[BearMitten]

Hey everyone, I pulled this old tank out of the closet. Never really done much scaping and I know this is far from anything artistic. It's a 2 gallon and I have a deep blue professionals solar flare led light. ADA Amazonian aquasoil some osmocote plus pellets on the bottom. Hard scrape is some manzanita drift wood and red lava rock. I just ordered 10 nodes of Marsilea minuta (dwarf water clover) and am planning to let that carpet slowly but surely. I wish I had more vertical hard scape pieces that could scale upwards but maybe I could get some taller plants plants, suggestions and thoughts appreciated.

 

[Pattern8]

I would suggest moving the one large piece way over to the left and the other small pieces off center to the right. Also would slope your soil more. Not necessarily sloped from back to front. Maybe instead sloped from left to right. This would raise your main piece and give you a little more of that vertical aspect you were wanting. With that done I would really play up the horizontal space between the two points suggested. Maybe by grouping plants more heavily around each of these.

 

[pastorpig]

I love the simplicity of this. Looks like a desert landscape from an alien planet. I would go with all super teeny tiny plants.

 

[BearMitten]

How about this? I'm planning on putting a deep blue professionals mini job filter in the right side.

 

[Mewski]

I like the new angle of the piece on the right.

 

[Betta132]

Looks pretty good. Maybe move the center piece a bit further to the right? You don't want to have anything right in the center, it tends to look a bit odd.
Any stocking plans?

 

[BearMitten]

I haven't the slightest idea for stocking, my waters got like 80ppm of nitrates from the tap so I'd love to hear some suggestions. I could put a heater in but it just adds to the ugliness of wires and stuff on the tank.

 

[BearMitten]

Here's the tank about a week old.
I went to a great fish shop nearby today and was looking at 2 potential stocking options. One was pork chop rasbora and the other was dwarf masculata rasboras. Im not sure how big of a school I could get but these guys were tiny. What say ye all?
Really the first thing I need to do is figure out a solution the the high nitrate levels in my tap water, I'm talking 100+ppm.

 

[bereninga]

100+ ppm is obscene. I would be very concerned with those levels coming from your tap.

https://www.epa.gov/nutrient-policy-data/estimated-nitrate-concentrations-groundwater-used-drinking

If anything, you might need a RO/DI system. This tank is so small that you could just buy a gallon of water a month if this is your only tank.

 

[GrampsGrunge]

With so much light spill-over this would be a great tank to go with a Hang-On-Back filter with immersed house plants rooted in the filter media.

Planted_HOB_thread

 

[loach guy]

Harlequin Rasboras (AKA pork chop rasboras) require a tank of 20 gallons. Dwarf masculata rasboras require a tank of 45 x 30 cm (about a 10 gallon tank. I have yet to find a fish that is happy in less than 5 gallons.