40B aquascape help

[Jconner3]

I've officially decided that I'm a failure at aquascaping tanks. And I was wondering if you guys could help me some. Any ideas for plants and placement would be greatly appreciated.

This is what I'm currently working with. There were more plants but I ended up moving them to another tank




I'm running 36 watts of t5 light
PFS substrate with root tabs
And I dose excel every other day

 

[Rivercats]

It's a good start, don't be so hard on yourself. You just need a couple more plants. Try a Wendtii red or bronze planted over by the right tree bottom opening. So its at an angle to the sword as your looking at the tank. Do an easy stem plant like Rotala in the open area where the second fish to the left is and add a couple more crypts to that area in front of the Rotala (or whatever stem plant) then maybe plant some Staurogyne repens as a forground plant to finish it off. It sound like alot but really isn't. Then once your landscape fills in you'll be amazed how good it looks. Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

[Jconner3]

Ok, added some Rotala, green wendtii, and I had some red wendtii in another tank that I took out. I'm still not completely happy, but it's an improvement. Any more suggestions?

 

[Rivercats]

You need something in the big open middle section. Maybe a neat rock or small rock formation with a couple small plants accenting one side of it? Now try to picture what the tank will look like when the plants fill in. I just removed some plants today in my 220g and planted others I like better... so now I have a mix of mature full plants and new stem plants, it would be quite ugh if I couldn't see how it will look in my head once the plantings fill in. You might be quite happy once you give the plants time to mature. Oh, don't put a rock/rocks right in the center, off center them or they won't look right. Hope some of this helps, but I can see it's going to grow in nice!

 

[Jconner3]

You need something in the big open middle section. Maybe a neat rock or small rock formation with a couple small plants accenting one side of it? Now try to picture what the tank will look like when the plants fill in. I just removed some plants today in my 220g and planted others I like better... so now I have a mix of mature full plants and new stem plants, it would be quite ugh if I couldn't see how it will look in my head once the plantings fill in. You might be quite happy once you give the plants time to mature. Oh, don't put a rock/rocks right in the center, off center them or they won't look right. Hope some of this helps, but I can see it's going to grow in nice!

What about a small piece of driftwood? Would that work as well?

 

[jcolon]

I've officially decided that I'm a failure at aquascaping tanks. And I was wondering if you guys could help me some. Any ideas for plants and placement would be greatly appreciated.

This is what I'm currently working with. There were more plants but I ended up moving them to another tank


View attachment 115539

I'm running 36 watts of t5 light
PFS substrate with root tabs
And I dose excel every other day

Personally speaking .. Ditch or hide the artificial decor and go with some DW and rocks .. I think you'll be surprised at the difference. The substrate and plants you have are fine, add some more .. Maybe crypts. A black background will really make the colors pop.

 

[Rivercats]

It could but real DW is going to look off with the resin DW. I just think a rock or rocks will add another dimension to the tank. That and some little plants. Okay I looked at the pic again and if you could find a small piece of DW that wasn't tall, kind of log shaped (but not that big...lol) and accent it with plants that would work. Personally I think the blue background works best with the white sand and decor. If you went black you'd make the plants pop but lose the logs due to their color. And once your taller plants grow you won't see alot of that background. That sword will get big and after looking at the pic again I think the DW or rock needs to be off center to the left. Look at the tank and visually draw a line out from the tip of the left DW piece. If you use that as a center for placing your DW or rock you will see it will draw your eye there which will then naturally accent the sword. Then take a crypt or something small and put one right off the right end of the DW or rock and then the second (same kind of plant) right in front of the log so its planted with it's center right between the log and other plant. Like you would if you were going to make a triange. I hope that makes sense. Its hard to explain what I'm seeing. But I think if you do that when your plants fill out you are going to find your tank looks really good.

 

[Jconner3]

Personally speaking .. Ditch or hide the artificial decor and go with some DW and rocks .. I think you'll be surprised at the difference. The substrate and plants you have are fine, add some more .. Maybe crypts. A black background will really make the colors pop.

I was looking for real driftwood when I went to petco for the plants, but all of their pieces are a lot smaller than the fake ones I have.

 

[jcolon]

I was looking for real driftwood when I went to petco for the plants, but all of their pieces are a lot smaller than the fake ones I have.

Yep ... Petco's & Petsmart are notorious for fairly small DW... At least those i've seen... Though the Petco by me is better most.

 

[Jconner3]

I was thinking about removing the decoration on the left and putting the sword there and putting something else where the sword currently is

 

[Rivercats]

Hum... if you do that then you need to put a stem type plant or val, something that will get tall. If you plant the rotala stem by stem with alittle spacing inbetween each plant you could get a nice little stand growing.

 

[Jconner3]

Would switching to DIY CO2 be a huge difference from using excel? Or are they about the same?

 

[Rivercats]

Honestly I can't say, I have never used any kind of CO2, not even DIY. I know alot of people on here use it so maybe you could start another thread asking about it.

 

[Jconner3]

I may switch to DiY CO2 once I run out of excel so maybe my plants will grow in faster so i can better determine how it's gonna look an what needs to be move around

 

[Jconner3]

Ok, I got a couple pieces of driftwood from petco and some rocks from outside to replace the fake driftwood. They are kinda small so im not sure how to make everything work. I also got some ludwigia palustris that I can put in. Or some water wisteria from a different tank I can put in. Advice needed! Please and thanks in advance

 

[ejaramillo01]

Ok, added some Rotala, green wendtii, and I had some red wendtii in another tank that I took out. I'm still not completely happy, but it's an improvement. Any more suggestions?

My suggestion is to move the sword to one corner, this will break the symmetry that I perceived in the tank, on top of this, the sword will grow a lot and will take over the center of the tank.
Just my two cents.

 

[Jconner3]

My suggestion is to move the sword to one corner, this will break the symmetry that I perceived in the tank, on top of this, the sword will grow a lot and will take over the center of the tank.
Just my two cents.

That's kinda what I've been thinking. Move the sword to one side and ditch the smaller fake wood and keep the tall one. Would it look better if they were on the same side(driftwood in front of the sword) or on opposite sides?

 

[ejaramillo01]

That's kinda what I've been thinking. Move the sword to one side and ditch the smaller fake wood and keep the tall one. Would it look better if they were on the same side(driftwood in front of the sword) or on opposite sides?

My opinion, opposite sides

 

[Rivercats]

So are you going to use your new DW and rocks? Wash the rocks under hot water, no soaps, then drop a few drops of vinegar on each rock... if it bubbles/fizzes you don't want to use them in your tank. Other wise I think you should try your real DW and rocks to make you tank look natural. Then later on if you decide you can tie java fern, lace java fern (windelov), or anubia's on it, plus any of the mosses too. Another good plant for tying on that is real nice looking is Bolbitus heudelotii. It is an african fern and is a really nice addition to a planted tank. I have some tied on a rock that is growing quite nicely. Make sure you post pic's when you get done rearranging.

 

[ejaramillo01]

So are you going to use your new DW and rocks? Wash the rocks under hot water, no soaps, then drop a few drops of vinegar on each rock... if it bubbles/fizzes you don't want to use them in your tank. Other wise I think you should try your real DW and rocks to make you tank look natural. Then later on if you decide you can tie java fern, lace java fern (windelov), or anubia's on it, plus any of the mosses too. Another good plant for tying on that is real nice looking is Bolbitus heudelotii. It is an african fern and is a really nice addition to a planted tank. I have some tied on a rock that is growing quite nicely. Make sure you post pic's when you get done rearranging.

+1 for the Bolbitus, I just got one, attached to the driftwood...let's see how it grow....