Aquascaping advice? Please!

[Corbo]

Hello everybody! While I'm cycling my tank, I'm primarily concerning myself with the look of the plants in the tank, I know it doesn't look absolutely amazing or anything, but I'm open to comments and suggestions on where I should keep/move stuff.

I have two pieces of driftwood that are still sort of sinking ( that's why the pennywort is floating- it's huge! New blooms too )

I attached java moss to my wood and there is currently little sprigs of java moss "grass" growing from the terra cotta saucers in the foreground (hope they're covered soon) I am hoping to either plant my pennywort in the back left once my driftwood settles, or hope that my water sprite fills in that spot.

Other than that, how does it look?

Thanks in advance for any input I receive!

-Corbin

 

[Coleallensmom]

Love the water sprite!

 

[Corbo]

Thank you! I'm trying to split it off and grow more as it's one of my favorites! Trying to dense up the back of my tank. :/ it's kinda dwarfed by my huge apono right now

 

[McLumpy]

Looks great! I especially like the dark substrate... it really makes the colors "pop"! What is your plan for the background?

 

[Aquastew]

Hey Corbo, I really like your setup... As said above, I'm a fan of the dark substrate, your greens look awesome!
I personally think, like you said, once the rear is a bit denser. It'll really give the impression of a stream "cross-section"- like a really natural looking tank!

Have you thought about more plants in the foreground, like dwarf hairgrass, just to bring the focus off the stems of your taller plants, and bring more colour to contrast directly with the cool substrate?

Stew

 

[Corbo]

For right now, I have black cardstock taped on the back of my tank it looks decent I think... But could be better.

And stew, I have been trying to experiment with foreground plants and such, I just ordered a pack of 6 from bayleesfishees so let's hope i get some good ones (it was a grab bag). I really way the dwarf hair grass, but I hear it needs an insane amount of light and I have to return the t5HO fixture i got for a bigger one because the one I ordered doesn't fit. I'm stuck with 2x26w CFL lamps for the moment. I do have a crypt parva and another small crypt in the foreground which is somewhat hidden by my pennywort, but my parva seems to experience quite bit of crypt melt (however it's having new green growth)

 

[Coleallensmom]

Hey Corbo, I really like your setup... As said above, I'm a fan of the dark substrate, your greens look awesome!
I personally think, like you said, once the rear is a bit denser. It'll really give the impression of a stream "cross-section"- like a really natural looking tank!

Have you thought about more plants in the foreground, like dwarf hairgrass, just to bring the focus off the stems of your taller plants, and bring more colour to contrast directly with the cool substrate?

+1

What size tank is this? Chain sword might be an option for a foreground plant. I have it in my 20 gal and it can be a quick grower under the right amount of light. (It does not need as much as dwarf hairgrass.)

 

[Corbo]

29 gallon so, unfortunately it's pretty deep. but once I get my new fixture I'll have almost 80 watt from the T5HO fixture... So I might look into it then?

 

[Coleallensmom]

I thought it looked bigger than a 20 gal. Tall tanks make it more difficult to plant, but it's doable (ask me how I know! ) With the lighting you have now, you should be able to sustain them but they will grow little. Once you have the T5 lighting you'd have enough wattage that they should spread. It would be worth giving it a try IMO.

 

[Corbo]

Well, right now I'm definitely looking forward to these foreground plants I ordered, I got 6 foreground/carpet plants and a 6 pack of crypts.. It's a grab bag so I'll see what I get. Haha! I'm excited to get my T5's, I'm shipping out the small fixture today. It'll probably be a pain in the butt :|

How do you know about the taller tank planting?!

 

[Coleallensmom]

My 37 gal is 22.5 inches tall. (Makes me thankful for my little 20 gallon some days.) I'm only 5'4", so I actually have to stand on a stool and stick my whole arm in the tank just to do any little thing that needs done. Makes lighting tricker as well.

 

[Corbo]

Haha wow. I'm like 5' 11" and I feel the pain of having almost your entire arm submerged. but your 37 gallon does ok with the plants? Even with it being that tall?

 

[Coleallensmom]

I have T5 lighting on it and it does great although even with T5 I'd consider it a low to med light tank because of the depth of the tank.

 

[Corbo]

Wow that is an absolutely awesome tank. I like the tall spine-ish looking plants. I wish I had that kind of creativity.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Thanks! I have a lot of crypts, swords, java moss, and an anubia..all of your basic low light plants. The tall background plant is Rotala Rotundifolia.

 

[Corbo]

Some day I hope my tank looks that good! Haha. I hope that I can get my background to look better. How do you trim your plants? Is it ok to just cut the big leaves? Because my aponogeton is just huge leaves and it grows so fast

 

[Coleallensmom]

Well, with my rotala, that's what I do to trim...just cut the leaves because it will regrow a new top very quickly. My swords however, won't do that so if I feel they need trimmed back, I just remove the tallest leaves to give the smaller leaves room to grow.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Honestly, I think your tank is off to a really good start..add a few more plants across the back (behind the driftwood) and it will look awesome.

 

[Corbo]

Thank you very much! I'm so excited to get it going and put my fish in, but I'm still cycling! And I have nobody to steal media from for my filter. So I just have to wait for my bacteria to start on it's own. I'm about a week in now. Once my driftwood sinks completely I'm replanting my pennywort!

 

[Coleallensmom]

The crypts you are getting will help fill things in! If I was closer, I'd help you out with the filter media. Just think though...once you have this tank set up, you shouldn't ever have to do a full cycle again if (or should I say when. lol) you add another tank. You'll have your own tank to "borrow" bacteria from!