Help me rescape/fix this thing!

[George9]

Okay. I hate the layout of my tank. Its not how I wanted it at all. I just can't be happy lol. I obviously need some help. This is what it looks like, except instead of the slate in the middle, there's a small piece of driftwood, with not a lot of height. I will get more updated pics tomorrow.






I want to leave the driftwood (where the slate is in the picture) but I have no idea what to do with the plants on the sides. I kinda just placed them there. what kind of plants would make the tank look better, and where should I move all the other plants?
I have diy co2, dry ferts, root tabs, and 108 watts of t5 HO on a 60 g

Plants that I can think of off the top of my head in there are
Wisteria
Cabomba
Balansae plants
Amazon sword
Ozelot sword
Some other smaller sword
Various crypts
Chilensis, was melting, but now sending out tons of new plants
And some others I can't think of.

Thank you for any advice you have

Thank you

 

[Mumma.of.two]

A few suggestions
Don't evenly space out the plants. Try an keep plants the same as each other close. Eg: if you have 3 stems of wisteria put them all together instead of one on each side and one in the middle. Taller plants at the back and short at the front.
Use the rule of thirds. The main piece (wood, rock, red plant, etc) in the tank draws your eye. Put it 1/3 of the way across the tank and 1/3 of the way up.
Don't put rocks, wood or plants in even numbers. Always use odd numbers.
http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/aquascapingprinc/aquascaping101.html

 

[George9]

A few suggestions
Don't evenly space out the plants. Try an keep plants the same as each other close. Eg: if you have 3 stems of wisteria put them all together instead of one on each side and one in the middle. Taller plants at the back and short at the front.
Use the rule of thirds. The main piece (wood, rock, red plant, etc) in the tank draws your eye. Put it 1/3 of the way across the tank and 1/3 of the way up.
Don't put rocks, wood or plants in even numbers. Always use odd numbers.
http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/aquascapingprinc/aquascaping101.html

Ahh thank you!! So, maybe I should move the wood over to 1/3 of the way across instead of the middle. And I will definitely bunch similar plants together instead if scattering them all over.

My problem is which side of the tank to put the plants in. I think I'm going to maybe do like a forest on each back side and in the center back side using rotala indica and wisteria and cabomba, and others
then in the front and center, moss and small plants like dwarf sag and small anubias along with the smaller piece of wood (which will actually be moved over so it's not in the center)

Thanks so much Mumma! I hope to make my tank look as good as yours

 

[Mumma.of.two]

No problem. Good luck with your rescape!

 

[skywhitney]

Rescape time huh? . The article mumma posted has a lot of good info.

Also keep in mind that your tank will always be a work in progress.

Do you know what kind of overall look you are wanting?
How heavily do you want the tank to look? Like it is now? More (a lot? A Little?)?

 

[George9]

Rescape time huh? . The article mumma posted has a lot of good info.

Also keep in mind that your tank will always be a work in progress.

Do you know what kind of overall look you are wanting?
How heavily do you want the tank to look? Like it is now? More (a lot? A Little?)?

I kinda want like a jungleish look, like yours does. I want it to be pretty heavily planted. I'm probably going to do Forest of bunch taller plants in the back and slowly work my way down in size to the front. I'm gonna get some more bunch plants like rotala indica and maybe hornwort. Im not completely sure though. I actually want the concave look. Have any ideas on how I should exactly go about this?

I really like your tank look, but mine would have to be a little different of course.

 

[skywhitney]

I kinda want like a jungleish look, like yours does. I want it to be pretty heavily planted. I'm probably going to do Forest of bunch taller plants in the back and slowly work my way down in size to the front. I'm gonna get some more bunch plants like rotala indica and maybe hornwort. Im not completely sure though. I actually want the concave look. Have any ideas on how I should exactly go about this?

I really like your tank look, but mine would have to be a little different of course.

Hey whatever happened to that big piece of DW you had at first?

 

[skywhitney]

I kinda want like a jungleish look, like yours does. I want it to be pretty heavily planted. I'm probably going to do Forest of bunch taller plants in the back and slowly work my way down in size to the front. I'm gonna get some more bunch plants like rotala indica and maybe hornwort. Im not completely sure though. I actually want the concave look. Have any ideas on how I should exactly go about this?

I really like your tank look, but mine would have to be a little different of course.

I'd stick with the rotala and bypass the hornwort IMO. Keep in mind your wisteria and sword will get height to them also.

 

[George9]

Oh, I could not get the big piece to sinK. So I gave up on it lol. It was really nice though.
I tried slate on the bottom, but it was so soft, that the screws came right out of the wood.

 

[skywhitney]

Oh, I could not get the big piece to sinK. So I gave up on it lol. It was really nice though.
I tried slate on the bottom, but it was so soft, that the screws came right out of the wood.

Do you still have it?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Oh, I could not get the big piece to sinK. So I gave up on it lol. It was really nice though.
I tried slate on the bottom, but it was so soft, that the screws came right out of the wood.

Nothing some slate, a big drill and some screws won't fix! If that fails zip ties and big rocks. Lol

 

[skywhitney]

Nothing some slate, a big drill and some screws won't fix! If that fails zip ties and big rocks. Lol

The zip ties and rocks were right where i was going! It is/was an awesome looking piece.

 

[George9]

Yeah, I need some big rocks!! I dint think it fits though, because it's freaking huge. It would be hard to get it in with fish and plants already in.

 

[skywhitney]

Yeah, I need some big rocks!! I dint think it fits though, because it's freaking huge. It would be hard to get it in with fish and plants already in.

Easy fix....plants and fish out, wood in, plants in, fish in done

 

[George9]

Easy fix....plants and fish out, wood in, plants in, fish in done

Haha easy for you to say. Im the one who gets soaked, While there are plants Everywhere and kuhlis flopping on the floor lol

 

[skywhitney]

Haha easy for you to say. Im the one who gets soaked, While there are plants Everywhere and kuhlis flopping on the floor lol

I never said it would go as planned lol

 

[George9]

Okay Mumma and Sky, I need your help again.
I moved a lot of plants around all morning. Trying to make it look nice. So far, I think it looks better. I have some dwarf sag coming in the mail today, and I still need some big cabomba and rotala and maybe one more wisteria on the right side. Heres how its looking:
One of my swords looks really yellow in the pic, but it doesnt look that bad in person.

Right side:

Left side:
Sory, pic wont upload right.

I commented on this one, if you can read it:

The camera really sucks, and the lighting contributes to why the plants all look yellow in the pics.
I'm unsure of the area directly to the left of the driftwood, It might look better with the dwarf sag in there. We'll see.
I need some kind of plant right behind the dw too. Maybe something tall?
The right side will look so much better with some more taller plants in there. Most now are trimmings. The whole thing will look better too when it all settles and stuff, and starts to grow.
Thanks for all your help

 

[skywhitney]

Looking great man! It'll fill in really nice!

In regards to the dw area you could look at maybe doing some java fern behind or even on the dw...

 

[George9]

Looking great man! It'll fill in really nice!

In regards to the dw area you could look at maybe doing some java fern behind or even on the dw...

But would java fern be tall enough to peak over the top of the driftwood?

 

[skywhitney]

But would java fern be tall enough to peak over the top of the driftwood?

Hmm...maybe not....

You could do rotala and just keep it trimmed short