Major landscape change

[ejaramillo01]

I made some modifications to my 100 G tank. My Wisteria was just taking over the tank, I loved it at the beginning, but later on was just too much, Also I sold to my lfs two huge Amazon swords that were great, but also grew too big. I felt like the Angels and the rainbows were getting uncomfortable with not enough space to swim. Here are pictures before and after:

 

[DragonFish71]

Like it, though I would have kept the swords and put them in a corner, then had some of the crypts surrounding them. Kind of like a size step-down look. Hard to explain

 

[ejaramillo01]

Like it, though I would have kept the swords and put them in a corner, then had some of the crypts surrounding them. Kind of like a size step-down look. Hard to explain

I moved smaller swords to the corner, from another tank. It is hard to see them, but I hope that they will grow fast.
Thanks for your answer, and I liked your idea.

 

[Rivercats]

I have a 220g with 2 monster swords but since I want them to stay within a certain size area so as not to block light from strem plants I merely keep all leaves cut off that go outside that area. I keep the sword that is about 1/3 of the way over into the tank looking long and tall. No small or draping outside leaves. The plant doesn't take up space I need for stem plants, it doesn't shade, and mostly it give a strong verticle accent. Plus I have 10 angels and I need my swords for them to spawn on. Swords are the 1st choice for laying.

I liked the fullness of the first picture, but understand why you wanted to rescape. I too just removed some plants and added in more color using Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden', Rotala Wallichii, and expanding my plantings of Rotala macrandra. My tank looks so wierd right now with 2/3 of it having big mature plantings and then the other 1/3 being newly planted stem cuttings. Have you thought about putting an accent (rock/s or DW) behind and to the right of the dwarf sag (looks like sag but can't see for sure)?

You'll have to post a couple pic's once your scape fills in!

 

[ejaramillo01]

I have a 220g with 2 monster swords but since I want them to stay within a certain size area so as not to block light from strem plants I merely keep all leaves cut off that go outside that area. I keep the sword that is about 1/3 of the way over into the tank looking long and tall. No small or draping outside leaves. The plant doesn't take up space I need for stem plants, it doesn't shade, and mostly it give a strong verticle accent. Plus I have 10 angels and I need my swords for them to spawn on. Swords are the 1st choice for laying.

I liked the fullness of the first picture, but understand why you wanted to rescape. I too just removed some plants and added in more color using Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden', Rotala Wallichii, and expanding my plantings of Rotala macrandra. My tank looks so wierd right now with 2/3 of it having big mature plantings and then the other 1/3 being newly planted stem cuttings. Have you thought about putting an accent (rock/s or DW) behind and to the right of the dwarf sag (looks like sag but can't see for sure)?

You'll have to post a couple pic's once your scape fills in!

You right! My Angels are four! They paired, two and two! And one pair controls the left side of the tank, and the other pair the right side. They lay eggs in the big swords....I never tried to grow the spawn.
Now this morning they laid the eggs in the intake pipe of the filter!!!...go figure...
For sure I tried to add colors to the tank! And now I can't wait for the plants to grow.....is not strange??.lol but I liked your idea of trimming the swords, as soon as they get big enough I will try the trimming keeping them vertical.

I will post another picture in two weeks...looks like one of the plants that I added it is not fully aquatic...(Purple wafer).... Let's see.

 

[Rivercats]

If it's a purple waffle plant then it's not aquatic. If you pull it out now and plant it in a pot you'll at least get a new house plant! One thing, when you trim sword leaves cut the leaf off as close to the base of the plant as you can. If you don't you get these ugly stems sticking up all around the base. It takes alittle longer to do but well worth the extra effort.

 

[ejaramillo01]

If it's a purple waffle plant then it's not aquatic. If you pull it out now and plant it in a pot you'll at least get a new house plant! One thing, when you trim sword leaves cut the leaf off as close to the base of the plant as you can. If you don't you get these ugly stems sticking up all around the base. It takes alittle longer to do but well worth the extra effort.

So I guess I bought a plant for my kitchen....lol

Thanks for the tips.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Update

10 days after the change, things are moving good, my dwarf swords (I guess), are growing too fast, I will need to cut them or trim it. How do I trim the dwarf swords???
Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about:

 

[Rivercats]

Welll that's a good question. When I had dwarf swords I didn't trim them, they ended up looking too messy for me and I moved them to a small tank. That is when I ended up getting Pogostemon helferi. But those were a bear to get established and can get taller when not in high enough light. I didn't care tho because I like the overall look of the plant, it's different. If you want a foreground plant you don't have to trim and that will stay neat try dwarf baby's tears. But my suggestion would be to get them on a mat for the inital start-up. It's so much easier to get them established that way. Sorry I couldn't help with the swords but if you start a new thread I'm sure someone has trimmed them before.

 

[Tetra1990]

10 days after the change, things are moving good, my dwarf swords (I guess), are growing too fast, I will need to cut them or trim it. How do I trim the dwarf swords???
Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about:

Looks great, I envy you soo much. The school of tetras looks really stunning btw. .

 

[ejaramillo01]

Looks great, I envy you soo much. The school of tetras looks really stunning btw. .

Thanks Tetra, I really enjoy my tank , it is a lot of work, but worth the efforts.