[philipraposo1982]

To start things off I will outline my current hardware and what my goal is.

75g tank
eheim pro3 2075
300w eheim heater
48" finnex planted plus led
safe-t-sorb substrate

My end goal is to have a amazon / rainforest type jungle aquascape for my tank.

Questions: I am really overwhelmed when it comes to plants, I don't know what I should pick or even what will work with my design in mind. I try to envision the layout and simply can't. I don't want to go out and spend a lot on plants only to be buying ones that won't look good or won't work with my setup.

I am kind looking for a bit of guidance on how to approach this, maybe some suggestions on plants. Also for those who have done extensive aquascaping, how did you go about planning your design?

I think i want to use dwarf sag for the foreground / carpet, what are you guys thoughts on this?

 

[Tony Montana]

I'd go with HC for a look like that IMO

 

[Vic]

I initially had trouble envisioning my layout, so I took a look at other people's tank to get some inspiration. I think you can find some good deals on plant packages in the swap and sale section of the forum. If you start with many plants, you can get a general consensus on what works and what doesn't work. Some fairly easy plants to keep at least in my experience include java fern, anubias barteri, vallisneria, hygrophila polysperma, cabomba, amazon swords, java moss.

 

[philipraposo1982]

thanks, i will look into some of those. I do like the idea of java moss for attaching to drift wood. I was planning to do that.

 

[Raymond S.]

It might work in a 75, but to me it becomes to wild(lack of a defined growing pattern
such as you do find in Fissidens) for other than just a small amount of it in tanks smaller than that. I do have some on the walls in one 10g tank I have but keep it fairly shortly trimmed.
I have no creativity without a starting point so I look at photos of other tanks to
find a starting point to work from. Like the looks of, but since I can view them in pictures, don't feel a need to replicate one of those "formula aquascape tanks"
where you put one large rock/hill in this end and a bit smaller one in the other end
and decorate from there. But then a Flourescent orange Roman column doesn't appeal to me either. I'm actually quite blank on a new dea for my next 10g to replace the experimental #1 in my profile as I messed it up by using too much coverage on the walls of it and it was my first built in bio-filter also which will be improved upon
in the next version.
I would suggest you put into search Aquarium plants by bio-type.
This is one I found in that way.
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/bio-type.html

 

[Tzac]

Not ever growing HC I can't say that it won't carpet well in an 18" tank without CO2 and high light but from what I have read it seems unlikely. Dwarf sag is an easy grower and I like the look of it for ground cover. I am going to be rescaping my 75 low tech soon and will be using it for all my foreground cover.

 

[jrman83]

HC may be a little hard in your tank with that light. In fact, an low growing plant may have issue if it requires a higher light level. Most that use Finnex on a 75g tank usually do so in pairs. Not to say that one fixtures can't grow you plants, but think you could be somewhat limited on what you chose. I would start with plants that don't require much light and move up from there.