Help with my scape.

[Ayi]

I replanted and rearranged the rocks in my tank. It still feels like there's something wrong though. What would you change? Thanks in advance.

 

[trennamw]

It looks like something is missing in the cavity in the rock pieces. It feels like there should be something bigger there. I'd put one large triangular rock there and scatter the littler rocks.

 

[Ayi]

Those were the biggest rocks I could find near my house. I was trying to keep them all the same color scheme.

 

[Ayi]

Anyone else have any advice?

 

[Mebbid]

I would say move the rocks to either side more and get them out of the middle of your tank.

It also seems that you have a lot of background plants. I would try to get some shorter plants for the foreground of your tank or try trimming them more to layer them.

 

[Ayi]

I moved the driftwood and miss to the left and switched positions of some plants. I'll post pics later today.

What are some good foreground plants for medium light? I'm dosing EI ferts and have 2 23 watt cfl clamp on lights, which seem pretty bright.

Any online places with low shipping costs?

 

[Mebbid]

Star repens is about the best medium light carpeting plant you can get imho. It's a really nice easy to care for fast grower.

 

[Fresh2o]

Star repens is about the best medium light carpeting plant you can get imho. It's a really nice easy to care for fast grower.

PetSmart often carries star repens in the Topfin cellophane wrapped gel pack containers (as seen here):

The plants are very small and it will take several weeks to a few months before they get full size. Thats where I got mine from. About $8.

 

[Fresh2o]

Any online places with low shipping costs?

Try Peabodys Paradise. My last order was $25 of plants + $7.50 shipping. That's pretty low.
I did not see Staurogynes repens in the site's plant inventory list. You may want to contact JetaJockey for suitable alternatives.

 

[Ayi]

Would it be best to ask on the classifieds rather than the gel pacs or online stores?

 

[Fresh2o]

Would it be best to ask on the classifieds rather than the gel pacs or online stores?

You could do that. I just took a quick peek in the classifieds and did not see anyone selling star repens. Your post might pique some interest though.
$8 for the gel packs is a decent price. The only downside is that they are small and need to transition from high humidity emerged to submerged form (takes time).
PlantedAquariumsCentral has star repens for under $5 per bunch (prolly 10+ stems per bunch). Assuming these are grown submerged. Not sure on shipping cost (maybe $10?). But they will be closed from 7/10-7/20.

 

[Brookster123]

I used the gel packs and they kicked off pretty quick actually.. after only a few weeks I have snipped and replanted..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Fresh2o]

I used the gel packs and they kicked off pretty quick actually.. after only a few weeks I have snipped and replanted..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

What lights were these growing under? I had a hard time keeping them in place on account of the high current and mischievous MTS. They were so small. I think it took at least a month. Once it got going then snip and replant.

 

[Mebbid]

Id say just go with the gel pack of star repens. I've never seen a plant adapt to aquarium life as quickly as the star repens I bought.

 

[Fresh2o]

Well it's plant trimming day for me and the star repens is getting too tall for my liking. Going to trim and replant and send the extras to Ayi (OP). Depending on how much is sent, a gel pack might still be a good idea if the goal is a thick carpet.

 

[Brookster123]

What lights were these growing under? I had a hard time keeping them in place on account of the high current and mischievous MTS. They were so small. I think it took at least a month. Once it got going then snip and replant.

They're under the diy CFL hood, 4 23 watt 6500k at 10".. pretty high light..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Fresh2o]

They're under the diy CFL hood, 4 23 watt 6500k at 10".. pretty high light..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Oh I forgot about that fixture. That explains the rapid growth then.
Ayi - Just trimmed up the star repens. Here's a low res pic:

It's a bit tattered now but that is after getting 37 cuttings from this. I'm going to replant some of the trimmings to fill in some gaps. I prefer to keep it about 2" tall.

 

[Ayi]

How hard is it to trim this stuff? I don't have have scissors so it seems a little difficult.

 

[Mebbid]

You pretty much need scissors to trim any plant. However you can use any kind of scissors. Before I got my aquarium plant tools I used some cheapo kitchen scissors I bought at a dollar store and they worked great, if a little bulky.

 

[Ayi]

I meant wave scissors lol I heard those were the easiest to use for foreground plants. I have curved and straight tip scraping scissors.