[mfranco]

Hello all,

I have been working on my tank since March. I like the way things have come in but I think I've hit a plateau. I really enjoy keeping things new in my tank and I don't know what else to do. I want a very blunt and honest critique of what could be better in my tank. Wether you love or hate it please give me your thoughts. I consider myself to be an advanced beginner and I want to take my skills to a more professional level. Thank you!

In my signature line is my journal that lays out all of my equipment, light/fert/CO2 schedules, fish, and plants. There is also more detailed pics from different view of the tank.

THANKS!!!

 

[easternlethal]

how about replacing the rocks with some seryu.. they look kinda boring. tank looks great tho!

 

[nel]

Maybe more red plants? And yeah, seiryuu sounds good, or maybe any other stone with nice colour.

 

[mfranco]

What is seriyuu?

In terms of more red plants I agree. What are some good red plants? I want something that takes a little more effort to grow. Right now I think most of my plants are beginner plants.

 

[Nordic]

I like the rocks!

 

[mfranco]

Thanks, I need to scape off more of the algae that is growing on them. Underneath the algae the rocks are red sand stone that have a nice red color to them.

 

[Willcooper]

I like your tank overall. Great job so far! A critique would be for the shadowing or darker areas on the ends. Does the light extend all the way to each end? For red plants you can look at ludwigia red, ar min, ar, rosandifollia and many others

 

[mfranco]

I like your tank overall. Great job so far! A critique would be for the shadowing or darker areas on the ends. Does the light extend all the way to each end? For red plants you can look at ludwigia red, ar min, ar, rosandifollia and many others

The light doesn't quite extend all the way across. The light is a 48" light and the tank is 60"

 

[Nordic]

A bit of algae on the rocks make things seem more realistic.

 

[AndreyT]

What is seriyuu?

Misspelled "seiryu" (neither post got it right).

https://www.google.com/search?q=sei...0&bih=954#safe=off&tbm=isch&q=aquarium+seiryu

 

[tapwater]

put a smaller rock in the front

 

[houseofcards]

Tank looks good, I like big rocks too. I would maybe tighten up the stems in the back and have them trimmed with the flow of the rocks. So taller stems groups behind the bigger rocks and shorter ones behind the shorter ones. Otherwise good job!

 

[seandelevan]

I would leave the biggest rock you have but move closer to the center...but not too centered...just a little off. Agree with a red plant or two. And I would put it in front of your filter intake pipe there on the left. I would use ludwigia pernensis or alternanthera reineckii.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Tank looks awesome. Agreed that replacing those rocks with seiryu stone would really make the tank pop.

 

[mfranco]

I would leave the biggest rock you have but move closer to the center...but not too centered...just a little off. Agree with a red plant or two. And I would put it in front of your filter intake pipe there on the left. I would use ludwigia pernensis or alternanthera reineckii.

I have some tall thin ludwiga planted under there that should grow all the way to the top. It was green at the fish store because they just had it under low/medium light. Its only been in my tank for a few days and it is starting to turn red.

 

[steveo]

Overall nice job. I like dark brown substrate such as Flourite 'Dark'.

 

[mfranco]

Overall nice job. I like dark brown substrate such as Flourite 'Dark'.

I totally agree! I would love to change my substrate to a dark color. To be honest though the thought of uprooting all the plants and removing the literal hundreds of pounds of rock and sand kinda make me cringe:|

Maybe one day I will change things up on the substrate front. Ive thought about just capping the top with a black substrate of some kind but the way my cichlids dig kinda makes that impossible.

 

[nel]

Misspelled "seiryu" (neither post got it right).

https://www.google.com/search?q=sei...0&bih=954#safe=off&tbm=isch&q=aquarium+seiryu

Actually it's blue dragon stone - so double uu in Japanese ;-) but don't know why the official name written in romaji is with one u, that's just wrong
Sorry for the offtop ;-)

 

[jaymyess]

I like the rocks as well and IMO don't scrape off the algae from them - I like natural looking tanks.

Just my 2c, I think your tank needs to have an asymmetrical look. On the photo, the plants are equally distributed across and there are stones on both the left and right side. I am thinking of maybe removing the left stone and move the plants more to the right - giving an open feel/space on the left. Still, your aquarium as is looks really nice. I like it.

 

[mfranco]

You cannot see it in the picture but the two rocks on the left are leaning to make a cave that is grown over with moneywort.

On the left you can only see one rock but there is actually another one that is laying on its side which has been grown over with crypts.