Time to Reorganize

[czcz]

Nice tank!

[Codefox]

Originally Posted by dskidmore

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

Originally Posted by czcz

Nice tank!

Thanks!

[Zezmo]

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.

[Codefox]

Originally Posted by Zezmo

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.

[Zezmo]

Nice, a background sure makes a differance. what did you end up using?

[Codefox]

I'm lazy..I just got a black background at petsmart

[czcz]

Great job! Keep the updates coming. It'll be neat to watch you trim and shape the stem plants.

[Codefox]

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

[Codefox]

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.