Rockscaping and Plant Help

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carey

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
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Location
Deltona, Florida
Hiya. I just re did the rock in my cichlid tank and was wondering what people thought. Also, do you think I should yank out the fake plats I currently have? I know the fish don't care either way lol I'm probably still not done with arranging but I'm pretty happy where it is for now. It's those darn plants that kinda ruin the river bottom vibe.

Thanks all!!
 
I like it, You can do some more research for plants that can thrive in those water parameters and with those fish, there are plenty of hearty live ones out there that can withstand the beatings from africans.

Live ones will not only aid in filtration but also with the health of your fish, plastic flashing is sharp and will slice the fish right up if they hit it right.

I dig the background too, I got the same one in my 45H, it looks really nice in there.
I am trying to make a driftwood piece that suspends from the top of the tank and branches down into the tank for a much more natural 3D look for my SA cichlids.

It looks really nice.
 
To be honest I'm probably not a good candidate for live plants. I can barely keep a cactus alive in my kitchen. hehe....

I know it would enhance the look having real plants but I was thinking no plants at all. Probably not a good idea? The only thing is my mbunas' love to eat the algae off them. So not sure what to do.
 
Anubias Nana is a great plant and has worked well in my tanks. They can handle bites and min lighting. If you can get it already planted on driftwood it would look awesome with your rock
 
good luck with plants in an african tank! Tried, failed, tried, failed, tried, failed, gave up.

I think the rockwork looks great. I'd caution you on that heater though. they've been recalled :( I have the same one and I'm getting ready to dig it out and exchange it
 
Hi Carey, I think the tank looks real good. I did a 190 gal. like that a few years back and with no plants it looked more like a moonscape in my opinion. I had to do something to soften the look of it up and java fern tied to the rocks worked out real well for me. Good luck.....mr ray
 
yup, ferns,mosses,anubias and swords would be good but the ones that can stand up to africans are very undemanding plants and require little effort on your part.

(I grow moss in pitch black conditions in stagnant water, every month I get about 10 pounds of moss from the buckets.)
 
I think i am gonna take out the plants when I do my next PWC. They just look so fake to me. I've read elsewhere about java fern, I need to see if I can find some locally. I might give this a try.

How many would you be good do you think? And I have a crushed coral/shell substrate now. Will they grow in that?

Questions questions I got dozens! And thats only for one of my tanks. LOL

Thanks everyone for your nice words.
 
Don't put the java fern in the substrate, tie it on the rocks with a thread that will match the color of the rock. As whitedevil says java moss tied to rocks and wood would do well too. The moss grows so quickly that even if they want to snack on it ,it will probably just keep growing. The java fern and the java moss will also give the tank a real nice look. I haven't come across a fish yet that likes to eat the java fern!
 
I concur with Mr Ray. Tie it or shove it into nooks and cracks in the wood.
 
Ok. Got it. I'll check out some local stores this weekend and see what I can come up with.

Will any of those mentioned take over my tank though? Do I need any plant supplement or lighting issues?

Thanks again...
 
you might have much cleaner luck on aquabid.com or any planted tank site.

lighting should be atleast 1 watt per gallon in the 6500-6700K range with those plants.

If you get swords use root ferts but the others you can just get some micro and macro ferts in liquid form and just use per direction. Most those plants can survive but not flourish on fish poop alone.
 
aquariumplants.com is a good site and reasonable prices. You know it is funny, with the java moss after it takes it grows profusely. You'll find yourself taking out handfuls sometimes when your doing tank maintenance and throwing it away. Last week at the LFS they were selling about a quarter round size of java moss for 14.95. It just made me laugh.
 
Umm, whats a ferts? fertilizer? hehe

I still have stock hood lighting, 2 15w bulbs I believe. I am looking at lighting options though. Is there any reason to have a quad t5 fixture on a 55 gal african cichlid tank? Or should I be good with a dual bulb fixture?

I'm off to look up those websites. Thanks guys
 
dual bulb would be more then fine for an african set up and a T5 would mean you are using 52w bulbs which gives you the 1.5wpg ratio.

I run a dual bulb 36" T5HO on my 53g 4' tank just fine.

ferts are fertilizer. I use aquariumplants.com's total liquid fert and their root tabs but have used the store bought stuff(very expensive water w/ a dash of ferts) to powder ferts from rex griggs @ bestaquariumregulator.com
 
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