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「R.I.P」My First Planted Tank

12K views 102 replies 22 participants last post by  NanoDave 
#1 · (Edited)
It has met its end.....


The rescape however is here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=465753

Also, I must have accidentally deleted the last pic before tear down.......oops



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Hi everyone!!

This is indeed my first planted tank, and just to say, I already mastered fish-only tanks, time to move on!!!


The main goal of this first tank is not to immediately try to figure out everything, but to slowly develop a feeling for a planted tank.

This means that this would be a planted focused tank, not so much focused on the aquascaping part.

But just to say, I have been practicing hardscaping recently with my tank, so at least there would be some art :).



Will be beginning to get the final hardscape soon and planning the planted would be next.


So far the only picture I have now is a empty tank with aquasoil (its blurry i know, to lazy to get out my Nikon):



This is my first picture that I posted, so bear with me if it looks awkward.

I will list my supplies soon, I thought it would be a boring way to start a journal with a list.


I hope everyone can help!!
 
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#4 ·
Looking good already!

Any plans for a background?

- oz
Haven't got that far :).


As for the fish, I am just going to put the fish I had in the fish-only tank into there. Remember, I am focusing more on plants and getting the hang of all this, so the fish would basically just be there to contribute to the nitrogen cycle.

Just a side note, I am really good at keeping fish alive until they are too old to live, like my 5 year old tiger barbs (but sadly one of them died 3 days ago :().


For the plants, I will reveal my plan when I finish hardscaping. :icon_roll
 
#6 ·
Okay, hardscape ready. What do you think? Feedback wanted!!!



I am using the Popsicle sticks as a way to determine the balance of the scape, since it is hard to picture plants in that!


This scape wouldn't much variety in plants because I want to keep this simple so that I would understand each plant individually. In general for the plants, I want to have stems in the two areas in the back, probably some rotalas or ludwigias. Main ground cover would be glosso, and the midground with crypts, because i think they would do well in there with the wood and the darker rocks.

As for tiny accents, probably some sparse eleocharis near the rocks.


What do you think?
 
#7 ·
Just a side note, this is all the material for layout I have!!! What I did now optimizes space for plants and tried to make it look as good as possible. My tank dimension is weird, 90*30*36cm, plus all my objects are small. Just some extra input to know.
 
#11 ·
I think it looks pretty good, but one nitpick I would have is that the two features are too well balanced. That'll confuse the eyes and make it hard to define the actual focal point. I'd move the rocks around and try to make sure that the general size characteristics of the left feature is about 33% larger than the right feature. Another good way to do this without altering your scape too much is to try to make the left feature taller, as that will give the illusion that it takes up more of the tank, even if by overall volume it's roughly the same as the right feature.

Of course, you could also flip this to make the right side the main focal point instead, but try to avoid having two features of basically the same size characteristic, as that is tougher for the brain to process.
 
#12 ·
Thanks guys!

The main problem I have is that this is all the stuff I have for layout(don't ask)!!!

I knew the proportions of the areas are too even, just wasn't sure, so I'll definitely take your advice.

I already moved the wood higher, but I also wanted it at least a bit slanted because it would give the feeling of being emerged from the stem plants that I am planning to plant. The main point of this layout is to give as much planting space as possible, so I can learn how to grow the plants without too many physical obstacles.


Will update the picture as soon as I'm done fixing it!!!
 
#13 ·
If you don't have other scaping materials handy, there's ways you can help modify them a bit with a small mount of cash.

For instance, you could buy some small PVC pipes (1/4" or 1/2") and attach the wood to it, creating legs. This would allow you to raise the wood up higher in the tank, while still having solid support underneath so it won't fall over. This way you don't have to stick it so deeply into the substrate.

Another trick that can help is to slope the substrate more. Create a larger mound and then place a rock or the wood on top of that and it'll appear higher. As a side benefit, it looks more natural in my opinion to have a substrate that rolls and has divots and hills, rather than just flat. Not sure how well that'd work with your substrate, but it's an idea.

If you want to pick up more rock for super cheap, but don't have someplace nearby where you can forage for rocks, you can hit up a larger landscaping place. They usually have a pretty good selection of rocks. Some online digging can turn up multiple sources for rocks. I got 80lbs of Granite (hardly ended up using any of it) for something like 3$. Cost me more in gas to drive there and back!

I'm sure there's plenty of other creative ways to add to a scape. Just walk around Home Depot or Lowe's and you'll probably find a few ideas!
 
#14 ·
I too really think that I don't have enough things to work with, but I am making up for that by really thinking about the plants. For example, I would probably use glosso as the foreground because its lowness won't block to much.

This is only going to be the only time I will use this little materials, planning to go to Taiwan when I get my greencard to rock hunt the REALLY SPECIAL rocks that are present in the mountains (Florida is either limestone or sand....). The problem with getting more rocks is that my current rocks have strata, so the rocks must come from one place, which these three rocks do.

Right now I am more focusing on the planting, since I am already fixing the hardscape.


@Inkedsphynx: I am finding inert materials to raise the base of the aquasoil, since even though the plants would fill in the emptiness in the upper portion of the tank, raising some rocks would help a lot with the general depth. Thanks.
 
#15 ·
As far as plants go, I think another way to help the size balance would be to do as you said and go with something low growing not only in the extreme foreground, but right around the base of all the rocks. It would probably require some pretty diligent trimming and maintenance, but having a low growing plant around the front of the base of the rocks in particular will give them a larger sense of scale. I'd place the taller plants around the back of the rocks, and on the outside edges (relative to the sides of the tank). That would also achieve a nice little stony-grotto type affect I think :)
 
#16 ·
Okay, I raised the substrate as much as possible and somewhat changed the proportions of the two main areas. Any thoughts?

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Plants in the background: The main problem is that for some reason, I only have access to 2 green stem plants!!
Those are rotala nanjashen (which I like very much) and Hemianthus micranthemoides (which I have seen pictures of them growing very tall and bushy). I might incorporate a couple redder hue ludwigias to go along with all the green.

Plants in the midground: Haven't really decided yet, but probably going to go with some crypts, since they do give an interesting effect when they tower over low foreground plants. Tenellus might also be interesting, they could be good in between the "path" between the 2 rocks on the right. Hairgrass might be too "fuzzy" in combination for the plants that I plan to get.

Plants in the foreground: Glosso might be the main choice, since they are low growing and unlike HC, they grow faster. The only problem I have with carpet plants is that I don't have a curved trimming scissor, only a straight one, but trimming would come later and I would have time to decide if it is worth it (the curved trimming scissor I mean).

As a side note, I really want to somehow use hygrophila pinnatifida, is there any way I could incorporate in to this layout? They might look good by the rocks. This is just a suggestion, for no matter how cool that plant is, if it doesn't work then there is no point getting it.



Keep the feedback and reviews coming!!!
 
#17 ·
Looks much better! Like the way the substrate elevates towards the back now. Also think the driftwood looks much better standing in that position :)

I think hygrophila pinnatifida would be a great plant to ring the back side of the right-most rock. Not sure how tall your tank is, so it might require some trimming towards the top if it gets too tall, but would add a nice darker color and also create a bit of a screen for that back corner, which would be useful for hiding an intake/heater and providing a sheltered location for fauna.

Hairgrass is cool, but I think it works best in a tank that's designed to be "grassy" as a theme. I've got some in my tank, but I think it's going to get swapped out for HC.

Depending on what carpet you go with you should have plenty of time to decide if the curved trimming scissors are worth it. I'd say they are, if you're going to have this tank for any length of time.

Why the limited access to background plants? Is that all you can get locally? Keep in mind there's many other great resources for getting your hands on plants. There's the RAOK/Trade forums here, online retailers like LiveAquaria or Aqua Forest Aquarium, or even things like Craigslist.
 
#18 ·
Thanks, I think it looks a lot better too!


As for the background plants, what I am trying to get hands on is rotala sp. "green" which I think it would do best in this tank. I am constantly checking the "FS/Trade" section on this forum for rotala stems. All the plants are ordered online, Florida (more specifically Orlando) is the worst place for planted aquariums. Those 2 plants aren't the only ones there, but they are the two I think would be good to practice trimming on, since they can get real dense and compact. I might also add ludwigia arcuata and other redder plants to have some red shades too.

As for other places to buy plants, liveaquaria has the issue with shipping fee, and their stock of plants are more or less equal to other non-shipping-fee heavy stores. As for AFA, I got my aquasoil with a shipping fee of $40, so I do not want to know the fee for live plants.


The main goal is to have all the plants come at one time, so I can start immediately when they arrive so there won't be any stressed plants who are waiting for others to arrive.

Sooner or later I would have a planting plan using Paint to show everything.


Chime in on this everyone!!!
 
#19 ·
Yea, I know what you mean about the shipping fees. I'm actually doing a big order from LiveAquaria in the next few days. Lucky for me, I wanted to pick up a bunch of fish that I can't find locally as well as some plants, so I decided I'd just go with LiveAquaria, as what I want totals just over 225$, so I get the free shipping (well, paying 3$ extra for overnight on the plants).

If you know any other people in the hobby in your area you could always try to put together a group buy :)

Definitely check craigslist in your area too. You may not find people listing plants explicitly, but if you see people selling off freshwater setups that look like they were planted, you can always message to see if they have any plants they could sell, or even some stem cuttings you could get.

I'm sure you'll be able to find some stuff though. Oh, could always try Ebay too! If I had any plants that were all that interesting I'd offer some cuttings or stems of mine, but thus far I've only got the run-of-the-mill stuff like Anubias, Wisteria, Hairgrass, Microswords, etc.
 
#21 ·
Well, at least 2/3 of the wood is going to be covered by the stem plants, so it will create some sort of tension, as we can't clearly see the whole piece.

Plus, I need some things to minimize the space for the plants. This is because I don't have anything more to replace any "empty spots." Besides, I like wood :).

But I will post a picture soon with the wood out, just to see what happens.
Hey, this is my first time, I'm open to ideas!!!!

Oh BTW, I have an Anubis barteri var. nana. Just got it 2 years ago for fun, now this thing is HUGE!!! Where do you think it would be a good spot to put cuttings of it?
 
#23 ·
Just took the wood out to see what happens.

Sorry, a little blurry and forgot to turn off the flash:



What I feel about this is that this tank is not an iwagumi, the 2 areas on the sides are going to be filled with stem plants, so they need something (such as the wood) to transition from the midground to the background. I would probably put the wood back, but thanks for the suggestion anyways. :)
 
#24 ·
I have finally decided on the plants!!! This was an effort that took three days.

Here is a picture of the hardscape to help picture this:



The right side would have rotala rotund. in the corner, with a small amount of HG next to it. The "aisle" the 2 rocks to the right makes are going to be planted with cryptocorynes (still checking which ones are available), trying to get a hold of wendtii brown. The front right side would have some tenellus.

The main foreground would be glosso.

Rotala rotund. will be again used on the left side corner, with Ludwigia arcuata in front of it, without it touching the glass. More cryptocorynes are going to help the transition by being in in front of the wood.


Here is the actual map:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


What do you guys think?
 
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