My Aquascape

[Oscarr19]

The day I put the DIY CO2, it started pearling like crazy the next day. I love Aquasoil. I wouldn't use any other soil. I know there are a lot of great ones out there but this stuff is great. I also had a bad Algae bloom the 1st week but the Nerite snails cleared that up by week 2. I am doing 12 hrs of light and when the lights go off at 7pm, the Oxygen kicks (air stone) on for the next 12 hrs. I think you really need to plant the HC with care. I saw a great video on youtube. Carefully cutting away all the wool with an Exacto knife and making sure the roots were planted as deep as possible.
‪Preparing Hemianthus Callitrichoides 'Cuba' for planting in an aquarium‬‏ - YouTube

I planted everything before adding water so rotting it well was key.
If you get a chance to go on Youtube and watch some videos of Oliver Knott's planting clips, thats pretty much what I followed.
I was shocked everything grew so fast and its probably an anomoly but I got lucky
I have another Fluval Edge where all the HC died within 2-3 weeks.
I used Flourite Sand in that one to experiment a little.
The Edge doesn't provide enough light either. I even tried swapping out the stock lighting with MR11 Bright LED's
I've now added an additonal 18w Light over the front of the tank and the rest of the plants in that tank are doing well. I'll post a seperate thread on that one soon.
JC

Thanks fro the video! Deff will be help in the future.

 

[fort384]

I agree with your assessment of aquasoil. It is great stuff. HC, glosso, dhg, and other foreground carpet plants grow like wildfire in it. I would be hard pressed to use any other substrate in a small planted tank. The powersand works wonders too... grows it even faster than with aquasoil alone.

Very nice looking tank!

If you are looking for constructive criticism, I have a couple opinions that may or may not agree with you, and may or may not improve the look of your tank:

1. The hardscape is too centered, and symmetrical. If you just offset it a bit, I really think it would give the scape more of a triangular appearance, and it would really draw the eye. Symmetry when it comes to placement of stones and rocks rarely happens in nature, so in a natural looking planted tank, it can look out of place. Here is a somewhat ridiculous article that is a little bit pretentious, but also makes some very good points and has some insights about aquascaping a nature aquarium: Online AQUA JOURNAL- NATURE AQUARIUM It might be worth a read.

2. Have you considered a background? I like open back tanks, but not if there are wires or equipment showing. A simple blue or black backdrop may really give your tank some extra pizzazz.

Again, please feel free to disregard all of this -- what really matters is if you like it, and if you are pleased, then it is good to go. Your tank really looks great!

 

[jackspratt]

I appreciate the feedback.
I know all about the Triangular appearance...after getting into the Iwagumi style, I started reading all about that. I tried to give the appearance of the path slipping back to the right but the rocks were really too big. I should have gone with smaller ones and moved everything off to the right. Problem was I had found this perfect piece of driftwood for the tree so I had a hard time fitting everything where I wanted. In hindsight, I should have gone with a 20 Gallon and pushed the "centerpiece" off to the right.
I am drawing out my next project now and considering this was my first planted tank in many years (I used to do this way back when...) I think it came out decent BUT not perfect. I'm happy with it but I know exactly what you mean.
Getting the plants to grow and keeping everything alive and happy is a feat in itself! lol
Regarding the background, I purchased a roll of light diffuser....its like a frosted plastic that you spray water and adhere it to the back. I saw Oliver Knott do a demo Aquascape and use it.
Just haven't gotten around to that yet.
Thanks again.