Driftwood Hardscape Critique

[jakevwapp84]

I really like the piece.

[ShawnS]

Update:

I've ordered 40lbs of Eco Complete and it will be arriving Wednesday. In the mean time i've been doing some research on plants of certain colors that fit my specs and grow in medium lighting. I will only be using 1 kind of plant for each color, i'm just seeing which ones you would suggest I use. As of now I only know what limited information Aquatic Plant Central can give me, so if one plant is harder to grow than another, or if you have knowledge of another plant that is twice as colorful, I will be most appreciative. Here's what I've got so far:

Red:

Alternanthera reineckii 'rosaefolia'


Pink:

Bacopa sp. 'Colorata


Rotala sp. 'Colorata'


Orange:

Cabomba palaeformis

Ludwigia ovalis

Rotala wallichii


Yellow:
Suggestions

Green:

lobelia cardinalis aquarium

(I'll probably end up just using some kind of mid-ground plant, like Anubis)

Carpeting plant: (Still torn, Hair Grass is easier to grow but I like the look of HC better. )

Dwarf Hair grass


HC

[jakevwapp84]

I have found this plant that i really like it is called fissidens fontanus. it looks cool and is usually sold in pads. I could make a nice carpet plant. Doesnt Anubis secrete a substance poisonous to shrimp?

[unpluggedmusic]

I love your pieces! If i have these wood, i will prefer to have the branches branching out towards the front! The whole thing will be centered in the tank towards the back glass. In the middle of the branches, i would use plants such as java fern, narrow leave java fern, etc to create a very leafy centerpiece. Hairgrass as foreground would be top choice for me too! But it gets algae tangled with the grass at times, but dont worry. You can always trim the infected part off. Pulling the algae will only result in pulling all hairgrass out... Good luck, i will love to see your update!

[ShawnS]

I really don't want to make an island, but thanks for you input. Perhaps your idea is more realistic than mine But I want to at least try my color variant idea first.

[Complexity]

Most of the plants you have selected are a little more difficult to grow. Since this is a new setup, I'd suggest making sure you have quite a few easy to grow plants to get the tank going and then swap out the plants once the tank has stabilized somewhere around the second to third month. New tanks are harder to deal with at first, but become easier once they mature.

[ShawnS]

Alright thanks. By the way, those dry ferts you linked me, could i use them if I wanted to dry start my HC? Or would i have to buy the liquid ferts and use them in a spray bottle? Also how am I suppose to supply the HC with CO2 if i use the dry start method? Just leave the CO2 running in the water-less tank? Also how often should I spray the inside of my tank with water?

[Complexity]

CO2 is already in the air so you don't have to add any when using DSM. That's one of the main reasons for using DSM.

I'm not sure how to dose ferts for DSM, but if it's done with liquid ferts, then you can do it with dry ferts. Dry ferts are the same as liquid ferts except the water hasn't been added. So all you do is dissolve dry ferts in water to make them into liquid ferts. Then you can spray them or whatever you'd do with any liquid brand.

Since I have not tried DMS, I'll leave the questions on how to fertilize the plants to those more familiar with the practice.

[ShawnS]

Update:

After Filling

I ended up re-rearranging the driftwood. It look really bad because I wasn't anticipating how the slope of the substrate would effect the appearance of the driftwood. So it looked dumb, and now it looks great! (To me) By tomorrow I'm going to go to my LFS and buy some plants, So i'll have another update by then.

I actually ended up rearranging my room just for my fish tanks.


And here's the 10gal I currently have my fish in while I cycle the 20gal:


The plan is to set up the 20gallon with the same idea as before. With a boom-plosion of color in the top right corner and slowly fading and then have a carpet of HC along the left and bottom side. Once that's done i'll move my fish in from the 10 gal and rescape that as an Iwagumi shrimp tank!

[Neatfish]

Where do you get wood like that? Can you just use a branch off any tree?

[LAKE]

I wouldn't under value the addition of iron.

It may not be essential to achieve growth but it sure can make a difference in the appearance of the plants!

It is difficult to market a suitable iron source to please everybody as the pure most usable form oxidizes so easily. No powders, questionable effect range of liquids. Organic sources are often best. Some foods are high in iron. Finland did research on using their abundance of Peat as a heating fuel source, three forms of iron complicate it beyond practical. I have provided a link. I find natural alternatives more complete than branded products that need supplemented with other branded products. Combinations can work really well. Feeding a little Peat to the biofilter is worth the trial to see if you like it.

[ShawnS]

Update:

[PlantedVirgin]

Very nice look so far. keep up the good work and more pictures.

[Shanster]

So where did you find a piece of driftwood like that? That's essentially what I'm looking for...