Trying to aquascape... newbie

[bloodlucky]

Okay well I've gotten pretty sick and tired of boring tall slim artificially colored plastic plants or my dying amazon swords that sort of reach half way of the tank making the atmosphere look like the owner tried and failed horribly at aquascaping a tank. I've had amazing luck with some of my plants, and although I'm not sure what any are called besides the swords its clear that some of my plants are much tougher than the others.

My swords are sort of losing color and the leaves are weakening and withering so I'm thinking pretty soon I'll just take out any dying plants and keep the actual healthy ones, then give my tank a huge makeover.

I have gravel as a substrate so its not nearly as fine as some of the aquascape examples but I'm way too lazy to change the substrate since theres way too much in my tank already. I have a pretty small piece of driftwood that takes up about a third of my tank in width but doesn't have a height of over a few inches, and then a java fern that's rooted into a hunk of driftwood (which was quite an accomplishment.)

As far as fertilizing goes I own a jar of CO2 booster by API that I've been trying to consistently use for every water change and I just bought a fertilizer with iron and other helpful elements that are essential in fertilizing plants.

I'm not sure if you know who dustinsfishtanks is on youtube but even some of his simple aquascapes for his tank experiments look 100x better than my design... Does anyone know any tips or maybe a link to an article or something that relates to my situation? Thanks.

Also the tank is 40 gallons and it has some really healthy gold barbs that complement the plant color

 

[FishCr8zy]

Could you post a picture of the tank so we can know the scape it has now and where the plant are, etc. what kind of lighting do you have?
Yes I do know Dustin. His plant are amazing but his scapes are iffy .

 

[FishCr8zy]

Also liquid co2 loses its effect and disperses after 12 hours so if your doing weekly water changes it's not very effective. Though low light plants like java fern do not usually need supplements like liquid co2. It does benefit from it however.

 

[bloodlucky]

Could you post a picture of the tank so we can know the scape it has now and where the plant are, etc. what kind of lighting do you have?
Yes I do know Dustin. His plant are amazing but his scapes are iffy .

Sure! I will post them tomorrow morning once I get a hold of my iphone

 

[bloodlucky]

Sorry for the delay here it is

 

[Mebbid]

All the amazon sword needs to survive and thrive is some root tabs. They gather all of their nutrients from their roots so that could cause some problems. I would try to get whole of some tall pieces of driftwood to give your scape some height.

During the spring thaw I usually go down to the river and pick up a bunch of nice pieces of driftwood for my tanks.

 

[fish4phil]

If you decide to change your substrate, I wouldn't hesitate because of the work required. Yes, it's extra work, but it's not that bad. It'll take a couple of hours. I've done it twice now. Though I don't think your substrate looks bad Consider adding a black background paper to hide the wires, +1 on Mebbids suggestion for a tall driftwood as your centerpiece, maybe Manzanita. And tall plans on the sides of your tank, or just one side, like the left, then your driftwood, then shorter plants on the right.

Sent from my mobile aquarium device

 

[bloodlucky]

Thanks guys I will keep you posted

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Are the java ferns planted in the substrate? If you get DW, I'd attach those. Black background as suggested is good. Also keep that water level high enough to the frame. Use root tabs, dose flourish and that CO2 booster.

 

[FishCr8zy]

Are the java ferns planted in the substrate? If you get DW, I'd attach those. Black background as suggested is good. Also keep that water level high enough to the frame. Use root tabs, dose flourish and that CO2 booster.

+1 to everything. All rhizonmous plants like java ferns and anubias prefer to be tied to rocks, driftwood, or something with good grip for their roots.