Oh so I hate my tank

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orangepunkins

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Joined
Mar 22, 2014
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124
Location
Florida
I have a 75 gallon tank which I so hate the look of it. All my plants have overgrown everywhere. And yes it is my fault I let them get this way. I want to do a rescale from removing all the plants and reposition them back in. I hope to accomplish this the weekend of July 4 since it's a long weekend. Anyone else out there that can give me some good help on how to do this.
Thank you ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1466631417.151883.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1466631436.550693.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1466631454.636509.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1466631469.180646.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1466631484.241239.jpg


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ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1466646075.853566.jpg

My 75 just another one to look at.


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I can't tell exactly what plants you have in there since i cant enlarge the pics. If you could list all the plants that would help. I do see what looks like very nice crypt wendtii, and maybe chain swords?

Anyway, from my view it looks like one of your main issue is the layout of the plants, since they are all grown in you should have a good idea of the size of the mature plants.
That makes things a lot easier for you, when you come to rescaping try to layer the plants in terms of height, have the larger ones toward the back and the shorter up from. I would also advice having a little bit of exposed substrate to mix it up a bit.

Depending on what kind of look you want from your tank, if you want a more natural look remember not to group plants in a species only section, try to have a mix of plants spread throughout, also avoid symmetry as much as you can, nothing in nature is perfect! (or at least humans modern perception of perfect)

Lastly, you have a ton of gorgeous plants, a lot of which you will be thinning out and trimming up, so learn how to propagate each of the different plants you have. Then most importantly of all, DON'T throw away any of your trimmings. List them for sale on your local craigslist or even give them away if you don't care to put in the time to sell them. People are always looking for cheap plants and I would take plants from a fellow hobbyist over a chain store any day. I list all of my plants locally and online and sell them every now and then, certainly isn't a business but it might get you a couple bucks here and there that you can spend on the little extras you need for your hobby.

Hope this helps.
 
Yes I have a LOT of crypt wendii. They have gotten rather LARGE and out of control. I have some driftwood with some Java Fern. A bunch of Vallisneria Spiralis, Italian Vals, I think. I have a bunch of red tiger lotus. I think I'm going to put rocks and create a shelf somehow in the tank. What I don't use in that tank I have 2 others to use the left overs in. I would LOVE to have frog-bit or the other floating plant that has red leaves. I'm going to be doing this transformation next weekend. I hope it comes out well.
 
Yes it has Thank You
I can't tell exactly what plants you have in there since i cant enlarge the pics. If you could list all the plants that would help. I do see what looks like very nice crypt wendtii, and maybe chain swords?

Anyway, from my view it looks like one of your main issue is the layout of the plants, since they are all grown in you should have a good idea of the size of the mature plants.
That makes things a lot easier for you, when you come to rescaping try to layer the plants in terms of height, have the larger ones toward the back and the shorter up from. I would also advice having a little bit of exposed substrate to mix it up a bit.

Depending on what kind of look you want from your tank, if you want a more natural look remember not to group plants in a species only section, try to have a mix of plants spread throughout, also avoid symmetry as much as you can, nothing in nature is perfect! (or at least humans modern perception of perfect)

Lastly, you have a ton of gorgeous plants, a lot of which you will be thinning out and trimming up, so learn how to propagate each of the different plants you have. Then most importantly of all, DON'T throw away any of your trimmings. List them for sale on your local craigslist or even give them away if you don't care to put in the time to sell them. People are always looking for cheap plants and I would take plants from a fellow hobbyist over a chain store any day. I list all of my plants locally and online and sell them every now and then, certainly isn't a business but it might get you a couple bucks here and there that you can spend on the little extras you need for your hobby.

Hope this helps.
 
Looks like you might have Eco complete as your substrate in there unless its a gravel that looks similar.
Judging by how many root feeders you have, you might be better off pulling all the plants and having them sit in there own buckets of water organised by species and then leaving the tank overnight.
The reason I say that is because it will be quite a task just uprooting everything, all the plants you listed will likely have huge root systems and by time you manage to get them all pulled up and sorted your tank will probably look like 75g of muddy water and you will probably wish you had just left it the way it was.
Left overnight should give it time for everything to settle and all the plant matter will be floating, laying on the substrate or stuck the the filter intakes and be easier to remove.

Frogbit and the red root floaters (I haven't had RRF) don't do so well if you have HOB filters since they will rot if the leaves get wet, snails eat the undersides on the leaves too and for me at least they never work out very well.
Duckweed is ok IMO but many people hate it, its one that if you introduce then you better like it because you will never get rid of it.
 
I would recommend giving your gravel a good vacuuming while you have all of your plants out of there as well. I find that when I do a reshape like I usually do every 3-4 months that it seems to be beneficial to give the substrate a nice vacuuming.
 
Thank you all for the advise. I will use it. Yes it is Eco complete. I think I'm going to remove the fish also while I do this. I'm going to set up a rubber made tub with a heater and air line to put them in while I tackle this job.


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I would recommend giving your gravel a good vacuuming while you have all of your plants out of there as well. I find that when I do a reshape like I usually do every 3-4 months that it seems to be beneficial to give the substrate a nice vacuuming.



Why vacuum out the nutrients for your plants ?
Most planted tanks don't get vacuumed AFAIK




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Update:
I spent Saturday from 8-4 working on the tank. I removed every plant fish and water. I left the substrate. I replanted the plants back. I am quite please at how it came out. ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1467638884.578548.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1467638971.175530.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1467638989.254149.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1467639006.636997.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1467639020.444116.jpg


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Looks like you thinned it out pretty good, be nice to see a full tank shot too.
 
Yes I did. I started on the other 75 gal I have but now I seem to have more plants than I can use. I will take some to the fish get together next Monday.
 
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