advice please...

[crazycat]

my 125g has been up for about 6 months. i think it's doing pretty well--but i feel like i've hit an aquascaping plateau. i have a fair variety of plants, but mostly tall ones. i've been trying to get a carpet to grow, but have been having some trouble with an inch of gravel over 2.5 inches of eco-complete. that, and i feel like i'm lacking some color--some variation would be nice. the ludwigia gets nice and red at the top and that's cool, but i have to prune the darn stuff SO often--thes pics are right after as MAJOR pruning (read a 3 gallon bucket full of ludwigia!) i think i need more stuff happening in the foreground. and more density in the lower half--i have enough floating stuff happening...

so i'm asking the aquascaping experts...what do i do from here? how do i make a REAL aquatic garden? keep in mind though--i'm one of those people who like my fish JUST as much as the plants--i spend a lot of time choosing my fish based on personality and aesthetic issues. for instance, i just added some gold dward gouramis b/c i felt that i need more yellow in the tank. i also want some north new guinea blue rainbows or lacustris rainbows for some more blue...or at least some cardinals if i could find them.

so this is my longwinded plea for comments...be forthright, be honest. i have thick skin!

tanks dimensions are 6'L x 2'D x 17"H.
4wpg
injected co2
the rest is in my profile

the whole shebang


left


midleft


midright


right

 

[crazycat]

ok--how do i get the thumnails to be clickable?

 

[Hara]

They are automatically clickable when the file is a certain size or more..they clicked for me.

As far as the tank goes, I think it is beautiful, but I can understand how you might want to change it up a bit if it has looked the same for awhile. It looks quite healthy and pretty IMO.

 

[crazycat]

thanks hara!

maybe the non-clickability is a mac thing! i just see the bb code, the thumnail, but it's not clickable. but you were able to click to get a larger image?

 

[Hara]

yes I was, and pretty images they were too!

 

[crazycat]

so you must be on a pc darn macs!

 

[BrianNY]

Me too Cat. No problem with clicking the thumbnails on Windows XP.

One of the things about a planted tank is it's always a work in progress. It's never finally finished. Now to be brutal, your tank has more of a jungle look than an aquascaped look. To avoid this I would reduce the number of background plants.

 

[Jchillin]

I actually see nothing wrong with the 'scaping Cat. Nice and level as far as I can see. Having a school of fish swimming by makes it even more sweeter.

PS - What did you do with those "buckets" of ludwigia trimmings

 

[crazycat]

jchillin--i chucked them. want some? i got a few stalks from madasafish and they've just taken over. you're totally welcome to any cuttings from my tank--including some of the crazy stuff that travis sent that's gowing like nuts!

brian--which plants would you get rid of? ooh i just had a thought--there is one--name unknown--midleft tall stalky one--that i could move further back. i've already gotten rid of all the jungle vals... hmmm....

 

[crazycat]

do i need a background? right now i have nothing and have always like it. but...

whaddaya all y'all think?

 

[travis simonson]

Dang Cat, I didn't know we had the same tanks

My advice, the right side looks great. Nice slow progression of large to small and good leaf texture.

Move the big plants out of the center, more to left. Open up the center of tank and it will appear to be more open and larger.

You need to create more of a foreground effect. I know it takes a lot of work, but consider sloping your substrate upward toward the back. It gives a much better sense of depth. Try to creat multiple levels. You can make little planters and fill them with substrate to do this. Hide the walls of the planters with mid-ground plants (they're coming in the mail ).

You also need to get a foreground carpet plant working. The bare gravel just doesn't cut it. Elatine triandra will do the job nicely

 

[Jchillin]

I think you're fine without it. If you do want to forge ahead with one, I'd suggest a blue/black.

I'm sending you a PM as well.

 

[crazycat]

travis,

coming from you that's high praise indeed! besides, half the plants on the right are from you ok--at least the lymnophila aromatica is...

you're totally right about foreground/background issues. one of the problems is that the lacerock cave and the slate cave go all the way to the back of the tank--they are quite "deep"--but they make great hiding places for my thousands of plecos (ok--maybe i'm exaggerating a little...). can i plant on top of them? should i try? how would you do it and what plants would you use?

as for sloping substrate, can i add more at this point without freaking out the whole tank? i don't really have that much substrate depth since the tank is only 17" high--so to slope up would require more substrate...

what kind of planters? do you mean real planters? like terracotta pots? stacks of rocks?

 

[travis simonson]

You need to open up the middle, one way or another. You can always add more substrate. I'm a good example of that.

You should think about putting some moss on top of the lace rocks. It will almost certainly arrive in the mail

Use whatever is handy to form the substrate taller in back. The plants won't care and you can easily hide it with thick, lush, foreground growth

 

[crazycat]

thanks travis--i just did a major overhaul (believe it or not). the middle back is pretty bare--needs some big growth, but i moved some of the larger plants back--and got rid of even more ludwigia--not all of, but it really WAS taking over. i'm keeping the moneywort in front for now, just until i can get some more foregroundy stuff happening--and then i will move it back too--it's actually one of my favorites! i acutally put a few small java fern plantelets in the holes in the lacerock--we'll see if they take...

can't wait for your package i'll post pics after more happens...

ps--in the major overhaul, i managed to see one of my new red whiptail catfish, so i was psyched--they like to hide a lot!

 

[czcz]

I am no aquascaper or anything, but I think if you thickened up the stem plants on the left into big bunches by growing out the trimmings, it would look sweet. It is a nice tank.