Looking for some ideas and direction

[Thever]

My previous scape(tank) took a turn for the worse and had to be redone. This is the stage its in right now, water conditions are cloudy but alot better now.

Current plants are riccia(on the stones), and some pogostemon helferi. I have a clump of java moss chillin in the back right and a clump of dwarf hairgrass on the way.

My thoughts were to get the java moss on the wood(if that even stays), planting the dwarf hairgrass in the back and slightly up the sides. and kind of tidy up the helferi and riccia locations. Any other ideas I'm not seeing?

Thanks

Kevin

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Your plan sounds good to me.

 

[elwaine]

Ditto. Sounds like a good plan to me too.

 

[laxpatrick]

Sounds good - please post pics when you're progressed!

 

[Thever]

Hairgrass is in and have begun ei dosing w/ co2. Now we wait and see what happens, also have a nasty case of diatoms on the back and sides of tank, and purchased 2 nerites based on their reputation-so far Im impressed! Where there was brown and they have made a pass, nice and clean!

 

[FastFly67]

How did you get the piece of wood suspended up like that?

 

[Thever]

Its actually 2 seperate pieces of wood, they are held in place by a suction cup on the back of each one, right near the top. Im really surprised they will stay as that wood is soooo buoyant yet...I wonder if its wood at all and not cork.

 

[Door]

Idk, I'm new to this but I like the potential of those bare rocks in the mid-ground, maybe you could group them together to create a focal point or pair of points, to the center-right of the tank, to balance against the suspended wood ... and stream out the green rocks in diminishing clusters from that point?

I'm jealous of your hair grass. :3 I pretty much like any grassy 'scape and yet... I don't have any faux-grass plants ._.;

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

What is the size of this aquarium?

 

[Thever]

10 gallon.

The hairgrass looks better from a distance, I wasnt sure it was going to make it when I planted it. But lots of new green shoots sprouting up.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Yeah, depending on how you want it to grow in, that's how you plant it. Most want to get that dense look, so all you do is spread it out as thin as possible. It will grow in nice and dense.

So fun everyday when you look at the tank, there is always something new to look at Love seeing runners all the time


I see in your Sig that you have tiger shrimp. You like those? I was thinking about buying some just for my planted tank, not to breed or anything. Would you suggest them or some other kind?

 

[Thever]

I just got those a couple of days ago, I'll have to admit, they do look pretty cool. I had to chuckle seeing them hanging out in my brown hairgrass, kind of like cover for them as they hunt algae.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Yeah, I stuck some of my breeder RCS in my 5G for a while to clean up the algae for me, and they loved chillin in my hairgrass and my Lubelia.


So if you had a choice of shrimp (besides the really expensive ones everyone wants) what would you pick?

 

[Thever]

I like the 3 I have now, amano's and rc as they are pretty hardy and the rc will breed like no tomm. Not that I have ANY sucess with that. And Tigers look BA, and not so terribly expensive.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I'm thinking about getting some Tigers with some of my RCS and Yellow Shrimp money once I start selling. If I make a lot of money though off them, and since I have no bills , I might just get some Black or Red crystal, they are expensive, but well worth it i'm sure.

 

[Thever]

Idk, I'm new to this but I like the potential of those bare rocks in the mid-ground, maybe you could group them together to create a focal point or pair of points, to the center-right of the tank, to balance against the suspended wood ... and stream out the green rocks in diminishing clusters from that point?


I'm really struggling with this one, Im not sure which direction to take as to me the riccia doesnt look right...too much? The rock on the left Im ok with as it will get lost in the hairgrass once it fills in. The other 4 are another story. The wood is going to stay as is for now, the floating clump of moss doesnt look so hot but the shrimp like it.

My helferi is a mess as I got rid of most of it, and my stragglers and remnants are devoid of normal form. So all in all, a normal tank

 

[Door]

I've been pondering it and I'm not really sure either. I think you're right - when the hairgrass gets thick it might balance out not just the one rock but all of them. I think it just looks off right now because they're in the foreground and so much more developed, so the composition feels unbalanced. You could think about sloping the substrate maybe. I think the moss-wood dynamic will be okay once it grows for a while b/c even though java moss is unkempt it starts to look a little cuter once it's got a tight thick hold on its perch.

 

[krap101]

Maybe you should move some of the riccia back a little bit to create some depth? It seems they're sitting in a horizontal line going across the tank?

 

[Thever]

I have some 4 stalks of vesuvius coming now, and thing I'll put that on the right side, kind of in front of the filter intake

 

[Thever]

Minor growth update.

Repositioned one of the 'logs' as it will actually stay down. Im thinking of doing the same with the other, but not sure if that will get things too crowded.