that came from our friend, Adam Paszczela.

Yes, and thank you Adam, for sending them so quickly!

Tommy has this very distinguished, very clean style

and he's going by the picture composition rules,

being a photographer previously and all,

even now, I think.

Yeah!

Sometimes!

Without further ado, let's just let him work!

Have a good luck!

Thanks, dude!

So what you can see at the moment,

are the main hills in the aquascape.

I don't want it to be pushed to the glass,

like it is now.

It's actually gonna be a bit towards the inside of the tank,

but I can't make it without the soil.

And then, I have a lot of these guys.

So these are very-very small rocks,

and these gonna be some hilltops in the backside,

so it's gonna make it look very-very deep.

I want to add a lot of depth to the aquarium.

I'm gonna raise the soil, up to about here.

And on the other side,

I'm thinking about almost fully filling up with soil

and having the small hilltops in the backside.

In the center, from about here to here,

we're gonna have sand.

I'm thinking of ADA Colorado Sand.

And it's gonna be lifted upright to the back,

about at least the middle of the tank.

It's quite tricky, to make it stand like that, with sand.

My experience is that from time to time,

you have to refill the top of it,

because it just gets a bit shorter and shorter with time.

With these types of aquascapes,

you always need to make sure to use

very small bits as well.

I think it's better to have an image

without the golden ratio, if it looks natural.

I think it's quite subjective.

I'm not even sure, if this is perfect for golden ratio.

[Balazs] This is golden ratio right here.

[Tommy] Yeah!

[Balazs] This is golden ratio right here.

That's the basic idea, let's see if we can make it work!

[Balazs] Very heavy!

[Tommy] Ah, it's quite heavy!

[Balazs] I don't know what to do, man!

[Tommy] Nah, it's just two pieces!

[Balazs] What?

Tropica was kind enough, to sponsor this episode

and sponsor this tank behind me.

I'm gonna use Tropica substrate,

Tropica soil and Tropica plants.

This is the base layer fertilizing substrate.

The first bag of the Tropica Aquarium Soil.

The general plant substrate.

Don't we usually use a step or something?

[Balazs] You're too short!

[Tommy] Yeah, I am!

This is the first bag, just to start off with.

As I'm gonna start putting in the hardscape,

we're gonna start to raise the level of soil as well.

I'm gonna start off with this one.

As I mostly remember the place of this.

You're gonna find some very small pieces.

[Sebastian] This one?

[Tommy] Yes!

I need a very-very small one.

[Balazs] We've got a new colleague at Green Aqua,

his name is Sebastian.

We call him Szebi.

I like to start at the front, with the first layer of rocks,

because now I actually have about this height behind the rock,

which I can easily fill up with soil,

without risking it falling to the front.

Woah!

[Balazs] He's breaking the step!

[Tommy] Yeah!

[Balazs] Do you want it like this?

[Tommy] Yes, exactly!

I think we should leave it now.

I'm gonna build up the other side of it

and then we'll see the ratios.

Now we have space, to put some plants in the front.

This is just for holding the other rock.

Now you can actually see what I mentioned before,

that it's not actually touching the glass.

[Balazs] How's your back, Tommy?

[Tommy] It's good for now!

I'm only gonna feel it tomorrow morning.

It doesn't really want to stand in the place, I want it to.

[Balazs] You want me to hold it?

[Tommy] Nope!

Good, we're good!

Please let me know in the comments,

if this state is actually better,

than it was in the original plan,

or I'm just making it worse!

Found its place!

Always trust physics and Nature!

[Balazs] Like this? You like it like that?

[Tommy] Okay, I can live with that.

Now my only issue is that they are actually the same height,

with the other big rock.

Let's see if we can push it a bit downwards in the soil.

[Balazs] Yeah, that's it!

Now we need some soil. It's starting to shape up!

Can you get me some...

these small balls?

We get the fish...

[Balazs]You've got two of them already!

Tommy's balls!

Vicky and Orsi's gonna help us with the planting here!

I don't like it!

It's still not perfect.

Actually it's really hard,

to make a hardscape like this, from the start.

The one I talked about at the start of the video,

that was made in about 8 months time.

I've made a basic hardscape, I started a tank

and then I added details along the way.

I'm gonna work with the sand now.

[Balazs] I thought you were supposed to put in the sand last,

as Filipe told us.

Sorry Filipe!

This is my way.

As you could see, it just started to roll down,

so that's the physical limit of raising sand.

[Balazs] So I hammered some stones for you.

[Tommy] No, you did not!

These have been sent by Adam,

for Dave Chow's event.

My aim is that you don't actually see the back of the tank.

So you can see the line of sand coming up here.

It just turns in-between these two rocks.

It actually adds a lot more depth to the aquascape,

because you don't see, where the road is going.

Actually I'm quite satisfied with the look now.

We're gonna start planting.

Girls, are you ready?

Now I can work.

I always liked to use the shortest one available.

[Coughing]

Regarding pinsets!

Yeah okay, so sharp pinsets and small balls.

That's what I always have with me.

We are starting off by planting Elatine hydropiper in both sides.

By using Elatine, I can actually reserve the texture of the rocks,

because it won't be so high.

It's always good, to have some assistance.

Thank you!

We usually make sure,

that we don't build symmetrical scapes.

Make sure, that you don't make the planting symmetrical.

If the tank is already filled up,

and you need to clean the glass with something,

you just use vinegar.

Or lemon juice, it actually helps a lot.

As usually, I'm not planting as dense,

as Balazs would do.

I actually have this thing, called patience.

A very nice part of aquascaping is to see the plants grow,

and see the tank evolving.

This way, with these kind of carpet plants,

with these kind of lights and CO2,

so if you have a perfect system,

it takes about a month,

for these plants, to grow as a carpet.

You should spend on more proper technical stuff

and proper soils and the hardscape you really want.

Because plants, they grow.

[Balazs] A lot of plant mass will help with the establishment

of the biology in the tank.

So you're not gonna have any algae issues,

or... you're gonna be safer from algae.

I'm curious, if we would make a video

about two hours of planting.

How many people would watch it

all the way through.

Let us know in the comments,

if you want to see a video, like that.

Always good to have a few plants right up to the glass,

so you can actually see its roots.

This way, after a few days you can check,

if the roots have actually started to grow.

Putting sand and soil beside each other,

they will start to mix immediately.

Plants themselves, their roots can keep

the soil and the sand apart.

I'm ready!

[Tommy] Oh you're ready!

[Vicky] Yeah!

[Tommy] Please come and join me!

Dense it up!

Okay, so I don't want them in any new places,

just where I already put them, make it more dense.

So Vicky, we've got a lot of comments,

asking about when the next part

of Aquagirls Rock is coming?

[Vicky] It doesn't depend on me.

Guys?

I have some new ideas.

What was your result for your first aquascape ever built?

It was #394.

My first ever application was #1500 something...

In the very back, I'm gonna use the normal Eleocharis parvula.

I'm not good at calculating the amount of plants needed.

[Balazs] What are you doing, Tommy?

Just these two!

[Vicky] Did you break this?

Or another?

[Tommy] I didn't break it, it just made a noise.

I'm gonna start to glue the Riccardia,

that comes as these small patches.

And I'm gonna use the Seachem Flourish glue.

If you have rocks this big,

you should break them in some parts with some plants.

So actually I'm gonna glue some Riccardia in here.

I need a lot more details!

Especially in the sandy part, it's way too empty.