Time to Reorganize

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Codefox

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
520
Location
Tampa, FL
Alright, now that I finally have a planted tank with the plants not dying, I want to try and focus on this whole aquascaping thing :) I'm simply blown away by some of these tanks and its given me a lot of ideas of what to do. Here's what I have now :

tank-9-1-06.png


I'm going to remove the Egeria densa entirely. I don't like it. I also plan to move the Rotala rotundifolia that's on the right to the left side of the tank to combine it with the big grouping of it over there. The fake log in there doesn't really complement the tank and will be coming out. I'm trying to decide between a peice of driftwood, a big rock or even leaving that area bare which would allow for significantly more plants in that area.

I haven't decided what I want to do there but I sorta like how I have lots of stem plants on the left side and then I have that nice bushy Ceratopteris thalictroides and think I'd like to continue the trend and have the right side of the tank just be full of very bushy plants.

I've never really tried to plan out stuff like this before, does that sound like it'll look nice? Any other suggestions? I really like the crypts in the front around the drift wood that's there now.
 
I agree with the Egeria densa. I found my tank improved vastly when I replaced the fast growing stem plants with slower growing ones. Takes more patience to fill things in, but easier to balance nutrients and keep algae at bay.
 
The egeria actually grows slower than the rotala, interestingly. It just makes a mess as peices break off and float around and really isn't a very attractive plant. The Rotala is very fast growing but I really think its an attractive plant, so I'll keep that one around :)

Does the arrangement sound like that will work well, visually?
 
i like your idea and it sounds interesting. i think u need more hard scape planning. some larger peices of driftwood with plants surounding it would look awesome. with a larger tank hardscape is your friend. smaller tanks are ok with just alot of plants. i like how u have thick groups of stem plants aswell. good luck and i cant wait for updates
 
I like all your plans too. The progression left to right sounds attractive. I like your crypts in the foreground too, and building that up would be cool. Maybe Anubias too, so you have a nice slow growing mid and foreground while you manage and trim the stems in the back.

I bet you could use Heteranthera zosterifolia or Ludwigia brevipes for the right bush if you wanted. Hygrophillia polysperma "Rosanervig" for color (though this will likely grow faster than the R. rotundifolia) if you want. Also L. repens for color around the tank if wanted.
 
I'm going out to dinner so I'll be brief, but I've done several things this weekend :)

Friday before I left :
tank%20-%209-8-2006.jpg


Now:

tank%20-%209-10-2006.jpg


I added an Aponogeton boivinianus and a pair of swords in the back. Not sure which species of sword exactly. I like the way it looks already and can't wait till it grows out :)
 
Looking good...I like the placement of the foregrounds against the background plants. Only one suggestion. The driftwood looks kinda lonely back there all alone. Perhaps moving it more toward the center?
 
I really don't have room to move it towards the center. Not visible is the large stone base weighting it down :) I'm hoping that the swords once they grow up around it more will make it blend a bit better.
 
How long have you had the driftwood? My origional piece of driftwood came on a stone slab, but over time it loss boyancy, and I was able to unscrew the base and use the driftwood in diffrent ways.
 
dskidmore said:
How long have you had the driftwood? My origional piece of driftwood came on a stone slab, but over time it loss boyancy, and I was able to unscrew the base and use the driftwood in diffrent ways.

As of this moment...about 20 hours ;)

czcz said:
Nice tank!

Thanks! :)
 
The tank is very nice, lots of health growth. Since you are asking for some "critique", these are some thoughts I had when looking at the tank. These are only MHO, and I do want to say again, the tank looks great as is.

-Add a background: black or blue poster board looks great, is cheap, and can easily be taped on.

-Slope the gravel. Push it maybe 1-2 inches higher in the back than in front. Creating a "ampitheater" effect, with the front center being lowest.

-move the stem plants (rotala?) and the bush (looks like a wisteria?) to the left and right rear sides/corners. Make the rotala (the stem plant) a large grove, put 3 stems in each "planting/hole" and put them all over to fill in that left rear corner. The (anacharis?) and (wisteria?) can be grouped in the rear right.

-Move the swords and the apogeton to the center, try and create loose groupings of 3. Choose a central plant and arrange the others around that.

-Move the smaller driftwoods to the left front, and put your (is is a java fern? or a green crypt?) around it .

-lay down the large driftwood on the right. At an angle running front to back, group most of the reddish crypts around there. maybe 2 large behind, and one smaller one in front of it.
 
Zezmo said:
The tank is very nice, lots of health growth. Since you are asking for some "critique", these are some thoughts I had when looking at the tank. These are only MHO, and I do want to say again, the tank looks great as is.

That's why I posted it here. I really just threw the plants in when I got them but never really thought about how they'd grow later. Originally they were all in a line in the back ;)

-Add a background: black or blue poster board looks great, is cheap, and can easily be taped on.

That's actually #1 on my list and is something I intend to do this week. Might even run and get some today and put it on while I watch some MNF

-Slope the gravel. Push it maybe 1-2 inches higher in the back than in front. Creating a "ampitheater" effect, with the front center being lowest.

I have a heck of a time getting my gravel where I want it. Right now its kinda 'hilly' which actually has the side effect of creating little hiding places under the driftwood.

-move the stem plants (rotala?) and the bush (looks like a wisteria?) to the left and right rear sides/corners. Make the rotala (the stem plant) a large grove, put 3 stems in each "planting/hole" and put them all over to fill in that left rear corner. The (anacharis?) and (wisteria?) can be grouped in the rear right.

Anacharis is gone, I didn't like it. I like that idea with the Rotala. Its hard to see from the picture currently but that's sorta where I'm taking that already. Its already two rows deep along most of that and three near the left wall. I may want to pack it in a little tighter though to get some space between it and the 'bush' which is actually a water sprite.

-Move the swords and the apogeton to the center, try and create loose groupings of 3. Choose a central plant and arrange the others around that.

-Move the smaller driftwoods to the left front, and put your (is is a java fern? or a green crypt?) around it .

-lay down the large driftwood on the right. At an angle running front to back, group most of the reddish crypts around there. maybe 2 large behind, and one smaller one in front of it.

I like your suggestions...it would really open the middle of the tank up I think. I unfortunately can't lay that driftwood down because its weighted with a peice of slate ;) I am a bit wary to move the crypts as they've really bloomed.

I will try moving the Rotala though since I think a tighter group of it will make both it and the Watersprite stand out. And the black background for sure.

*edit since I can't reply yet*

Only made some light changes today. The black background makes a HUGE difference, I love it.

tank-9-11-06.jpg
 
Great job! Keep the updates coming. It'll be neat to watch you trim and shape the stem plants.
 
I think so too :) I can't believe how much different the tank looks from when I first put the plants in a few months ago. I'll take soem more pictures in a couple weeks when hopefully my swords have grown a bit
 
I really need to get some pictures up. Its amazing the rate at which the rotala grows. I trimmed it on Monday and I had so many cuttings I ended up throwing away about half of it because I simply had run out of weights to replant them all. I actually took to chopping the plants down much lower than usual since they grow so fast.

One of the challenges I'm having now is controlling the growth of the water sprite. It is a very difficult plant to trim.
 
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