Riverside Tank, Dragon Bones

[BlazednSleepy]

Really great plant growth. My only problem with the scape is that the plants took over and theres nothing unique about it now. The very first picture in this thread is so awesome and I was expecting just grassy type plants surrounding the rocks.

But that's where I would have taken it. It does look nice now but I still would have preferred the rocks as more of the center piece.

[Chlorophile]

Originally Posted by BlazednSleepy

Really great plant growth. My only problem with the scape is that the plants took over and theres nothing unique about it now. The very first picture in this thread is so awesome and I was expecting just grassy type plants surrounding the rocks.

But that's where I would have taken it. It does look nice now but I still would have preferred the rocks as more of the center piece.

I agree =[

This


Looks so much better than this

It turned into a jungle grow out tank..
How about pulling out all the... tall stuff and just doing whatever your foreground is (or something else entirely, maybe microsword or lilaeopsis mauritiana or brasilensis) and something like Blyxa as background plants?
Just my personal opinion.

Or at the least maybe put the tall plants only on the sides of the tank, leave the middle open.

[sundragon]

The hardscape is beautiful! If I were to make a second tank, this is exactly what I'd go for. Just without the jungle - can you have too much of a "green thumb?"

[xenxes]

That hardscape is very dramatic! Shame the plants covered it up -- but it is good for fauna.

You could strip it down and grow HC, and dwarf varieties various plants. Or just give it a trim? Especially the left side lol.

[inareverie85]

I second the use of Blyxa. Love that plant!

Very nice job on the new hardscape

[mistergreen]

Originally Posted by akpoly

wow your stones are amazing. where did you find those at?

At the local landscaping shop/lot. It think it's a magnesium soap stone.

Ok, update

[Chlorophile]

Originally Posted by mistergreen

At the local landscaping shop/lot. It think it's a magnesium soap stone.

Ok, update

Much better... Still feel like all the foreground plants should be background plants for this setup though!
Did all the rocks on the left side come out?

[hydrophyte]

That is really nice. I like the gouramis.

[mistergreen]

It's due for a rescaping. I'm not planning to tear the tank down but only to trim, add sand, wood, and new plants.

I'm growing some plants (glosso, HC, DHG) right now to add into the tank. The plants are grown in wabi-kusa balls of sand and osmecote; no dirt to keep down the mess.
I was planning to transplant the whole wabikusa into the tank rather than each plant individually where the fishes might rip them up.


Start: 7/29/12


update: 8/4/12


As you can see, plants grow amazingly well in this setup. This is outside btw.

[MoeBetta]

Very nice.

[mistergreen]

Thanks. I stretched $15 worth of plants to $60

[BS87]

If you want to display the rock work, you could always transplant the larger plants behind it, keeping the foreground the same. You'd still have the nice tall foliage, but it would highlight the rocks in front of it.

[mistergreen]

I lied. I might take out these rocks. I found cooler looking rock at a local rock shop, Buschelman's (for Cincinnatians). There were some gorgeous rocks, like ADA, rock garden type rocks but they have to be a least a ton. I wish I can take a chisel and hammer to them. I can only grab what I can out of a bin which was pretty darn hard (fingers not smashed). I managed to grab 100lbs of rocks. Not sure what type they are.

[mistergreen]

here are the rocks.
There's 3 different types. I'm still planning on what is best. Mixing the 3 type might be too much in terms of harmony, maybe 2 type will work depending on size/quantity. I'll go back to the rock shop to get more of whatever I decide on.

[mistergreen]

Had a little set back. I found a cattepillar in the glosso. The glosso was its salad bowl.