Visual journal of my first aquascape.

[Chino1130]

I was pretty skeptical at first when I decided to do live plants, but now I have gotten really into it.

When bought my first batch of plants, I thought the wisteria plant doomed from the start. It got healthy and is growing like crazy now. It's the one to the back right that looks like death in photo 2. These pics are over the course of the last 2 weeks.

 

[redsea]

Very nice! I like the plants and driftwood, very nice pieces!

 

[LPXnoob]

Wisteria? I'm glad to see that it wasn't a fluke that it's the only plant I can get to grow besides a java fern. Lol. tank looks great by the way. You can clip and replant the wisteria where the roots start to sprout from the stem and it will regrow as a new plant, in case you were ignorant to that piece of information.

 

[jpchin]

your plants look very healthy. nice tank.

 

[Scouser]

The wood looks great, I could never find a piece of wood I wanted so I went for Mopani lol.

 

[Ausfish]

What kind of tank is that? Looks just like mine, just heaps taller!

 

[jetajockey]

Water wisteria is one of my favorite plants, grows like crazy! Those dracaena plants in the center/right are not fully aquatic, so you might want to consider moving them out or at least keeping an eye on them for rotting.

 

[Chino1130]

The wood looks great, I could never find a piece of wood I wanted so I went for Mopani lol.

Thanks! I wasn't sure how they would look when I bought them, but I was very pleased once I got them in the tank. The tea color water went away with water changes. I kind of wish it hadn't. I liked the natural look.

What kind of tank is that? Looks just like mine, just heaps taller!

It's an Aqueon 25 gallon, plant starter kit. This is my first live tank and thought it would be best to start simple.

Water wisteria is one of my favorite plants, grows like crazy! Those dracaena plants in the center/right are not fully aquatic, so you might want to consider moving them out or at least keeping an eye on them for rotting.

I really like the wisteria. The first batch I got, i planted in one giant bunch in the back corner of the tank. Its filling out the back corner very nicely. The new batch I got, I broke up into two smaller bunches on the left side of the tank. They have recently started to grow and turn greener. I'm letting the new roots that are growing stay there. I'm hoping they latch onto the wood eventually. As for the dracaena, are those the light green leave plants, or the ones that look like small bunches of grass? I got the feeling they weren't fully aquatic, especially seeing as how they haven't grown at all since I got them. They have been in there a while now and haven't started to rot yet. I'm going to leave them in for now, I like the way they look.

Here is a more recent pic that I took last night.

 

[Scouser]

Yea I liked the natural tint from the tannins too, but I have a mild red behind by tank so I still get the tint lol

 

[Chino1130]

.... and done (for now)

 

[Manix]

I made the mistake of purchasing a Dracaena from my local LFS. I had people on the forum tell me the same thing about rotting. I was just like you...decided to keep the plant in the tank because I thought I knew better, since I saw no signs of rotting. Also I didn't want to waste $5 on a plant. After a couple weeks during my water changes I noticed a foul smell similar to rotten eggs. But I couldn't find where it was coming from. After a few more water changes I noticed the roots were rotting even though the leaves were fine and green. The only way I noticed it was because my Kuhli Loaches were digging around. When I pulled it out all the roots were black and I almost vomited because the smell was so bad. Even after throwing it away the rotting smell lingered for a few more days. I had to make sure I cleaned the gravel completely to eliminate all the waste that had accumulated underneath.

My advice to you is listen to jetajockey and remove the plant.

 

[Chino1130]

I made the mistake of purchasing a Dracaena from my local LFS. I had people on the forum tell me the same thing about rotting. I was just like you...decided to keep the plant in the tank because I thought I knew better, since I saw no signs of rotting. Also I didn't want to waste $5 on a plant. After a couple weeks during my water changes I noticed a foul smell similar to rotten eggs. But I couldn't find where it was coming from. After a few more water changes I noticed the roots were rotting even though the leaves were fine and green. The only way I noticed it was because my Kuhli Loaches were digging around. When I pulled it out all the roots were black and I almost vomited because the smell was so bad. Even after throwing it away the rotting smell lingered for a few more days. I had to make sure I cleaned the gravel completely to eliminate all the waste that had accumulated underneath.

My advice to you is listen to jetajockey and remove the plant.

Aww, that discouraging. Just last night I pulled one of the plants out of the substrate, and to my surprise it had a root about 3 inches long that wasn't there 2 weeks ago. I was hoping that was a good sign.

 

[Chino1130]

Some updated pics after 4 days of no power/heat... The tank seems to be recovering well.

Planted one month ago :

Current pics :

 

[Tenochsun78]

Looking real good!

 

[Gboy66]

Nice!!!!! Do i see harlequins and prestillas in there?? What else? Looks great btw!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Looks good!

 

[Justme68]

Beautiful tank!!! Great job

 

[Justme68]

Great job...beautiful tank!

 

[RedFlame]

Looks great, okay maybe I need some more plants. Thanks for the inspiration.