Rescaping help

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Thepokerkid227

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Dec 27, 2013
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Below ill post a photo of my current cycling tank and how I have it planted. I really don't like the look of it and was thinking about re-scaping it. I was gonna put all the plants in the back left corner, move the heater more towards the filter maybe upper-middle of it. I have 3 pieces of driftwood that will still be going in, moss to attach to them, and figure out something for foreground plants. Really wanted to look into some kind of shorter grasses to also plant over my substrate. Also note I am new to live plants, what's everyone's opinions? Thanks!

Joe

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1389323968.466307.jpg
 
You made them look too organized, and lined up. Spread them out and mix it up more. Put taller ones in the back and short ones in the front. Get some rocks and wood in there. You need more depth.
 
You need to use the wide tank to your advantage. I agree that everything looks too lined up and linear. Try planting the stem plants in groupings of 3 at a time. Look for some crypts and (assuming your lights are powerful enough) carpeting plants in the foreground. Star repens is one of my fav carpeting plants and is easy to grow at the same time. Petsmart carries it.
 
Since I'm too impatient to wait for my driftwood to be done soaking to put in and rescape all at once, I did it last night. I put all plants in groups of their own kind. I wanted to keep mid/right of tank open as I will fill this void with driftwood pieces which I will attach java moss and fern to. Once those are in ill be adding some mid/fore ground plants all in between. I wanted to keep the left half of the tank more densely planted with bigger plants. I'm sure my livebearers will enjoy it once done. ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1389532659.446505.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1389532671.689210.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1389532681.192430.jpg
 
Looking good. I like the denser planting to the left and the openness to the right. What you want to avoid is symmetry (which is very easy to do; I have been guilty of it and the nice folks on this site helped point that out). What I have read and also mentioned above are that plants appear more natural in in groups of odd numbers.
Dwarf sag makes a nice mid ground plant as long as it stays short. Crypt wendtii, Bacopa caroliniana, and Staurgyne repens are some examples of plants found in the "gel packs" at PetSmart and would do fine in your tank.
If you have not already, you can boil the DW in conjunction with soaking. This will help with reducing the buoyancy and tannins. Not sure what the DW looks like, but placing it at an angle from left to right (possibly separating the dense and open sides) might have a nice effect.
 
Yeah it's been boiled for an hour and soaking for about two weeks now, tannins leeching out at this point is very minimal and they're sinking right to the bottom in the bucket I have them soaking in. All sulphur odors coming from water they're in has also diminished greatly. I change the water in it every 2-3 days. I'll probably hold off on putting it in tank until my fishless cycle is complete.
 
It really depends on what you want your aquarium to look like. You could either rocks (like I do) or you could go drift would. Beware some driftwood will lech out tannins and some rocks with rise your pH. Some drift wood you could use are the root kind (do some research) and some rocks you could use are seiryu rocks or rocks that are laying near you live. I hope this help! Happy Scaping!
 
Soaking and boiling as long as I can to leech out as many of the tannins as I can.
 
Tannins aren't really that big of a deal. If you are really concerned about them you can just add some purigen in your filter. It does a great job at removing them.
 
Not familiar with purigen but if I ended up using it will it absorb any on my ferts or flourish excel?
 
Water changes should take care of tannins. Sometimes you don't notice tannins is the tank (depending on the amount present). Only when I am doing water changes is when I notice any discoloration (in a white bucket).
 
Tannins are not harmful in any way. They are in most natural waters. I kinda like the tannins and leave them until my regular water changes get rid of em


20long hitech/10gal shrimptech
 
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